Jays bats pummel the A's 10-4 for fine win.

Athletics v Jays. Game three and series finale. Camp day at the Rogers Centre, I love it, the noise and enthusiasm of the kids is unbelievable, the usual problem is that Jays often do not take advantage and today could be one of these days as A’s try to sweep. They are in this wild card big-time. Unbeaten in eight, sweeping both the Yankees and Red Sox, Jays are their next victims. Can you believe the buses are already unloading at 11. An hour and half to first pitch !!! All the various coloured t-shirts, thousands of them. Inside, the various camp groups are already in the stadium and now doing the camp chants. Amazing, looks like a huge crowd, Jays players need to see and hear the young kids today and make them remember baseball is a kids game, to be enjoyed and not to endure the suffering that they seemed to last night. Romero in particular agonised over every pitch, just throw it Ricky, you are analyzing it to death. No news about his next steps, Farrell says he will be pitching in Seattle on Monday, may not be a bad idea away from the Toronto media and crowds. Looks as if this will be a big crowd today; the fifth deck is full out by the left field foul pole. I do not understand why Rogers Centre/Jays do not play to this captive audience. No Jumbotron activity or film until 30 minutes before the game. The hour could have been perfect to show material on the players and highlights of the team duiring the season, get the kids familiar with the players. The good news, Verlander is pitching against the Indians today so will not be facing the Jays on the next series when Oakland leaves town. Toronto joke today, Mathis is not available to pitch as he pitched last night. Lineups: A’s: almost the same as last night. Crisp, Gomes, Reddick, Cespedes, Carter, Inge, Suzuki, Hicks, Weeks and Milone pitching. Jays: No Gose, no Arencibia, no Lind, no Escobar, I have no problems with this lineup. No way Yunel is going to fight and scratch out a win that Jays really need this afternoon. Trade rumours also re Yunel, no loss as far as I am concerned, yes he has a good glove, but his attitude overwhelms his at bats. Lind has reverted back to his old ways although he is facing a lot of lefties but then so is Travis. Today: Davis, Rasmus, Lawrie, Encarnacion, Snider, Gomes, Johnson, Mathis, Vizquel and Laffey pitching. I do like Travis hitting number five behind Edwin. Edwin should see some better pitches today than he did with Lind behind him. The seats in 200 level are soaking wet, the steam cleaner was a bit over zealous last night, but nowhere for us to move to, not many empty seats. Grin and bear it, at least the roof is closed because of the crazy stormy weather outside. Top 1: Crisp leading off, this guy hit two home runs last night, grounds back to Laffey throw to Gomes playing first today. One down for Gomes grounds to Vizquel at short, throw to Gomes, two down. Reddick DH today, oh boy here we go, hammers this one to right field and over the fence, home run, number 22 for Reddick. And A’s go out ahead 1-0. Cespedes two down, grounds to Lawrie at third, throw to Gomes to end the inning but Oakland draws first blood. Bottom 1st: Davis leading off, grounds Hicks at shirt, throw to Carter at first, one down. Rasmus strikes out swinging. Lawrie, two down, fly ball to Gomes in right for third out. Top 2nd: This was the inning that did in Romero and the Jays last night. Carter strikes out swinging. One down. Inge fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down. Suzuki fly ball to Davis in right. Laffey looking good so far at least and much, much better than last night for the Jays. They need to get this full house of screaming juveniles into the game. Bottom 2nd: Encarnacion fly ball to Gomes in right, one down. Snider strikes out swinging, two down as Suzuki throws down to Carter at first. Two down for Yan Gomes, grounds to Inge at third, throw to Carter at first to end the inning. Jays have scored one run in the last 20 innings, whoa, not good at all. Top 3: Hicks leading off strikes out swinging. One down for Weeks, grounds to Gomes at first, flip to Laffey covering, two down. Top of the order again, Crisp ball four, first walk given up by Laffey today. Gomes, one on two down fly ball to Davis in right to end the inning. Laffey doing his job, but he needs some run support here. Bottom 3rd: Johnson, takes strike three, one down, last night’s hero, Jeff Mathis, fly ball to Crisp in centre, two down. Vizquel, strikes out swinging. Both pitchers doing well so far but Laffey pitch count much higher than Griffin, one major reason is the free swinging first pitch Jays hitters. Top 4: Reddick leading off, lines to Snider in left, one down. Cespedes, grounds to Vizquel and safe as no throw, Omar could not get his weight on that foot to throw. One on for Carter strikes out swinging. Two down for Brandon Inge, this is big trouble, fly ball to left and Travis watches this one disappear over the fence, two run home run and A’s are now 3-0 on the Jays. Suzuki, two down grounds to Lawrie, throw to Gomes to end the inning. Laffey by no means as bad as Romero was last night but he really needs some run support, this game is not out of reach (yet). Bottom 4th: Davis lines to Gomes in right, leadoff single, that will do to start with. Rasmus lines out to Crisp in centre for the out. Lawrie, lines to Crisp incentre, two on base. Davis all the way to third on that play. Encarnacion, here we go Edwin, as he drives this one to left and over the fence, home run Edwin and here comes Davis to score with Lawrie right behind him, three runs score to tie this one up. 3-3. Just like that, Jays get their first run and then more runs with one hit than they had in the previous 21 innings this series. About time. Snider, strikes out swinging for the second time today. Gomes fly ball to Cespedes in left for third out, BUT Jays have tied this one up. Top 5th: Hicks grounds to Laffey, throw to Gomes. One down for Jemile Weeks, ball four. Number nine guy on base. Crisp lines to Travis in left, stand up double, Weeks to 3rd. Two on for Gomes, oh dear, ball four and bases are loaded. This is not good. Reddick grounds to Johnson throw to Vizquel to get Gomes, no chance for two as Weeks scores 4-3 A’s take lead again. Not out of this one yet. Crisp at 3rd. Reddick at 1st. Two down for Cespedes grounds to Lawrie throw to Johnson to get Reddick at 2nd. But A’s have retaken the lead. Bottom 5th: Johnson bunting back to pitcher Milone throw to Carter at first, one quick out. Mathis, that’s better, singles back up the middle past Milone to Crisp. Vizquel, one down one on, grounds to Suzuki. Mathis to second, now umpire disagrees, calls Vizquel out, batter interference and Mathis has to go back to first, strange play. Davis first pitch swinging, fly ball to Gomes ion right. Milone definitely has the Jays number today and is keeping his pitch count well down although with the free swinging Jays at first pitches, that is maybe not the pitcher but the hitters. Top 6th: Laffey meantime on 94 pitches and may not be out much longer. Carter grounds to Lawrie throw to Gomes at first, one down. Inge strikes out swinging, two down. Suzuki singles to Rasmus in centre and that is it for Laffey. . Pitching Change: Brandon Lyon replaces Aaron Laffey. Nice ovation here for Laffey as he leaves, not a brilliant outing by any means but much much better than Romero last night and he has kept the Jays in this one. Hicks strikes out swinging. Lyon does his job neatly. Bottom 6th: Rasmus, here we go, singles to Gomes in right. Lawrie singles to Gomes in right, busy guy, two on and nobody out. Encarnacion, wild pitch by Milone, Rasmus to 3rd. Lawrie to 2nd. Suzuki was injured on that foul ball, no ok now and back to the game. Encarnacion with two in scoring position and nobody out, takes strike three, and just stands there, I think the umpire gets the message Edwin but it is not changing anything. One down for Snider, crazy he is bunting and a perfect bunt as the throw by Milone to first hits Travis in the back and gets away, Rasmus scores. Now Travis slips on his way to second and hung up there but stretches out the rundown as here comes Lawrie two runs score and Jays take the lead 5-4 for the first time this series !!! Here comes error by pitcher Milone. Gomes two down fly ball to Crisp in centre. But this is huge for the Jays and at the best time in the game with Oliver and Janssen set for the last two innings. Can Lyon now get through the 7th? Top 7: Weeks leading off grounds to Vizquel throw to Gomes. One down. Crisp strikes out swinging. Two down, Gomes strikes out looking to end the inning and a very nice piece of work by Lyon. Romero should be watching this guy, just throwing strikes, simple for some. Bottom 7th: Johnson leading off and going after this one and this one is high to right and out of here, home run for Kelly Johnson, huge and a long time since he had some offense from Kelly. 6-4 Jays. A valuable extra run for the closers. Mathis fly ball to Gomes in right for the first out. Vizquel grounds to Hicks at short, throw to Carter at first. Davis, takes strike three to end the inning. Now can Jays closers finish this one off with the two run lead? Top 8th: Oliver replaces Brandon Lyon. Lyon had an excellent and very important four outs to close the A’s down, useful for Farrell to know that he has another good arm to take an inning before Oliver and Janssen. Reddick fly ball to Davis in right, one down. Cespedes, fly ball to Rasmus, two down. Carter, takes strike three looking to end the inning. Oliver has been huge for Jays successes this season. Bottom 8th: Doolittle now pitching for Tommy Milone. Milone only threw 86 pitches but Jays were starting to zero in on him. Rasmus leading off, fly ball to Cespedes in left, one down. Lawrie, ball four,one on one down. Encarnacion pops it up to shallow right and ball drops in, Lawrie was running, stopped then when he could see ball dropping took off again and gets to third on the play. Not sure he would have scored if he had not stopped. Now runners at the corners and one down for Snider. Yes Travis, drives this to Cespedes in left, here comes Lawrie to score, 7-4 Jays. Lawrie at second, Edwin at third, one down. Big chance to break this open here. Gomes, this will do high fly ball to Crispin centre, both runners tag and Edwin scores 8-4 Jays. Lawrie to third on the play. Gomes a sacrifice RBI. Johnson, yes Kelly, fly ball to Cespedes in left and off the wall, here comes Travis to score, 9-4 Jays. Where did these bats suddenly appear from? Who’s complaining, not Jays fans. That is it for Doolittle, lived up to his name. Evan Scribner now pitching. A righty for change. Mathis, he doubles to the wall in left, here comes Johnson to score, 10-4 Jays. Some wag shouting we want 16… Vizquel, Mathis in scoring position, two down, fly ball to Cespedes in left for third out, but Jays have broken this one open and here comes Casey. Top 9th: Janssen now pitching, not a save situation but he definitely needs the work. Brandon Inge strikes out swinging. One down for Seth Smith, Pinch-hitting Kurt Suzuki. Smith fly ball to Rasmus in centre two down. Another pinch-hitter Brandon Moss for Hicks. Fly ball to Rasmus and Jays have won one, avoided the sweep and some of the bats have come alive after long sleep. Kelly Johnson being one in that category. The very good: I would say Laffey definitely. He had a very difficult job today, trying to stop the bloodletting and avoid a sweep; He was not overpowering but he kept the team in this one which is all that we can ask form a starter. Travis Snider 2-4 today but the squeeze bunt for the tying run and the quick thinking rundown after he slipped and fell were huge runs. Followed by another RBI in the 8th inning to make it 7-4.I think putting him behind Edwin also is going to give Travis the confidence he needs to break out now for the rest of the season. Kelly Johnson, two hit game including the homerun, after struggling for so long he needed a break out game. The pitchers need a special mention with Laffey going six innings, and then Lyon, Oliver, and Janssen to save it. When this team ever gets back to full strength there are not many league teams anywhere that could beat them all factors equal.