Jays bats continue to hit behind Alvarez fine outing and Jays win 6-2

Jays v Twins. Game one of four. Big news this afternoon in Toronto as Jays sign Vladdy Guerrero to minor league contract, that would be awesome to see him in Toronto. If he hits DH then Edwin will be at first base which may not the best idea. Jays on their last stop of their longest road trip this season. Four against the Twins which once again on paper should not be a concern, however Jays have unfortunate habit of getting beaten by teams they should own. Tonight Alvarez who pitched so well in his last start. The same lineup as the last game in Oakland with the bottom two of Lind and Arencibia trying to show Farrell that he is so wrong about their abilities. Should Farrell rest him for a day ? Manager will argue this is the series to do it, Jose will argue that this may be the best chance he has of getting back on track. If he does not get going in the first three games, watch for him on the bench on Sunday. Lineups: Jays: Johnson, Escobar, Bautista, Encarnacion, Thames, Lawrie, Rasmus, Lind, Arencibia and Alvarez pitching. Twins: Span, Dozier, Mauer, Willingham, Doumit, Plouffe, Komatsu, Mastroianni, Casilla, and Marquis pitching. Top 1st: Johnson leading off, singles to right. Escobar, 3-0 count, outside ball four, two on and nobody out. Bautista, two on and nobody out. 0-2 count, wild pitch and both runners move up into scoring position, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Sigh Jose. One down for Encarnacion. 3-1 count, ball four to load them up. Thames with bases loaded. 2-0 count, 13 balls 18 pitches. Ouch. Drives to left, two down as Johnson scores first run. 1-0 Jays. Lawrie, lines it into left, here comes Escobar, 2-0 Jays. Two down. Lawrie at first. Thames at second. Rasmus, grounds to second throw to first to end the inning. Pitch count 26. Boston getting hammered by Cleveland at Fenway 7-1 after three and Beckett already out of the game. Red Sox having a rough time to start their season and everyone is sad, especially in Toronto. Bottom 1st: Span leading off, bounces back up the middle, no chance of throw for Johnson. One on for Dozier. There we go, first pitch grounds to Lawrie over to Johnson, over to Lind double play. Two down for Mauer. Full count and fouling them off. Outside ball four. 8 pitch at bat for Mauer. Willingham with two down and one on. Pops it up to Lind for the out. Pitch count 21. Mauer and Willingham had 15 of those pitches. Rangers on top of the Orioles and Yankees tied up at 2 with the Rays. Top 2nd: Lind, pulls it to first, Mauer steps on the bag for the first out, one down for Arencibia. Pops it up to shallow right for Komatsu to make the catch. Two quick outs. Top of the order. Johnson fly ball to left for Mastroianni to make the catch. Jays go meekly here on seven pitches. Mauer had more on his own. 33 pitches. Bottom 2nd: Doumit leading off. Grounds hard back at Alvarez, nice play and throw to Lind for the out. Very athletic there helps himself. Plouffe, grounds to third, Lawrie throw almost knocks Lind off the bag. Two down, Komatsu. That was stupid twice over. Komatsu bunds to Alvarez on throw Throw to Lind gets away and Komatsu takes off, now going to third, Bautista throw to Lawrie nails him. He may not be hitting but his glove is mighty still. 31 pitch count. Top 3rd: Escobar, arguing the call, not good Yunel, get it together here. Up the line, Marquis throw not in time and Escobar safe at first for Bautista. Jose says that hit his shirt, umpire disagrees. Now he hits him in the back, umpire says no, he didn’t get out of the way of the pitch. Jose losing it here. Umpire now conferring, the other umpires say yes, hit batsman, Jose to first. Two on Encarnacion, grounds to third throw to second to get Jose, here comes Escobar to score he was running all the way on that play, nice play guys, aggressive and risky. 3-0 Jays. Thames, 0-2 count, there goes Edwin and safe on the throw as Thames out on the strike. Lawrie, singles up the middle, here comes Edwin to score 4-0 Jays. Rasmus, 2-0 count. Wild pitch and catcher Doumit cannot find it. Lawrie all the way to third from first, wow speed kills. Lines it into left bounces into the crowd and here comes Lawrie 5-0 Jays. Rasmus at second. Lind, 3-0 count, Swarzak warming up in bullpen. Grounds to Mauer steps on the bag for the out. 61 pitches. Boston, Tampa and Baltimore all losing. Yankees and Jays winning. Bottom 3rd: Alvarez has to close them down here. Ex-Jay Mastroianni, off the end of his bat in front of the plate, Arencibia throw to Lind, one down. Casilla, singles into left. Span, there goes the runner, low ball four. Two on one down. Alvarez is not as sharp here tonight. He could be in a mess quickly if he does not settle. Dozier, Oh boy, grounds to Escobar, fumbles but scoops ball to Johnson at second to get Span over to Lind not in time ball gets away, Casilla scores and runner Dozier to second. Error to Alvarez. 5-1 Jays. Mauer, grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind for the out. 52 pitches. Top 4th: Arencibia leading off. Grounds to short, throw to Mauer at first, one down. Johnson, pulls it to second, throw to Mauer two down. Escobar, singles back up the middle, one two down for Bautista, 2-0 count, both low. Same again, 3-0 count. low ball four, nothing for Jose to even swing at. Good patience by Jose. Two on for Encarnacion. OH MAN !!! Edwin pops it up, Doumit shouts he cannot see it, and ball drops between three of them in front of the plate, wow, Escobar scores. 6-1 Jays. Have you ever seen that before? Ball went no more than five feet and Escobar scores from second. Thames grounds to Mauer for the out. Lots of boo birds and rightly so. 86 pitches. Bottom 4th: Willingham. Full count. Ball four. Leadoff walk. Doumit. Shift right. Lawrie in shallow right. Grounds to right, Lawrie of course, and throw to Lind to get Doumit but Willingham to second. One down for Plouffe. Singles first pitch to Thames in left. Two on one down. Komatsu. VERY nice play bounces to Johnson, tags out Plouffe and then throws to Lind to get Komatsu, great double play. 67 pitches. Top 5th: Swarzak now pitching. Lawrie, strikes out swinging. One down for Rasmus, singles opposite field to left. Colby third hit tonight. One on one down for Lind, skies it to Span in left centre for the out. Two down for Arencibia. Lines it opposite field right to Komatsu for the third out. Bottom 5th: Mastroianni, lines it to right for Bautista to make the out. One down for Casilla, strikes out swinging, two down for Span. Golfs it to right for Bautista to make the catch. 78 pitch count. Top 6th: Johnson leading off. Strikes out swinging. One down for Escobar. Good night or Yunel, on base three times and scored each time, singles to right. 3-3 with a walk. Jose now, is this your time? Has been on base twice, once for the walk and second time hit batsman. Takes ball one. There goes Escobar and out on the throw. Two down. Jose pops it up to left. Bottom 6th: Dozier leading off. Singles up the middle past Escobar, one on for Mauer. YES, grounds to Johnson, steps on the bag and throw to Lind another double play. Willingham with two down. Oh dear, gets hold of this one high to left and out of here. Home run Willingham, 6-2 jays. Doumit, two down. Fly ball to Thames for the out. 88 pitches. One more inning. Top 7th: Jays would like to get that one back. Encarnacion leading off. Grounds hard to Dozier at short, throw to first just gets him. Nice play by the shortstop. Thames, strikes out swinging. Lawrie, two down. Swarzak has done a nice relief job for three innings. Lines it to Komatsu in right to end the inning. 34 pitches for three innings and he has shut Jays hitters down. Bottom 7th: Plouffe leading off. Strikes out swinging. One down for Komatsu. Lines it off diving Escobar. Playable ball for Escobar off his glove but no error. Matsroianni, one down. Fly ball to Bautista in right for second out. Casilla, bounces back to Alvarez, throw to Lind for third out. 101 pitches and probably his night is over. Wonder if Cordero will get the eighth inning ? Top 8th: Glen Perkins now pitching. Rasmus leading off 2-3 tonight. Luis Perez warming up in Jays bullpen. High ball four. Lind, hitless tonight. One on. Takes strike three, hmm. One down for Arencibia. Strikes out two down. Johnson, strikes out swinging as his bat goes flying right. Bottom 8th: Luis Perez now pitching, but umpire Welke has a problem with his undershirt and makes him change it, the shirt had some stripes, not uniform according to umpire. How does this affect the pitcher’s concentration. Span, takes strikes one, two, Grounds one back off glove of Perez to Escobar throw to Lind, one down. Dozier, pops it up to the wall but Lind cannot make the catch, tough catch but doable. Does not matter next pitch strike three. Two down for Mauer. Strikes out, whoa Perez 10 pitches 9 for strikes. A lot better than his last outing. Top 9th: Jeff Gray now pitching. Escobar leading off, Jose will get another chance to get a hit. Yunel on base four times tonight. Grounds back up the middle, perfect night, four hits and a walk. Jose, with one on, come on Jose, we all want you to get going here. That might have been the pitch as he lets it go down the middle. Way outside to the backstop. Escobar to second. Jose pops it up to shallow right centre. How can Escobar get four hit night and Jose not a hit? Encarnacion 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Thames, drives it high to centre for Doumit to make the third out and he throws it back in to hold the runner, someone is not counting the outs. Bottom 9th: Jason Fraser now pitching. Willingham leading off. Strikes out swinging. One down for Doumit. Fly ball to right centre for Rasmus to make the out. Two down for Plouffe. Strikes out looking. Jays win big 6-2 tonight. BUT Twins did not help themselves much in the field. The very good: Alvarez, not perfect by any means but he kept the team in it for seven innings and wins his third game. Escobar on base five times, with four hits and three runs. Lawrie and Rasmus with two hits each. Colby also had a walk and was on base three times. Three double plays with Johnson in all of them and two of them did it all himself. Not so good: Two more errors by Johnson and Alvarez. The Lind and Bautista no-show continues. Jose not given much to hit and was hit himself.