Jays swept in NY and lose Lawrie to injury as Romero loses another

Jays v Yankees. Final Game of the series. Gose leading off today let us hope that he learned something last night, that he cannot expect to be an All-Star day one. His mistakes in right and on the base pads are forgivable for his first game but Jays fans expect more from now on. His base error at minimum ruined a nice fight back and conceivably cost the Jays runs. Jays are missing Jose more than just his production, Yankees are using the absence to pitch around the remaining bats in the lineup and you can be assured that the advance scout for the Red Sox and others are noting. The only solution is for the Jays hitters to step it up not just a notch but a lot. The leadership that Jose brings to this team is understated but someone now has to take that on. Preferably everyone will do their part and maybe a different leader each game. Edwin and Lind did their part last night but not enough to get base hits if the others are unable to cash in. One good move, no Escobar in the lineup today, his bat has been almost non-existent and hitting behind Lind it has hurt the Jays with runners on. Vizquel is no Babe Ruth but at least he has a baseball head and plays the situational hitting. Jays need some production also from Johnson and today Romero, sigh. If this were last season we would all be looking forward to it but this year, who knows what he will bring. Let’s dream for a complete game shutout. If only. Jays good news last night was that Boston also lost so little ground lost, so far. Lineups: Jays: Gose, Lawrie, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Lind, Arencibia, Johnson, Davis, Vizquel and Romero pitching. Yankees: No mercy given to the Jays in the lineup, these are all wins that New York wants to pad their division lead and then get the breaks in September. Can the Jays spoil their party today? Today: Jeter, Swisher,Teixeira, Rodriguez, Cano, Jones, Nix, Martin, Wise and Kuroda pitching. Granderson is the only guy sitting it out. Game delayed by lightning. There’s a break for the Jays, play this game in September??? Yankees have to head to the west coast today for Oakland tomorrow, so they will not want to play this one tonight. Underway. 2.00 pm one hour later. Top 1st: Gose, 2-2 count, fouling them off here, strikes out swinging, but it took Kuroda eight pitches, good at bat by Gose. Lawrie, one down, grounds first pitch to A-Rod at third, throw way wide of Teixiera at first and Lawrie safe at second on the throwing error by A-Rod. One on one down for Rasmus. Hitting the ball hard but not much to show recently for it. With the short right field fences I had hoped that Colby would feast on the pitching. 0-2 count, grounds to Cano throw to first to get Colby as Lawrie heads to third. Two down for Encarnacion 1-1 count, fly ball to left but Jones makes the out. Jays leave runner at third. Pitch count 15. Bottom 1st: Jeter, fly ball to right centre, this is trouble, over the head of Gose and off the wall to Rasmus backing up Gose, stand up double for Jeter to leadoff. We forget how good Jose is in right field until we see replacements out there. Swisher, runner in scoring position. Singles past Encarnacion to Gose in right, here comes Jeter, 1-0 Yankees, it took five pitches to get the first run. Teixeira, runner at first. 0-2 count, 2-2, there it goes high to left centre and out of here into the bullpen, two run home run and Yankees are already up 3-0 and still nobody out. Long afternoon ahead for Romero. A-Rod, 1-2 count, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to first to get the first out. Took 14 pitches, hardly awe-inspiring stuff from Romero today. Cano, 1-1 count, opposite field fly ball to left, off the wall, Davis had a shot at it, no error given, stand up double for Cano. Romero fooling nobody today. Fourth hit of the inning. Jones, singles to Gose in right, here comes Cano to score run number four. Bruce Walton out there. One on one down for ex-Jay Nix, take some pity on them here Nix. Grounds to Lawrie throw to Johnson to get Jones, not in time to get two, nothing going right here for the Jays this inning, two down for Martin, 2-2 count, Arencibia throw to Edwin and they get him, Nix is picked off, he had pity on Romero. But that was one awful start for Romero. 25 pitches ! four runs on five hits. Not helped by Davis or Gose. Top 2nd: It will be interesting to see if Yankees try to speed up the game now to get on that plane west. One hour is already lost. Lind, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, three pitches, looks like the Jays are trying to get out of here and why not. This is a very embarrassing start. Arencibia, strikes out swinging. Kuroda just throwing strike after strike here. 20 of his first 25 pitches. That is something Jays pitchers could do well to watch. Johnson, 1-2 count, grounds to Cano at second, going to his right and unable to make the stop cleanly Johnson safe without a throw, Jays first hit, but with two down. Davis, 2-2 count, Davis not chasing those outside balls in the dirt. Spoke too soon, strikes out swinging. Jays get a hit and that is it for the offence. Pitch count 33. Bottom 2nd: Has Romero calmed down? If Jays didn’t have such a pitching problem Romero could be looking at a stint in the minors to try to sort out his problems much the way Halladay did. But Ricky is fortunate there are other pitching problems and he is the best of a poor bunch right now. Martin, singles past a diving Johnson to Rasmus in centre. ExJay DeWayne Wise, one on, fly ball out to Davis, one down. Jeter, perfect grounds to Vizquel, flip to Johnson, on to Edwin, double play ball and Romero escapes this one without a run. Looking up, six pitch inning, count, 31. That really helps Ricky. Now can the offence get something going? Top 3rd: Vizquel 2-2 count, grounds back to Kuroda, throw to Teixeira, one down. Gose, grounds first pitch to Cano at second, throw to Teixeira, two down for Lawrie. 1-0 count, grounds to A-Rod at third, throw to Teixeira for the out. Jays go quickly, meekly and quietly. Pitch count 42 for Kuroda. Bottom 3rd: Swisher leading off. Full count, strike three looking. First strike out for Romero today. Ouch. One down for Teixeira, oh boy, Teixeira pops it up and Lawrie going after it leans over the camera bay and he has gone over the wall, he is hurt. He had the ball hit his glove but could not close it and his right hand slipped off the wall and he fell about 7-8 feet. His leg hit a metal bar as he went down. Lawrie now being looked at, and now leaving the game with that leg injury. Everyone knew this would happen one day the way this guy runs through brick walls. He has to tone it down and learn when to hold back such as that pop up although to be fair to him this time he did not run headlong at the wall just drifted with the ball to the wall. He is an accident waiting to happen and it has happened at the very worst time for this team. Can this get any worse? Escobar in at short and Vizquel moves to third. Teixeira 2-2 count, singles to Davis in left. One down one on. A-Rod. Fly ball to right but Gose has it covered, two down. Cano, fly ball to Rasmus in centre to end this one. Pitch count 47. Top 4th: Rasmus, grounds to Teixeira at first, steps on the bag, one down. Encarnacion, fly ball to right, Swisher makes the out, two down. Lind, 1-2 count, grounds off the end of his bat slowly to Nix, throw to Teixeira for third out. Jays go quietly again. Someone on this team has to start to show some fight. This is Kuroda not Cy Young. 54 pitch count. Bottom 4th: Jones grounds first pitch to Vizquel throw to Edwin, one down. Nix lines it over the head of Rasmus to the wall in left centre, stand up double for Nix and Ricky in trouble again. Martin, 3-0 count now he is losing his control, full count, ball four, well the best of the alternatives for Romero and keeps the double play in order. Wise, fly ball to right and this one bounces over the wall, ground rule double, Nix scores and Martin to third, Wise to second. 5-0 Yankees. Five of the nine hits today have been extra-base hits. Top of the order again Jeter. Full count, Jeter battling away here fouling them off. Ball four on eight pitches to load the bases. Romero living dangerously. Swisher, one down and bases loaded. Everybody in the lineup except A-Rod has a hit and that is really a concern with A-Rod to bat. Perfect grounds to Vizquel, to Johnson over to Edwin double play ball. Wow. And how do you think Romero feels. 67 pitch count, Top 5th: Time for Jays bats to get going because time is a running out here. Arencibia, let’s see some power JP. 1-2 count, there we go lines it to centre left, bounces off the glove of Wise to Jones and Arencibia in with a stand-up double. Fight back Jays, only their second hit but we have to start somewhere. Johnson, we need a hit Kelly. Full count, lines to Jones in left, diving catch for the first out, nice catch saved a run, hit took seven pitches but not enough. One down for Davis, long overdue for a hit, no bunting please Rajai. First pitch, pop up to Teixeira for over the shoulder catch and that is what you call a sandlot piece of hitting by Davis. Vizquel, come on Omar show them how it is done. 0-2 count, not like that. Grounds to Cano at second, throw to first for the out. Jays leave a leadoff double on base, terrible. Pitch count 70 for Kuroda, just pouring in the strikes and the Jays lineup looking awfully weak right now. Is there anyone who is able to hit anymore? Where is this great lineup of the last couple of months? or is it a mirage and just Jose leading with the others following ? Bottom 5th: Teixeira, 3-0 count, come on Romero just throw strikes, what is your problem? There’s one finally, grounds to Vizquel throw to Edwin, one down. A-Rod. Pulls it to Vizquel, over to Edwin, two down. Yankees are in a hurry now, rain is starting again, this game would have been over by now without the delay and they would be on their way to the airport. Cano full count, grounds to Edwin at first. Must be the quickest inning yet. Pitch count 81. Top 6th: Gose leading off. Not a great debut for him so far. But then nobody else is doing anything either. Bunting, come on. Fouls it off. 2-2 count, takes strike three, one down. Escobar, first at bat today, 2-2 count, grounds it to A-Rod at third who cannot handle it, bounces off his body and no throw. Now Rasmus. Can he get it going here ? Major disappointment this last week. Pulls this one to right but foul. Pops it up to A-Rod for the out. Encarnacion two down, one on. Full count, grounds to A-Rod, throw to Teixeira for third out. Pitch count 90. Kuroda has done his job well. Bottom 6th: Romero still out there, Jones leading off. Pops up first pitch to third, Escobar takes it in front of Vizquel, one down. Nix loops it to left bounces in front of Davis in left, he is going to miss hitting against Jays pitchers. Martin grounds to Vizquel, throw to Edwin one down. Nix to second. Wise singles to Rasmus in shallow centre, here comes Nix to be the throw and score 6-0 Yankees. Jeter singles to Gose in right, two on two down for Swisher, takes strike three to end this agony. Romero at 97 pitches. Back to the drawing board for him although he did last six. Top 7th: Lind grounds to second, throw to first one down. Arencibia 1-2 count, singles to Swisher in right, we have been here before for poor JP. Johnson, one on, he hits him, on the foot as he tries to dive out of the way, two on, one down for Davis. Bunting of course, misses it. Why oh why. Full count, grounds to A-Rod at third throw to second to just get Johnson sliding to prevent double play. Two down, Davis safe at first, so you know who will be running, just stay put Rajai please. Arencibia at third, the first time today a Jays hitter has reached third, Pretty bad. Vizquel, two down two on. Pulls it to right but bounces just foul. There goes Rajai as Vizquel fouls it off, 0-2 count, high pop up to Cano in shallow right centre, JP left out there yet again, this team is so bad it is painful to watch them. Jays are 0-7 today with runners in scoring position. How bad is that ? Kuroda at 106 pitch count. Bottom 7th: Beck now pitching. Torrential downpour. Rain delay to rescue this hapless Jays team. They will be glad to call this one now. No sense in waiting around for this. Game finally called. It is getaway day. Jays get swept by the Yankees, have lost two of their starting lineup and two of their best in Bautista and Lawrie. Off to Fenway and at the worst possible time. If they get swept in Boston, they are four behind and effectively out of the wild card race barring some miracle. The good: Arencibia, two hit day. The bad: Romero, although he settled down after the first inning, it was too late as Yankees scored four in that first inning and set the tone for the win. Davis once again an adventure in left field, raising the question again about replacement. Someone now may have to fill in for Lawrie depending on the medical report.