Jays thrashed 14-3 by overpowering Texas bats and poor outing by Morrow

Jays v Rangers in Arlington. Game one of three. Lots of changes by Jays today. Evan Crawford down to Vegas, no surprise and seconded by this writer. Giving up two runs the last time he pitched when Jays had just come back with four of their own against the Rays 6-0 lead was his final straw. However I have no idea why Farrell gave him two innings of work when everyone else was getting one and also after he had given up a run. Our Manager is a pitchers delight. No Cito hook in sight. Cooper up for how long ? What does that say to Lind battling away in Vegas and hitting .500 before last night at least. Last change is another pitcher. Ryota Igarashi. Francisco on the DL with hamstring injury from Sunday’s game. More comments today about attitude of Lawrie and Escobar in the face of umpires. Comments are that they aqree over the top and I for one agree 100%. Neither player is helping the team by going after the umpires. It is not the reputation that this team needs. Problem is Lawrie does not see anything wrong in his approach. Bautista tried to excuse Escobar and himself today by saying that Latin players react differently, no Jose, maybe true but that is no reason to continue. Everyone gets lousy calls but most suck it up. Tonight Morrow v Holland. What to expect ? Who knows ? This Jays team is so unpredictable; everyone hopes that Morrow bubble will not burst. One good sign has been Jose going to the opposite field and adjusting to that constant diet of outside pitches. Lineups: Jays: Johnson, Escobar, Bautista, Encarnacion, Arencibia, Rasmus, Lawrie, Gomes, Davis and Morrow pitching. Good to see both Davis in left and Gomes at first. I think this is the strongest lineup that Farrell can put out there right now. Will it be enough against the possible World Series champions? Rangers: Kinsler, Andrus, Hamilton, Beltre, Young, Murphy, Cruz, Torrealba, Moreland and Holland pitching. Top 1st: Johnson leading off. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Escobar.1-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Bautista. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, strikes out the side on 13 pitches. Bottom 1st: Matt Joyce has just hit a two out grand slam off Jon Lester in Fenway, Ouch. Kinsler, full count, fouling them off here, low ball four. 13 pitch at bat. Andrus, wild pitch, what would a Jays game be without a wild pitch or two or three. Kinsler at second, inside ball four, two on nobody out for Hamilton. Just what Morrow needed. Fly ball to Rasmus in centre, throw to second. One down Beltre, both runners move up to second and third. 0-2 count, singles to Bautista in right, both runners score 2-0 Rangers. Young, singles to Rasmus in centre, not a great start here. Bruce Walton out to settle Morrow down. This game could be over very quickly at this rate. Murphy, full count, high ball four to load the bases. An eight pitch at bat. Cruz with only one down. 2-0 almost hit him inside. Jays bullpen Villanueva working. Drives it to right centre wall, clears the bases 5-0 Texas. Double for Cruz. This might be the shortest outing for Morrow tonight. Torrealba grounds to Lawrie at third looks Cruz back and throw to Gomes for second out. 37 pitches to get two out, not good. Moreland number nine guy. Singles to Rasmus in centre, here comes Cruz, 6-0 Texas. Kinsler who started this with that long at bat. Lines it to centre over the head of Rasmus in centre. That is it for Morrow, very unusual start for him. You have to wonder whether or not the Texas heat has affected his diabetes?? I hope not. Villanueva now pitching, both runners in scoring position. Andrus, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays have a lot of work to do against Holland. Top 2nd: Encarnacion, 1-1 count, pops it up to Cruz in right. One down. Arencibia, full count, strikes out, Rasmus, two down. Drives it into right field corner, stand up double for Colby. Lawrie, drives it to Cruz in right for the out. Stuck his glove out in desperation as it sailed over his head and the ball stuck in the webbing. He is laughing himself, he knew he was very lucky. Robbed Lawrie of an RBI and a double for himself. It is one of those nights for the Jays tonight. Bottom 2nd: Hamilton. Lines it into second deck right field, home run Hamilton. 7-0 Texas. Beltre, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Young, grounds to Johnson, throw to Gomes, two down. Murphy, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, on three pitches, nice pitching by Carlos. Top 3rd: Gomes, 0-2 count, takes strike three, one down for Davis. 0-2 count, grounds to second, throw to first two down. Johnson. Full count, singles to right, Escobar two down one on. First pitch !!! grounds to short, throw to second to get Johnson. I can’t wait for Escobar to be replaced at short. He does not get it that he has to get on base any way he can for Jose behind him. Thus he should not be hitting number two in my book. Bottom 3rd: Cruz, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Torrealba, 2-0 count. Pulls it to left just around foul pole. 8-0. Moreland, grounds to Johnson, throw to Gomes, two down for Kinsler. 2-1 count, strikes out swinging. Top 4th: Bautista leading off. With nobody on base yet again. 2-1 count, fly ball to Murphy in left for the first out. Encarnacion, lines it into left corner throw out at second, nothing much going right tonight for this group. Not a smart play by Edwin. Two down for Arencibia, grounds to third, throw is wild and pulls first base Young off the bag and Arencibia is safe. Should be an error to Beltre ? One on for Rasmus, yes, error now given to Beltre. It was terrible throw, he had time. Now that unecessary out by Edwin is big. Full count, lines it to right, Cruz just makes the catch near the wall for third out. Bottom 4th: Andrus, 3-0 count, high ball four, leadoff walk, Hamilton. Pops it up to Escobar at short, one down for Beltre. 2-1 count, singles to left, Andrus to third. Two on one down for Young. Full count, strikes out swinging at ball in the dirt, two down. Murphy, lines it to Bautista in right. First inning no runs by Texas. Top 5th: Time for Jays hitters to get something going, they have been close but a couple of not so smart plays have ruined any impetus. Lawrie, singles to centre, no lucky catch his time. Gomes, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Davis pops up first pitch to second, two down. Not a good at bat Rajai. Johnson, pops it up to Murphy. Jays hitters seem to have given up here. Bottom 5th: Cruz, singles to left. Torrealba, 0-2 strikes out, Torrealba doing an Escobar with the umpire, come on guy look at the score. One down one on for Moreland. Fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down for Kinsler. Pops it up into shallow right, no man’s land, everything they hit drops in or goes out. One of those nights for Texas. Two on two down Andrus, fly ball to Bautista for easy out. Top 6th: Escobar, what will he do this time? Takes ball one, and ball two, and strike one and strike two. His bat has not moved yet. Full count. Takes strike three. Bautista, 0-2 count, takes strike three. Jose has a beef that was no strike but umpires are fed up with Jays whiners. Encarnacion, two down. Encarnacion full count, does not like that call, that’s the way Edwin payback as he hammers this one into seats in left, home run for Edwin, 8-1 Texas. Arencibia. Pops it up foul and Young drops it, wow, a good job they can hit them out, strikes out swinging. Bottom 6th: Ryota Igarashi now pitching, just called up today. Hamilton leading off. Tough assignment. Full count, outside ball four but that was 11 pitches, I think Igarashi gets the moral victory against Hamilton. Beltre, another full count, takes strike three, Beltre arguing now. Does not make any difference. Young one on one down, 0-2 count. Singles to Davis in left. Hamilton all the way to third. Murphy, 0-2 count, takes strike three, he does not like the call either. Tough. Two down. Cruz, two on two down. Singles to Rasmus, Hamilton scores, 9-1 Texas. Torrealba, 0-2 count. Singles to Rasmus, runner held at third, bases loaded. Moreland. 2-2 count, singles to left, another run scores 10-1 Texas. Bases still loaded, Kinsler at bat. Full count. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Gomes for the out. Top 7th: Rasmus leading off. Holland on 92 pitches. Lines it very hard to right but Cruz is there for the out, nice hit Colby. Lawrie grounds first pitch to first takes it himself for the out, two down. Gomes, pops it up to Andrus, easy inning for Holland. Six pitches. Jays not showing much fight or grind here. Pity. Bottom 7th: Frasor now pitching. Cooper now at first. Gomes is now catching. Andrus leading off.1-2 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Cooper for the out. Gentry pinch hitting for Hamilton, grounds to Escobar, throw to Cooper. Two down. Beltre. Lines to left. Pinch runner Alberto Gonzalez. Young, full count, singles to Bautista in right. Gonzalez to third. Murphy with two on two down, another full count. Low ball four to load the bases. Cruz, grand slam into right field, You could see that coming a mile away. 14-1 Texas. Torrealba, 0-2, umpire gives Frasor that strike out of pity. Strikes out swinging to end the misery for Fraser but he was just awful. 30 pitch inning. Top 8th: Davis leading off, Holland still out there. 2-0 count, 3-0 count, high ball four, Davis on base. Jays need base runners Coach is out there leaves him in ??? Why? Johnson, no Omar Vizquel pinch hitting. To rest that injury for Johnson. 2-0 six balls in a row, ball three but Vizquel pops it up to second for the out. That would have been seven balls in a row. Maybe time to get him out of there. Now Washington comes out. Well at least he could not get a complete game, Jays get some satisfaction. Mark Lowe now pitching. One on one down. Escobar doubles to right, Davis to third, not sure why he didn’t score on that. But two in scoring position for Jose, 2-0 count, singles to left here comes Davis followed by Escobar,14-3 Thames pinch running for Jose. I hope they don’t bat around and score 10 here Encarnacion, One on one down. 3-1 count, Washington will not be amused with Lowe. Full count, grounds to third, throw to second gets Thames, two down for Cooper. Grounds up the middle throw to first gets Cooper. Jays get two more. Bottom 8th: Mathis, yes Jeff Mathis now pitching. Oh boy. Farrell not happy with the bullpen usage. Moreland, doubles to left, Kinsler, full count, pops it up to Escobar, one down. Andrus, 3-0 count, ball four, you have to wonder about Andrus now swinging, game is a blowout and he is taking the pitches ??? Ah well. Gentry. Fly ball to Thames for the second out. Gonzalez, fly ball to Thames or third out. At least he was swinging unlike Andrus. Top 9th: Jays need 11 to tie. Rasmus, Lawrie and Gomes due up. Yoshinori Tateyama now pitching, sidearmer. Rasmus drives the opposite way to Murphy in left for the out. Lawrie. 1-2 count, takes strike three inside, two down for Gomes, 1-2 count, grounds to Andrus at short, throw to first. Jays embarrassed tonight 14-3. Jays pitchers throw 203 pitches. Texas 126. Seven more walks by Jays pitching staff. Six extra base hits (including the grand slam off Frasor) 12 of the 18 hits were singles nickel and dime hits just missing the fielders all night long. The good: Not much tonight. Jays had lost this one the very first hitter who took 13 pitches off Morrow for his walk, and it went downhill quick from there. Edwin home run and Rasmus hitting hard and of course Jose two RBI single, and that was it. Lawrie was robbed of RBI by a desperation catch by Cruz in right. Bad: Edwin out trying to stretch a single into a double. Escobar as always first pitch swinging when they needed base runners. The concerns: Pitching: Top two in the rotation Romero and now Morrow. What is the problem? Jays were out on the field a long time tonight. The bullpen is now in a mess first game of the series. This could get uglier if Jays pitching staff unable to come through tomorrow and Sunday.