Villanueva another gem as Jays lose one they should have had.

Rangers v Jays. Game two of three. A great win for the Jays last night but it is asking a lot to expect them to win two in a row against this Ranger team. They do have a good chance with Villanueva pitching today but Jays have to face Roy Oswalt. Still without the big bats but the good news is that two of them could be back next week. Lawrie and Bautista to go along with Rasmus, would make that top three a lot better for Edwin in front of him. Lineups: Rangers: Kinsler, Young, Hamilton, Beltre, Cruz, Murphy, Moreland, Gentry, Martinez and Oswalt pitching. Interesting to see Oswalt coming out of the bullpen, pitching for Dempster today who evidently lost his passport and could not cross the border. I think a lot of teams would like Oswalt experience as a back up starter !!! Jays: Davis, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Cooper, Escobar, Johnson, Mathis, Gose, Hechavarria and Villanueva pitching. Rasmus back in centre, he will be a lot happier but still need to get the hitting stroke back. Top 1st: Kinsler leading off, lines right back at Villanueva for the out. Nice catch Carlos. One down for Young, strikes out swinging, two down for Hamilton fly ball to centre for Rasmus to make third out,, three up and down for Villanueva. Bottom 1st: Davis strikes out swinging. Rasmus, good to see him back in the field but still struggling to find this swing, grounds to Moreland at first for the out. Two down for Encarnacion grounds Young at short, throw to Moreland. Top 2nd: Beltre, fly ball to Rasmus in centre for first out. Cruz grounds to Villanueva throw to Cooper, two down. Murphy grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Cooper. Another three up and down for Carlos. Bottom 2nd: Cooper fly ball to Hamilton in left, one down. Escobar takes strike three. Two down for Johnson, strikes out swinging. Oswalt matching Villanueva right now. Top 3rd: Moreland singles to Gose in right. One on for Gentry, grounds to Hechavarria throw to Johnson to get Moreland at 2nd. Gentry to 1st. Martinez, there goes Gentry and throw by Mathis gets him at second, great throw Jeff. Two down. Martinez grounds to Escobar throw to Cooper to end the inning. Bottom 3rd: Mathis leading off, grounds to Kinsler at second, throw to Moreland for the out. Gose one down, ball four. This should be interesting. Hechavarria, there goes Gose safe at second. Whoa, now balk called here and Gose to 3rd. Still only one down, chance here for the Jays. Hechavarria singles to left Hamilton. Here comes Gose 1-0 Jays. Hechavarria first major league RBI. Davis one on strikes out swinging. Rasmus two down one on, grounds to Kinsler throw to Moreland to end the inning but Jays strike first. Top 4th: Kinsler fly ball to Davis in left, one down. Young grounds to Hechavarria throw to Cooper. Two down. Hamilton fly ball to Gose in right to end the inning. Three up and down for Villanueva. Bottom 4th: Edwin leading off, he hits him. Cooper, one on, another balk called Edwin to 2nd thank you very much. David Cooper lines out to Beltre at third. Escobar fly ball to Murphy. Johnson two down one on, ball four. Two on for Mathis, strikes out swinging. Top 5th: Beltre, fly ball to right centre and OH DEAR Gose drops the ball, lost it in the sun and this one bounces over the fence, ground rule double. Cruz, oh boy, first pitch, gets hold of this one high to left and over the fence, two run home run and just like that Rangers take the lead 2-1. Gose must feel awful. Murphy fly ball to Rasmus in centre for the first out of the inning. Moreland strikes out swinging. Two down. Gentry pops it up to out to Johnson. Jays find themselves behind again. Bottom 5th: Gose singles to Gentry in centre. Hechavarria, bunting, throw to Moreland for the out as Gose to 2nd. Davis bunting pops it up to Beltre for the out at 3rd. That is it for Oswalt. Only 62 pitches today. Robbie Ross now pitching. Rasmus pops it up to Beltre at 3rd to end the inning. Top 6th: Martinez grounds to Johnson, throw Cooper, one down. Kinsler strikes out swinging. Young ball four, two down one on for Hamilton, perfect, grounds to Escobar makes the third out. Bottom 6th: Encarnacion strikes out swinging. One down for Cooper, here we go, singles to Hamilton. Escobar, finally a hit, singles on to Murphy in right. Cooper to 2nd. Two on one down. Johnson takes strike three. Mathis singles to Kinsler to load the bases. Cooper to 3rd. Escobar to 2nd. Two down for Gose, strikes out swinging. Jays lose a great chance to tie it up. Top 7th: Beltre singles to Rasmus. Cruz, we have been here before, not this time as he strikes out swinging. One down and that is it for Villanueva. They are keeping his pitch count down to help him get to the end of the season without blowing up like last season. He does not like ti but knows that it is for the best. Plus there is a great bullpen now. 86 pitches to get into the 7th is perfect. Carlos very rarely disappoints and after Happ last night two good back to back outings by the starters, that IS good. Loup now pitching, Murphy grounds to Johnson throw to Escobar to get Beltre at second. Murphy to 1st. Moreland, whoa, he is picked off. They have Murphy picked off stealing 2nd. Loup to Cooper to Escobar. Very nice to end the inning. Bottom 7th: Tanner Scheppers now pitching for Ross. Hechavarria leading off, this looks good as Hech lines it to right and bounces over the wall, ground rule double. Davis now with runner in scoring position. Singles to Hamilton in left, Hech to third as Butterfield holds him up, that could have been interesting if he had let him try to score. But with nobody out and top of the order, no need. Rasmus now with two on, there goes Davis and safe at second. Rasmus, groan, pops out to Beltre at 3rd. Edwin with two in scoring position but base open and sure enough, they are not pitching to him, that steal by Davis is hurting them here. Bases loaded for Cooper. One down. Just a fly ball here David. That is it for Scheppers, Kirkman now pitching. Cooper fly ball to Hamilton. Two down for Escobar, oh boy, fly ball to Gentry. Jays waste golden opportunity here to get ahead, two in scoring position with nobody out, that is pretty bad hitting by Rasmus, Cooper and Escobar. Second inning in a row they had their chances. Top 8th: Escobar now arguing with umpire, here comes Farrell, no joy either. Escobar has been thrown out of the game by HP umpire. I guess he must have said something to him after that out. Such a showboat is Escobar. McCoy in for Escobar, playing third base. Hechavarria to short, no problem there. Moreland singles to Davis in left. That is it for Loup. Chad Jenkins now pitching. Gentry bunting, NO, pops it up to Jenkins who throw s it away and Moreland to second on the throw and error, that was double play ball. Pinch-hitter Leonys Martin for Martinez. Strikes out swinging. Kinsler two down, wild pitch and Moreland to 3rd. Nothing going right here for Jays. Kinsler, that’s better, lines it to Johnson makes a great catch in shallow right centre. Bottom 8th: Soto in for Martin, as catcher. Mike Adams now pitching. Johnson leading off, grounds to Moreland. One down for Mathis pops it up to Young at short. Gose, two down, bunting ???? grounds to Adams throw to Moreland. I hope that was not a called play. Top 9th: Young, grounds to 3rd, great play by McCoy, throw to Cooper, one down. That is for Jenkins. Darren Oliver now pitching. Hamilton lines to Davis for out number two. Beltre pops it up to Cooper. Three up and down but Jays have not shown that they can get that run they need. Bottom 9th: Andrus in for Young at short. Closer Joe Nathan now pitching. Hechavarria strikes out swinging. Overmatched there. Davis takes strike three. Two down last chance for Jays. Rasmus grounds to Kinsler throw to Moreland. Jays lose a close one BUT this is one they should have won. Far too many left in scoring position. This one that got away and would have been a huge win if they could have pulled it off. Rangers know they are very lucky to win this one. The good: Villanueva. The bullpen of Loup, Jenkins and Oliver to keep this hot hitting to Rangers team to only two runs. Let’s give Hech a star today for his multi-hit game. Double and a single and of course his first major league RBI. The terrible: 3 -13 runners in scoring position, this is terrible, really. Just one more hit would have won this game in the sixth and the seventh innings. The not so good: Escobar getting thrown out of a one run game, whilst I think Hechavarria is an improvement at short, Escobar right now is one of the remaining starters of this team. Needs to show a lot more restraint and less hot-dogging in my book. I for one cannot wait until he is part of a trade package out of Toronto. Gose losing the ball in the sun. Would Jose have had it ? Probably but Jose is not playing. On the plus side Gose made the only Jays run. Others needed to come through with the bases loaded in successive innings.