Rasmus day at the park for Jays sweep of the Phillies in front of sellout Fathers Day crowd

Phillies v Jays. Final game of series. Crowd lining up early today and not just for the giveaway helmet. It is Father’s Day and also opportunity for the sweep of the Phillies. What a crazy week, swept by the Nationals, losing three starters and on verge of the sweep, exactly why one should never give up on this team in June. Incredible crowd here today, must be well over the 40,000 for second consecutive game. Great opening pitch by Ricky Romero’s dad to Ricky, from the mound, one amazing strike bang, no doubt about it. Sign him up Alex. Jays introduce all the players fathers eleven of them, who have flown in for this. Top 1st: Cecil looks so different with the loss of weight, evidently at least thirty pounds through the off-season conditioning. Rollins, grounds to Gomes at first, one down. Polanco, strikes out looking. Pence, strikes out swinging. Nice start for Cecil. Bottom 1st: Lawrie leading off, hammers first pitch to Mayberry in left, stand up double for Lawrie. Rasmus, lines this one to almost the same place to the wall Lawrie waits for the catch but now takes off and scores easily. 1-0 Jays with Rasmus at second. Great start. Bautista with Rasmus in scoring position and nobody out. Ball four for Jose and two on nobody out. Encarnacion, OH NO!!!! Bautista is picked off at first, what was he thinking? He had taken a lead at first and was very slow to get back on the snap throw by Ruiz. One down one on, Encarnacion strikes out swinging, just like that two down. Johnson, that’s better, singles up the middle to Victorino, here comes Rasmus to make it 2-0. Escobar, two down and runner at first, fly ball to Victorino in centre to ends the inning. Promising start but could have been better. Top 2nd: Cecil now has a lead to work with. Thome, gets hold of this one, oh dear, into the seats in right centre, home run Thome and his #100 with the Phillies to go along with the Indians and White Sox, only the 4th player in MLB to do that. 2-1 Jays. Victorino, strikes out swinging. One down. Ruiz, strikes out looking, does not like the call. Luna, fly ball to left but Davis has it for the third out. Phillies get one back but that is all. Bottom 2nd: Gomes, getting more playing time now and Cooper on the bench again today. Gomes grounds this one to Rollins at short, throw to Luna at first, two down. Davis, strikes out swinging, two down. Mathis pops it up to Luna at first to end the inning. Top 3rd: Mayberry, oh NO, fly ball to left but over the head of leaping Davis into the Jays bullpen, home run Mayberry, 2-2 game. Short-lived lead for the Jays. He likes hitting here, that is his second home run of the series. Martinez, grounds to Lawrie at third, throw to Gomes at first to get Martinez, one down. Rollins, fly ball to Davis in left, two down. Polanco ball four, rough inning here for Cecil. Pence, singles to left and oh dear, Lawrie as he always does dives in front of Escobar but defects the ball off his glove and past Escobar. Escobar had that covered, one of the problems with that range of Lawrie frequently overlapping Escobar territory. Escobar had a much easier play on that ball. Two on, Polanco to third for the dangerous Thome who has already hit Cecil out of the park today. Not this time grounds to Johnson at second and throw to Gomes to get Cecil out of trouble. Bottom 3rd: Lawrie grounds to short, Rollins throw to Luna at first, one down for Rasmus. Rasmus, fly ball to Mayberry in left for the out. Bautista, a chance to redeem yourself here Jose. Not this time, grounds to Polanco at third, throw to first to end the inning. Jays go quickly and quietly for Kendrick. Top 4th: Victorino, pops it up to second but Johnson unable to get to it, difficult chance and safe at first. Just a looper. Ruiz one on lines it to Escobar, great diving catch by Yunel, highlight reel, Yunel will love that. Luna, there goes Victorino and safe on the throw by Mathis. Luna loops this one into shallow right, Bautista running in hard makes a great catch and throw to second doubles up Victorino. Great play Jose to end the inning and help out Cecil and also redeem yourself there. Bottom 4th: Encarnacion, grounds to Polanco at third, lone throw not in time, nice speed by Edwin to beat that one out. One on for Johnson, groan, grounds it to Rollins at short, over to second on to first, double play ball. Escobar, two down, grounds it back up the middle for a single. Gomes, he hits him as he turned away from that pitch, looks as if it were his leg, two on for Davis, grounds it back up the middle to Victorino, here comes Escobar chugging around the bags to score, 3-2 Jays, that double play now looks bad. Mathis with two on and two down, strikes out swinging. Jays get another but could have been more. Top 5th: Mayberry, lines it to Bautista in right for a single. Martinez fly ball to center but Rasmus makes nice catch, one down one on for Rollins. Strikes out swinging, two down. Polanco lines to Escobar, fumbles this one and error to Yunel. Mayberry moves up to second Two on for Pence, fly ball to left but Davis makes the out and preserves the lead for Cecil. But Cecil seems to be labouring the last two innings. It is a little tougher in the majors. After all he has spent most of his last games in AA league. Bottom 5th: Lawrie, ball four and on again for Rasmus. Colby gets hold of this one and no doubt about it to right field seats, home run Colby and Jays blowing this one open 5-2. The Lawrie-Rasmus combo strikes again. Still nobody out. Bautista pops it up to Polanco at third, one down Encarnacion pops it up to Luna at first, two down. Johnson fly ball to centre, Victorino makes the out. Jays get two more for Cecil. Top 6th: Luis Perez now pitching. Thome, grounds to Gomes at first, one down. Victorino, drives it to Bautista in right, single for Victorino. Ruiz, line it to Rasmus, another great catch by Colby. Luna, pops it up to second for Johnson to make the out. Good inning from Perez. Bottom 6th: Escobar, fly ball to Victorino in centre, one down. Gomes, strikes out swinging, two down. Davis fly ball to Mayberry in left. Quick three up and down for the Jays. Top 7th: Mayberry pops it up to Gomes at first, one down. Martinez, fly ball to Davis in left for the second out, Rollins, strikes out swinging. Nice three up and down for Perez. Bottom 7th: Mathis leading off. Lines this one to left and safe at second on a very weird dive to the bag. He started out too early on that one but safe is what matters. Lawrie lines out to pence in right, one down one on and pitching change for Rasmus. Jake Diekman now pitching. Colby singles to Pence in right here comes Mathis to score, 6-2 Jays. Pence kicks the ball as he fields it and is charged an error, Colby does not get the RBI. That seems unfair as it would have taken a perfect throw by Pence to get Mathis as Ruiz would be facing away from Mathis when the throw came in. Bautista with Colby at first, oh no, Colby is picked off here and tagged out by Rollins. Two down, Bautista fly ball to centre for Victorino. Jays get one more. Could have been more. Top 8th: Perez out there for a third inning. I have no problem with this, he is pitching well. Polanco, strikes out swinging. Pence fly ball to Rasmus, makes it looks so easy out there. Is definitely on his game today. Thome, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Gomes and a great inning by Perez. Bottom 8th: Here comes Papelbon to loads of jeers around the stadium, Jays fans never forget a Red Sox player. Encarnacion leading off, ball four, leadoff walk, fans like that and let Papelbon know it. Johnson, grounds back to Papelbon, nice grab, throw to second to get Edwin but no chance for two. As Edwin makes nice defensive slide into second base. One on one down for Escobar, strikes out swinging, two down. Gomes, strikes out swinging, not a good night for Gomes. Papelbon gets the better of jays this inning at least. Top 9th: Jason Frasor now pitching. Perez had great three innings in relief. Victorino grounds back to Frasor, throw to Gomes for first out. Ruiz, takes strike three, two down. Luna, grounds to Lawrie at third, very long throw by Brett but unable to get him. One on two down. Mayberry, singles to Rasmus in centre, two on two down. Pinch hitter Fontenot for Martinez. Grounds to Escobar, takes it himself to the bag for the out. Jays win big today 6-2 and sweep the Phillies. The excellent: Rasmus day today with three hits 3 RBIs and robbed of another. Highlight reel plays in the outfield by Colby. As well as the double play by Jose. We have to say it today RISP 4-7. One of the best for a long time. The good: Cecil, have to give the guy some credit, must have been tough outing for him and loads of pressure to do well but he did well enough to get another start. Was very deliberate and slow in his pitching and obviously concentrating on every pitch. Two home runs but five strikeouts and much better only one walk. That in itself is a plus for the walk-happy Jays pitching rotation. The not so good: Base pad running yet again. Bautista picked off, Rasmus picked off. Hopefully these things can improve over a long season.