Toronto v White Sox. Monday September 8,2008
Game postponed rain...
Double-header tomorrow day night games.
Boston also win first game v Tampa in Boston. Now .5 behind Rays.
Also means Jays gain .5 game on Tampa.
Yankees are in LA late start.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Jays win number eight with Purcey and Carlson shutout
Toronto v Tampa. Series closer.Sunday September 7, 2008.
Preview: Jays go for the sweep and a 6-0 homestand. That is far easier said than done today. Purcey is going against Garza one of the Rays best. A tough assignment for the rookie today, he will need some run support to make any difference at all. Plus you know that the Rays want this one very badly having lost the first two and also a heart-breaker in thirteen yesterday. Looking good an hour before the game there are fans sitting in the section in fair territory just past the left field foul pole, long time since I have seen that. I don’t think it is because of the Carter figurine giveaway, I believe the Jays are playing very entertaining baseball this month and the walk up traffic is helping Mr. Rogers finish the season in a good way. Whatever the reason long may it continue as this place is far better rocking with noise.
Correction re yesterday’s comment about Zaun extra innings walk off grand slam it was not the first in franchise history. George Bell did same July 9, 1985 against Seattle. Bell also had another walk-off grand slam but in the ninth inning on September 4, 1988.
Lineups: Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Baldelli, Aybar, Bartlett, Pereez, Riggans, Zobrist and Garza pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Overbay, Barajas, Rolen, Snider and Purcey pitching.
Sorry Gregg I guess a 3-5 afternoon with a throw out of a base stealer and by the way the first walk-off grand slam to win the game in more than twenty years for the franchise, means you are not in the lineup next day? Not Cito’s way Gregg, don’t take it personally I am sure ! he would do it anyone in the lineup. This is a lineup after all that has the worst record with runners in scoring position remember. However obviously Cito has given up on Gregg whatever he does and I don’t believe that is a very smart attitude. Zaun is one of the few players in this lineup that plays every out. However Inglettt is out there, Joe with the two errors in the last two games one of which cost them BJ Ryan bigtime yesterday in the ninth. AND what ever happened to Bautista? Surely he can spell Rolen off the last couple of weeks and get Rolen some break.
Pitching: Purcey, 2-5 v Garza, 11-8.
The very good: Purcey and Carlson combine on a shutout.
The good: Barajas sacrifice fly. Throw to get Upton stealing. Carlson’s second save and Toronto longest winning streak since Apr. 14-22, 1999. Jays six hits are spread between six players: Rios Wells, Lind, Overbay, Rolen and Snider all one each.
Rays on the other hand three players but two with multihit games. Upton three hits, Aybar two,and Bartlett one. Looks like they miss Crawford and Longoria. Jays certanly didn't...
The bad: Jays 0-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven players on base.
The game: Top 1st: Iwamura pops up to shallow CF Wells. One down for Upton strikes out. Two down for Pena grounds to 1B Overbay flip to Purcey for the third out. A neat first inning for Purcey.
Bottom 1st: Inglett strikes out. Scutaro strikes out. Rios DH today with Snider in RF his natural position, Alex triples to CF wall. Nice hit Alex. Wells with two down and Alex on 3B. First pitch swinging and pops up to 1B Pena. Not a good at bat by Vernon. Never put any pressure on Garza at all with Rios at 3B.
Top 2nd: Baldelli at bat, good to see him back in regular play and is having a great return with the bat. This time fly ball out to LF Lind. One down for Aybar singles to LF. Barajkas has great throw to 1B and Aybar is picked off on tag by Overbay, two down. Bartlett doubles to LF. That pickoff is big now, that could have been a Tampa run. Perez at bat with two down, fly ball out to CF Wells.
Bottom 2nd: Lind doubles to RF. Overbay grounds to SS Bartlett throw to 1B Pena to get Overbay but he moved Lind to 3B on the play. Barajas now with one in scoring position and one down. Lifts this one high into LF to Zobrist who makes the catch but cannot get Lind tagging and scoring here, throw wide of home plate, , Lind scores and Jays get first blood today 1-0 Jays. Rolen pops out to 1B Pena to end the inning but Jays bats have started.
Top 3rd: Purcey with a lead, strikes out Riggans. One down for Zobrist grounds to Rolen throw to 1B Overbay, two down. Iwamura fly ball out to CF Wells.
Bottom 3rd: Snider strikes out. Inglett grounds to 2B Iwamura who fumbles this one, ball bounces away and no throw to get Inglett. Looked to me as if he might have hustled a bit more there and attempted a quick short throw to 1B. Error on the play to Iwamura. Scutaro pops up to SS Bartlett for second out. Inglett stealing and safe at 2B but Riggans' throws away at 2B and on the error Inglett moves to 3B. Rios with Inglett on 3B strikes out. That is the second inning Jays hitters have had someone at 3B and failed to bring them in. They can’t keep doing that against a team like Tampa.
Top 4th: Upton leading off singles to CF. Pena strikes out. Baldelli fly ball out to CF Wells. Upton now hung up and is caught stealing, Purcey throw to Overbay for the out at 1B. Joe Maddon will not like that effort from Upton.
Bottom 4th: Wells fouls out to Riggans. Neither of his at bats have left the infield yet. Lind grounds out to Garza who beats him easily to 1B for the out. Two down for Overbay who singles to LF. Barajas pops up to Iwamura leaving Overbay on base.
Top 5th: Aybar doubles to CF. One on for Bartlett who strikes out. Perez grounds to 3B Rolen throw to Overbay, two down. Riggans fly ball out to RF Snider. First play to go his direction today !!
Bottom 5th: Rolen singles to CF. Snider singles to LF. Two on and no outs. Inglett strikes out. Scutaro grounds back to Garza throw to Pena for second out, Rolen at 3B, Snider at 2B. Rios once again with runners in scoring position. Fly ball out to CF Upton.Alex leavestwo more in scoring position. Jays are really rolling the dice today but Purcey is matching Garza inning for inning so far.
Top 6th: Zobrist at bat fly ball out to LF Lind. Iwamura strikes out. Upton singles to CF. Pena fly ball out to Wells. He has been very busy tonight and earning his money. He is so good out there like Rolen they may these plays look so easy and yet we know they are not at all..
Bottom 6th: Wells singles to CF. Lind strikes out. Overbay lines out very hard to Pena, he was playing off the bag and thus closer to that ball otherwise that wpould been a bullet into RF corner. On Garza's balk, Wells now stealing but balk is called on Garza and Vernon is safe at 2B and eases up grinning there. Barajas at bat with Vernon in scoring position, grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena for third out.
Top 7th: Purcey still in there, he has been so good today and you can see it on his face, a Halladay mask of concentration. Baldelli fly ball out to Lind, one down. Aybar full count and walks. One on for Bartlett strikes out. Crowd is chanting pizza, pizza for the free slice if he gets one more strikeout. Perez at bat strikes out. Crowd loves their pizza n Monday, That is the second game this weekend that Jays pitchers ensure that crowd will get free pizza. Pitch count over the 100 now and someone is warming up in bullpen. Jesse Carlson so that might be it for Purcey today, a great outing against a very tough pitcher and not least a good hitting team.
Bottom 7th: Rolen strikes out, one down. Snider lines out to SS Bartlett. Two down for Inglett full count and walks. Scutaro with one on and two down lines out to 2B Iwamura.There is a lot of tension in the stadium at least around my area. It looks to me that Rays are really having hard time with this game, there is no energy level evident at all.
Top 8th: NO here comes Purcey again for one more inning at least. Riggans lines out to SS Scutaro one down. Zobrist walks. Iwamura fly ball out to LF Lind. Upton singles to CF, Zobrist tags and moves up to 3B. Pena at bat and walks, Upton moves to 2B. This could be trouble here with two in scoring position. Baldelli at bat and fly ball out to F Lind. One more chance for some runs in the ninth inning.
Bottom 8th: Wheeler pitching. Rios strikes out. Wells lined out to 2B Iwamura. Lind fly ball out to LF Zobrist.
Top 9th: Carlson now pitching. Citao had said he would like BJ to get two days rest. Wilkerson in at LF. Aybar strikes out.One down, crowd sensing an upset here if Jays win this one and sweep this series. Bartlett grounds to Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay. Crowd is now in their feet the noise is like a playoff game, seriously Jays fan will make noise if there is something to cheer about. Perez with two down and no one on base, strikes out. Bedlam in the Rigers Centre. Jays have just beaten Rays and also as a result swept them this weekend.
That is very,very sweet for not just the fans but also the Senior Management Brains Trust. Jays pick up another on the Rays. Yankees are not playing until later in the afternoon in Seattle.
AL East-leading Tampa loses five of six games now heading into a three-game series with second-place Boston that starts tomorrow.
The Rays have also lost eight straight at Fenway Park.
Jays head west for a tough series against the Chicago White Sox who are fighting for playoff spot with Minnesota. Right now we are all celebrating longest win streeak since 1999.... WOW....
Preview: Jays go for the sweep and a 6-0 homestand. That is far easier said than done today. Purcey is going against Garza one of the Rays best. A tough assignment for the rookie today, he will need some run support to make any difference at all. Plus you know that the Rays want this one very badly having lost the first two and also a heart-breaker in thirteen yesterday. Looking good an hour before the game there are fans sitting in the section in fair territory just past the left field foul pole, long time since I have seen that. I don’t think it is because of the Carter figurine giveaway, I believe the Jays are playing very entertaining baseball this month and the walk up traffic is helping Mr. Rogers finish the season in a good way. Whatever the reason long may it continue as this place is far better rocking with noise.
Correction re yesterday’s comment about Zaun extra innings walk off grand slam it was not the first in franchise history. George Bell did same July 9, 1985 against Seattle. Bell also had another walk-off grand slam but in the ninth inning on September 4, 1988.
Lineups: Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Baldelli, Aybar, Bartlett, Pereez, Riggans, Zobrist and Garza pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Overbay, Barajas, Rolen, Snider and Purcey pitching.
Sorry Gregg I guess a 3-5 afternoon with a throw out of a base stealer and by the way the first walk-off grand slam to win the game in more than twenty years for the franchise, means you are not in the lineup next day? Not Cito’s way Gregg, don’t take it personally I am sure ! he would do it anyone in the lineup. This is a lineup after all that has the worst record with runners in scoring position remember. However obviously Cito has given up on Gregg whatever he does and I don’t believe that is a very smart attitude. Zaun is one of the few players in this lineup that plays every out. However Inglettt is out there, Joe with the two errors in the last two games one of which cost them BJ Ryan bigtime yesterday in the ninth. AND what ever happened to Bautista? Surely he can spell Rolen off the last couple of weeks and get Rolen some break.
Pitching: Purcey, 2-5 v Garza, 11-8.
The very good: Purcey and Carlson combine on a shutout.
The good: Barajas sacrifice fly. Throw to get Upton stealing. Carlson’s second save and Toronto longest winning streak since Apr. 14-22, 1999. Jays six hits are spread between six players: Rios Wells, Lind, Overbay, Rolen and Snider all one each.
Rays on the other hand three players but two with multihit games. Upton three hits, Aybar two,and Bartlett one. Looks like they miss Crawford and Longoria. Jays certanly didn't...
The bad: Jays 0-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven players on base.
The game: Top 1st: Iwamura pops up to shallow CF Wells. One down for Upton strikes out. Two down for Pena grounds to 1B Overbay flip to Purcey for the third out. A neat first inning for Purcey.
Bottom 1st: Inglett strikes out. Scutaro strikes out. Rios DH today with Snider in RF his natural position, Alex triples to CF wall. Nice hit Alex. Wells with two down and Alex on 3B. First pitch swinging and pops up to 1B Pena. Not a good at bat by Vernon. Never put any pressure on Garza at all with Rios at 3B.
Top 2nd: Baldelli at bat, good to see him back in regular play and is having a great return with the bat. This time fly ball out to LF Lind. One down for Aybar singles to LF. Barajkas has great throw to 1B and Aybar is picked off on tag by Overbay, two down. Bartlett doubles to LF. That pickoff is big now, that could have been a Tampa run. Perez at bat with two down, fly ball out to CF Wells.
Bottom 2nd: Lind doubles to RF. Overbay grounds to SS Bartlett throw to 1B Pena to get Overbay but he moved Lind to 3B on the play. Barajas now with one in scoring position and one down. Lifts this one high into LF to Zobrist who makes the catch but cannot get Lind tagging and scoring here, throw wide of home plate, , Lind scores and Jays get first blood today 1-0 Jays. Rolen pops out to 1B Pena to end the inning but Jays bats have started.
Top 3rd: Purcey with a lead, strikes out Riggans. One down for Zobrist grounds to Rolen throw to 1B Overbay, two down. Iwamura fly ball out to CF Wells.
Bottom 3rd: Snider strikes out. Inglett grounds to 2B Iwamura who fumbles this one, ball bounces away and no throw to get Inglett. Looked to me as if he might have hustled a bit more there and attempted a quick short throw to 1B. Error on the play to Iwamura. Scutaro pops up to SS Bartlett for second out. Inglett stealing and safe at 2B but Riggans' throws away at 2B and on the error Inglett moves to 3B. Rios with Inglett on 3B strikes out. That is the second inning Jays hitters have had someone at 3B and failed to bring them in. They can’t keep doing that against a team like Tampa.
Top 4th: Upton leading off singles to CF. Pena strikes out. Baldelli fly ball out to CF Wells. Upton now hung up and is caught stealing, Purcey throw to Overbay for the out at 1B. Joe Maddon will not like that effort from Upton.
Bottom 4th: Wells fouls out to Riggans. Neither of his at bats have left the infield yet. Lind grounds out to Garza who beats him easily to 1B for the out. Two down for Overbay who singles to LF. Barajas pops up to Iwamura leaving Overbay on base.
Top 5th: Aybar doubles to CF. One on for Bartlett who strikes out. Perez grounds to 3B Rolen throw to Overbay, two down. Riggans fly ball out to RF Snider. First play to go his direction today !!
Bottom 5th: Rolen singles to CF. Snider singles to LF. Two on and no outs. Inglett strikes out. Scutaro grounds back to Garza throw to Pena for second out, Rolen at 3B, Snider at 2B. Rios once again with runners in scoring position. Fly ball out to CF Upton.Alex leavestwo more in scoring position. Jays are really rolling the dice today but Purcey is matching Garza inning for inning so far.
Top 6th: Zobrist at bat fly ball out to LF Lind. Iwamura strikes out. Upton singles to CF. Pena fly ball out to Wells. He has been very busy tonight and earning his money. He is so good out there like Rolen they may these plays look so easy and yet we know they are not at all..
Bottom 6th: Wells singles to CF. Lind strikes out. Overbay lines out very hard to Pena, he was playing off the bag and thus closer to that ball otherwise that wpould been a bullet into RF corner. On Garza's balk, Wells now stealing but balk is called on Garza and Vernon is safe at 2B and eases up grinning there. Barajas at bat with Vernon in scoring position, grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena for third out.
Top 7th: Purcey still in there, he has been so good today and you can see it on his face, a Halladay mask of concentration. Baldelli fly ball out to Lind, one down. Aybar full count and walks. One on for Bartlett strikes out. Crowd is chanting pizza, pizza for the free slice if he gets one more strikeout. Perez at bat strikes out. Crowd loves their pizza n Monday, That is the second game this weekend that Jays pitchers ensure that crowd will get free pizza. Pitch count over the 100 now and someone is warming up in bullpen. Jesse Carlson so that might be it for Purcey today, a great outing against a very tough pitcher and not least a good hitting team.
Bottom 7th: Rolen strikes out, one down. Snider lines out to SS Bartlett. Two down for Inglett full count and walks. Scutaro with one on and two down lines out to 2B Iwamura.There is a lot of tension in the stadium at least around my area. It looks to me that Rays are really having hard time with this game, there is no energy level evident at all.
Top 8th: NO here comes Purcey again for one more inning at least. Riggans lines out to SS Scutaro one down. Zobrist walks. Iwamura fly ball out to LF Lind. Upton singles to CF, Zobrist tags and moves up to 3B. Pena at bat and walks, Upton moves to 2B. This could be trouble here with two in scoring position. Baldelli at bat and fly ball out to F Lind. One more chance for some runs in the ninth inning.
Bottom 8th: Wheeler pitching. Rios strikes out. Wells lined out to 2B Iwamura. Lind fly ball out to LF Zobrist.
Top 9th: Carlson now pitching. Citao had said he would like BJ to get two days rest. Wilkerson in at LF. Aybar strikes out.One down, crowd sensing an upset here if Jays win this one and sweep this series. Bartlett grounds to Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay. Crowd is now in their feet the noise is like a playoff game, seriously Jays fan will make noise if there is something to cheer about. Perez with two down and no one on base, strikes out. Bedlam in the Rigers Centre. Jays have just beaten Rays and also as a result swept them this weekend.
That is very,very sweet for not just the fans but also the Senior Management Brains Trust. Jays pick up another on the Rays. Yankees are not playing until later in the afternoon in Seattle.
AL East-leading Tampa loses five of six games now heading into a three-game series with second-place Boston that starts tomorrow.
The Rays have also lost eight straight at Fenway Park.
Jays head west for a tough series against the Chicago White Sox who are fighting for playoff spot with Minnesota. Right now we are all celebrating longest win streeak since 1999.... WOW....
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Zaun the hero today as Marcum deserves the win and Overbay hits two HRs
Toronto v Tampa. Second game of series. Saturday, September 6, 2008.
Jays send Marcum to the mound today, big test for Shawn against league leading team has he regained previous form? Should he be in rotation in 2009?
Lineups: Tampa, Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Floyd, Aybar, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Zobrist, and Shields pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Overbay, Rolen, Zaun, Snider and Marcum pitching.
Pitching: Marcum v Shields.
Result: Jays win 7-4 in thirteen innings.
The very, very good: Zaun walk-off grand slam home run in the 13th inning. It was the first time in Jays franchise history a game-ending grand slam in extra innings. Marcum seven shut out innings.
The good: Overbay two Home runs. Zaun also 3-5 today, plus two great throws to get runners. I think he was out to prove something to his Manager that he is definitely not finished. The bullpen apart from Frasor. BJ I have to give benefit of doubt to him here, Inglett’s error was huge in this going into extra innings. He also had another 25 pitch inning. Back to back days at the end of a long season, is his shoulder weakening ?
The bad: Inglett's second in last two games but this one really hurt Ryan and a win for Marcum.
The game: Top 1st: Iwamura singles to CF. Upton strikes out. Pena walks, Iwamura moves to 2B. Floyd grounds to Scutaro on to Overbay, douible play ball. Perfect.
Bottom 1st: Inglett singles to LF. Scutaro grounds to SS Zobrist on to 2B Iwamura, Inglett out at 2B.One down for Alex. Doubles to CF, Scutaro scores 1-0 Jays. Wells grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena at 1B two down. Lind grounds to 2B Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for third out but Jays take early lead.
Top 2nd: Aybar full count and walks. Marcum did not want that his second walk in two innings. Hinske at bat,strikes out, one down one on. Aybar stealing great throw by Zaun to Scutaro for the out. Navarro two down, fly ball out to Snider, playing in RF today.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay at bat, gets hold of this one and this one is out, HR to CF. 2-0 Jays. Rolen grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena at 1B for the out. Zaun getting a rare start these days, 0-21 ouch…. singles to RF that feels good along with that caught stealing throw. Snider now in his own mini slump, lines out to Iwamura. Two down for Inglett, grounds out to 1B Pena for third out but Jays have added one for Marcum.
Top 3rd: Ex-Jay Gross strikes out. Zobrist strikes out. Marcum now warming up ??? Spoke too sonn, Iwamura singles to CF. Upton two down one on, full count and walks. Iwamura to 2B. Pena at fly ball out to Snider in RF with Alex playing at CF today.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro, patient here, full count and walks. Rios at bat one on, lines out to SS Zobrist and Scutaro has to hold. Wells DH today grounds to SS Zobrist throw to Iwamura on to Pena at 1B double play ball Vernon ends that threat by Jays.
Top 4th: Floyd fly ball out to RF Snider one down. Aybar strikes out. Hinske at bat two down, grounds to Scutaro playing at SS today, throw to Overbay for the quick three up and down inning that Marcum needs.
Bottom 4th: Lind at bat, grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B to get Lind.One down for Overbay, YES Lyle, another good hit here this time to LF and out of here, HR his second of the game and 3-0 Jays in the lead. Rolen at bat fly ball out to RF Gross. Zaun full count and walks. Snider strikes out. His woes continue but I think Jays management want to carry him in September for the last three weeks. Downside could be his confidence though. Jays continue to add to the lead.
Top 5th: Navarro singles to RF. One on for Gross fly ball out to Lind. One down for Zobrist grounds to 2B Inglett flip to SS Scutaro on to Overbay, double play ball.
Bottom 5th: Inglett bunting back to Shields throw to Pena, out at 1B. Scutaro fly ball out to RF Gross. Two down for Rios fly ball out to Upton in CF. Jays go quietly this inning.
Top 6th: Iwamura leadoff grounds to SS Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay, one down. Upton fly ball out CF Rios. Pena singles to RF. Floyd at bat two down one on, fly ball out to Rios. Marcum frustrating Rays here today.
Bottom 6th: Wells at bat strikes out. Lind fly ball out flied out to CF Upton. Overbay of two HR’s must be feeling great after all the season long criticism singles to CF. He has Shields number today his third hit. Rolen with two down, grounds to 3B Aybar throw to 2B Iwamura to get Overbay for third out. I think Rolen should maybe give way to Jose Bautista for a game or two, he really does not look right with that stroke.
Top 7th: Marcum still in there and why not? Aybar strikes out. Hinske strikes out. That is number seven for Marcum today. However his three walks have pushed that pitch count up. Navarro grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay and Marcum has thrown seven shutout innings. 103 pitches so that might be it for Shaun. Cito likes Downs to have the eighth and set up for BJ maybe although he had long inning last night.
Bottom 7th: Ruggiano LF for Hinske. Zaun leading off pops up to SS Zobrist. One down for Snider, fly ball out to CF Upton and remains hitless today. Inglett fly ball out to Upton for third out.
Top 8th: Cito is indeed consistent, Downs now pitching. Bartlett pinch-hitting for Gross. Bartlett grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay,one down. Zobrist 3-0 count and now walks on four pitches. Iwamura 3-0 count and also walks on four pitches, Zobrist to second. I don’t think this is what Cito had in mind for Down here. Upton is the tying run. Grounds to Downs throw to Scutaro on to Overbay, double play ball and Downs escapes trouble here.
Bottom 8th: Shields is still pitching. Ruggiano in at RF for Gross. Bartlett in at SS for Zobrist. Scutaro leading off strikes out. Rios fly ball out to CF Upton. Wells grounds to Pena flip to pitcher Shields for third out and Shields should be fairly pleased with his eight innings here. His offence has let him down tonight.
Top 9th: Wilkerson in as left fielder. Ryan pitching. It will be interesting to see how he does he had a long 25 pitch inning last night. Pena lead off hit by pitch. One on for Baldelli pinch-hitting for Floyd. Full count. OH NO! Baldelli gets hold of this one, HR to left into the second deck.3-2 Jays and no outs. Aybar walks. Perez now pinch-running for Aybar. Perez stealing second and safe. Ruggiano strikes out one down. Navarro at bat singles up the middle Inglett should have had that one looked like through his legs but definitely playable, Perez scores though to tie this one up 3-3. Yes, error to Inglett his second in two days, but this one is huge. Perez would have had to hold at 3B. Navarro safe on Inglett's error, but on Rios throw to Zaun he gets Navarro at 2B. Another great play by Zaun. Two down. Bartlett strikes out. But before we bury BJ here that would have been a very different inning if Inglett had had that play. Perhaps Cito had better start to consider him a defensive liability and bringing in Johnny Mc and Scutaro for the later innings defensively. Marcum does not get the win and BJ blows the save but the scoreline does not tell the complete story here.
Bottom 9th: Can Jays get one more here but you know Rays are pumped up by that. Baldelli in as designated hitter. Perez in at LF. Zobrist moves to 3B. Wheeler now pitching. Wilkerson in for Lind, fly ball out to CF Upton. Overbay strikes out. Last chance Rolen, YES Scott, doubles to CF. Zaun infield single to third, Rolen moves to 3B but is hung up here and is out. SS Bartlett to 3B Zobrist to catcher Navarro back to Bartlett. We are going to extra innings after this one looked sown up for Marcum. I don’t want to see Inglett tomorrow.
Top 10th: League now pitching. Zobrist grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay, one down.
Iwamura singles to LF. Upton with one down and one on, grounds to Inglett flip to Scutaro on to Overbay double play ball. League likes that.
Bottom 10th: Howell now pitching. Snider leading off grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for the first out. Inglett at bat, singles to CF but he remains the goat from previous inning. Scutaro fly ball out RF Ruggiano.Two down for Rios with one on. Bradford now pitching. Rios grounds to SS Bartlett throw to Pena for third out.
Top 11th: Carlson now pitching. Pena singles to RF. Baldelli strikes out that was huge out for Carlson. Perez fly ball out to LF Wilkerson. Wild pitch, Pena moves into scoring position now for Ruggiano who strikes out. Great work Jesse.
Bottom 11th: Wells leading off grounds to Zobrist throw to 1B Pena. Wilkerson grounds to 1B Pena flip to pitcher Bradford for the out. Hero Overbay now patient at bat, full count and walks. Rolen with one on lines out to SS Bartlett. This one is more tense than last night’s game. It will be tough one to lose.
Top 12th: Carlson still in there, Navarro grounds to Inglett fortunately manages to hold this one and throw to Overbay for the out. That’s it for Carlson. Frasor now pitching, we have not seen him a few days. Bartlett strikes out. Zobrist doubles to CF. Iwamura now gets an intentional walk with first base open. Oh no, Frasor making this worse and Upton walks, Bases are loaded Zobrist at 3B, Iwamura at 2B. This is why we don’t see much of Frasor, he really freezes with guys on base. Parrish now pitching. Pena fly ball out to Wilkerson. Parris does his job bigtime. That could have been the game. Toronto has used seven pitchers today, and that is after Marcum had given them seven.
Bottom 12th: Balfour pitching. Zaun at bat strikes out. Snider strikes out. What a miserable day for him today 0-5. Inglett with two down singles to RF. Scutaro grounds to pitcher Balfour throw to Pena for the out.
Top 13th: Camp pitching. Jays are running out of pitching. Baldelli singles to LF. Perez grounds to Scutaro throw to Inglett, Baldelli out at 2B. One down one on for Jaso pinch-hitting for Ruggiano. Jaso grounds out to Overbay. Perez moves to 2B.Thatl;s it for Camp. Tallet pitching number nine pitcher. Perez stealing third, this guy has been running Jays ragged in first two games. Oh NO….. Navarro singles to RF, Perez scores. 4-3 Rays take the lead for first time in this game. Bartlett full count and walks, Navarro to 2B this is not over yet. Zobrist strikes out.Tallet escapes further damage but Rays are in flight here momentum is back with them.
Bottom 13th: Baldelli in at RF. Rays closer now Percival pitching. Rios leading off pops up to Pena at 1B.Wells now infield single to short. Wilkerson singles to left, Wells moves to 2B, Jays hve something going here. Overbay grounds to Iwamura to shortstop Bartlett Wilkerson out but Vernon is at 3B. McDonald pinch-running for Overbay at 1B. Rolen with two down. 3-0 count and walks on four pitches. Bases are loaded for Gregg Zaun. Crowd is going crazy. Zaun gets hold of this first pitch. YES YESYES YES Gregg, this one is out of here into the Rays bullpen. HR, GRAND SLAM walk off Grand slam…. Wells scores, McDonald scores, Rolen scores and Zaun with fist pumping helmet thrown off leaps into the mass of Jays at home plate. Jays win this one 7-4 Jays. Tallet loses and wins…. This one was Marcum’s but the hitters rescued a loss.
Jays send Marcum to the mound today, big test for Shawn against league leading team has he regained previous form? Should he be in rotation in 2009?
Lineups: Tampa, Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Floyd, Aybar, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Zobrist, and Shields pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Overbay, Rolen, Zaun, Snider and Marcum pitching.
Pitching: Marcum v Shields.
Result: Jays win 7-4 in thirteen innings.
The very, very good: Zaun walk-off grand slam home run in the 13th inning. It was the first time in Jays franchise history a game-ending grand slam in extra innings. Marcum seven shut out innings.
The good: Overbay two Home runs. Zaun also 3-5 today, plus two great throws to get runners. I think he was out to prove something to his Manager that he is definitely not finished. The bullpen apart from Frasor. BJ I have to give benefit of doubt to him here, Inglett’s error was huge in this going into extra innings. He also had another 25 pitch inning. Back to back days at the end of a long season, is his shoulder weakening ?
The bad: Inglett's second in last two games but this one really hurt Ryan and a win for Marcum.
The game: Top 1st: Iwamura singles to CF. Upton strikes out. Pena walks, Iwamura moves to 2B. Floyd grounds to Scutaro on to Overbay, douible play ball. Perfect.
Bottom 1st: Inglett singles to LF. Scutaro grounds to SS Zobrist on to 2B Iwamura, Inglett out at 2B.One down for Alex. Doubles to CF, Scutaro scores 1-0 Jays. Wells grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena at 1B two down. Lind grounds to 2B Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for third out but Jays take early lead.
Top 2nd: Aybar full count and walks. Marcum did not want that his second walk in two innings. Hinske at bat,strikes out, one down one on. Aybar stealing great throw by Zaun to Scutaro for the out. Navarro two down, fly ball out to Snider, playing in RF today.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay at bat, gets hold of this one and this one is out, HR to CF. 2-0 Jays. Rolen grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena at 1B for the out. Zaun getting a rare start these days, 0-21 ouch…. singles to RF that feels good along with that caught stealing throw. Snider now in his own mini slump, lines out to Iwamura. Two down for Inglett, grounds out to 1B Pena for third out but Jays have added one for Marcum.
Top 3rd: Ex-Jay Gross strikes out. Zobrist strikes out. Marcum now warming up ??? Spoke too sonn, Iwamura singles to CF. Upton two down one on, full count and walks. Iwamura to 2B. Pena at fly ball out to Snider in RF with Alex playing at CF today.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro, patient here, full count and walks. Rios at bat one on, lines out to SS Zobrist and Scutaro has to hold. Wells DH today grounds to SS Zobrist throw to Iwamura on to Pena at 1B double play ball Vernon ends that threat by Jays.
Top 4th: Floyd fly ball out to RF Snider one down. Aybar strikes out. Hinske at bat two down, grounds to Scutaro playing at SS today, throw to Overbay for the quick three up and down inning that Marcum needs.
Bottom 4th: Lind at bat, grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B to get Lind.One down for Overbay, YES Lyle, another good hit here this time to LF and out of here, HR his second of the game and 3-0 Jays in the lead. Rolen at bat fly ball out to RF Gross. Zaun full count and walks. Snider strikes out. His woes continue but I think Jays management want to carry him in September for the last three weeks. Downside could be his confidence though. Jays continue to add to the lead.
Top 5th: Navarro singles to RF. One on for Gross fly ball out to Lind. One down for Zobrist grounds to 2B Inglett flip to SS Scutaro on to Overbay, double play ball.
Bottom 5th: Inglett bunting back to Shields throw to Pena, out at 1B. Scutaro fly ball out to RF Gross. Two down for Rios fly ball out to Upton in CF. Jays go quietly this inning.
Top 6th: Iwamura leadoff grounds to SS Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay, one down. Upton fly ball out CF Rios. Pena singles to RF. Floyd at bat two down one on, fly ball out to Rios. Marcum frustrating Rays here today.
Bottom 6th: Wells at bat strikes out. Lind fly ball out flied out to CF Upton. Overbay of two HR’s must be feeling great after all the season long criticism singles to CF. He has Shields number today his third hit. Rolen with two down, grounds to 3B Aybar throw to 2B Iwamura to get Overbay for third out. I think Rolen should maybe give way to Jose Bautista for a game or two, he really does not look right with that stroke.
Top 7th: Marcum still in there and why not? Aybar strikes out. Hinske strikes out. That is number seven for Marcum today. However his three walks have pushed that pitch count up. Navarro grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay and Marcum has thrown seven shutout innings. 103 pitches so that might be it for Shaun. Cito likes Downs to have the eighth and set up for BJ maybe although he had long inning last night.
Bottom 7th: Ruggiano LF for Hinske. Zaun leading off pops up to SS Zobrist. One down for Snider, fly ball out to CF Upton and remains hitless today. Inglett fly ball out to Upton for third out.
Top 8th: Cito is indeed consistent, Downs now pitching. Bartlett pinch-hitting for Gross. Bartlett grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay,one down. Zobrist 3-0 count and now walks on four pitches. Iwamura 3-0 count and also walks on four pitches, Zobrist to second. I don’t think this is what Cito had in mind for Down here. Upton is the tying run. Grounds to Downs throw to Scutaro on to Overbay, double play ball and Downs escapes trouble here.
Bottom 8th: Shields is still pitching. Ruggiano in at RF for Gross. Bartlett in at SS for Zobrist. Scutaro leading off strikes out. Rios fly ball out to CF Upton. Wells grounds to Pena flip to pitcher Shields for third out and Shields should be fairly pleased with his eight innings here. His offence has let him down tonight.
Top 9th: Wilkerson in as left fielder. Ryan pitching. It will be interesting to see how he does he had a long 25 pitch inning last night. Pena lead off hit by pitch. One on for Baldelli pinch-hitting for Floyd. Full count. OH NO! Baldelli gets hold of this one, HR to left into the second deck.3-2 Jays and no outs. Aybar walks. Perez now pinch-running for Aybar. Perez stealing second and safe. Ruggiano strikes out one down. Navarro at bat singles up the middle Inglett should have had that one looked like through his legs but definitely playable, Perez scores though to tie this one up 3-3. Yes, error to Inglett his second in two days, but this one is huge. Perez would have had to hold at 3B. Navarro safe on Inglett's error, but on Rios throw to Zaun he gets Navarro at 2B. Another great play by Zaun. Two down. Bartlett strikes out. But before we bury BJ here that would have been a very different inning if Inglett had had that play. Perhaps Cito had better start to consider him a defensive liability and bringing in Johnny Mc and Scutaro for the later innings defensively. Marcum does not get the win and BJ blows the save but the scoreline does not tell the complete story here.
Bottom 9th: Can Jays get one more here but you know Rays are pumped up by that. Baldelli in as designated hitter. Perez in at LF. Zobrist moves to 3B. Wheeler now pitching. Wilkerson in for Lind, fly ball out to CF Upton. Overbay strikes out. Last chance Rolen, YES Scott, doubles to CF. Zaun infield single to third, Rolen moves to 3B but is hung up here and is out. SS Bartlett to 3B Zobrist to catcher Navarro back to Bartlett. We are going to extra innings after this one looked sown up for Marcum. I don’t want to see Inglett tomorrow.
Top 10th: League now pitching. Zobrist grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay, one down.
Iwamura singles to LF. Upton with one down and one on, grounds to Inglett flip to Scutaro on to Overbay double play ball. League likes that.
Bottom 10th: Howell now pitching. Snider leading off grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for the first out. Inglett at bat, singles to CF but he remains the goat from previous inning. Scutaro fly ball out RF Ruggiano.Two down for Rios with one on. Bradford now pitching. Rios grounds to SS Bartlett throw to Pena for third out.
Top 11th: Carlson now pitching. Pena singles to RF. Baldelli strikes out that was huge out for Carlson. Perez fly ball out to LF Wilkerson. Wild pitch, Pena moves into scoring position now for Ruggiano who strikes out. Great work Jesse.
Bottom 11th: Wells leading off grounds to Zobrist throw to 1B Pena. Wilkerson grounds to 1B Pena flip to pitcher Bradford for the out. Hero Overbay now patient at bat, full count and walks. Rolen with one on lines out to SS Bartlett. This one is more tense than last night’s game. It will be tough one to lose.
Top 12th: Carlson still in there, Navarro grounds to Inglett fortunately manages to hold this one and throw to Overbay for the out. That’s it for Carlson. Frasor now pitching, we have not seen him a few days. Bartlett strikes out. Zobrist doubles to CF. Iwamura now gets an intentional walk with first base open. Oh no, Frasor making this worse and Upton walks, Bases are loaded Zobrist at 3B, Iwamura at 2B. This is why we don’t see much of Frasor, he really freezes with guys on base. Parrish now pitching. Pena fly ball out to Wilkerson. Parris does his job bigtime. That could have been the game. Toronto has used seven pitchers today, and that is after Marcum had given them seven.
Bottom 12th: Balfour pitching. Zaun at bat strikes out. Snider strikes out. What a miserable day for him today 0-5. Inglett with two down singles to RF. Scutaro grounds to pitcher Balfour throw to Pena for the out.
Top 13th: Camp pitching. Jays are running out of pitching. Baldelli singles to LF. Perez grounds to Scutaro throw to Inglett, Baldelli out at 2B. One down one on for Jaso pinch-hitting for Ruggiano. Jaso grounds out to Overbay. Perez moves to 2B.Thatl;s it for Camp. Tallet pitching number nine pitcher. Perez stealing third, this guy has been running Jays ragged in first two games. Oh NO….. Navarro singles to RF, Perez scores. 4-3 Rays take the lead for first time in this game. Bartlett full count and walks, Navarro to 2B this is not over yet. Zobrist strikes out.Tallet escapes further damage but Rays are in flight here momentum is back with them.
Bottom 13th: Baldelli in at RF. Rays closer now Percival pitching. Rios leading off pops up to Pena at 1B.Wells now infield single to short. Wilkerson singles to left, Wells moves to 2B, Jays hve something going here. Overbay grounds to Iwamura to shortstop Bartlett Wilkerson out but Vernon is at 3B. McDonald pinch-running for Overbay at 1B. Rolen with two down. 3-0 count and walks on four pitches. Bases are loaded for Gregg Zaun. Crowd is going crazy. Zaun gets hold of this first pitch. YES YESYES YES Gregg, this one is out of here into the Rays bullpen. HR, GRAND SLAM walk off Grand slam…. Wells scores, McDonald scores, Rolen scores and Zaun with fist pumping helmet thrown off leaps into the mass of Jays at home plate. Jays win this one 7-4 Jays. Tallet loses and wins…. This one was Marcum’s but the hitters rescued a loss.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Greasy fingers of Inglett and Johnny Mc.almost ruin Halladay and Rios win.
Toronto v Tampa Friday September 5, 2008.
This is a very interesting series. Jays on a roll and five game win streak. Rays losing two to Yankees. Boston fans will be routing for Jays this weekend. However it is by no means a walkover for the Jays. Rays have owned them this season winning eleven of the fifteen games to date. That is dominance. Jays have their best going tonight to start the series and maybe get on the right foot to start.
Pitching: Sonnanstine 13-6 Halladay 17-9. This should be some match-up.
Lineups: Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Floyd, Aybar, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Bartlett and Sonnanstine pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, McDonald, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Rolen, Snider and Halladay pitching. Not quite the lineup that Cito had last game and Johnny Mc hitting number two ??? Strange.
Result: Jays win this one 6-4 although BJ Ryan makes it very close….
The very good: Halladay in a class of his own. Tonight also Alex Rios with the two HR’s.
The good: All round effort by the team for the most part, good hitting throughout and excellent pitching. Four for six with runners in scoring position and only left two on base.
The bad: Defence by Inglett and McDonald for once, cost Halladay some runs in his ERA. The clown who agreed to open the roof and then have to close it 20 minutes later.
The game: Top 1st: Iwamura grounds to Onglett at 2B, NO Joe, bobbles this and too late for throw to 1B. Iwamura safe at 1B. That was a dumb error buy Inglett. We have noted here before in this blog that sometimes this guy does not have his head in the game, his attention appears to wander sometimes in the field. This is classic, and he now has to face Halladay’s glare. Upton at bat, doubles to RF, Iwamura now moves to 3B. He should not even be on base. Two in scoring position with no outs, even for Halladay this is tough. Pena hit fly ball to RF Rios, Alex lopes after this one once again it is to his left where he seems to have problems, Iwamura scores, Upton moves to 3B. 1-0 Rays. Inglett owes Hallday bigtime. Floyd at bat another fly ball to RF Rios, Upton scores. 2-0 Rays. They certainly don’t miss opportunities to execute.This might be enough to win the game right here. Aybar at bat with no one on base, strikes out. Roy has to do it himself here. Damage is done, can the hitters get something off a very good pitcher in Sonnensatine?
Bottom 1st: Inglett chance to redeem himself here by getting on base, strikes out. McDonald with no need to bunt Inglett over, hit away Johnny Mc. Grounds to 3B Aybar throw to 1B Pena.Two down for Alex, first pitch swing fly ball out to Hinske in LF. Jays go quietly.
Top 2nd: Hinske gets mixture of boos and cheers although the boos sound much louder. Eric grounds out to 1B Overbay. One down. Navarro grounds to Inglett at 2B throw to 1B Overbay. Crowd gives him cheers both for fielding the ball and managing to throw it to Overbay. Ex-Jay Gross with two down, strikes out. Halladay needed that three up and down inning.
Bottom 2nd: Wells doubles to CF. Nice solid hit by Vernon hard to the wall. Lind dribbler to Punto at SS, but beats the throw. Two on for Barajas singles to CF, Wells held up by third base coach Levya, Lind at 2B. Two in scoring position with no outs. Overbay doubles to CF, Wells scores and is waving in Lind, he scores and this game is all tied up. 2-2. Barajas moves to 3B. Still no outs for Rolen, hits one to RF Gross, Barajas scores. 3-2 Jays and the first inning is almost forgotten. Sniderat bat and gets a very nice reception from the crowd, Problem is that they do not yet have a photograph of Travis for the JumboTron. Snider grounds to 2B Iwamura throw 1B to Pena, Overbay to third. Inglett at bat, strikes out. Second time tonight and in first two innings, definitely not his night tonight.
Top 3rd: Bartlett lines one out to LF Snider. One down. Iwamura grounds to 1B Overbay.
Upton at bat, singles to 3B. Pena at bat two down and one on strikes out. NO damage tonight.
Bottom 3rd: McDonald fly ball out to RF Gross. One down for Alex. Gets hold of this one and this one is out over Jays bullpen, Jay lead 4-2 and the crowd loves it, they are quite noisy. Roof of stadium is opening. Wells fly ball out to LF Hinske. Two down. Lind at bat, grounds to 2B Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for third out but Rios has done some damage here and Halladay has a two run lead..
Top 4th: Floyd strikes out. Aybar singles to CF. Hinske pops up to 3B Rolen. Navarro grounds to Rolen throw to 1B Overbay for third out Quick effective inning for Jays..
Bottom 4th: Barajas grounds to Bartlett throw to 1B Pena. One down. Overbay grounds to Iwamura throw to first baseman Pena. Rolen walks. Snider strikes out.
Top 5th: Gross grounds to Overbay to pitcher Halladay. Bartlett grounded out, first baseman Overbay to pitcher Halladay. Iwamura grounds out to Overbay.
Bottom 5th:. It is raining in the Rogers Centre !!! Yes that is what I said. Umbrellas are out everywhere. Not sure why they would bring them to a domed stadium but obviously they have a use now. Inglett two strikes outs tonight in his first two at bats. This time at least hits it and fly ball out to flied out to Upton in CF. McDonald lines out very hard to Aybar at 3B. That was a great catch but probably instinctive but robs Johnny Mc of at least one base. Rios fouls one out to 1B Pena.
Top 6th: Roof is closing again, this is very embarrassing, who made that decision to open when the weather system was still around? Must have been an Inglett clone. Upton strikes out. Pena strikes out. Two down. Floyd singles to LF. Aybar grounds out to Overbay.
Bottom 6th: Wells fly ball out to CF Upton. Lind with one down, grounds to 1B flip to Sonnanstine. Barajas at bat with two down, fouls one out to 1B Pena. Jays now going quietly. Roof still closing but looks as if rain has also stopped.
Top 7th: Hinske, still more boos, grounds to 2B Inglett throw to 1B Overbay. One out. Navarro singles to CF. Perez pinch-running for Navarro. Joe Maddon wants this run badly. Gross doubles to LF, Perez moves to 3B. Bartlett grounds this to Rolen in 3B. Perez scores, Gross to 3B. 4-3 Jays. Iwamura bunting, Halladay retrieves and have Gross in a rundown. Throw to Rolen to catcher Barajas, Gross is out but Bartlett moves to 3B. Upton strikes out. Hllaaday over 105 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Riggans now catching. Perez is in at LF. Howell pitching. Overbay lines hard out to RF Gross. Rolen strikes out. Snider strikes out. Jays go quietly again.
Top 8th: Downs pitching. Pena grounds to 2B Inglett throw to 1B Overbay. Baldelli pinch-hitting for Floyd. Baldelli grounded out, third baseman Rolen to first baseman Overbay. Aybar singled to left. Riggans struck out.
Bottom 8th: Baldelli in as DH. Balfour pitching. Inglett, continues hs own night to forget, fly ball out to LF Perez. McDonald doubles to center. That ball was hit very hard into the gap. Rios with one on, gets hold of this one and homers to left on the first pitch, McDonald scores. And game is now 6-3 Jays. That gives closer Ryan some room to work. Wells grounds to SS Bartlett throw to 1B Pena. Lind strikes out.
Top 9th: BJ Ryan pitching. Perez bunts his way on, he can really run fast as most of the Rays team. Zobrist pinch-hitting for Gross. Zobrist pops up to 2B Inglett. Perez has to hold. Bartlett doubles to CF, Perez scores and this game is 6-4 Jays, getting close BJ. Iwamura strikes out. Huge cheer for crowd. Two down. Upton grounds to McDonald bobbles it, and cannot make play at1B, error on Johnny Mc. Is there a full moon out there? , Bartlett moves to 3B for Pena at bat. Upton stealing and safe at 2B. Now more pressure on BJ, both runners will score in a base hit. Pena strikes out. And this games is over, not as easy as score suggests but then again if Inglett had made that play in the first inning ? and if Johnny Mc had done the same in the ninth, then this score would have been fine for BJ and Halladay.
As it is Ryan gets his save number 27 of 30 and Halladay gets win number eighteen.
This is a very interesting series. Jays on a roll and five game win streak. Rays losing two to Yankees. Boston fans will be routing for Jays this weekend. However it is by no means a walkover for the Jays. Rays have owned them this season winning eleven of the fifteen games to date. That is dominance. Jays have their best going tonight to start the series and maybe get on the right foot to start.
Pitching: Sonnanstine 13-6 Halladay 17-9. This should be some match-up.
Lineups: Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Floyd, Aybar, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Bartlett and Sonnanstine pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, McDonald, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Rolen, Snider and Halladay pitching. Not quite the lineup that Cito had last game and Johnny Mc hitting number two ??? Strange.
Result: Jays win this one 6-4 although BJ Ryan makes it very close….
The very good: Halladay in a class of his own. Tonight also Alex Rios with the two HR’s.
The good: All round effort by the team for the most part, good hitting throughout and excellent pitching. Four for six with runners in scoring position and only left two on base.
The bad: Defence by Inglett and McDonald for once, cost Halladay some runs in his ERA. The clown who agreed to open the roof and then have to close it 20 minutes later.
The game: Top 1st: Iwamura grounds to Onglett at 2B, NO Joe, bobbles this and too late for throw to 1B. Iwamura safe at 1B. That was a dumb error buy Inglett. We have noted here before in this blog that sometimes this guy does not have his head in the game, his attention appears to wander sometimes in the field. This is classic, and he now has to face Halladay’s glare. Upton at bat, doubles to RF, Iwamura now moves to 3B. He should not even be on base. Two in scoring position with no outs, even for Halladay this is tough. Pena hit fly ball to RF Rios, Alex lopes after this one once again it is to his left where he seems to have problems, Iwamura scores, Upton moves to 3B. 1-0 Rays. Inglett owes Hallday bigtime. Floyd at bat another fly ball to RF Rios, Upton scores. 2-0 Rays. They certainly don’t miss opportunities to execute.This might be enough to win the game right here. Aybar at bat with no one on base, strikes out. Roy has to do it himself here. Damage is done, can the hitters get something off a very good pitcher in Sonnensatine?
Bottom 1st: Inglett chance to redeem himself here by getting on base, strikes out. McDonald with no need to bunt Inglett over, hit away Johnny Mc. Grounds to 3B Aybar throw to 1B Pena.Two down for Alex, first pitch swing fly ball out to Hinske in LF. Jays go quietly.
Top 2nd: Hinske gets mixture of boos and cheers although the boos sound much louder. Eric grounds out to 1B Overbay. One down. Navarro grounds to Inglett at 2B throw to 1B Overbay. Crowd gives him cheers both for fielding the ball and managing to throw it to Overbay. Ex-Jay Gross with two down, strikes out. Halladay needed that three up and down inning.
Bottom 2nd: Wells doubles to CF. Nice solid hit by Vernon hard to the wall. Lind dribbler to Punto at SS, but beats the throw. Two on for Barajas singles to CF, Wells held up by third base coach Levya, Lind at 2B. Two in scoring position with no outs. Overbay doubles to CF, Wells scores and is waving in Lind, he scores and this game is all tied up. 2-2. Barajas moves to 3B. Still no outs for Rolen, hits one to RF Gross, Barajas scores. 3-2 Jays and the first inning is almost forgotten. Sniderat bat and gets a very nice reception from the crowd, Problem is that they do not yet have a photograph of Travis for the JumboTron. Snider grounds to 2B Iwamura throw 1B to Pena, Overbay to third. Inglett at bat, strikes out. Second time tonight and in first two innings, definitely not his night tonight.
Top 3rd: Bartlett lines one out to LF Snider. One down. Iwamura grounds to 1B Overbay.
Upton at bat, singles to 3B. Pena at bat two down and one on strikes out. NO damage tonight.
Bottom 3rd: McDonald fly ball out to RF Gross. One down for Alex. Gets hold of this one and this one is out over Jays bullpen, Jay lead 4-2 and the crowd loves it, they are quite noisy. Roof of stadium is opening. Wells fly ball out to LF Hinske. Two down. Lind at bat, grounds to 2B Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for third out but Rios has done some damage here and Halladay has a two run lead..
Top 4th: Floyd strikes out. Aybar singles to CF. Hinske pops up to 3B Rolen. Navarro grounds to Rolen throw to 1B Overbay for third out Quick effective inning for Jays..
Bottom 4th: Barajas grounds to Bartlett throw to 1B Pena. One down. Overbay grounds to Iwamura throw to first baseman Pena. Rolen walks. Snider strikes out.
Top 5th: Gross grounds to Overbay to pitcher Halladay. Bartlett grounded out, first baseman Overbay to pitcher Halladay. Iwamura grounds out to Overbay.
Bottom 5th:. It is raining in the Rogers Centre !!! Yes that is what I said. Umbrellas are out everywhere. Not sure why they would bring them to a domed stadium but obviously they have a use now. Inglett two strikes outs tonight in his first two at bats. This time at least hits it and fly ball out to flied out to Upton in CF. McDonald lines out very hard to Aybar at 3B. That was a great catch but probably instinctive but robs Johnny Mc of at least one base. Rios fouls one out to 1B Pena.
Top 6th: Roof is closing again, this is very embarrassing, who made that decision to open when the weather system was still around? Must have been an Inglett clone. Upton strikes out. Pena strikes out. Two down. Floyd singles to LF. Aybar grounds out to Overbay.
Bottom 6th: Wells fly ball out to CF Upton. Lind with one down, grounds to 1B flip to Sonnanstine. Barajas at bat with two down, fouls one out to 1B Pena. Jays now going quietly. Roof still closing but looks as if rain has also stopped.
Top 7th: Hinske, still more boos, grounds to 2B Inglett throw to 1B Overbay. One out. Navarro singles to CF. Perez pinch-running for Navarro. Joe Maddon wants this run badly. Gross doubles to LF, Perez moves to 3B. Bartlett grounds this to Rolen in 3B. Perez scores, Gross to 3B. 4-3 Jays. Iwamura bunting, Halladay retrieves and have Gross in a rundown. Throw to Rolen to catcher Barajas, Gross is out but Bartlett moves to 3B. Upton strikes out. Hllaaday over 105 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Riggans now catching. Perez is in at LF. Howell pitching. Overbay lines hard out to RF Gross. Rolen strikes out. Snider strikes out. Jays go quietly again.
Top 8th: Downs pitching. Pena grounds to 2B Inglett throw to 1B Overbay. Baldelli pinch-hitting for Floyd. Baldelli grounded out, third baseman Rolen to first baseman Overbay. Aybar singled to left. Riggans struck out.
Bottom 8th: Baldelli in as DH. Balfour pitching. Inglett, continues hs own night to forget, fly ball out to LF Perez. McDonald doubles to center. That ball was hit very hard into the gap. Rios with one on, gets hold of this one and homers to left on the first pitch, McDonald scores. And game is now 6-3 Jays. That gives closer Ryan some room to work. Wells grounds to SS Bartlett throw to 1B Pena. Lind strikes out.
Top 9th: BJ Ryan pitching. Perez bunts his way on, he can really run fast as most of the Rays team. Zobrist pinch-hitting for Gross. Zobrist pops up to 2B Inglett. Perez has to hold. Bartlett doubles to CF, Perez scores and this game is 6-4 Jays, getting close BJ. Iwamura strikes out. Huge cheer for crowd. Two down. Upton grounds to McDonald bobbles it, and cannot make play at1B, error on Johnny Mc. Is there a full moon out there? , Bartlett moves to 3B for Pena at bat. Upton stealing and safe at 2B. Now more pressure on BJ, both runners will score in a base hit. Pena strikes out. And this games is over, not as easy as score suggests but then again if Inglett had made that play in the first inning ? and if Johnny Mc had done the same in the ninth, then this score would have been fine for BJ and Halladay.
As it is Ryan gets his save number 27 of 30 and Halladay gets win number eighteen.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Perfect all -round performance by Jays support Litsch's no-hit complete game
Toronto v Minnesota, Series finale Thursday September 4,2008.
Preview: Jays going for sweep of series and the season against Twins. This is probably enough incentive for the Twins but will it be so for the season long inconsistent Jays in the middle of a great run right now. I think they have found the right lineups and the addition of Jose Bautista and Travis Snider has made a huge impact. I like Bautista batting number two, after either Scutaro or Inglett and in front of Rios. We shall see. Bullpen last night a little shaky but perhaps they are entitled to one bad game. Downs and Ryan were not sharp. For Ryan I think it might be that his surgery is finally catching up to him at the end of a long season. I hope I am wrong. League has been a pleasant surprise and today’s news that Jays might ask Downs to be a starter in 2009 may be a result of League’s resurgence. He could be that eighth inning set up for Ryan but of course we should also have Accardo back as well as Janssen so Jays management have an enviable task in the winter to set rotation plans for Dunedin. Looking forward to seeing whether or not Jesse Litsch can turn in another good outing as he did against Rays last week. If he can hold Twins to three runs that should be enough. BUT Gardenhire is an excellent Manager and will have some offensive plans for tonight. It is their final game on what must have been an exhausting fourteen game road trip. Minnesota started the trip one game back of Chicago in the division, and remain one game back after White Sox finished their own nine game road trip yesterday 4-5.
What they have been saying today:
Nathan "This will turn around," "We're not as bad as it has gone. As bad as our luck has gone, we're hoping it's going to turn and do just as good on the other end." Manager Ron Gardenhire "We're a game out of first place, we're in September and I think a lot of teams would like to be where we're at. A lot of people think the world is ending but it's not for this clubhouse. We'll be back and ready to play tomorrow."
Jesse Litsch on his last outing; "I made a couple mistake pitches."
Lineups: Minnesota: Span, Casilla, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Young, Redmond, Tolbert, Punto and Slowey pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Rolen, Snider and Litsch pitching.
Pitching: Litsch (9-8, 4.01) v Slowey 11-8, 3.70 ERA) is trying for his fifth consecutive winning decision after allowing two runs and six hits while striking out 10 in six innings of a 12-2 victory at Oakland on Friday. The right-hander is 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA in two career starts versus Toronto, but is 4-0 with a 2.03 ERA over his last five games overall. Litsch is 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA in three career starts versus the Twins and beat Slowey in a 5-3 Toronto victory on May 13.
Result: Jays win this one big 9-0 and sweep Twins and also their last nine against Twins.
The very good: Litsch and Snider both, supported by clutch hitting and great defence. This was a great all-round performance by Jays. HR Travis and three hits plus a walk, Litsch complete game shutout.
The good: double play first inning, Defence by Inglett and Scutaro. Multi-hit night for Inglett, Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen along with Snider. Hits throughout the lineup. Seventeen hits for Jays hitters.
The bad: Not tonight.
The game: Top 1st: Span at bat, shows bunt, on first pitch. Singles into RF, one on. Look for small ball now. Gardenhire wants this one badly. Casilla, grounds to Overbay at 1B on to Scutaro at 2B back to Lyle double play two out. Jesse likes that one. Mauer at bat, walks him, for Morneau, 109 RBIs ! Would that he were in Toronto. Full count, don’t walk this guy Jesse. Fly ball out to Snider playing in LF tonight. 22 pitches though for Jesse, he won’t last long tonight like this.
Bottom 1st: Inglett lead off, hits him that’s one way to get on. Scutaro, great bunt, and safe on Tolbert’s throw to 1B, four pitches !! two on for Rios, no outs, double steal ??? dream on…. That’s Joe Maddon’s style not Cito. Grounds to Punto at SS, off his arm, cannot make a play, everyone safe. Bases loaded for Wells, no outs. Come on Vernon. High fly ball to Young in LF, Inglett tags and scores. 1-0 Jays. Other runners stay put. Lind with one down and two on at 1B and 2B. Full count, high fly ball to Young in LF corner, runners hold. This is the difference between Rays and Jays managers, double steal earlier would have had Scutaro at 3B and that would have been run number two. Barajas at bat, two down now, strikes out, Jays ahead BUT with bases loaded and no outs that is a moral victory for Twins. This is why Ray are number one in division and Jays are four. Aggressive at the plate but not on the bases. I don’t see it changing under Cito. 26 pitches for Slowey but this could and should have been much worse for him.
Top 2nd: Kubel at bat, fly ball out to Snider ion LF corner, one down. Young singles over Joe Inglett into right centre. Redmond one on one down. Fly ball out to Wells in CF. Two down. Tolbert grounds hard to Inglett, throw to Overbay for third out. Better inning for Litsch here. 35 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay at bat, strikes out, one down for Rolen, strikes out looking on three pitches. Snider gets nice ovation, singles to RF another hit for this young man. Inglett now two down and one on. lines out to Span in CF . Jays go quietly this time. 36 pitches for Slowey.
Top 3rd: Punto first at bat tonight, doubles into LF Snider cannot get there in time, top of Twins order, Span, is he bunting ? Yes, but fouls it off. Full count strikes out. One down for Casilla,grounds to Overbay, throw to Litsch for the second out at 1B. Punto moves to 3B. Mauer at bat, full count, walks him, here comes trouble for Jesse , Morneau. Grounds hard back up the middle right at Litsch, nice stop by Jesse and throw to Overbay to get out trouble, nice fielding Jesse.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro to lead off, Jays need more than one run to beat the Twins tonight, I hope they don’t sit on the one run and regret not executing in that first inning. Fouling a few pitches off here, lines out to Kubel in RF corner. One down for Rios, fly ball out to Kubel in RF corner. Wells at bat two down no one on base, fly ball out to CF Span. Three up and down for Jays. 54 pitches. Yankees getting beaten up by Rays 5-0 only in 2nd inning. Rasner is already out of the game, Manager Girardi is still serious about these games.
Top 4th: Kubel at bat, grounds to Inglett at 2B throw to Overbay for first out. Young at bat, grounds to SS Scutaro, throw to Overbay for second out. Redmond at bat, grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for third out. Jesse’s best inning so far, three quick up and down. But we still need some hits here to win a game. 68 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Lind at bat, DH tonight. Singles into shallow LF. One on for Barajas grounds it to Tolbert at 3B on to Casilla on to Morneau for double play. Overbay at bat, lines it hard to off Tolbert’s but off his glove cannot make a throw Overbay safe at 1B. Rolen first pitch grounds it to Punto flip to Casilla at 2B for the third out. Maybe Bautista will be at 3B tomorrow ???
Top 5th: Tolbert high fly ball out to Rios, great running catch by Alex. I believe he should use his speed more often in the field. He is fine going right but not left (I think). Punto at bat lines out to Rios in RF right at him this time. Two down. Span at bat singles into LF. Casilla at bat, two down one on. grounds to Scutaro throw to Inglett at 2B Span called out on very close play as Inglett sprawls over the bag. 79 pitches for Jesse though, he may not get into seven tonight.
Bottom 5th: Snider at bat WOW Travis…. He really gets hold of this one, HR to CF. up on the black backdrop, deepest part of the ballpark. 2-0 Jays. First major league HR. This kid has POWER. Inglett lines it off glove of Slowey, no chance for Casilla to make play at 1B. Scutaro bunts again, Inglett safe at 2B. One down. Rios now chance to get further ahead. Bounces to Casilla at 2B Inglett moves to 3B but Alex out at 1B. Wells at bat two down. Grounds to Punto as SS, throw to 1B for third out. 82 pitches.
Top 6th: Mauer at bat, grounds to Scutaro at SS throw to Overbay for the first out. Morneau at bat, grounds hard to Inglett, throw to Overbay for second out. Grounds first pitch to Overbay flip to Litsch for third out only six pitch inning. He needed a quick one here. 85 pitches, enough for another inning.
Bottom 6th: Jays hitters need to break this one open now and break the spirit of Twins. I didn’t see that intensity in Alex and Vernon last inning in their at bats. Two runs is not enough against this team. Lind at bat, full count, grounds it hard off the glove of Tolbert at 3B, no chance on that one for Tolbert. Adam safe at 1B. Barajas at bat, just misses one here, high foul ball in LF corner just misses foul pole. Now high fly ball out to Kubel in RF corner. Overbay first pitch swing, and fly ball out to LF. 91 Rolen now , yes Scott singles to CF and Adam gets to 3B easily. Craig Breslow up in Twins bullpen. Snider 2-2 tonight with two on here, yes Travis, does it again, singles up the middle, Lind scores 3-0 Jays. Snider 3-3 tonight. That’s it for Slowey, Breslow now pitching. Rolen goes to 3B on that hit. Top of the order for Jays. Inglett at bat, strikes out.
Top 7th: Yankees now losing 6-0 in the 5th. Jays can pull one up on them if they hold this one tonight. Young grounds hard to SS Scutaro great play by Marco throws Young out at 1B, great play. One down. Redmond at bat, bounces back to Jesse, throw to Overbay for second out. Tolbert at bat, two down, strikes him out. Very nice Jesse. 98 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Jesse Crain pitching. Scutaro at bat, strikes out. Rios at bat, fly ball out to Kubel in shallow RF. Two down for Wells. Vernon was waiting for that pitch, too many curve balls there Jesse, and Vernon gets this one into the seats above the Jays bullpen in LF. 4-0 Jays. Number sixteen for Vernon this season. That’s it for Crain. Reyes now pitching. Lind at bat with two down. Grounds to Casilla, throw to Morneau at 1B for third out.
Top 8th: Litsch still in there but may be on a short leash if he gets into trouble. Punto at bat, pops it up to Scutaro in shallow LF. One down for Span, grounds back to Litsch, nice grab by Jesse throw to Overbay for the second out. Casilla at bat, grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for third out, very quick inning one, two, three for Litsch here.
Bottom 8th: Bobby Korecky pitching. Barajas at bat, has hit ball hard tonight but no luck so far. Successful this time, singles into LF. Overbay at bat, long fly ball out to Span in CF. One down for Rolen, singles up the middle, two on, one down, guess who is at bat? Snider again 3-3 tonight can he make it four? I do like his patience at bat. Full count, and walks. Bases loaded, very nice at bat Travis. Inglett at bat one down, gets hold of this one over Jukbls head bounces off right centre wall, Barajas and Rolen score, 6-0 Jays. Snider at 3B and Inglett at 2B one down. Scutaro at bat, new pitcher, Phillip Humber. Bounces to Punto throw to Morneau for the second out. No chance for Snider to come home. Rios at bat singles into shallow CF, Snider and Inglett score. 8-0 Jays. Wells at bat Alex at 1B and two down. Singles very hard into RF, two on and two down. Lind at bat doubles off the RF wall, Rios scores, 9-0 Jays. Barajas with two in scoring position, batting for second time this inning, lines out to Morneau at 1B. I hope Rays are watching the scoreboard tonight in Tampa and getting nervous about their trip to the cold North….
Top 9th: Litsch still out there 106 pitches. Matt Macri pinch hitting for Mauer, fly ball out to Vernon in CF. One down for Ruiz pinch hitting for Morneau, strikes out, two down for Jason Pridie lines it hard to Inglett great diving catch to end this one. Highlight reel catch and Jays win this one going away 9-0.
Litsch gets complete game shutout and Jays sweep Twins with all round performance. Now for those Rays this weekend.
Preview: Jays going for sweep of series and the season against Twins. This is probably enough incentive for the Twins but will it be so for the season long inconsistent Jays in the middle of a great run right now. I think they have found the right lineups and the addition of Jose Bautista and Travis Snider has made a huge impact. I like Bautista batting number two, after either Scutaro or Inglett and in front of Rios. We shall see. Bullpen last night a little shaky but perhaps they are entitled to one bad game. Downs and Ryan were not sharp. For Ryan I think it might be that his surgery is finally catching up to him at the end of a long season. I hope I am wrong. League has been a pleasant surprise and today’s news that Jays might ask Downs to be a starter in 2009 may be a result of League’s resurgence. He could be that eighth inning set up for Ryan but of course we should also have Accardo back as well as Janssen so Jays management have an enviable task in the winter to set rotation plans for Dunedin. Looking forward to seeing whether or not Jesse Litsch can turn in another good outing as he did against Rays last week. If he can hold Twins to three runs that should be enough. BUT Gardenhire is an excellent Manager and will have some offensive plans for tonight. It is their final game on what must have been an exhausting fourteen game road trip. Minnesota started the trip one game back of Chicago in the division, and remain one game back after White Sox finished their own nine game road trip yesterday 4-5.
What they have been saying today:
Nathan "This will turn around," "We're not as bad as it has gone. As bad as our luck has gone, we're hoping it's going to turn and do just as good on the other end." Manager Ron Gardenhire "We're a game out of first place, we're in September and I think a lot of teams would like to be where we're at. A lot of people think the world is ending but it's not for this clubhouse. We'll be back and ready to play tomorrow."
Jesse Litsch on his last outing; "I made a couple mistake pitches."
Lineups: Minnesota: Span, Casilla, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Young, Redmond, Tolbert, Punto and Slowey pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Rolen, Snider and Litsch pitching.
Pitching: Litsch (9-8, 4.01) v Slowey 11-8, 3.70 ERA) is trying for his fifth consecutive winning decision after allowing two runs and six hits while striking out 10 in six innings of a 12-2 victory at Oakland on Friday. The right-hander is 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA in two career starts versus Toronto, but is 4-0 with a 2.03 ERA over his last five games overall. Litsch is 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA in three career starts versus the Twins and beat Slowey in a 5-3 Toronto victory on May 13.
Result: Jays win this one big 9-0 and sweep Twins and also their last nine against Twins.
The very good: Litsch and Snider both, supported by clutch hitting and great defence. This was a great all-round performance by Jays. HR Travis and three hits plus a walk, Litsch complete game shutout.
The good: double play first inning, Defence by Inglett and Scutaro. Multi-hit night for Inglett, Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen along with Snider. Hits throughout the lineup. Seventeen hits for Jays hitters.
The bad: Not tonight.
The game: Top 1st: Span at bat, shows bunt, on first pitch. Singles into RF, one on. Look for small ball now. Gardenhire wants this one badly. Casilla, grounds to Overbay at 1B on to Scutaro at 2B back to Lyle double play two out. Jesse likes that one. Mauer at bat, walks him, for Morneau, 109 RBIs ! Would that he were in Toronto. Full count, don’t walk this guy Jesse. Fly ball out to Snider playing in LF tonight. 22 pitches though for Jesse, he won’t last long tonight like this.
Bottom 1st: Inglett lead off, hits him that’s one way to get on. Scutaro, great bunt, and safe on Tolbert’s throw to 1B, four pitches !! two on for Rios, no outs, double steal ??? dream on…. That’s Joe Maddon’s style not Cito. Grounds to Punto at SS, off his arm, cannot make a play, everyone safe. Bases loaded for Wells, no outs. Come on Vernon. High fly ball to Young in LF, Inglett tags and scores. 1-0 Jays. Other runners stay put. Lind with one down and two on at 1B and 2B. Full count, high fly ball to Young in LF corner, runners hold. This is the difference between Rays and Jays managers, double steal earlier would have had Scutaro at 3B and that would have been run number two. Barajas at bat, two down now, strikes out, Jays ahead BUT with bases loaded and no outs that is a moral victory for Twins. This is why Ray are number one in division and Jays are four. Aggressive at the plate but not on the bases. I don’t see it changing under Cito. 26 pitches for Slowey but this could and should have been much worse for him.
Top 2nd: Kubel at bat, fly ball out to Snider ion LF corner, one down. Young singles over Joe Inglett into right centre. Redmond one on one down. Fly ball out to Wells in CF. Two down. Tolbert grounds hard to Inglett, throw to Overbay for third out. Better inning for Litsch here. 35 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay at bat, strikes out, one down for Rolen, strikes out looking on three pitches. Snider gets nice ovation, singles to RF another hit for this young man. Inglett now two down and one on. lines out to Span in CF . Jays go quietly this time. 36 pitches for Slowey.
Top 3rd: Punto first at bat tonight, doubles into LF Snider cannot get there in time, top of Twins order, Span, is he bunting ? Yes, but fouls it off. Full count strikes out. One down for Casilla,grounds to Overbay, throw to Litsch for the second out at 1B. Punto moves to 3B. Mauer at bat, full count, walks him, here comes trouble for Jesse , Morneau. Grounds hard back up the middle right at Litsch, nice stop by Jesse and throw to Overbay to get out trouble, nice fielding Jesse.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro to lead off, Jays need more than one run to beat the Twins tonight, I hope they don’t sit on the one run and regret not executing in that first inning. Fouling a few pitches off here, lines out to Kubel in RF corner. One down for Rios, fly ball out to Kubel in RF corner. Wells at bat two down no one on base, fly ball out to CF Span. Three up and down for Jays. 54 pitches. Yankees getting beaten up by Rays 5-0 only in 2nd inning. Rasner is already out of the game, Manager Girardi is still serious about these games.
Top 4th: Kubel at bat, grounds to Inglett at 2B throw to Overbay for first out. Young at bat, grounds to SS Scutaro, throw to Overbay for second out. Redmond at bat, grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for third out. Jesse’s best inning so far, three quick up and down. But we still need some hits here to win a game. 68 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Lind at bat, DH tonight. Singles into shallow LF. One on for Barajas grounds it to Tolbert at 3B on to Casilla on to Morneau for double play. Overbay at bat, lines it hard to off Tolbert’s but off his glove cannot make a throw Overbay safe at 1B. Rolen first pitch grounds it to Punto flip to Casilla at 2B for the third out. Maybe Bautista will be at 3B tomorrow ???
Top 5th: Tolbert high fly ball out to Rios, great running catch by Alex. I believe he should use his speed more often in the field. He is fine going right but not left (I think). Punto at bat lines out to Rios in RF right at him this time. Two down. Span at bat singles into LF. Casilla at bat, two down one on. grounds to Scutaro throw to Inglett at 2B Span called out on very close play as Inglett sprawls over the bag. 79 pitches for Jesse though, he may not get into seven tonight.
Bottom 5th: Snider at bat WOW Travis…. He really gets hold of this one, HR to CF. up on the black backdrop, deepest part of the ballpark. 2-0 Jays. First major league HR. This kid has POWER. Inglett lines it off glove of Slowey, no chance for Casilla to make play at 1B. Scutaro bunts again, Inglett safe at 2B. One down. Rios now chance to get further ahead. Bounces to Casilla at 2B Inglett moves to 3B but Alex out at 1B. Wells at bat two down. Grounds to Punto as SS, throw to 1B for third out. 82 pitches.
Top 6th: Mauer at bat, grounds to Scutaro at SS throw to Overbay for the first out. Morneau at bat, grounds hard to Inglett, throw to Overbay for second out. Grounds first pitch to Overbay flip to Litsch for third out only six pitch inning. He needed a quick one here. 85 pitches, enough for another inning.
Bottom 6th: Jays hitters need to break this one open now and break the spirit of Twins. I didn’t see that intensity in Alex and Vernon last inning in their at bats. Two runs is not enough against this team. Lind at bat, full count, grounds it hard off the glove of Tolbert at 3B, no chance on that one for Tolbert. Adam safe at 1B. Barajas at bat, just misses one here, high foul ball in LF corner just misses foul pole. Now high fly ball out to Kubel in RF corner. Overbay first pitch swing, and fly ball out to LF. 91 Rolen now , yes Scott singles to CF and Adam gets to 3B easily. Craig Breslow up in Twins bullpen. Snider 2-2 tonight with two on here, yes Travis, does it again, singles up the middle, Lind scores 3-0 Jays. Snider 3-3 tonight. That’s it for Slowey, Breslow now pitching. Rolen goes to 3B on that hit. Top of the order for Jays. Inglett at bat, strikes out.
Top 7th: Yankees now losing 6-0 in the 5th. Jays can pull one up on them if they hold this one tonight. Young grounds hard to SS Scutaro great play by Marco throws Young out at 1B, great play. One down. Redmond at bat, bounces back to Jesse, throw to Overbay for second out. Tolbert at bat, two down, strikes him out. Very nice Jesse. 98 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Jesse Crain pitching. Scutaro at bat, strikes out. Rios at bat, fly ball out to Kubel in shallow RF. Two down for Wells. Vernon was waiting for that pitch, too many curve balls there Jesse, and Vernon gets this one into the seats above the Jays bullpen in LF. 4-0 Jays. Number sixteen for Vernon this season. That’s it for Crain. Reyes now pitching. Lind at bat with two down. Grounds to Casilla, throw to Morneau at 1B for third out.
Top 8th: Litsch still in there but may be on a short leash if he gets into trouble. Punto at bat, pops it up to Scutaro in shallow LF. One down for Span, grounds back to Litsch, nice grab by Jesse throw to Overbay for the second out. Casilla at bat, grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for third out, very quick inning one, two, three for Litsch here.
Bottom 8th: Bobby Korecky pitching. Barajas at bat, has hit ball hard tonight but no luck so far. Successful this time, singles into LF. Overbay at bat, long fly ball out to Span in CF. One down for Rolen, singles up the middle, two on, one down, guess who is at bat? Snider again 3-3 tonight can he make it four? I do like his patience at bat. Full count, and walks. Bases loaded, very nice at bat Travis. Inglett at bat one down, gets hold of this one over Jukbls head bounces off right centre wall, Barajas and Rolen score, 6-0 Jays. Snider at 3B and Inglett at 2B one down. Scutaro at bat, new pitcher, Phillip Humber. Bounces to Punto throw to Morneau for the second out. No chance for Snider to come home. Rios at bat singles into shallow CF, Snider and Inglett score. 8-0 Jays. Wells at bat Alex at 1B and two down. Singles very hard into RF, two on and two down. Lind at bat doubles off the RF wall, Rios scores, 9-0 Jays. Barajas with two in scoring position, batting for second time this inning, lines out to Morneau at 1B. I hope Rays are watching the scoreboard tonight in Tampa and getting nervous about their trip to the cold North….
Top 9th: Litsch still out there 106 pitches. Matt Macri pinch hitting for Mauer, fly ball out to Vernon in CF. One down for Ruiz pinch hitting for Morneau, strikes out, two down for Jason Pridie lines it hard to Inglett great diving catch to end this one. Highlight reel catch and Jays win this one going away 9-0.
Litsch gets complete game shutout and Jays sweep Twins with all round performance. Now for those Rays this weekend.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Extra innings win for Jays with clutch hitting.
Toronto v Minnesota. Wednesday September 2, 2008.
Preview: This is the type of game that has so much hype that the unexpected happens. Gardenhire is too good a Manager to let them roll over for Burnett tonight. Look for small ball. Jays have to take advantage of Twins though at the end of in their very long road trip, get an early lead and the advantage.
Lineups: Twins: Soan, Casilla, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Buscher, Punto, Tolbert, Gomez and Blackburn pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Rolen, Snider and Burnett pitching.
Pitching: Burnett v Blackburn.
The good: Johnny Mc game winning hit. Rolen lead off double in the eleventh. Inglett HR in third inning to get them going. Burnett third Jays pitcher to get 200 strikeouts in a season, Clemens and Halladay the other two with Clemens twice. Snider to tie it up in the bottom of ninth inning off Nathan. Rolen defence top of tenth to get third out from his knees after Gold glove save. League and Carlson innings.
The bad: Inglett leadoff first inning first pitch out. Has not played since Sunday, take a couple of pitches Joe get your timing. Rolen double play ball in 2nd. Downs and Ryan shaky tonight. Not a big supporter of this aggression with first pitch swinging.
The game: Top 1st: Span strikes out, Casilla fouls out to Rolen. Mauer two down singles up the middle, Morneau at bat, bounces high to Rolen at 3B no chance for throw. Two on for Kubel, strikes out but too many pitches AJ.
Bottom 1st: Inglett first pitch, (why not ?) grounds to 3B throw to 1B one down, thank you Joe that was a very good at bat. Scutaro has to take next pitch and of course right down the middle for a strike. Lines out to Punto at SS, two down. Rios at bat, doubles to LF corner. One on two down for Wells. Strikes out on three pitches. Nothing here for the Jays but unfortunately the leadoff guy Inglett set the tone.
Top 2nd: Buscher at bat, strikes out. Punto at bat, grounds down the line to Overbay, flip to Burnett for second out. Tolbert at bat, walks number eight hitter. Not good AJ Carlos Gomez now , runner going and Tolbert steals 2B without a throw. Full count, strikes him out. Number four for Burnett tonight.
Bottom 2nd: Lind at bat, lines it off Blackburn to Casilla but not in time for a throw, Lind safe at 1B. Barajas with one on, trying to pull it to LF try driving it Rod. Strikes out . Overbay at bat one down and one on. No Lyle, first pitch grounder to Tolbert at 3B on to Casilla, on to Morneau double play ball. Horrible. I guess that is the new aggression that new coaches want. No thanks.29 pitches.
Top 3rd: Span singles up the middle past Inglett. AJ you don’t need this guy on base. He will be going. Casilla at bat, there he goes but Barajas great throw to get him at 2B. Perfect throw. Mauer grounds to Rolen at 3B throw to Overbay for second out. Morneau strikes out.
Bottom 3rd: Rolen at bat, full count, strikes out but thought that was ball four. Snider now one down. patience here and now singles to LF. Nice at bat, he can teach Inglett something. Now Inglett at bat, will he take a couple this time, yes, and now golfs this one, there it goes, HR Inglett into RF corner. 2-0 Jays. Scutaro at bat fly ball out to CF Gomez. Two down for Rios. Strikes out but Jays get the early lead which is what they need tonight.
Top 4th: Burnett has to close it down here. Morneau at bat, walks not the start AJ wanted. Kubel one on no outs. Grounds to Scutaro at 2B, Scutaro goes himself to 2B and throws wild at 1B. Morneau out but Kubel safe, maybe should have given Inglett this one and better chance for double play. Buscher at bat, fly ball out to Lind ? Punto at bat, two down and one on. Grounds this one to Inglett at 2B. Throw to Overbay for third out, no damage. 53 pitches though.
Bottom 4th: Wells grounds to Tolbert at 3B throw to Morneau at 1B, one down. Lind at bat, strikes out swinging. Barajas at bat, strikes out and Jays go quietly this inning.
Top 5th: Tolbert lines this one over head of Wells to the wall and triples easily. Vernon misjudged that one. Twins have one on 3B and no outs. Gomez at bat, full count and strikes out. One down. Top of the order now though. Span at bat, strikes out swinging. Two down. Now can he finish them off here ? Casilla at bat, two down and one at 3B. Grounds out to Overbay for third out. Yes AJ, very nice pitching. 76 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Overbay drives it into RF, again first pitch. Rolen with one on. Chops it in front of home plate and Overbay safe at 2B Rolen thrown out at 1B. One down. Snider now with Overbay at 2B. Grounds out to Morneau at 1B two down, Overbay at 3B. Inglett at bat, grounds to Tolbert at 3B throw to Morneau at 1B for the third out. 63 pitches.
Top 6th: Mauer grounds to Inglett, throw to Overbay one down. Morneau grounds first pitch to Inglett throw to Overbay for second out. Kubel dribbler halfway to Rolen but no play on that ball. Buscher with one on and two down. Pops up to Rolen in foul territory, roof is closing, rain on the way…..
Bottom 6th: Scutaro lines out to Kubel in LF, Rios first pitch fly ball out to CF Gomez. Two down on three pitches. Wells now at bat 0-2 tonight, lines out to Kubel in LF, six pitch inning. Don’t tell me that Jays pitchers like this aggression by the hitters, AJ hardly had time to sit.
Top 7th: Punto at bat, Richmond now up in Jays bullpen. Full count, walks him. Tolbert at bat one on. 3-1 count. 100 pitches. Full count, lines out to Rios in RF, one down. Young pinch hitting for Gomez. Ground rule double off glove of Rios in RF. Twp in scoring position though. Span at bat, Pridie pinch running at 2B. Downs up in Jays bullpen. Span strikes out. Two down. Casilla at bat, two down two on, 3-0 count. Walks him on four pitches, That’s it for AJ, 113 pitches. Downs now with bases loaded. Mauer at bat, 3-0 count. Gets hold of this one, drives it to the left centre wall, three runs score 3-2 Twins. Morneau 3-0 count walks on four. Kubel at bat two down two on, grounds it to Inglett at 2B throw to Overbay for third out but Twins are ahead.
Bottom 7th: The hitters now have to earn their money instead of six-pitch innings and early night on the town. Lind at bat, no first pitch swinging and grounds to Morneau for the out. Barajas at bat, 0-10 slump, singles into shallow RF. 1-11. Overbay at bat, Mench pinch running for Barajas, dribbler in front of home plate, Lyle out at 1B but Mench is in scoring position at 2B with two down. Scott Rolen, would love a big one here Scott. Grounds to Punto at SS fumbled and into shallow left and Mench scores easily from 2B this game is tied 3-3. Snider now at bat, grounds to 3B Tolbert throw wild over head of Morneau into crowd, two now in scoring position, this is huge now for Inglett, that’s it for Blackburn not his fault, two consecutive errors hurts him here, he was cruising and with very low pitch count thanks to the over aggressive Jays hitters. Reyes now pitching, he is one tough cookie. Inglett has to think about this at bat. This could be the game with Rolen at 3B and Snider at 2B. Bautista now pinch hitting for Inglett, intentional walk to load bases, they don’t want Bautista facing Reyes. Scutaro at bat, Reyes out and right handed pitcher to face Scutaro. Guerrier pitching, Scutaro fly ball out to Span in CF. Leaves bases loaded but Jays have at least tied it up and AJ does not lose this one.
Top 8th: Downs still in there. Harris pinch hitting for Buscher at bat McDonald at SS Scutaro at 2B and Zaun catching. Harris grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay at 1B one down. Punto at bat, singles to right centre, one on one down. Tolbert at bat, strikes out, two down. Pridie at bat, full count. Walks him. Two on, two down for Span. Bounces it to Downs who takes ball himself for the out at 1B. No damage for Downs although not his best outing at all tonight.
Bottom 8th: Big bats for Jays now, Rios to leadoff. Grounds to Punto at SS, good throw to Morneau to get Alex. One down for Vernon 0-3 tonight, not a good night for him at bat. Same play to Punto throw to Morneau for second out. Lind now can he do anything here? Full count, grounds to Casilla at 2B, throw to Morneau for third out. Jays go quietly.
Top 9th: BJ Ryan in, not League who was up in bullpen earlier. Casilla at bat, pops up to Overbay at the wall for the catch. Very nice play. Mauer at bat, high fly ball out to Wells in CF, right at the wall, almost out. Morneau at bat, doubles to the CF wall. Kubel at bat, two down, 3-0 count. Walks on four pitches. Harris at bat, wild pitch and both runners move up. Full count now. Harris grounds to Scutaro throw to 1B but Harris safe at 1B. Morneau scores 4-3 Twins. Punto fly ball out to Wells but damage is done.
Bottom 9th: Nathan pitching, Zaun at bat, walks him, good at bat Gregg. Overbay now first pitch swing high fly ball out to Span in CF. Thigpen pinch running for Zaun. Rolen with one on and one down. Lines this one hard right at Tolbert at 3B. Two down. Snider at bat, full count, very patient at bat here by Snider, drives this one to right centre, Pridie fumbles this ball bounces away. Error on play. Thigpen scores, this game it tied up 4-4. Travis at 2B. Johnny Mc at bat, full count strikes out but this game is extra innings.
Top 10th: League pitching. Thigpen catching. Tolbert at bat, full count. Singles up the middle. Pridie bunts to Rolen throw to 1B one down. Tolbert to 2B. Span at bat, grounds out to Overbay at 1B, two down for Casilla. Tolbert moves to 3B. Whoa, grounds to Rolen, a really great diving save and throw from his knees to Overbay to get third out.
Bottom 10th: Top of the order Scutaro at bat, Nathan still pitching. Fly ball out to Pridie in RF corner, one down. Rios at bat, hammers this one, just misses HR here, off the wall in LF corner, a triple. One down for Vernon here, intentional walk. Not pitching to Vernon. Lind at bat, walking him, intentional also to load bases. Thigpen at bat, they cannot walk Curtis. Patient at bat, full count, strikes out. On ball four. Tough one to take. Overbay at bat, two down bases loaded but Alex is the important one at 3B. Horrible first pitch ! swing and fly ball out to Pridie in RF. Cito you are going to have to teach this group how to get a guy in from 3B. Same old…..
Top 11th: Carlson pitching. Mauer at bat, grounds to Scutaro at 2B throw to Overbay one down. Morneau pops up to Overbay for second out. Kubel with two down, fly ball out to Wells in CF, nice inning Jesse.
Bottom 11th: Eddie Guardado pitching. Rolen at bat, YES Scott, doubles very hard to CF wall. Nice at bat, Travis Snider again 2-4 tonight. Tough situation for Travis, singles to LF, Rolen has to hold that could have been caught by Kubel. Rolen at 3B Snider at 1B, no outs. Boof Bonser pitching, McDonald at bat, will he bunt? NO but he does hit this one HIGH over head of CF Gomez playing shallow CF, this game is over, Rolen scores, Jays win this one 5-4.
Preview: This is the type of game that has so much hype that the unexpected happens. Gardenhire is too good a Manager to let them roll over for Burnett tonight. Look for small ball. Jays have to take advantage of Twins though at the end of in their very long road trip, get an early lead and the advantage.
Lineups: Twins: Soan, Casilla, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Buscher, Punto, Tolbert, Gomez and Blackburn pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Rolen, Snider and Burnett pitching.
Pitching: Burnett v Blackburn.
The good: Johnny Mc game winning hit. Rolen lead off double in the eleventh. Inglett HR in third inning to get them going. Burnett third Jays pitcher to get 200 strikeouts in a season, Clemens and Halladay the other two with Clemens twice. Snider to tie it up in the bottom of ninth inning off Nathan. Rolen defence top of tenth to get third out from his knees after Gold glove save. League and Carlson innings.
The bad: Inglett leadoff first inning first pitch out. Has not played since Sunday, take a couple of pitches Joe get your timing. Rolen double play ball in 2nd. Downs and Ryan shaky tonight. Not a big supporter of this aggression with first pitch swinging.
The game: Top 1st: Span strikes out, Casilla fouls out to Rolen. Mauer two down singles up the middle, Morneau at bat, bounces high to Rolen at 3B no chance for throw. Two on for Kubel, strikes out but too many pitches AJ.
Bottom 1st: Inglett first pitch, (why not ?) grounds to 3B throw to 1B one down, thank you Joe that was a very good at bat. Scutaro has to take next pitch and of course right down the middle for a strike. Lines out to Punto at SS, two down. Rios at bat, doubles to LF corner. One on two down for Wells. Strikes out on three pitches. Nothing here for the Jays but unfortunately the leadoff guy Inglett set the tone.
Top 2nd: Buscher at bat, strikes out. Punto at bat, grounds down the line to Overbay, flip to Burnett for second out. Tolbert at bat, walks number eight hitter. Not good AJ Carlos Gomez now , runner going and Tolbert steals 2B without a throw. Full count, strikes him out. Number four for Burnett tonight.
Bottom 2nd: Lind at bat, lines it off Blackburn to Casilla but not in time for a throw, Lind safe at 1B. Barajas with one on, trying to pull it to LF try driving it Rod. Strikes out . Overbay at bat one down and one on. No Lyle, first pitch grounder to Tolbert at 3B on to Casilla, on to Morneau double play ball. Horrible. I guess that is the new aggression that new coaches want. No thanks.29 pitches.
Top 3rd: Span singles up the middle past Inglett. AJ you don’t need this guy on base. He will be going. Casilla at bat, there he goes but Barajas great throw to get him at 2B. Perfect throw. Mauer grounds to Rolen at 3B throw to Overbay for second out. Morneau strikes out.
Bottom 3rd: Rolen at bat, full count, strikes out but thought that was ball four. Snider now one down. patience here and now singles to LF. Nice at bat, he can teach Inglett something. Now Inglett at bat, will he take a couple this time, yes, and now golfs this one, there it goes, HR Inglett into RF corner. 2-0 Jays. Scutaro at bat fly ball out to CF Gomez. Two down for Rios. Strikes out but Jays get the early lead which is what they need tonight.
Top 4th: Burnett has to close it down here. Morneau at bat, walks not the start AJ wanted. Kubel one on no outs. Grounds to Scutaro at 2B, Scutaro goes himself to 2B and throws wild at 1B. Morneau out but Kubel safe, maybe should have given Inglett this one and better chance for double play. Buscher at bat, fly ball out to Lind ? Punto at bat, two down and one on. Grounds this one to Inglett at 2B. Throw to Overbay for third out, no damage. 53 pitches though.
Bottom 4th: Wells grounds to Tolbert at 3B throw to Morneau at 1B, one down. Lind at bat, strikes out swinging. Barajas at bat, strikes out and Jays go quietly this inning.
Top 5th: Tolbert lines this one over head of Wells to the wall and triples easily. Vernon misjudged that one. Twins have one on 3B and no outs. Gomez at bat, full count and strikes out. One down. Top of the order now though. Span at bat, strikes out swinging. Two down. Now can he finish them off here ? Casilla at bat, two down and one at 3B. Grounds out to Overbay for third out. Yes AJ, very nice pitching. 76 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Overbay drives it into RF, again first pitch. Rolen with one on. Chops it in front of home plate and Overbay safe at 2B Rolen thrown out at 1B. One down. Snider now with Overbay at 2B. Grounds out to Morneau at 1B two down, Overbay at 3B. Inglett at bat, grounds to Tolbert at 3B throw to Morneau at 1B for the third out. 63 pitches.
Top 6th: Mauer grounds to Inglett, throw to Overbay one down. Morneau grounds first pitch to Inglett throw to Overbay for second out. Kubel dribbler halfway to Rolen but no play on that ball. Buscher with one on and two down. Pops up to Rolen in foul territory, roof is closing, rain on the way…..
Bottom 6th: Scutaro lines out to Kubel in LF, Rios first pitch fly ball out to CF Gomez. Two down on three pitches. Wells now at bat 0-2 tonight, lines out to Kubel in LF, six pitch inning. Don’t tell me that Jays pitchers like this aggression by the hitters, AJ hardly had time to sit.
Top 7th: Punto at bat, Richmond now up in Jays bullpen. Full count, walks him. Tolbert at bat one on. 3-1 count. 100 pitches. Full count, lines out to Rios in RF, one down. Young pinch hitting for Gomez. Ground rule double off glove of Rios in RF. Twp in scoring position though. Span at bat, Pridie pinch running at 2B. Downs up in Jays bullpen. Span strikes out. Two down. Casilla at bat, two down two on, 3-0 count. Walks him on four pitches, That’s it for AJ, 113 pitches. Downs now with bases loaded. Mauer at bat, 3-0 count. Gets hold of this one, drives it to the left centre wall, three runs score 3-2 Twins. Morneau 3-0 count walks on four. Kubel at bat two down two on, grounds it to Inglett at 2B throw to Overbay for third out but Twins are ahead.
Bottom 7th: The hitters now have to earn their money instead of six-pitch innings and early night on the town. Lind at bat, no first pitch swinging and grounds to Morneau for the out. Barajas at bat, 0-10 slump, singles into shallow RF. 1-11. Overbay at bat, Mench pinch running for Barajas, dribbler in front of home plate, Lyle out at 1B but Mench is in scoring position at 2B with two down. Scott Rolen, would love a big one here Scott. Grounds to Punto at SS fumbled and into shallow left and Mench scores easily from 2B this game is tied 3-3. Snider now at bat, grounds to 3B Tolbert throw wild over head of Morneau into crowd, two now in scoring position, this is huge now for Inglett, that’s it for Blackburn not his fault, two consecutive errors hurts him here, he was cruising and with very low pitch count thanks to the over aggressive Jays hitters. Reyes now pitching, he is one tough cookie. Inglett has to think about this at bat. This could be the game with Rolen at 3B and Snider at 2B. Bautista now pinch hitting for Inglett, intentional walk to load bases, they don’t want Bautista facing Reyes. Scutaro at bat, Reyes out and right handed pitcher to face Scutaro. Guerrier pitching, Scutaro fly ball out to Span in CF. Leaves bases loaded but Jays have at least tied it up and AJ does not lose this one.
Top 8th: Downs still in there. Harris pinch hitting for Buscher at bat McDonald at SS Scutaro at 2B and Zaun catching. Harris grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay at 1B one down. Punto at bat, singles to right centre, one on one down. Tolbert at bat, strikes out, two down. Pridie at bat, full count. Walks him. Two on, two down for Span. Bounces it to Downs who takes ball himself for the out at 1B. No damage for Downs although not his best outing at all tonight.
Bottom 8th: Big bats for Jays now, Rios to leadoff. Grounds to Punto at SS, good throw to Morneau to get Alex. One down for Vernon 0-3 tonight, not a good night for him at bat. Same play to Punto throw to Morneau for second out. Lind now can he do anything here? Full count, grounds to Casilla at 2B, throw to Morneau for third out. Jays go quietly.
Top 9th: BJ Ryan in, not League who was up in bullpen earlier. Casilla at bat, pops up to Overbay at the wall for the catch. Very nice play. Mauer at bat, high fly ball out to Wells in CF, right at the wall, almost out. Morneau at bat, doubles to the CF wall. Kubel at bat, two down, 3-0 count. Walks on four pitches. Harris at bat, wild pitch and both runners move up. Full count now. Harris grounds to Scutaro throw to 1B but Harris safe at 1B. Morneau scores 4-3 Twins. Punto fly ball out to Wells but damage is done.
Bottom 9th: Nathan pitching, Zaun at bat, walks him, good at bat Gregg. Overbay now first pitch swing high fly ball out to Span in CF. Thigpen pinch running for Zaun. Rolen with one on and one down. Lines this one hard right at Tolbert at 3B. Two down. Snider at bat, full count, very patient at bat here by Snider, drives this one to right centre, Pridie fumbles this ball bounces away. Error on play. Thigpen scores, this game it tied up 4-4. Travis at 2B. Johnny Mc at bat, full count strikes out but this game is extra innings.
Top 10th: League pitching. Thigpen catching. Tolbert at bat, full count. Singles up the middle. Pridie bunts to Rolen throw to 1B one down. Tolbert to 2B. Span at bat, grounds out to Overbay at 1B, two down for Casilla. Tolbert moves to 3B. Whoa, grounds to Rolen, a really great diving save and throw from his knees to Overbay to get third out.
Bottom 10th: Top of the order Scutaro at bat, Nathan still pitching. Fly ball out to Pridie in RF corner, one down. Rios at bat, hammers this one, just misses HR here, off the wall in LF corner, a triple. One down for Vernon here, intentional walk. Not pitching to Vernon. Lind at bat, walking him, intentional also to load bases. Thigpen at bat, they cannot walk Curtis. Patient at bat, full count, strikes out. On ball four. Tough one to take. Overbay at bat, two down bases loaded but Alex is the important one at 3B. Horrible first pitch ! swing and fly ball out to Pridie in RF. Cito you are going to have to teach this group how to get a guy in from 3B. Same old…..
Top 11th: Carlson pitching. Mauer at bat, grounds to Scutaro at 2B throw to Overbay one down. Morneau pops up to Overbay for second out. Kubel with two down, fly ball out to Wells in CF, nice inning Jesse.
Bottom 11th: Eddie Guardado pitching. Rolen at bat, YES Scott, doubles very hard to CF wall. Nice at bat, Travis Snider again 2-4 tonight. Tough situation for Travis, singles to LF, Rolen has to hold that could have been caught by Kubel. Rolen at 3B Snider at 1B, no outs. Boof Bonser pitching, McDonald at bat, will he bunt? NO but he does hit this one HIGH over head of CF Gomez playing shallow CF, this game is over, Rolen scores, Jays win this one 5-4.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Jays win comeback with power and great bullpen.
Toronto v Minnesota. Tuesday September 2, 2008.
Preview: Another must win series for Jays and Twins probably need it more than most as they are right in the wild card scenario. Minnesota (77-60) much bettr record than the Jays and Twins are hoping to stay in the AL Central race while playing 14 straight road games for the first time since August 1969, when they played 15 in a row in five cities.
September call ups today for Toronto include Richmond and Wolfe, Marcum has been recalled from AAA and will pitch on Saturday in place of Parrish, and Wilkerson comes off the disabled list. Twins are finished with the West Coast portion of their longest road trip in more than 39 years and now face the east. That is one tough road trip.
What they are saying: Gardenhire: "Toronto is probably playing the best baseball of all the teams we've faced other than Anaheim. So three games against a very tough team at the end of that many days on the road is not easy."
Gardenhire "Their pitching staff all year long has been very, very good. You don't get a break with their pitching staff."
Pitching: Purcey 2-5, 5.53 ERA v Perkins 12-3, 3.96 ERA looking to win his fifth straight start. Perkins is a very good pitcher and rookie eight shutout innings in two of his last four outings, compiling a 2.48 ERA overall during that span. Perkins has thrown at least six innings in each of his last 11 starts, going 8-1 with a 3.56 ERA. Purcey had a good outing in Tampa striking out 11 and walked none in eight innings but lost 1-0 on Pena’s HR.
Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Bautista, Rios, Wells, Barajas, Lind, Rolen, Overbay, McDonald, and Purcey pitching.
Minnesota: Span, Casilla, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Ruiz, Young, Buscher, Punto and Perkins pitching.
Result: Jays win 7-5 come from behind. And with some power bats for a change. Seventeen hits tonight and three HRs.
The good: Bautista two run HR. Alex back to back HR. I think Cito may have found the number two bat in Bautista. The way Jose is settling in makes sense to have in front of Rios and Wells. We will see if Cito agrees tomorrow. Both Jose and Alex go 4-5 tonight. Overbay HR. Bullpen closing it down after the fourth when Purcey leaves game.
The bad: Purcey awful tonight from first inning and escaped worse damage. May have pitched himself out of the rotation.
Top 1st: Span leadoff, fly ball out to Wells great catch by Vernon Casilla, hot on the foot by pitch. One on one down for Joe Mauer singles to CF, Casilla gets to 3B easily, Purcey in trouble already with only one out. Morneau at bat, pops it up into shallow LF and McDonald gets the out without Casilla advancing from 3B. Jason Kubel, full count. Grounds to left of Rolen, nice play by Scott and throw to Overbay for third out and Purcey out of trouble. 15 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro at bat long single to right centre, Bautista batting number two tonight, is he bunting ? No. grounds to SS Ounto flip to Casilla 2B and throw to Morneau. Double play. Ouch. Rios singles to LF. That double play even worse now. Wells at bat, weak ground out to Buscher, throw to Casilla at 2B to get Alex. 10 pitches.
Top 2nd: Ruiz, full count and walks him. Young at bat, strikes out. One down. Buscher 3-0 count and now walks on four pitches. Punto pops up to Scutaro at 2B. Two down for top of the order Span with two on. Span strikes out. Purcey really playing with fire for the second inning, he needs to tighten up here or his outing will be very short tonight. 44 pitches already as well.
Bottom 2nd: Barajas fly ball out to Span in CF. One down for Lind singles to LF, Rolen now fly ball to shallow RF for Kubel. Two down for Overbay singles to RF, Lind gets to 3B. McDonald. Full count and strikes out. 30 pitches.
Top 3rd: Casilla, singles up the middle, one on for Mauer, singles to RF, nice sliding save by Alex, Casilla to 3B. Purcey in trouble yet again he is not fooling anyone tonight. Morneau with two on and no outs, singles to LF scores Casilla. 1-0 Twins. Kubel at bat with two on and no outs. Grounds out to Overbay but gets his job done by moving both runners into scoring position. One down. Ruiz wild pitch and Mauer scores. 2-0 Twins. Morneau moves to 3B. No one yet up in Jays bullpen but it will not be long here, probably Tallet, 65 pitches already for Purcey. Another full count. Strikes out on ball four. Young at bat singles to LF Morneau scores, 3-0 Twins. Here comes Cito, now someone up in bullpen yes it is Tallet. This is Purcey’s last inning he has been awful all three innings. Buscher at bat, strikes out but damage is done bigtime. 74 pitches to get nine out. Not good David.You may have lost your rotation spot with that outing. There are eager arms in the bullpen now including Richmond, Marcum will be going on Saturday. This month may go a long way in sorting out the 2009 rotation.
Bottom 3rd: Perkins now has more than enough to close this one down. Scutaro grounds to Punto at SS. Throw to 1B Morneau for the out. One down. Bautista singles to LF. Rios now needs more than single here. Singles to LF, that’s ok Alex as long as someone behind you can bring someone in here, Vernon at bat two on one down. Singles up the middle, Scutaro scores and Rios thrown out at 3B. Great throw by Span but Alex hesitated just a split second there coming around 2B and that was the difference. Two down. 3-1 Twins. Vernon to 2B on the throw. Barajas at bat, grounds hard to 3B Buscher and throw to 1B Morneau gets Barajas for third out. Could have, should have been more…. Alex gambled this time and lost. 47 pitches. Jays have outhit Twins 7-5 but are still behind.
Top 4th: Purcey still in there ??? but for how long? 74 pitches. Punto at bat, full count. singles to LF, come on Cito. Top of the order again for Span. Punto stealing, throw high and way off bag. Punto safe easily. full count. Span singles up the middle Punto scores 4-1 Twins. Great throw by Vernon but Punto can run and beats tag by Barajas. Span to 2B. Finally Purcey is out of here, a little late Cito. Purcey had nothing at all from first inning and was lucky to escape all innings without big damage, Have you left him in too long now for hitters to come back in this one? Tallet now pitching. No outs and Span now stealing 3B, throw not in time. Twins running at will tonight. Casilla pops up to Overbay in foul ground. One down. Mauer fly ball to Wells and Span tags and scores fifth run. 5-1 Twins. Morneau at bat two down and no outs, bounces one to McDonald throw to Overbay for the third out. Twins are giving Jays hitters lesson on how to do it, running and hitting, perfect execution.
Bottom 4th: Lots of game left but you have to have heart to come back and this team ???? we shall see. Interestingly Twins still only have seven runs the same as Jays but have four runs more ??? Lind at bat singles to RF. Rolen now with one on. high fly ball to Span in CF, one down. Lind holds at 1B. Overbay with one on. Bounces one to Casilla at 2B cannot turn two but gets Overbay at 1B. Johnny Mc. first pitch swing, fly ball to Young in LF for the third out. Perkins is closing the door shut friends. 60 pitches.
Top 5th: Kubel at bat singles one to Rios in RF. Ruiz at bat fly ball out to Wells in CF. One down. Young at bat singles to Rios in RF and Kubel moves to 3B. Buscher at bat with two on. grounds to Scutaro at 2B throw to Johnny MC at 2B on to Overbay at 1B, yes friends double play ball and Tallet escapes damage this time. But we still need runs to win this one.
Bottom 5th: Top of the order at least to get things going. Scutaro 3-0 count here, patience by Marco. Walks. Bautista still does not have a home run for Jays despite the twelve in Pittsburgh. Carlson up in bullpen. Full count to Bautista, THERE IT GOES…. I must take up a new career. Lines it hard into LF seats. 5-3 Jays. Rios now with no one on and no outs. YES ALEX, no question gets hold of this one. back to back here. 5-4 Jays. Very nice swing Alex off the LF facing on second deck above Jays bullpen. That is hit number three for Alex, tonight is he finally getting his stroke back ??? Better late than never Alex. Now Vernon, three in a row ???? No, not this time, pops it up to Punto SS for first out. Barajas at bat, fly ball out to Kubel in RF two down. Lind now, can he keep this line moving ? grounds to SS throw to Morneau for the third out. 88 pitches for Perkins.
Top 6th: Carlson has to hold the Twins here. Punto at bat, fly ball out to Rios in RF. One down for top of the order, Span, lines first pitch hard back at Jesse nice stop and throw to Overbay for the out. Two down. Casilla fly ball out to Lind in LF corner. Very nice Jesse and exactly what you had to do here.
Bottom 6th: No more Perkins. Boof Bonser pitching. 32 walks and 83 strikeouts in 36 games. Rolen at bat 3-1 count. Walks him. Overbay at bat one on, YES Lyle, this one has gone….. HR to Lyle into Twins bullpen. Two runs score, and Jays lead this one 6-5 Jays. McDonald grounds to Punto, throw to Morneau for the out. Scutaro at bat grounds to Punto throw to Morneau for second out. Bautista 3-1 count. doubles to the wall in right centre, his third hit tonight. Alex now chance to get another run here. Not this time. Strikes out.
Top 7th: Mauer hammers this one to Scutaro, great stop and throw to Overbay for the first out. One down for Morneau. Bounces this one to Rolen and throw to Overbay for second out. Kubel at bat, fly ball out to Rios in RF.
Bottom 7th: Jesse Crain pitching. Wells missing out do far on the fireworks tonight. Grounds to Buscher at 3B, nice stop but his throw bounces and Vernon safe at 1B. No complaints from Twins dugout but looked out on replay. Barajas high fly ball out to Span in CF. Lind at bat, singles up the middle, third hit tonight. Vernon moves to 2B. Rolen at bat with two on. Can he blow this one open here? Wilkerson now pinch running for Lind. Denis Reyes up in bullpen for Twins. Downs up in Jays bullpen. Fly ball out to Kubel in RF, Vernon tags and moves to 3B on the throw. Two down for Overbay. That’s it for Crain and Reyes now in to get Lyle. And gets Lyle on three pitches. Yankees beating Tampa 6-1 and Boston hammering Baltimore 11-1 in six.
Top 8th: Downs now pitching. Wilkerson in LF defensively for Lind. Ruiz at bat, grounds to Johnny Mc throw to Overbay for the out. One down for Young. Grounds one slowly to Scutaro at 2B throw to Overbay, two down. Matt Macri pinch hitting for Buscher, strikes him out on great curve ball. Downs does it again. Nice inning Scott. 10 pitches.
Bottom 8th: Matt Gierrier pitching, McDonald at bat, grounds to Macri playing at 3B now, throw to Morneau for the first out. Scutaro at bat, singles to RF, Bautista hitting for the cycle needs a triple but he will be happy with a base hit. Singles to shallow CF and Scutaro gets to 3B on the throw easily. Bautista 4-5 tonight. Rios at bat one out. This will do it Alex, doubles a scorcher down the 3B line into LF corner, he hot that so hard, Scutaro scores, Bautista to 3B and Alex at 2B, 7-5 Jays. Alex like Jose 4-5 tonight. Wells at bat intentional walk. Bases loaded for Barajas Strikes out hitless tonight in five at bats. New pitcher Craig Breslow number six tonight for Twins, Wilkerson at bat. Bases still loaded. Would love to get a hit here first game back off the DL. Strikes out. Here comes BJ Ryan.
Top 9th: Ryan pitching. Punto at bat, strikes him out swinging. One down for Span, strikes out, two down for Casilla, pops it up to Scutaro at 2B for third out and the win.
Jays win third in a row. Save number 26 for BJ Ryan. Great comeback win against a tough playoff contending team.
Preview: Another must win series for Jays and Twins probably need it more than most as they are right in the wild card scenario. Minnesota (77-60) much bettr record than the Jays and Twins are hoping to stay in the AL Central race while playing 14 straight road games for the first time since August 1969, when they played 15 in a row in five cities.
September call ups today for Toronto include Richmond and Wolfe, Marcum has been recalled from AAA and will pitch on Saturday in place of Parrish, and Wilkerson comes off the disabled list. Twins are finished with the West Coast portion of their longest road trip in more than 39 years and now face the east. That is one tough road trip.
What they are saying: Gardenhire: "Toronto is probably playing the best baseball of all the teams we've faced other than Anaheim. So three games against a very tough team at the end of that many days on the road is not easy."
Gardenhire "Their pitching staff all year long has been very, very good. You don't get a break with their pitching staff."
Pitching: Purcey 2-5, 5.53 ERA v Perkins 12-3, 3.96 ERA looking to win his fifth straight start. Perkins is a very good pitcher and rookie eight shutout innings in two of his last four outings, compiling a 2.48 ERA overall during that span. Perkins has thrown at least six innings in each of his last 11 starts, going 8-1 with a 3.56 ERA. Purcey had a good outing in Tampa striking out 11 and walked none in eight innings but lost 1-0 on Pena’s HR.
Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Bautista, Rios, Wells, Barajas, Lind, Rolen, Overbay, McDonald, and Purcey pitching.
Minnesota: Span, Casilla, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Ruiz, Young, Buscher, Punto and Perkins pitching.
Result: Jays win 7-5 come from behind. And with some power bats for a change. Seventeen hits tonight and three HRs.
The good: Bautista two run HR. Alex back to back HR. I think Cito may have found the number two bat in Bautista. The way Jose is settling in makes sense to have in front of Rios and Wells. We will see if Cito agrees tomorrow. Both Jose and Alex go 4-5 tonight. Overbay HR. Bullpen closing it down after the fourth when Purcey leaves game.
The bad: Purcey awful tonight from first inning and escaped worse damage. May have pitched himself out of the rotation.
Top 1st: Span leadoff, fly ball out to Wells great catch by Vernon Casilla, hot on the foot by pitch. One on one down for Joe Mauer singles to CF, Casilla gets to 3B easily, Purcey in trouble already with only one out. Morneau at bat, pops it up into shallow LF and McDonald gets the out without Casilla advancing from 3B. Jason Kubel, full count. Grounds to left of Rolen, nice play by Scott and throw to Overbay for third out and Purcey out of trouble. 15 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro at bat long single to right centre, Bautista batting number two tonight, is he bunting ? No. grounds to SS Ounto flip to Casilla 2B and throw to Morneau. Double play. Ouch. Rios singles to LF. That double play even worse now. Wells at bat, weak ground out to Buscher, throw to Casilla at 2B to get Alex. 10 pitches.
Top 2nd: Ruiz, full count and walks him. Young at bat, strikes out. One down. Buscher 3-0 count and now walks on four pitches. Punto pops up to Scutaro at 2B. Two down for top of the order Span with two on. Span strikes out. Purcey really playing with fire for the second inning, he needs to tighten up here or his outing will be very short tonight. 44 pitches already as well.
Bottom 2nd: Barajas fly ball out to Span in CF. One down for Lind singles to LF, Rolen now fly ball to shallow RF for Kubel. Two down for Overbay singles to RF, Lind gets to 3B. McDonald. Full count and strikes out. 30 pitches.
Top 3rd: Casilla, singles up the middle, one on for Mauer, singles to RF, nice sliding save by Alex, Casilla to 3B. Purcey in trouble yet again he is not fooling anyone tonight. Morneau with two on and no outs, singles to LF scores Casilla. 1-0 Twins. Kubel at bat with two on and no outs. Grounds out to Overbay but gets his job done by moving both runners into scoring position. One down. Ruiz wild pitch and Mauer scores. 2-0 Twins. Morneau moves to 3B. No one yet up in Jays bullpen but it will not be long here, probably Tallet, 65 pitches already for Purcey. Another full count. Strikes out on ball four. Young at bat singles to LF Morneau scores, 3-0 Twins. Here comes Cito, now someone up in bullpen yes it is Tallet. This is Purcey’s last inning he has been awful all three innings. Buscher at bat, strikes out but damage is done bigtime. 74 pitches to get nine out. Not good David.You may have lost your rotation spot with that outing. There are eager arms in the bullpen now including Richmond, Marcum will be going on Saturday. This month may go a long way in sorting out the 2009 rotation.
Bottom 3rd: Perkins now has more than enough to close this one down. Scutaro grounds to Punto at SS. Throw to 1B Morneau for the out. One down. Bautista singles to LF. Rios now needs more than single here. Singles to LF, that’s ok Alex as long as someone behind you can bring someone in here, Vernon at bat two on one down. Singles up the middle, Scutaro scores and Rios thrown out at 3B. Great throw by Span but Alex hesitated just a split second there coming around 2B and that was the difference. Two down. 3-1 Twins. Vernon to 2B on the throw. Barajas at bat, grounds hard to 3B Buscher and throw to 1B Morneau gets Barajas for third out. Could have, should have been more…. Alex gambled this time and lost. 47 pitches. Jays have outhit Twins 7-5 but are still behind.
Top 4th: Purcey still in there ??? but for how long? 74 pitches. Punto at bat, full count. singles to LF, come on Cito. Top of the order again for Span. Punto stealing, throw high and way off bag. Punto safe easily. full count. Span singles up the middle Punto scores 4-1 Twins. Great throw by Vernon but Punto can run and beats tag by Barajas. Span to 2B. Finally Purcey is out of here, a little late Cito. Purcey had nothing at all from first inning and was lucky to escape all innings without big damage, Have you left him in too long now for hitters to come back in this one? Tallet now pitching. No outs and Span now stealing 3B, throw not in time. Twins running at will tonight. Casilla pops up to Overbay in foul ground. One down. Mauer fly ball to Wells and Span tags and scores fifth run. 5-1 Twins. Morneau at bat two down and no outs, bounces one to McDonald throw to Overbay for the third out. Twins are giving Jays hitters lesson on how to do it, running and hitting, perfect execution.
Bottom 4th: Lots of game left but you have to have heart to come back and this team ???? we shall see. Interestingly Twins still only have seven runs the same as Jays but have four runs more ??? Lind at bat singles to RF. Rolen now with one on. high fly ball to Span in CF, one down. Lind holds at 1B. Overbay with one on. Bounces one to Casilla at 2B cannot turn two but gets Overbay at 1B. Johnny Mc. first pitch swing, fly ball to Young in LF for the third out. Perkins is closing the door shut friends. 60 pitches.
Top 5th: Kubel at bat singles one to Rios in RF. Ruiz at bat fly ball out to Wells in CF. One down. Young at bat singles to Rios in RF and Kubel moves to 3B. Buscher at bat with two on. grounds to Scutaro at 2B throw to Johnny MC at 2B on to Overbay at 1B, yes friends double play ball and Tallet escapes damage this time. But we still need runs to win this one.
Bottom 5th: Top of the order at least to get things going. Scutaro 3-0 count here, patience by Marco. Walks. Bautista still does not have a home run for Jays despite the twelve in Pittsburgh. Carlson up in bullpen. Full count to Bautista, THERE IT GOES…. I must take up a new career. Lines it hard into LF seats. 5-3 Jays. Rios now with no one on and no outs. YES ALEX, no question gets hold of this one. back to back here. 5-4 Jays. Very nice swing Alex off the LF facing on second deck above Jays bullpen. That is hit number three for Alex, tonight is he finally getting his stroke back ??? Better late than never Alex. Now Vernon, three in a row ???? No, not this time, pops it up to Punto SS for first out. Barajas at bat, fly ball out to Kubel in RF two down. Lind now, can he keep this line moving ? grounds to SS throw to Morneau for the third out. 88 pitches for Perkins.
Top 6th: Carlson has to hold the Twins here. Punto at bat, fly ball out to Rios in RF. One down for top of the order, Span, lines first pitch hard back at Jesse nice stop and throw to Overbay for the out. Two down. Casilla fly ball out to Lind in LF corner. Very nice Jesse and exactly what you had to do here.
Bottom 6th: No more Perkins. Boof Bonser pitching. 32 walks and 83 strikeouts in 36 games. Rolen at bat 3-1 count. Walks him. Overbay at bat one on, YES Lyle, this one has gone….. HR to Lyle into Twins bullpen. Two runs score, and Jays lead this one 6-5 Jays. McDonald grounds to Punto, throw to Morneau for the out. Scutaro at bat grounds to Punto throw to Morneau for second out. Bautista 3-1 count. doubles to the wall in right centre, his third hit tonight. Alex now chance to get another run here. Not this time. Strikes out.
Top 7th: Mauer hammers this one to Scutaro, great stop and throw to Overbay for the first out. One down for Morneau. Bounces this one to Rolen and throw to Overbay for second out. Kubel at bat, fly ball out to Rios in RF.
Bottom 7th: Jesse Crain pitching. Wells missing out do far on the fireworks tonight. Grounds to Buscher at 3B, nice stop but his throw bounces and Vernon safe at 1B. No complaints from Twins dugout but looked out on replay. Barajas high fly ball out to Span in CF. Lind at bat, singles up the middle, third hit tonight. Vernon moves to 2B. Rolen at bat with two on. Can he blow this one open here? Wilkerson now pinch running for Lind. Denis Reyes up in bullpen for Twins. Downs up in Jays bullpen. Fly ball out to Kubel in RF, Vernon tags and moves to 3B on the throw. Two down for Overbay. That’s it for Crain and Reyes now in to get Lyle. And gets Lyle on three pitches. Yankees beating Tampa 6-1 and Boston hammering Baltimore 11-1 in six.
Top 8th: Downs now pitching. Wilkerson in LF defensively for Lind. Ruiz at bat, grounds to Johnny Mc throw to Overbay for the out. One down for Young. Grounds one slowly to Scutaro at 2B throw to Overbay, two down. Matt Macri pinch hitting for Buscher, strikes him out on great curve ball. Downs does it again. Nice inning Scott. 10 pitches.
Bottom 8th: Matt Gierrier pitching, McDonald at bat, grounds to Macri playing at 3B now, throw to Morneau for the first out. Scutaro at bat, singles to RF, Bautista hitting for the cycle needs a triple but he will be happy with a base hit. Singles to shallow CF and Scutaro gets to 3B on the throw easily. Bautista 4-5 tonight. Rios at bat one out. This will do it Alex, doubles a scorcher down the 3B line into LF corner, he hot that so hard, Scutaro scores, Bautista to 3B and Alex at 2B, 7-5 Jays. Alex like Jose 4-5 tonight. Wells at bat intentional walk. Bases loaded for Barajas Strikes out hitless tonight in five at bats. New pitcher Craig Breslow number six tonight for Twins, Wilkerson at bat. Bases still loaded. Would love to get a hit here first game back off the DL. Strikes out. Here comes BJ Ryan.
Top 9th: Ryan pitching. Punto at bat, strikes him out swinging. One down for Span, strikes out, two down for Casilla, pops it up to Scutaro at 2B for third out and the win.
Jays win third in a row. Save number 26 for BJ Ryan. Great comeback win against a tough playoff contending team.
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