Jays win in the 11th. behind pitching gems by Villanueva and Delabar

White Sox v Jays. Game one of three series. Monday August 13th. After giving the Yankees a send-off thrashing, (anytime Jays can score 10 against the Yankees it is a thrashing in my book.) Jays welcome in yet another division leader, White Sox. But Jays have reason to be upbeat after that win. It would be lot tougher facing them with 0-3 home stand. However no way is this going to be an easy series, the lineup itself with Youkilis, Dunn and yes bad boy Rios, hitting up a storm this season of course. Tonight they also face Jake Peavy. Tough start but they are on a high after yesterday. Looks like a reasonable crowd also for a Monday night and after the huge weekend crowds. We are surrounded here by White Sox fans and I can see a smattering of black shirts around first base. Let’s hope Jays do not give them anything to cheer about. I see Escobar back in the lineup as forecast here at the weekend, no way is Yunel going to let Hechavarria showcase his talents with him on the bench. Maybe too late Yunel, I think most fans have already seen the future at short. You have a whole load of work to do in the next six weeks to convince us that you are the numero uno. Lineups: White Sox: De Ava, Youkilis, Dunn, Rios hitting cleanup, Pierzynski, Ramirez, Viciedo, Flowers, Beckham and Peavy pitching. Jays: Davis, Johnson move up the order tonight, Encarnacion, Cooper, Escobar, Sierra, Vizquel, Mathis, Gose and Villanueva pitching. Top 1st: De Aza strikes out swinging; Youkilis ball four, one on one down. Dunn, fly ball out to Sierra, Rios grounds to Vizquel great diving stop robs Alex there of a possible run. Throw to second to get Dunn. Bottom 1st: Davis first pitch fly ball to Viciedo in left, one down for Johnson, strikes out swinging, Encarnacion lines it hard to right but Rios backing up makes fine catch, always Rios. Top 2nd: Pierzynski pops up to Johnson, Ramirez fly ball to Gose, Vicideo to Escobar throw to Cooper to end Bottom 2nd: Cooper lines to right Rios throw to second nails Cooper by a mile, not good. Escobar, fly ball to Rios two down. Sierra, nice at bat just puts head of bat on the ball and pushes it past Peavy and short, single for Sierra. One on two down for Vizquel fly ball to Rios. One man show out there by Rios. Top 3rd.Flowers strikes out swinging, Beckham strikes out, De Aza strikes out swinging for second time. Villanueva is humming along here very fast. Bottom 3rd: Mathis, grounds to Youkilis at third, throw to Dunn at first. One down for Gose, ouch he hits him. One on one down for Davis. Speed on the bases give Peavy something to think about. Davis fly ball to Rios, two down. Johnson, ouch he is hit also. Peavy losing it here? Two on two down for Edwin. Lines to right, here comes Gose to score, here comes Johnson, oh boy, out at the plate. Jays base running but they are on the board at least. 1-0 Jays. Top 4th: Youkilis, fly ball to Davis, one down for Dunn, oh my!! he launches a rocket here, and this one is out of here deep to centre off the restaurant windows. 1-1. Sox fans here are happy. Now you can real see and hear them. Rios to more boos, strikes out swinging, we love it. Ramirez pops it up to Mathis.to tend the inning. Bottom 4th: Jays lead was shortlived. Cooper strikes out swinging. Escobar, fly ball to Rios, two down for Sierra, ball four, second time on base for Moises, he continues to impress. Loads of potential in this guy. Vizquel strikes out swinging. Top 5th: This game is really moving fast. Viciedo pops up to Johnson. Flowers grounds to Cooper oh dear, no one covering the bag and Flowers beats it out. Huge mistake by Villanueva not getting over to the bag. One on, Beckham pops it up to Johnson. De Aza fly ball to Davis for the out. At least he did not strike out. And Villanueva escapes damage from that mental error. Bottom 5th: Mathis, ball four. Walk on four pitches. Gose grounds back to Peavy, throw to second to get Mathis. Davis, there goes Gose. Safe at second, no, umpire sending him back to first, Davis arguing, Farrell arguing, no good, Davis also out. Scorer says interference I guess as he was throwing to second to get Gose. Johnson, there goes Gose again, safe on the throw, and this time not recalled. Gose may not be hitting up a storm but he is certainly making the most of the times he does get on base. He is definitely contributing. No good as Johnson fly ball to Rios in right for third out. Top 6th: Youkilis, strikes out swinging. Dunn lines to centre, but that’s ok a long single. Rios, grounds to Vizquel oh another great diving save and throw to Johnson at second to get Dunn. Wow the old guy still has it. Pierzynski, there goes Rios and safe on the throw to second. We are getting lots of foul balls in our area, very unusual, that is the third. Where is my glove when I need it. Pierzynski strikes out swinging. Very nice Carlos. Bottom 6th: Encarnacion grounds back to Peavey, throw to Dunn, one down. Cooper, grounds to Youkilis at third, throw to Dunn, two down. Escobar, strikes out swinging. Top 7th: Ramirez pops it up to Vizquel at third, one down for Viciedo loops it to right, in front of Sierra. One on one down for Flowers, there goes Viceda as Flowers strikes out throw down and gets him great double play to end d the inning. As the man says “strike ‘em out throw ‘em out”. Very nice. Not sure however that manager Ventura would be happy with that attempt on two strikes count unless he sent him of course. Bottom 7th: Sierra, YES Indeed Moises, hammers this one to left and this one is out of here, home run. His first major league home run and what a great time to hit it. Jays retake the lead 2-1 and with these two pitching the way they are one run could be enough tonight. Vizquel lines it up the middle to De Aza, Mathis, oh boy grounds to Beckham at second throw to Dunn, double play ball.Ouch.Peavy not complaining though. Gose two down, grounds to Beckham throw to Dunn to end the inning but Jays get another. Top 8th: Bullpen taking over now. Villanueva only on 85 pitches but don’t forget this guy blew up last season after nine starts. Management is being careful with him and I have no problem with that, seven innings for one run is fine in any person’s book, and this is why they have loaded up in the bullpen. Brandon Lyon now pitching. Beckham, strikes out swinging, one down. De Aza, strikes out swinging for third time tonight, fans behind me are cruel as they remind De Aza. Save it for Rios guys. Youkilis, fly ball to right for Sierra to make the out. Nice inning by Lyon. Bottom 8th: Peavy still going out there. Davis, pops it up to Ramirez at short. Johnson, strikes out swinging. Encarnacion, strikes out swinging. Peavy still mowing them down but is it too late? Top 9th: Casey Janssen time. Touch outs to get in Dunn, Rios and Pierzynski. He will have to earn this save. Dunn, NO I don’t believe it he hammers this one to left and this one is out of here. First pitch fast ball, I think Janssen has realized that you do not throw a fast ball first pitch to a fast ball hitter, Dunn was just sitting on that pitch. Huge mistake by Janssen, you have to wonder what he was doing there. We were just talking about it between innings. Surely an off-speed to start him off. And if fast ball then it would be way down not up. Janssen blows his save. And is now in trouble with this lineup. Rios, grounds to Escobar, throw to Cooper for the out. One down for Pierzynski. Fly ball to Sierra, two down. Ramirez. Singles to Gose in centre. One on two down for Viciedo, there goes Ramirez, and throw by Mathis is there for the out. Great throw Jeff. White Sox not having much success stealing tonight. Bottom 9th: Finally Peavy is out of the game 120 pitches, wow. When was the last time we saw a Jays pitcher throw over 100 let alone 120. Brett Myers now pitching, weird beard. Cooper, grounds to Beckham, at second, throw to Dunn, one down. Escobar, strikes out swinging, two down for Sierra, takes strike three. This one is extra innings. Top 10th: Steve Dalabar now pitching, sorry Casey. Viciedo strikes out swinging. Flowers, strikes out swinging, no ball gets away from Mathis and Flowers get to first. That is tough on Delabar. Beckham, strikes out swinging. Two down should be out of the inning. De Aza, oh dear another wild pitch and Viciedo takes second. In scoring position now. Perfect strikes out swinging. For fourth time tonight. Delabar strikes out four!!! to end the inning. Wow great pitching. Bottom 10th: Jesse Crain the Canuck replacing Myers. Vizquel lines out to Rios in right, one down for Mathis pops it up to Dunn, two down. Gose, ball four. One on and he will be running. Davis, oh dear there goes Gose and throw down gets him. They were waiting for that. Ouch not good but aggressive play, high return but risky play. Top 11th: Delabar still out there. Dangerous part of the order. Youkilis, strikes out swinging. Love it. Dunn, grounds to Cooper throw to Delabar, even better, two down for Rios. Takes strike three. Whoa, all those remaining around us just love that. Sorry Alex. But look at Delabar, six strikes outs in two innings. WOW… who stole this guy from the Mariners. Alex knew something. Bottom 11th: Crain still out there. Davis pops it up to Ramirez at shirt. That is the end of Jesse, Ventura wants the lefty to face Johnson. Leyson Septimo. Oh dear, ball four. Not what Ventura wanted. Walk for Kelly and here comes Ventura again. That is it for Leyson. Nate Jones now pitching. One on one down for Encarnacion. Perfect Edwin, lines it into right for a single, Kelly to third. Crowd going nuts. Another visit to the mound, how many can they have in an inning? Cooper two on and only one out. Fly ball here David will do it. Full count, please don’t walk; Escobar is on deck Mr. Double play. YES David lines it to right and here comes Johnson to score. Jays win 3-2. WOW this is one of the best games we have seen in a long time. Look at the teammates mobbing Cooper at first. This was one great game to be at. Well pitched and Jays coming through in the clutch against a very, very good team. The Vegas team strikes again with Sierra and Cooper providing the big runs. The excellent tonight: Has to be Steve Delabar, six strikeouts in two innings and not giveaway outs by any means with the top of the order in the 11th. Cooper, showing much more comfort every game. Sierra adapting rapidly to the majors and showing thought with his at bats. The greater his contribution the less pressure on Bautista to return quickly. Sierra and Cooper with four of the seven hits by Jays tonight. Villanueva a great outing. Don’t forget two great defensive plays by Vizquel one of which robbed Rios in the first of a possible run. The not so good: Casey Janssen lousy pitch selection to start Dunn off. Jays baserunning, really needs work. But not being picky tonight, this was a great win.