Jays swept in Texas but fight to the end as Chavez pitches outstanding relief and Arencibia and Rasmus go deep

Jays v Rangers. Series finale game three. Texas is of course in a league of their own. By far the dominating team in the AL. But that being said Seattle has just manhandled them this week. They are beatable. Jays try to avoid the sweep and going 0-5 in their losing streak. No one expects them to win least of all most Jays fans. One advantage is they should be relaxed as there are no expectations of them to win. Drabek pitching against Darvish is hardly an endorsement for a win. Added to the unlikely win column is a pitching staff totally demoralised and beaten up. Romero pitching like a number five rotation, certainly not number one. Morrow I give the benefit of the doubt as I believe the Texas heat may have had something to do with his collapse. Alvarez did pitch well until one inning collapse. Drabek remains to be seen but his problems have always been in his head not his talent and this Texas lineup will probably intimidate him big-time. The rest of the bullpen have not pitched badly, the problem is they are all exhausted and need a few days to recover which they do not have when they return from this horrible road trip to face Baltimore. They desperately need a starter to go deep. Will it be Drabek? Possible but extremely unlikely. However the major beef right now is with Manager. Last season Farrell gave himself a failing mark for his handling of the bullpen and I fear that this season will be a repeat. There is no reason at all why he let Frasor handle Hamilton last night and lose the game. Percentages favoured Hamilton in every category. Putting him on base with runner at second was the option. Do you think Washington would have pitched to Bautista in that situation? no way. Earlier in this road trip using Crawford for two innings. The pitching staff right now is exhausted and demoralised. Drabek has no option but to be the saviour and that alone will probably freak him out. Even if all things were equal Jays have to face Yu Darvish looking for his win number seven. Yes the Jays will win more games but without a miracle this team is not going to be challenging in September or even close. They could very well be the team that everyone wants to play to pad their stats and win columns. Added to their horrors is their freefall to the bottom and right now incredible as it may be, a loss away from being tied with Boston at the bottom of the division. That is not the situation they want to be in facing a series against the Orioles tomorrow. Jays get relief in that bullpen, Chavez and Beck summoned to Arlington. Igarashi and Gomes go down. No problem with Agarashi but Gomes ???? a guy who has 5 RBIS and 2 HRs in eight games. What about Thames? Lineups: Jays: Escobar, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Thames, Arencibia, Lawrie, Cooper, Vizquel and Drabek pitching. I like Colby Rasmus hitting in front of Jose. Thames ? still in the lineup. Rangers: Kinsler, Andrus, Hamilton, Beltre, Young, Murphy, Cruz, Napoli, Moreland and Darvish pitching. Top 1st: Escobar, 3-0, Yunel yet to move his bat. Dow and away ball four, lead off walk, Jays will take that. Rasmus, Inside 1-0, five balls in a row make that six, there’s the first strike and Colby pops it up to Andrus. One down for Bautista, 1-0, Bronx cheer for that strike. 1-2, wild pitch and Escobar to second, Jose strikes out swinging, two down. Encarnacion, grounds to Beltre at third, throw to Moreland at first to only just get Edwin. Interesting start for Darvish, if he pitches like that he will not be around long this game. Control not 100% by any means. Bottom 1st: Drabek 4-4 and that sums it up what you get is 50-50. Kinsler, pops it up to Cooper at first, one down. Andrus, singles to Thames in left. Hit and run. Hamilton pops up to Vizquel drops the ball but throw to Escobar at second to get Andrus. Lost that popup in the sun but recovered nicely. Two down for Beltre, Hamilton running but ground ball to Vizquel throw to Cooper for third out. So far so good for Drabek. Top 2nd: Thames strikes out looking, Arencibia, full count, strikes out swinging, two down for Lawrie, 1-2 count, hammers this one into the left field wall, in the corner, stand up double for Lawrie, he has started to be more consistent in his at bats. One on two down for Cooper, 3-0 count, Darvish by no means with control today. It would be nice however to see Lawrie get the green light to steal third here, put some pressure on Darvish, fly ball to Murphy in left, over his head but overhead catch at the wall robs Cooper here of an RBI. Jays have already left two in scoring position. Can’t do that against this team. Bottom 2nd: Young, singles to Bautista in right. Leadoff guy on. Murphy, 3-1, outside ball four, oh boy here we go, two on and nobody out and this sellout crowd is an extra man here to put more pressure on Drabek, they are loud. Cruz, one man wrecking crew this weekend against the Jays, not this time, pops up to Cooper at first, one down. Napoli, way outside, 3-0, outside ball four to load the bases. Same old Drabek. 36 walks so far this season. Ground ball ground ball ground ball. Say that mantra Kyle. Moreland, ball one, way outside, he has definitely lost the strike zone here, 19 balls in 30 pitches. 3-1, take or swing? High, no need to think as he walks in the first run. Man is thus guy awful right now. 1-0 Rangers. Bruce Walton finally out there. Kinsler top of the order, great, doubles to Thames in left two runs score, well I guess better than another walk. 3-0 Texas. Just like that. Andrus, he lines it to the wall in left, Thames had a chance on that at the wall, , two more runs score, 5-0 Texas and this is already a rout again, and only the second inning, long day for the Jays today but maybe not Drabek he way he is pitching. .Hamilton, pops it up to Escobar at short, he is 0-2 today, ironic. Two down for Beltre, oh boy, he has hammered this one deep to left centre and over the wall, home run and two more score. 7-0 Texas. This is another embarrassment for the Jays. The good news for Drabek is that there is no one now on base. Young, lines it hard to left and off the glove of Lawrie into left, when things go wrong they go wrong big-time for this team. Chavez up in the bullpen, second inning, ouch. Murphy, grounds to Vizquel, throw to Cooper to end the agony here. Top 3rd: Jays have no option but to keep on playing this one out, it will be interesting to see if they roll over here. How do you score 8 against Darvish and this lineup? Vizquel. three hit night last night. Lines this one to Hamilton in centre, one down for Escobar. Singles to Hamilton in centre, on base twice today. Rasmus, same again singles to Hamilton, Escobar all the way to third. Bautista, grounds to Beltre at third throw to second to get Rasmus. Escobar scores. Jays are on the board to avoid a whitewash at least. 7-1 Texas. Encarnacion, drives it left off the glove of Beltre, safe at first. Jose to second, two on for Thames one down. Oh boy, lines it to Murphy in left for the out. Ruins yet another inning for the Jays. If Snider were fit surely Thames would have been on the first bus to Vegas. However the good news is that Darvish had a lousy inning there. Bottom 3rd: Cruz, strikes out swinging, one down for Napoli, 57 pitch count here but 30 balls is the story, singles to Thames in left. Moreland, fly ball to Bautista in right, two down. Kinsler, gets hold of this one and bounces off the top of the wall into the seats in left, two run home run. 9-1 Texas. Andrus grounds in front of the plate, Arencibia throw to Cooper for third out but Drabek has given up two more. This game could be a higher score than Friday’s two touchdown score. Top 4th: How do you get motivated with a 9-1 deficit in the 3rd inning. Arencibia leading off. Hammers this one to left, way back in the seats, home run JP. 9-2.Texas. Darvish has not been hot himself today, If only Drabek had been half decent Jays might have taken advantage of him. Lawrie, full count, low ball four, another walk by Darvish. Still no one out. Cooper, there goes Lawrie and safe at second, not even a throw on that one, grounds to short, throw to Moreland at first, Lawrie to third. Vizquel lines out to Young at second, two down. Escobar, bounces one to Young at second, throw to Moreland at first to end this. Yet another left in scoring position. Bottom 4th: Chavez now pitching, Drabek failed miserably but as with Romero and Morrow Jays not getting good starting pitching right now. 67 pitches and 34 strikes, three walks in three inning. Not good enough by a long way. Jesse Chavez 6-2 in Vegas which is very good considering the league is a hitter’s paradise. But not a rookie, he has pitched in the majors with Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Kansas. Hamilton leading off, how would you like that to start with, just the leading AL hitter for your first. Hamilton grounds first pitch to Vizquel, throw to Cooper for the out, Nice start anyway.Beltre, lazy fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down. Young singles to Bautista, one on two down for Murphy, 1-2 count, takes strike three to end the inning, very nice start by Chavez all strikes. Top 5th: Rasmus, drives this one to centre, m stand up double for Colby, he is starting to get into gear, an exciting hitter to watch with that sweet swing. Bautista, 3-1 pitching Jose outside, ball four way outside. Two on nobody out, for Encarnacion. Drives it to left, here comes Colby to score, 9-3 game. Darvish has looked ordinary today. Too bad that Drabek looked and was awful. Here comes the pitching coach. Thames, NO, grounds to Young At second, to Andrus, back to Moreland at first, double play. When oh when is this guy going to be moved ? Either out of the lineup or at minimum way down and not mess up the big bats when they are on base. Arencibia, two down and two on, grounds to short, throw to Moreland at first and another good rally ruined. Bottom 5th: Some changes here. No Escobar ? Davis replaces him and playing in right. Jose to third and Lawrie to short. Nothing going right this weekend for the Jays. They do not need more injuries even if might mean Heccaverria appearing in Toronto earlier. Cruz leading off, strikes out looking. Napoli strikes out swinging, two down. Moreland 3-0 count, careful Jesse, full count, strikes out looking, whoa, Chavez has struck out the side. Now that IS good news. We have not seen that from a Jays pitcher in days. How would you like a job Jesse with this team ? Top 6th: New pitcher, that is it for Darvish, only five innings. 93 pitches, 3 walks and only 54 strikes. Washington obviously getting worried that jays were going to get to his prize pitcher. He had not pitched well all afternoon which will give Washington a $100 million headache. Mark Lowe now pitching. Lawrie, fly ball to Hamilton in centre, one down. Cooper grounds to Young at second over to Moreland at first two down. Vizquel, singles to Cruz in right. One on two down. Davis grounds first pitch back to Lowe, throw to Moreland for the out. Bottom 6th: Kinsler strikes out looking, that is a great out for Chavez. Andrus, lines to right but Davis makes the catch two down for Hamilton. Strikes out swinging. Very nice, another three up and down inning for Chavez. Six strikeouts in 42 pitches and three innings of work. That is good news. Top 7th: Rasmus, pops up to Andrus at short, one down. Bautista, grounds to Andrus throw to Moreland for the second out. Encarnacion, strikes out swinging, Jays go quietly here. Bottom 7th: Beltre, lines out to Vizquel at second, one down. Young, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, oh wow great running diving highlight reel catch by Colby, two down. Murphy, breaks the string here grounds to Bautista at third, bounces off his glove and no chance for a throw, one on two down. That was very unfortunate. Cruz lines to left off the wall here comes Murphy to score, 10-3 Texas. Napoli 2-2 count, drives this one to right, Davis jumping but just over his glove. home run and two more, 12-3 Texas. Moreland strikes out swinging. To be fair to the Jays they have had some rough breaks and that grounder to Bautista was a great example. Nine times out of ten he would have been thrown out and inning over. Not only that Lawrie would probably have made the play at third and Jose would have had that catch in right and. The baseball gods are not happy with the Jays right now. Top 8th: New pitcher Ogando replacing Lowe. Thames, full count, fly ball to Hamilton in centre for the first out. Arencibia connects with this one and high into left field seats, second home run today for JP 12-4 Texas. Jays keep on coming back, just not far enough, Lawrie lines out to Ogando, throw to Moreland, two down. Ogando hurt on that play that was off his pitching arm and trainer out, that is it for Ogando. Jays will leave one Texan hurt this weekend. Tateyama now pitching, Cooper pops up to Beltre at third. Bottom 8th: Kinsler pops up to Lawrie at short, one down. Andrus fly ball to Rasmus. Two down. Gentry pinch hitting for Hamilton, who went 0-4 today, that would have been ignominious to go 0-5 against this Jays pitching. Washington saving his ego here. Funny. Gentry pops up to Cooper at first. Top 9th: Tateyama pitching. Vizquel, ball four, leadoff walk. Davis lines hard to centre but Gentry makes the catch, one down, one on for Rasmus. Turns on this first pitch one and high to right, this one is out of here, he is so fast with that swing, two run home run for Colby and Jays still fighting, 12-6 game. That sounds even respectable ! Bautista, pops up first pitch to Napoli for the second out. Encarnacion, 2-0 count, 2-2 takes strike three. Jays horrible weekend and road trip over as they lose his one 12-6 but to their credit they never gave up and kept hitting. BUT strange as it may sound with some luck this score could have been very different. Take the three runs out of the seventh inning and this one is a lot closer. The good: Let’s concentrate on the good. Rasmus thriving in the number two position, two hit game double and home run. And his great catch off Young in the 7th. Bautista his usual. Let’s talk about Hamilton today 0-4 and avoided his 0-5 by sitting. The very good: Chavez, five amazing innings of relief to save the bullpen from further punishment and give a couple of them an extra day before the Orioles series. Arencibia two home run game. Vladdy hits his first home run for the Jays in Dunedin. Hurry up Vladdy. Thames ticket has been bought by the fans at least. The awful: Drabek, Thames and Jays collectively 1-8 with runners in scoring position. Jays hitters cannot afford to give away runs against Texas. Lots of ifs and buts on this game but it could have been different score with just the smallest changes.