Morrow complete game shutout as Jays win opener 5-0 with great defense and Arencibia home run

Jays v Angels. Game one of four Jays in California to start their longest road trip of the season. A few late nights for those of us in the east. Angels, Oakland, Seattle and Minnesota. Angels at the bottom of the division at the moment and a horrible start to the season. But this Angels lineup is much too strong to remain at the bottom. Jays will want to keep them quiet and not get them going especially Pujols who like Bautista is having a rough start. Albert is without a home run which is an incredible fact, it will not last and the Jays worst nightmare must be seeing him break out this weekend. Tonight Morrow who as we know can be Jekyll and Hyde in successive starts and his last start was very good. Meantime Jays are on a high after taking the Texas series. Encarnacion more than making up for lack of power from Jose. Johnson, Rasmus and Lawrie also hitting well. Positive signs of life from Arencibia, maybe the strong play by Mathis is a stimulus. This ballpark however is not friendly for home run hitters and we could see lots of outs at the wall. Interesting game last night for Halladay, bombed by the Braves and giving up a six run lead, Phillies not walking away with their division by any stretch this season. Lineups: Jays: Johnson, Escobar, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Thames, Lawrie, Rasmus, Arencibia and Morrow pitching. Angels: Trout, Wells, Pujols, Morales, Hunter, Kendrick, Trumbo, Aybar, Wilson and Haren pitching. Poor Yankees already losing 4-1 to Kansas. They have lost Rivera to a freak injury before the game and all is not well in Yankee land. Top 1st: Johnson, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Escobar. Fly ball to Trout in shallow centre for the out. Bautista. 1-2, Jose gets hold of this high to left, but ball dies at the wall for Wells to make the catch. That was a home run in Toronto but this place is a big ball park. Jays go quietly. 10 pitches. Bottom 1st: Trout, 2-2 count, singles to left. One on for Vernon in his own slump. Pops it up to Rasmus in left centre, one down one on for Pujols. Very nice, grounds to Lawrie, speedy throw to second over to Lind, double play ball. Am surprised that Trout had not stolen second earlier in the count. Excellent. 9 pitches. Top 2nd: Lind who is desperate need of some hitting. Pops up the second pitch right above home plate, that is how bad this guy is right now. Encarnacion. 2-2 count, lines it to left, almost identical to spot that Jose hit his, Jays hitters need more power tonight for a home run to left. Two down for Thames. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. 21 pitches 16 of them for strikes. Jays hitters in for a short game at this rate. All Haren right now. Bottom 2nd: Morales, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind a little high there Yunel. One down. Hunter, full count, inside, strike three. Hunter does not agree. Two down for Kendrick. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. 22 pitch count. Hanging in there with Haren for now at least. Top 3rd: Bottom of Jays order, can they solve Haren? Lawrie leading off. Yes Brett, hammers first pitch into right centre. Rasmus, bunting up third and a beauty. WHOA...no throw that was perfect. National League guy. Two on for Arencibia. WOW !!!!! crushes this one first pitch into left and over the bullpen home run JP and 3-0 Jays. Bottom of the order strike again bigtime. Johnson, singles to right. Shatters his bat also. Escobar still nobody out Jays have a chance here to put up some numbers. 3-1 count, grounds to short, over to second on to first, double play ball. How many is that that Escobar has done? Bautista nobody on. Over the head of Jose 2-1, hits his bat, check swing and rolls to short. Throw to first to end the inning, Jose will hate that out. Pitch count 36, could have been much worse. Bottom 3rd: Morrow has a nice lead. Can he shut them down here? Trumbo, 0-2, strikes out swinging. Aybar lines first pitch to Rasmus in centre another fine running catch. Two down for Wilson. 3-1 count, oh very nice defense, lines it to left but great running catch by Thames up against the wall. Very nice.. 32 pitch count. Morrow has great defense behind him tonight so far at least. Top 4th: Lind leading off. Average sinking fast and now right on .200. Not what Jays need as cleanup guy. Strikes out swinging. One down for Encarnacion. 2-2 count, gets under this one and high fly ball to Trout in left for the second out. Thames, fly ball to Hunter in right. Easy three up and down for Haren. 49 pitches. Bottom 4th: Top of the Angels order. Trout leading off. 1-2 count, singles to Rasmus in centre. Now he will be running. Wells, 2-0 count, oh dear Vernon, pulls it to Lawrie at third, over to Johnson on to Lind another double play ball. Should have sent Trout earlier. Pujols, pulls it to Lawrie at third, throw to Lind for the out. Nice inning by Morrow aided by his defense behind him and that is all you can ask. 42 pitch count. Top 5th: Bottom third of the order again. Lawrie, pop it up to shallow right centre for Kendrick to make the play. One down for Rasmus. Full count. Pops it up behind third base for Aybar to make the catch, eight pitch at bat by Colby. Two down. Arencibia, 1-2 count. Grounds to Aybar at short, throw to Pujols at first to end the inning. 64 pitches. Bottom 5th: Morales, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Hunter, 1-2 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, two down. Kendrick. 0-2 count, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Lind. Nice inning Brandon. 54 pitches. Top 6th: Top of the order. Johnson. Full count, high ball four, lead off walk for Kelly. Escobar, please stay out the double play, Just bunt if you have to but don’t pull it. Johnson distracting Haren here, throw over several times, going that time as Escobar fouls off. 2-2 count, goes again and another foul off. Grounds to Aybar, throw from his knees but not in time, Johnson beats the throw. Two on and nobody out for Jose. Takes first pitch down the middle. Ouch. How many times have we seen that this season? 0-2, oh man takes third strike again down the middle of the plate. Oh boy when you are going bad nothing goes right. Lind, with one down and two on. Hammers this one to right but foul. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. His woes also continue. Farrell has to split up these two both with averages under .200, not good for numbers three and four hitters. Encarnacion, with two on. Full count, OH BOY WOW. Grounds to Trumbo and he throws it away at first, Pujols didn’t even move to the ball, Edwin was running in front of him. wow, here comes Johnson, here comes Escobar to beat the throw. 5-0 Jays. Thames with Edwin at first. Pops it up to Aybar at short, 93 pitches for Haren. Bottom 6th: Trumbo now leading off, ever the way. 0-2 count. Lines it to left but right at Thames for the out. One down for Aybar. Pops it up to Lawrie, two down. Wilson, 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Pitch count. 66. Top 7th: Bottom of the order, Lawrie leading off. Full count. Low ball four and Lawrie walks. Rasmus grounds to Pujols at first throw to second back to first double play. Arencibia. First pitch ???? come on JP, pulls it to Trumbo at third throw to first for the out. Not after a double play, use your head. Three outs in two pitches. Not good. 101 pitch count. Bottom 7th: Top of the order, Trout. Fly ball to centre for Rasmus to make the catch, one down for Wells. Same again, fly ball to Rasmus in centre. Two down for Pujols. Pulls it hard to third, great diving stop by Lawrie and throw to Lind for the out. Robs Albert of a hit there. 74 pitches. Top 8th: Jordan Walden now pitching. Top of the order for Jays. Johnson. Pulls it to right for a single, one on for Escobar, singles to right and Hunter fumbles, Johnson to third on the play. Bautista, fly ball will do it Jose. 0-2 count. Oh wow, crazy swing at ball in the dirt and strikes out. One down for Lind, strikes out swinging. Encarnacion, last chance here. Oh just foul down the third baseline would have scored two more. 1-2 count, off the end of his bat back to Walden, throw to first to strand the first two leadoffs. Not good. Bottom 8th: Morales. Shift right on and he pulls it right at Lawrie playing shallow right for the throw to first. One down for Hunter. 2-2 count. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind for second out. Kendrick. 1-2 count. strikes out swinging. 85 pitch count. Top 9th: Dave Carpenter now pitching. Thames leading off. High fly ball to left but Vernon makes the catch. Would have been home run in Toronto but not here. One down, Lawrie grounds it up the middle throw by Aybar high and Lawrie safe at first. Pujols does well to leap and catch the ball and save it going into the crowd. Rasmus, one on one down. 2-1 count. Not good, grounds it to second, throw to the bag and back to first for another double play ball. Bottom 9th: Bottom of Angels order. Trumbo leading off. Pulls it into left, stand up double. Always the way, only the second hit all night by the Angels and the first hit since the lead off guy in the first inning. Aybar. One on. Full count. Morrow struggling here. Bullpen working. Pops it up to Lind by the dugout, one down. Maicer Izturis pinch hitting for Wilson. 0-2 count. Could not hold up on that one and strike three. Two down for Trout. 1-2 count. Looks at strike three and Morrow has a complete game shutout. Excellent game Brandon. Perfect start to this long road trip and also a very fast game. 2.15. Thanks from all the fans out East. Kansas also beats the Yankees 4-3. Our cup overfloweth tonight. The excellent: Morrow complete game two hit shutout, and without a walk. A hit in the first and another in the 9th. Noone could adsk for better than that from Morrow, outstanding game. Helped by great defensive plays but that is how it should be. Arencibia three run home run was enough. The very good: Defensive play by Lawrie in the first and second to start the two double plays and to get speedy Trout at second and Pujols by a mile. Plays by Rasmus and Thames for outs in the third. Great bunt by Rasmus. Not so good: Arencibia first pitch out after double play in the 7th. Bautista and Lind hitless all night and leave runners out there. Both in a real mess, swinging at the wrong pitches and letting go the ones down the middle of the plate. To be fair to Jose though his first at bat was deep to left but just not deep enough but would have been a home run in Toronto