Comedy of errors and lack of hitting as Jays get swept by the Rays

Jays v Rays. Series finale. Alvarez today but it is not the pitching that is the current problem with the Jays, it is the lack of hitting, the close score last night no way reflected the game. Rays were in control from the third inning as Jays hitters never looked like performing. Even the home run by Cooper was luck as it hit the lowest wall of the stadium and should have been caught by Jennings in left field. Inability to produce small ball game continues to hurt this team. I believe they have the capability for the small ball with loads of speed but for some reason Farrell is unwilling to encourage aggressive play. We have been spoiled by the big bats booming all season but now they have all gone, traded or on the DL and bench, no one is stepping up,. Rasmus is the most consistent but Encarnacion is lost without Jose. Today they are playing to avoid the sweep, it will be interesting to see how they react. Tomorrow and the next week it gets even tougher for them. Yankees, White Sox and Rangers is one tough home stand with their first lineup, with the group they have they will need every ounce of luck and more to avoid a horrible result by August 19th. Lineups: Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Escobar, Cooper, Sierra, Mathis, Vizquel, Hechavarria and Alvarez pitching. Rays: Fuld, Upton, Joyce, Longoria, Zobrist, Pena, Keppinger, Roberts, Lobaton and lefty Matt Moore pitching. Camp day at the ballpark, should be loads of noise in this dome today. Plus they all have thunder sticks. Top 1st: Davis leading off. Drives it to right centre, stand up double, good start, how long will he stay there? Rasmus, 1-2 count, ouch takes strike three. One down for Encarnacion, there goes Rajai. Safe at third no throw, ball pops out of the catcher glove. Full count, inside ball four. Two on for Escobar, conference on the mound. 1-1 count, wow balk called and here comes Davis to score 1-0 Jays. Rajai made that run with his speed. Edwin to second. There goes Edwin and dives headfirst safe on the throw. Wow great timing. Another full count, grounds to third, throw home gets him. Escobar terrible at bat. Two down for Cooper. Full count, fly ball to Fuld in left for the out. Not very impressive at bats by either Escobar or Cooper. 27 pitch inning by Moore. Bottom 1st: Fuld, grounds to Vizquel playing second today, throw to Edwin, one down. Upton, grounds first pitch to Escobar at short, throw to Edwin, two down. Joyce, bounces over the head of Alvarez to Vizquel, safe at first, no chance for a throw, Longoria, 0-2 count, nice pitch, strikes out swinging. 10 pitch inning, very nice start. Top 2nd: Sierra leading off. Full count, loops it into shallow centre, Escobar and Cooper please note. One on for Mathis. There goes Sierra, no throw, safe at second, three stolen bases by jays already, 1-2 count, pops it up to second for the out, Vizquel, one down and runner in scoring position. 3-1 count, fly ball to Fuld in left, two down for Hechavarria. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging to end the inning. Pitch count 47. Bottom 2nd: Zobrist, grounds to Edwin at first, fumbles it and unable to make the out, error to Edwin. Pena, grounds to Vizquel, throw to Edwin for the out, no chance to make two. Keppinger, runner at second, one down. Singles to Sierra in right, Zobrist stops at third, two on one down for Roberts. 3-0 count, inside ball four to load the bases. That error by Edwin is huge now. Alvarez had the ground balls but defense unable to support him. Lobaton, lifts it over the head of Escobar into shallow left, here come two runs, 2-1 Rays. Davis throw way off the mark. He would have had him with a good throw, Alvarez getting no help today from his teammates. Fuld with two on, and one down. 3-1 count, there go the runners throw is high to third, runner safe as ball four. Bases loaded again for Upton. Grounds to Escobar throw to Vizquel back to Hechavarria at third only one out as run score 3-1. Nothing going right here. Joyce. 2-2 count, pops it up both Edwin and Hechavarria go for it on the pitcher’s mound, collide but Hech makes the out. Comedy of errors by Jays defense. Don’t blame Alvarez here. Pitch count 33 but how many extra did his teammates make him throw ? Top 3rd: Let’s hope this game is not already over. Moore now with a lead, Davis, 1-2 count. Davis pops it up to Upton in centre, one down. Rasmus, pops it up to Lobaton, two quick outs. Encarnacion the goat of the previous inning, he owes Alvarez here. Not giving him anything to hit 3-0 they want at Cooper and Escobar. Pops it up to first for a very, very quick three up and down inning. Alvarez has probably not sat down yet. Pitch count 60. Bottom 3rd: Longoria , singles into left. One on for Zobrist, singles to Sierra in right, two on for Pena, full count, high ball four. Bases loaded nobody out. Keppinger, grounds to Hechavarria throw to Mathis to get one, throw to first, way too high, what is with this team today. One down bases stay loaded. Poor Alvarez, getting no help here at all. Roberts lines to a diving Rasmus in centre, no catch rules the umpire, Colby throw to second too late as another run scores, 4-1 Rays bases stay loaded. Roberts, finally, grounds to Vizquel, throw to Escobar, over to Edwin double play ball but this is torture today with the Jays defense or rather the lack of it, and Alvarez is the victim. Pitch count 49. Top 4th: Would it be too much to ask this team to put together a few hits? Escobar leading off, well at least it will not be a double play ball. Bunting ??? Escobar? the slowest player on the team, throw to first, one pitch one out. Where is his head ? Cooper, 2-2 count, takes strike three, Cooper just out of his depth. Sierra, two down, grounds to third, throw to first, three up and down very, very fast. This team wants to catch the plane home. Just awful baseball. Bottom 4th: Fuld drag bunt, grounds to Vizquel, barehanded throw to Edwin, one down. Upton singles to centre, one on one down. Joyce, lines to Davis in left, two down. Longoria for the third time. Balk called and Upton to second. 1-2 count, fouling them off here, lines to Davis in left here comes run number 5. Zobrist, full count, takes strike three, 71 pitch count. Top 5th: Problem is that Alvarez never gets chance to catch his thoughts, the hitters are up and down so fast all the time. Give the guy a break by a long inning, Mathis leading off. 3-1 count, grounds to third, throw to first, one down for Vizquel. Lines to Fuld in left, two down for Hechavarria. 2-2 count. strikes out swinging. Just gets worse and worse. Pitch count 82. Bottom 5th: Pena, 2-0 count, shift right on and Pena bunts to third, how many times have we seen this backfire? Comedy of errors indeed. Pena at first, Keppinger. Singles to Davis in left. Two on nobody out. Jays bullpen working. Loup. Roberts, fly ball to Davis for the out. One down for Lobaton, 2-1 count, finally an out, lines to Sierra in right here comes the run but throw to Mathis and then to third gets Keppinger, two down. 6-1 Rays and that is it for Alvarez. Never had a chance with this team behind him today. Kept him out there for most of the game with bonehead at bats and lousy defense. Loup now pitching. Fuld, two down and one on. 1-2 count, bounces to Escobar, throw to Edwin for third out Top 6th: This team will not win many games with one run and if some of them are just waiting for Jose and Lawrie and Arencibia to get back, they could be waiting all season. Someone has to get it going. So far apart from Rasmus I have not seen anyone else. Top of the order, Moore cruising. Davis, please don’t bunt here. Good, thank you, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Rasmus, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Encarnacion, 1-1 count, Edwin swinging at pitch way outside. 3-1 count, low ball four, actually five balls. Why would they pitch to him with these two behind him. Escobar, 1-2 count, grounds to short, throw to second to get Edwin. More pitiful. Bottom 6th: Upton, pops it up to Escobar, one down. Joyce, grounds to Vizquel throw to Edwin, two down. Longoria, 2-3 today. 2-2 count, lines to Davis who drops the ball. That was in his glove. Error to Davis. But are we surprised ? Left fielder on Alex’s shopping list. The curse of Travis strikes again. Zobrist, 1-1 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Edwin for third out. Top 7th: Farnsworth now pitching. Cooper leading off. 0-2 today. Fly ball to left what is new ? We are getting tired of one dimensional Cooper. One down for Sierra, grounds to third, throw to first, two down. Mathis, full count. Grounds to Zobrist at short, throw to first. Yet another one two three inning. Bottom 7th: Darren Oliver now pitching. He needs the work as does Janssen. Not many chances as they lose game after game. Pena leading off. Bunts off the plate and Mathis throw to first. Strange play 6-1 game??? Keppinger, grounds up the middle, Vizquel throw too late, one on one down for Roberts. Pinch runner Eliot Johnson, need speed here for run number 7 ??? Maddon decision, or maybe he thinks Jays are going to score five runs. Pops it up to Edwin, two down. Lobaton, 2-1 count, lifts it into left, Davis makes the running catch (this time) Top 8th: Howell now pitching, Vizquel, full count, grounds to third, throw to first one down. Hechavarria. 3-1 count, lines it to centre but Upton makes the out. Nice swing Hech. Top of the order. Davis, hits him. One on two down for Rasmus, there goes Rajai, no throw as Colby takes strike. Davis at second, will he take third? Might as well. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Bottom 8th: Jansen now pitching. Needs the work, he might never get another chance this week the way this team is playing. Fuld, full count, takes strike three. Nice pitch Casey. Upton, 1-2 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Edwin, two down. Joyce, ouch hits him on the knee. Payback ? Longoria, 2-2 count, gets hold of this to left and out of the ball park, two run home run. Bounces back in. No they call it a double. Now they are reviewing, come on Maddon, this is already a 7-1 game. Whoa they call it a double. Whoa.... Now pinch runner ??? Rodriguez, for Longoria. Zobrist, full count, strikes out swinging. Lots of pitches for Casey.... 30. Top 9th: Wade Davis now pitching. Encarnacion leading off. Two walks today. Up and in first pitch. Hmm... Full count, fly ball to left centre, Upton makes the out. One down for Escobar, 1-1 count. Grounds to Rodriguez at second, throw to first, two down for Cooper. 2-2 count, doubles to left centre, always too late to make a difference with Cooper. Where were hits earlier? Sierra, 1-2 count, grounds up the middle throw to first for the out and complete the sweep of the hapless Jays. Not much to boast about with this team right now. They fly home but don’t expect anything to be easier. Can you imagine what the Yankees, White Sox and Rangers could do to this team? 0-9 home stand is a real possibility. The good: Hard to find a good here. The first inning manufactured run by Davis definitely a great start. But Escobar and Cooper were unable to make it a much bigger inning which really let Moore off the hook, a couple of extra runs there and Moore may have been out of the game early. The not so good: The hitters, Escobar throughout the game, unable to come through in the first and later in the game bunting on first pitch when he clearly has no running ability. Cooper in the first unable to come through, the defense especially by Encarnacion, Davis and Mathis. The poor throwing, fielding, and hitting puts a lot of pressure on the pitching staff which has been way above average not least the new bullpen which has been excellent. In today’s game it meant that Alvarez never had time to catch his breath on the bench with the quick outs by his teammates.