Davis ruins Laffey's night

Jays v White Sox. Game one of three. Final series before the All-Star break and incredible as it sounds the Jays are still within striking distance. Easy to ignore the problems of Cordero but just this week alone those two losses would have pushed the Jays within a game of second place. No question he has to go, Farrell today still believes in his stuff. He must be watching a different player from the rest of the fans. His own assessment last season was that he mismanaged his handling of the bullpen, so far John some of us see no difference this season. Not just with Cordero but with the rookies. The other discussion item today was regarding Romero and whether the Jays should bite the bullet and send him down as they did with Halladay years ago to get him sorted out and with great success. Fat chance with a vote from Farrell but on this one he may well be overruled by Alex. Another tough series this weekend for the Jays. White Sox leading their division and strengthened with Youkilis at third. This is one strong lineup. Plus Peavy pitching already has four complete games. Plus Jays have to contend with this incredible humidity and heat as with most of the east, and no one will want to be out there in the field for long innings. Tonight lineups: Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Lind, Escobar, Davis, Johnson, Arencibia, and Laffey pitching. White Sox: De Aza, Youkilis, Dunn, Konerko, Rios, Pierzynski, Viciedo, Ramirez, Beckham and Peavy pitching. Top 1st: Lawrie, bounces slow bounces up the middle and safe at first, no throw. Speed. Rasmus with one on. First pitch high fly ball to De Aza in centre for the first out. Great swing just not far enough Colby. Bautista, 0-2 count, lifts it into shallow left centre, Lawrie had to hold for possible catch and only advances to second. Two on, one down for Encarnacion. How about a double steal John? No way, Jays have lost that aggressive approach. Full count, there go the runners strike three and throw gets Jose at second, double play ball. Oh dear. A few pitches too late to try that John. But to be fair Edwin just took that pitch and did not help his runners. 14 pitches. Bottom 1st: De Aza, lines it to third, great catch by Lawrie, one down for Youkilis, 3-0 count, outside ball four, those were very close pitches Mr. umpire. Dunn, one down one on. Shift right with Lawrie behind first. 2-2 count, takes strike three, two down for Konerko. Singles back up the middle, two on two down for ex-Jay Rios. Pops it up to Rasmus in centre for the third out. 18 pitch count. Top 2nd: Lind leading off. 3-0 count, takes strike one. Drives this one high to opposite field left and this one is out of here, home run for Lind, 1-0 Jays. Escobar, grounds to Ramirez at short, throw to first for the first out. Davis, 1-2 strikes out swinging, two down for Johnson now hitting number eight, long way down from the number two spot. Full count, low ball four. Arencibia with two down and one on. 2-2 count, just gets under this one and pops it up to Ramirez in shallow left. 37 pitches. Bottom 2nd: Pierzynski, first pitch fly ball to Rasmus in centre for the out. Viciedo. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Ramirez. Grounds to Lawrie at third, throw to Edwin for the out at first. 27 pitches, very nice. Top 3rd: Top of the order again, Lawrie, lifts it to Beckham at second, fumbles the ball off his glove and once again Lawrie speed gets him to first to beat the throw, Rasmus lifts it into shallow left for Ramirez to make the catch, one down for Bautista. 2-0 keeping it away from Jose here. 3-1 count, low ball four, two on one down for Encarnacion. Deja vu first inning. Pitch number 50 for Peavy. 2-2 count. Fly ball to Rios in right for second out, Lawrie holds at second. Lind, two on two down. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. 56 pitch count after three for Peavy. Bottom 3rd: Beckham leading off. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for top of the order De Aza, 2-2 count, grounds back to Laffey, throw to Edwin at first, two down. Youkilis, 2-2 count, fly ball to Davis in left for the out. 41 pitches. Top 4th: Escobar leading off. 3-0 count, drives this one to right centre and De Aza makes the catch at the wall. Robs Yunel of a double at least. Davis, one down, bunting up the third base line, nice bunt but Youkilis was ready and bare hand throw gets Davis. Johnson, 2-2 count, loops it into shallow centre for a single. Arencibia, 1-2 count, takes strike three. Pitch count 75. Wild games in Cleveland and Boston. Tampa beating Indians 10-2 and Boston now ahead of Yankees 7-6 after being down 5-0 in the first inning. Bottom 4th: Heart of the White Sox order Dunn leading off. Grounds first pitch to Edwin at first, one down. Konerko, 2-2 count, bounces to Lawrie at third, throw to Edwin at first, two down for Rios. 2-2 count, singles to Rasmus in centre. One on two down for Pierzynski, grounds to Johnson, throw to Edwin for the out. Pitch count 55. Top 5th: Top of the order Lawrie. Third time he has lead off the inning tonight. Peavy muttering at the umpire on the calls. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down for Rasmus, grounds hard to second but great save by Beckham robs Colby of a hit. Throw to first for second out. Bautista, full count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 91. Bottom 5th: Viciedo, pulls it to left to the wall for a stand up double. Ramirez, same again and Davis airmails the throw way over head of Arencibia for Viciedo to score easily. That was not a difficult throw and on the money would have had the runner. Ramirez to third on the play. Beckham. And another hit to left in front of Davis and Lawrie and here comes Ramirez, 2-1 White Sox. Davis also bobbles the flip throw from Lawrie and then overthrows the fielder again. That was horrible sequence and now Walton out there to calm things down. Laffey let down by Davis here bigtime. Beckham at second. De Aza. 2-1 count, fly ball to Rasmus, his throw to Lawrie is right on the money but Beckham safe. One down finally but another runner at third. Youkilis, 2-2 count, lines it to left. Sox are pulling Laffey to left on every hit, here comes Beckham, 3-1 White Sox. Dunn with shift right on. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Konerko. Not out of this inning yet by any means. Lines it hard to left but a great leaping catch by Lawrie to end this one. 77 pitches but thanks to Davis, Jays need a left fielder who can field and throw. Maybe time to try Ben Francisco out there, his bat is much better than Davis and he can field. Top 6th: Jays playing catchup but not impossible by any means. Encarnacion leading off. 1-2 count, singles to right. One on for Lind, 0-2 strikes out swinging. Peavy did not throw over to first once, come on Edwin make the guy work for it at least. Escobar, 100 pitches for Peavy. Lines to second throw to first to double up Edwin. That is the second time Jays base runners have been caught like that. Pitch count 102. Bottom 6th: Jays hitters did not give Laffey much chance to relax there after that last inning. Rios, pops it up to Edwin to make the catch in the camera bay. One down for Pierzynski, no doubt about this one though, a moon shoot to right and Jose watches it go into the crowd. 4-1 White Sox. Viciedo grounds first pitch off the mound to Escobar throw to Edwin for the second out. Ramirez back to Laffey but overruns it and unable to handle it and throw too late to get him at first. Beckham. Two down one on. 2-1 count, there goes Ramirez but Arencibia ready and great throw gets him sliding in to second. Nice play by Arencibia. Pitch count 89. Time for the bullpen John, it is very very hot out there. Top 7th: Davis? or pinch hitter ? No luck. Pops it up to Youkilis at third for first out. Johnson. Lines it hard but right at second throw to Konerko at first for second out, Arencibia. Full count, pops it up to Rios in right. 113 pitch count. I guess not much faith in the White Sox bullpen if you make Peavy go this far in this heat. Bottom 7th: Jesse Chavez now pitching. That makes sense and not just for the scoreline but for Laffey’s health. Beckham pops it up to Bautista in right for the out. De Aza, 0-2 count, bounces to Johnson throw to Edwin, two quick outs for Chavez. Youkilis, 3-1 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Edwin. Nice easy inning for Chavez. Top 8th: Will Peavy be out there? Yes he is, that is crazy. Lawrie leading off. Fly ball to centre for the out. Rasmus, now the White Sox manager is out there, what a waste of time just for the lefty matchup with Rasmus ??? Matt Thornton now pitching. Rasmus, whoa, has to duck from the first pitch. Another high and outside, might be why Peavy was in there for so long. Moonshot by Colby to right but foul, that was a Colby rocket, Thornton gets a break. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Bautista two down, 1-2 count, takes strike three, Jose has a quiet talk with the umpire, they must be so hot out there, we forget that they do not get chance to sit as the players do and to concentrate like that for three hours with those outfits and the protection must be tough. Bottom 8th: Dunn, takes strike three and Dunn has a fit. Konerko, first pitch lines it into shallow centre. One on one down. Rios, oh boy, grounds to Edwin steps on first, throw to second hits Konerko in the back. Safe at second. Two down Pierzynski, intentional walk. Two on for Viciedo. Pops up the first pitch high to shallow centre for Rasmus. Nice pitching by Chavez. Yankees back on top of Red Sox 10-8. Top 9th: Last chance for Jays tonight. Addison Reed the closer, 12 of 13 attempts. Encarnacion, full count, almost hits him inside. Ball four. One on for Lind. That’s the way Adam, lines it into left, Edwin to third on the play, Lind at first. Tying run now in Escobar. Ben Francisco now Pinch runner for Lind, this is where Davis should be playing. Fly ball to center right, Edwin scores 4-2 game but one down for Davis. 0-2 count. Oh boy grounds to short throw to second over to first another double play. Jays lose this one but not an impressive game from Davis with bat or glove. Let’s see tomorrow whether Manager agrees. Will this be Romero’s last chance? The very good: Lawrie defence. Lind home run and single in the 9th to get tie run at the plate. The good: You have to give Laffey a good here. He was definitely victimized by his defense behind him and specifically Davis in left. He held the White Sox scoreless until the three run 5th. Very poor: Davis in left field. Ruined night for Laffey. To cap a miserable game representing the tie run he grounds into a game ending double play. Three inning ending double plays by the Jays. That should not happen, but if there is no aggression with runner at first the odds are much greater.