Jays provide no offense for Happ as they lose the opener to the O's

Orioles v Jays. Game one of three. Post-Romero blues today, everyone unhappy with what could have been, even with all the injuries we feel a huge letdown by Romero. Major chance to step up and boost the pitching rotation and the team with some outstanding performances whilst the lineup was decimated. Instead a loud fizzle, dud, whatever he wants to call it. Anything, but please not five (yes five more) starts from this guy. Cecil and Frasor back in the bullpen. Lineups: Orioles: Markakis, Hardy, Jones, Wieters, Reynolds, Machado, McLouth, Andino, Ford and Saunders pitching. Jays : Davis, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Lind, Escobar, Johnson, Sierra, Mathis, Hech and Happ pitching. WHERE IS EVERYBODY??? Terrible crowd for holiday Monday afternoon. Wow. There should be 40,000 but I doubt 15,000. Not good for Rogers. Not good for anyone. Fans are voting with their feet friends. Top 1st: Markakis leading off, strike one, a pitcher who can throw strikes. Ouch, hits him on the arm, here comes Showalter, ok heads on down to 1st. One on for Hardy. 0-1 count, fly ball to Sierra in right, this is trouble, shading his eyes, but makes the catch, one down one on for Jones. Strikes out swinging, two down. Wieters, full count, low ball four, two on two down for Reynolds. full count, strikes out looking. Bottom 1st: Saunders pitching. Davis, pops up to Andino at second, one down for Rasmus. Grounds to Hardy at short, throw to Reynolds at first, two down for Encarnacion. 2-2 count, grounds back to Saunders, throw to Reynolds to end the three up and down inning. Top 2nd: Machado high fly ball to Sierra in right, loses it in the sun yet again and ball gets away into the right field corner, that was catchable. Error to Sierra. Machado to 3rd. McLouth, suicide squeeze first pitch to Happ throw to first to get him for first out, run scores 1-0 Orioles. Ford grounds to Edwin steps on the bag, two down. Andino, strikes out swinging to end the inning. Bottom 2nd: Lind lines it right at Andino at second for the first out. Escobar, bunting to Machado at 3rd, throw to Reynolds, as Yunel dives into first base; problem was he started his dive half way to the bag but for Yunel that was hustle all the way, so credit to him. Reynolds had to bare hand the play and throw only just beat out Yunel, two down. Johnson, pops it up to Machado at 3rd to end the inning. Another three up and down for Saunders, much too easy. Top 3rd: Markakis, grounds to Edwin flip to Happ for the out, just beats Markakis to the bag. Hardy pops it up to Edwin two down. Jones singles to Davis in left. Reynolds, full count, lucky there as Edwin drops a foul pop, got him, strikes out swinging for second time today, he is no happy camper but Happ is happy. Bottom 3rd: Sierra, fly ball to Jones in centre, one down. Mathis fly ball to McLouth in left, two down. Hechavarria fly ball to Jones in centre. Yet another three up and down for Saunders. Nine up and down. Top 4th: Machado, grounds to Edwin and oh dear me an error on the throw to Happ, throw is away from Happ on the bag, error on the play. McLouth 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down. Ford, 0-1 count, oh dear. They have Machado picked off at 1st, great throw by Mathis erases Machado way off the bag, two down and that erases the error. Ford strikes out swinging. Happ is pitching well, it is the lack of offense that is the issue here once again. Bottom 4th: Davis 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, Rasmus one down fly ball, opposite field to McClouth in left, you don’t often see that from Rasmus. Encarnacion, fly ball to Jones in centre to end the inning. Jays remain hitless here against Saunders in an attempt to jinx him and a no-hitter. 12 up and down. Top 5th: Andino, full count, singles to Rasmus in centre, one on for Markakis, full count, lines to Davis in left, this is trouble, just fading into the corner, here comes Andino and Markakis has a stand up double. 2-0 Orioles. Hardy, pulls it down the line to Davis in left, right into the corner again, here comes Markakis to score, 3-0 Orioles, Hardy stand up double. Here comes Bruce Walton. Jones, singles to Rasmus in centre. Hardy to 3rd. Still nobody out. Wieters, 1-2 count, here we go strikes out swinging, one down. Reynolds, 1-2 count, there goes Jones and safe at second, no throw. Trouble here, two more in scoring position and only one down. YES, Reynolds, strikes out swinging, third time today already, way to go Jay Happ, two down for Machado, strikes out swinging. Great stuff by Happ, strikes out the side to leave two out there in scoring position. Bottom 5th: Lind, full count, fly ball to Jones in centre, one down. Escobar, same again, fly ball to Jones in centre. Two down Johnson fly ball to Jones in centre. Jays once again go meekly and quietly. Top 6th: McLouth doubles to Sierra in right. That is it for Happ today. 95 pitches but just not enough offense for him today to come away with a win. Brad Lincoln now pitching, getting a little overworked this weekend, I think. Ford with one on, ball four, to take first base. Not exactly what you are in there for Brad. Andino, bunting back to Lincoln throw to Johnson for the out as runners move up. Markakis, intentional walk, ball four, bases loaded for Hardy. 2-2 count, Perfect grounds to Hech at third, over to Johnson, on to Edwin, double play ball, very nice and just what the doctor ordered. Bottom 6th: Sierra leading off, first pitch, fly ball to Jones in centre, this guy is getting a lot of work today. Mathis, grounds to Andino at second, throw to first for the out. Two down for Hech. There we go, singles to Jones in centre, and there goes the no-hitter. Can Jays do something with it though. Davis, 3-0 count, struggling here, ball four, another guy on base, two on for Rasmus, two down. No, strikes out swinging. Jays getting to Saunders but need more than this. Top 7th: Delabar now in for Lincoln. Jones, fouls it off his foot, that hurts trainer and Showalter out there but is carrying on, grounds to Hech, throw to Edwin for the out. One down for Wieters, fly ball to Rasmus in centre, great catch by Colby at the wall, two down. Reynolds, ball four and gets on base for first time today. Machado, grounds to Hech. Throw to Johnson to get Reynolds at second. Nice inning from Delabar. Bottom 7th: Edwin leading off, full count, down and away, ball four. Walk but maybe semi-intentional. Lind, here we go, singles to Markakis in right, two on, do Jays have something going finally? Escobar, oh boy, grounds to Machado at third and Edwin is out at the bag. One down two on. Johnson, singles to Markakis in right, bases loaded with one down. Sierra, that’s it for Saunders, Ayala now pitching. 3-0 count, trouble finding he zone which is fine with everyone at the ballpark. now full count, strikes out swinging, maybe John a pinch hitter for Sierra would have been a good idea, Sierra is outclassed in these situations. Two down for Mathis, gets hold of this one but high fly ball to Jones in centre. Jays just unable to get a big inning going, had their chances. Top 8th: Looks who is out there Brett Cecil makes his return, he was one of the few not injured earlier in the season but sent down for poor performance, he probably did not know many out there in the Jays bullpen !!! McLouth, oh boy, great start Cecil hits him. Looked like the shirt but he is on base regardless. Ford, pops up to Escobar, one down. Andino, ball four, hit batsman and a walk, not a great start here for Cecil. Markakis, fly ball to Davis in left, two down, runners hold. Hardy, singles to Rasmus in centre, here comes McLouth to score 4-0 Orioles. Jones, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Edwin for third out. Not an inspiring return by Cecil. He may not be out there again until Jays are in a blowout and it will not be the Jays hitting he had to face. Bottom 8th: Jays running out of at bats now to make a difference. Pedro Strop now pitching for Ayala. Hech, takes strike three, one down. Davis, takes strike three, two down. Rasmus, grounds to Andino at second throw to Reynolds. Three up and down for Strop. Top 9th: Cecil out there again. Wieters, singles to Davis in left, one on for Reynolds, fly ball to right, this time Sierra makes the out, one down. Machado pops up to Edwin, two down. McLouth singles to Sierra in right, Wieters to second on the play. Two on two down for Ford, ball four, loads the bases, not what Delabar wanted. Here comes Bruce Walton, one more out Steve. Andino fly ball to Rasmus in centre, relax Bruce. Bottom 9th: Jim Johnson now pitching, Edwin leading off, strikes out swinging, one down. Lind, fly ball to McLouth in left, Jays down to their last out. Escobar, grounds to Hardy at short, throw to Reynolds at first to end this one. Jays are shut out 4-0. Not much to praise today. Happ nine strikeouts, I thought he had a great outing but no support. If Sierra had made the catch he would also have gone to the 5th inning before a run. I think most of us would rather see him out there right now. The not so good: Two errors, one could have been prevented by Sierra. RISP 1-5 today. Just not good enough. Cecil two innings but two walks and three hits not what we have grown accustomed to with the new bullpen. Sierra and his fielding in the sun, someone has to work with this guy and hang the clip on shades around his neck. Maybe a more experienced pinch hitter for Sierra with bases loaded would have produced netter resuly.. The crowd this weekend not good at all but as we said before maybe many of them knew what was coming