Sloppy Jays embarrass thenselves as they lose yet another series and continue to slide

Jays v Mariners. Game two of three. Last night’s trades of Snider and Thames for Brad Lincoln from Pittsburgh and Steve Delobar from the Mariners has strengthened Jays bullpen but different takes from fans. Pittsburgh fans very upset about losing Brad Lincoln who has been having a great season to date. Jays fans more than upset about losing Travis but not so much re losing Eric Thames. Most fans believe Travis had a rough deal firstly with Cito who was old school tough guy with Travis, never getting a fair deal even this season being overlooked for Gose who has done little since he arrived and is clearly over his head at this level with his bat. Travis we hope you get to the World Series and hit that winning run at the bottom of the ninth, nothing sweeter, we will never forget you and those moon shot home runs. Most believe that other teams were asking too much for their starters and Alex was not giving up the future. BUT with Ryan Dempster going to Texas for only two minor leaguers, makes one wonder what the Cubs and other teams wanted from the Jays. Jays bats in yet another slump for the last couple of games. Tonight let’s hope someone gets it going early. Lineups: Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Cooper, Escobar, Johnson, Davis, Mathis, Sierra and Laffey pitching. Whoa. This looks a very weak hitting lineup after the top three. Without Bautista, Snider, and Arencibia, not a strong lineup at all. Not sure about Cooper hitting behind Encarnacion, it will be interesting to see whether they pitch around Edwin to get to Cooper. But all of a sudden this team does not look like the hitting machine that they were a few weeks ago. Mariners: Ackley, Wells, Saunders, Montero, Seager, Carp, Olivo, Robinson, Ryan and Vargas pitching. Top 1st: Lawrie back leading off again, maybe that will help him as he had the very worst game last night. The last three at bats all strikeouts and all on three pitches. Maybe his head is elsewhere with so many family and friends around. 1-2 count, takes strike three, can you believe it ? His last five outs. One down, Rasmus, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays carry on from last night when they struck out 14 times, two more already. Edwin, 2-2 count, as his bat goes into the crowd. Full count, strikes out swinging. This looks like a short game tonight as Vargas strikes out the side. Bottom 1st: Ackley, first pitch pulls it to right and into the seats, 1-0 Mariners. Hmm. Wells, grounds to Escobar, throw to Cooper at first, one down, Saunders. First pitch fly ball to left but Davis makes the catch, two down for Montero. Grounds first pitch to Escobar, throw to Cooper for third out. Six pitch inning !!! Mariners in a hurry. Weird game. Top 2nd: Jays have not scored since the first pitch of last night’s game and worse still they have not looked like scoring. Cooper leading off. Lefty lefty matchup. 1-2 count, fly ball to left for Robinson to make the out. Escobar, full count, grounds to third, throw to first, two down. Johnson, 1-2 count, fly ball to centre for the out, six up six down. Awful. Bottom 2nd: Seager, 2-1 count, lines to Cooper who makes a nice catch, one down. Carp, 0-2 count, bounces it back up the middle, one on one down for Olivo. Lines first pitch to the wall in left, off the wall for stand up double as Carp holds at third. What is it about Laffey’s first pitches? Robinson, lines first pitch to Rasmus in centre, here comes Carp, 2-0 Mariners. Olivo holds at third and Robison goes to second on the throw. Ryan, two in scoring position. 2-2 count, singles to Sierra in right, Olivo scores 3-0 Mariners. Top of the order for Ackley. Runners at first and third. Grounds to Cooper throw to Escobar back to Cooper not in time to get Ackley as run scores 4-0 Mariners two down. Wells, first pitch fly ball (mercifully) to Davis in shallow left to end this agony. Top 3rd: Davis, 1-2 count, fly ball to centre for the out. One down for Mathis. 0-2 count, a hit, singles to right. Sierra his first at bat since the trade last night. One on one down, 2-2 count, fights it off and single into centre, two on but here comes Lawrie. Five strikeouts in a row. 2-1 count, that’s better Brett, lines this to left into the corner here comes Mathis, followed by Sierra sliding headfirst and safe on the throw home and Lawrie to second. Maybe Sierra will add some energy to this lethargic lineup. 4-2 Mariners. Rasmus, one on one down. 1-1 count, pulls it to first for the out as Lawrie to third. Two down for Encarnacion. 2-0 pitching him away to get to Cooper. Low ball three, down and away ball four. I think we will see this a lot now. Cooper you can change their strategy two on two down. Grounds to second throw to first for the out. Message to Alex and Farrell: Edwin needs someone behind him. Jays get two back but leave two out there. Pitch count 63. Bottom 3rd: Saunders, 2-1 count, grounds to Cooper, throw to Laffey to make the out, one down. Montero, 2-1 count, singles to right, Sierra throws it back in quickly to hold him at first. Seager, one on, one down. 3-0 count, high ball four, two on one down for Carp. Full count, if he loses him to load them up I think that with all the long relief now in the bullpen they will be working soon. That’s better grounds to Escobar, flip to Johnson over to Cooper double play ball. Laffey’s best friend right now. Pitch count 42. Top 4th: Escobar lines it hard to left but Seager makes a great catch. One down, Johnson. shatters his bat as he grounds to Carp at first, two down. Davis, 1-2 count. Pops it up foul to right and ball drops, lucky break for Rajai. Pops next pitch up to second. Jays go meekly three up and down. Bottom 4th: Olivo, pulls it to left wide of Lawrie, Escobar on the grass makes a great play and throw to Copper at first to get Olivo, very nice. One down. Robinson, 1-2 count, lines to left centre, Davis unable to make stop cleanly and Robinson to second, Davis should have left that to Rasmus, in much better position to make the throw to second, Error to Davis. One on one down for Ryan, singles to left, Robinson to third, two on again for Ackley. Laffey needs help again here. 2-2 count, grounds to Johnson, flip to Escobar throw to Cooper wild and pulls Cooper off the bag. Run scores 5-2 Mariners. Two down runner at first. Wells, pops it up foul but Cooper cannot make the catch, oh boy that was catchable. 1-2 count, Laffey spending a lot of time on Lackey threat to steal, now they have him picked off, throw to Cooper over to Johnson for the tag. Nice play by Laffey. Top 5th: Mathis, gets under this one and high pop up to third for the out. One down for Sierra 1-1 count, grounds to second, throw to first for the out, two quick outs again. Lawrie, bounces slowly back to Vargas, throw to first. Laffey had hardly sat down, what’s the rush here? Bottom 5th: Surely time to see the long relief in the Jays bullpen working. Wells leading off, full count, low ball four. Saunders grounds to Johnson, throw to Escobar, throw to Cooper wide and Cooper falls off the bag and runner safe. Another lousy throw by Escobar. If Edwin had been there maybe a double play. One down one on. Montero, 1-2 count, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down for Seager. 2-0 count, Lines to right, Seager at first as Saunders to third on the play. Brandon Lyon now working in bullpen. Laffey hits his shirt, bases loaded. That is it for Laffey, not really his fault here tonight, poorly supported by his defence and lack of run support. Lyon now pitching bases loaded and two down. Olivo, singles back up the middle, two runs score 7-2 Mariners. Robinson, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Escobar miscue cost Jays two runs. Top 6th: Is there any offence on this team? Rasmus leading off. Fly ball to right, first pitch out, One down for Encarnacion, will he get anything to hit? 2-2 count, frustrated and swinging, full count, goes down to get this one, ball four and golfs it high to left but Robinson makes the out, two down for Cooper. So far as with Gose, way overmatched by this level of pitching. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Bottom 6th: It really does not matter if the bullpen manages to close down Mariners here, there is no offence from the Jays to even get any runs. Four runs in the last three games. Lyon out again Ryan at bat, full count, takes strike three. Ackley, 3-1 count, grounds to Johnson who fumbles it, no chance for a throw, sloppy sloppy fielding again tonight for the second game in a row. One on for Wells, pops it up Escobar makes the out. Two down for Saunders. 3-0 count, there goes runner no throw as Saunders takes a strike, a little tacky by Ackley with a five run lead. Padding his stats, full count, strikes out swinging. Top 7th: Lots of blue in the stadium again tonight but Jays fans have had nothing to cheer tonight. Escobar, 0-2 tonight. Pulls it into left. One on for Johnson, having a horrible stretch again. Grounds to first throw to second to get Escobar back to first not in time but Mariners will take the out, Davis singles to left, Johnson to second. Mathis, with two on and one down. Pops it up to centre, two down. Sierra 2-2 count, fly ball to right center for the out. 103 pitch count. Bottom 7th: Steve Delabar making his debut for Jays. Last night he was on the other team. How weird is that. Montero pops it up to Johnson for the out. Seager, 2-2 count, singles to Sierra in right. One on one down for Carp, full count, there goes Seager, perfect strikes him out and throw him out at second as he slides into the tag, not very smart but Jays will take the double play ball. We like it. Top 8th: Top of the order, not much output tonight besides Lawrie. Shawn Kelley now pitching. Lawrie, at least he has not struck out four times. Trying his best here though. 1-2 count, singles to right for his second hit of the game. One on for Rasmus, 0-3 tonight. 3-1 count, pops it up to Carp, one down. Encarnacion, 1-2 count, ball gets away Lawrie takes second, throw is wild bounces into centre and Lawrie to third as the ball hits him on the neck. Encarnacion wild swing pops it up 20 feet to short for the out, that was one lousy at bat by Edwin there. Two down for Cooper who has been outmatched tonight, Can redeem himself here. Full count, strikes out swinging at a ball in the dirt. Bottom 8th: Drew Carpenter now pitching. So much for all the major league arms in the bullpen. Poor guy should be in Vegas but for Fraser injury, but surely they have enough arms in that bullpen to let him free and get some hitting which they now need. Olivo 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Robinson. 3-1 count, ball four. One on one down for Ryan, 0-2 count, pops it up to shallow right, two on one down for top of the order Ackley. Full count, pops it up to Lawrie. Two down. Wells, 1-2 count, bounces to Escobar throw to Johnson for the out. That might be last pitch for Carpenter as he could be sent on to Vegas for another bat. Top 9th: Josh Kinney now pitching. Escobar leading off. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Johnson, groan. 0-3 tonight, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging to end another poor game for Johnson, two down for Davis. 1-2 count, swings at a pitch halfway to first to end yet another dismal performance by a struggling side. Another series lost and another three game losing streak. My guess is that Happ will be pitching in five days and Laffey in long relief. Carpenter may be on the bus to Vegas and another bat on its way. Cooper has to DH as Edwin clearly bored out of his skull sitting for so long. Looked totally disinterested in the game tonight even more than he usually does. When this team is bad they are very, very bad and right now they are playing like the bottom team in the division that they are. The good: Nothing in this game. Lawrie two hit bounce back from last night’s nightmare. Maybe Sierra first hit and run. Scraping the barrel. The lousy: Two poor throws by Escobar to Cooper. Cost the Jays, Poor play by Davis in the outfield. If there is no offence these errors are magnified. Sloppy fielding by Escobar, Davis, and Johnson