Scorecard: May 3, 2011 Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays - Game 1 of 3

From Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Jays at Rays - Game 1

First pitch: 6:40 PM EST

Starting pitchers:

Toronto - Jo-Jo Reyes
2011:  W  L  ERA   GS  CG  IP   H   R   ER 
       0  2  5.48  5   0  23.0  33  22  14
Tampa Bay - Wade Davis
2011:  W  L  ERA   GS  CG  IP   H   R   ER
       3  2  2.73  5   0  33.0  30  10  10

Where is this running game? As I noted in the top of the 8th - with 1 out and Lind on first with a five pitch walk  - after the first pitch to Rivera the whole world knows Brandon Gomes' is in trouble; he's wild. Next pitch Lind should be going, a fake start, freak the kid out - testing his move to first - something. Instead no move off the bag until the 2-2 pitch which is a fastball because the battery doesn't want to fall behind 3-2. The pitch is a ball of coarse - but it's a high fastball - a ball that allows catcher Shoppach a standing start with his throw - and Lind is DOA.

It just seemed the running game wasn't in it - is it because Rivera doesn't like a lot on movement on the base-paths in the back-drop of his at-bats? Well, if that's what's going on all I can say is - try running out a few of your ground balls - then maybe we'll talk about changing the team's game plan just for your at-bats.

After the game I took a look at the active roster, and man, this team is screwed up - the starting staff isn't going deep so they've brought up an 8th Reliever. And with Bautista just out, after the McCoy PR for Encarnacion in the 9th every fielder but Molina is in the game - so I recant my rage in the innings - Rivera remains in LF because Farrell has no choice. But on the infield my point stands. Mike McCoy should be playing 2B not 3rd for defensive purposes. Move McDonald to the corner and play McCoy where he's played 42 innings this year - as opposed to the 11 innings he's played at third. That's instinct stuff isn't it? As someone who's watched 98% of the games this year it was obvious right away to me that McCoy was out of position in a one run game in the ninth. Didn't matter though - the home run came no where near 3B. :)

Line-ups and pitching stat totals from ESPN (boxscore).

Colour Legend (as of this date)

Red is an out Pink are un-earned bases - Wild Pitch, Passed Ball or an Error Yellow is Intentional Base on Balls, Defensive Indifference or Fielder's Choice Neon Green is a Base Hit Forest Green is a runner advanced by a Base Hit or a Sacrifice Neon Blue is a Stolen Base Navy Blue is a base earned via a Hit or a Sacrifice, that results in a Run Scored

Box Score - Final	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	Runs	Hits	Errors	LOB
Toronto Blue Jays	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	0	7
Tampa Bay Rays	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	6	0	5

Toronto Blue Jays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	AB R H BB SAC RBI SO HBP LOB 2BH 3BH HR AVG PO A E
1.  R Davis RF	CCX pop FO3f		BCSB X FO9 looper down the line	FFS Ks called /			pop F04
2.  C Patterson CF	BH9 deep 9-6		CBFX bounder off the mound BH8		BBBC X pop FO6		3UA /
3.  Y Escobar SS	BB #2 1,2		X 4-3 /		BBBC B BB			FFX pop 7(8) FO8 short
4.  A Lind 1B	#5 DP RBI BH8 #2 2,H #3 1.2			BFX RS LD8(9) BH 9-6	BFFX pop 1 FO3(1)			BBBC B CS 2-6 BB
5.  J Rivera LF	GB6 DP 6-4-3 #4 out /			th1CB th1BX pop 1 FO3	CFFF S Ks /			BCSB *BX Farrell should be running the lights out right now the youngster on the mound has lost his command #4 CS 4-3 /
6.  J Arencibia C		LD5 5-3 from foul ground		CX BH7 #4 1,2		BX pop9(3) FO4			Ramos  + pop FO3f
7.  D Cooper DH		pop FO3f		FBBB CFFX pop IFR FO6		CFFF FBX FO8 deep			Ks
8.  E Encarnacion 3B 9th PR M McCoy 3B		FO9 /		CX 2BH8 deep #4 2,H #6 1,3 RBI		CSBB X pop FO3 /			Farnsworth + 2BH7(8)
9.  J McDonald 2B			CCX 6-3	BBBC B BB			Gomes + 4-3		5-3 /
Per-Inning Totals	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	Totals
Runs Hits Errors LOB	1 2 0 1	0 0 0 0	0 1 0 1	1 3 0 3	0 0 0 1	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	0 1 0 1	2 7 0 7

Jays Pitching Totals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P/S	ERA
Jo-Jo Reyes	6.0	4	1	1	1	4	0	92/56	4.66
Shawn Camp	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11/7	2.45
Marc Rzepczynski	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	14/9	2.63
Jon Rauch (L, 1-2; BS,1)	0.0	2	2	2	0	0	1	9/6	4.09

Tampa Bay Rays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	AB R H BB SAC RBI SO HBP LOB 2BH 3BH HR AVG PO A E
1.  S Fuld LF	FO9		bCCX GB5(6) 6-3 !!! (safe)		th1th1 b*B X *#9 SB blooper short 8(9) FO8			Rzepczyn- ski + 6-3
2.  J Damon DH	FO8		CBB HBP		th2 X FO8 #9 2,3			3UA	Why is Rivera in LF and McCoy at 3B??? Surely there's a better defensive combination.
3.  E Longoria 3B	FO9 /		CX LD5 BH (E5) #2 1,2		BFBB CFFC K /			Ks /
4.  B Zobrist RF		Ks	X pop fly FO9(8) /			5-3			Rouche + RS BH7(8)
5.  B Upton CF		CBBB X FO7 deep		BCCB FX FO9(8) deep		pop FO3f			RS 2RBI HR7(8) #4 1,H /
6.  S Rodriguez 2B		CBX #7 SB n-thr RS LD4 off glove np IFBH		X pop FO3f		Ks /
7.  K Shoppach C PH 7th  J Jaso		Bth1th1 C*BFB X RBI *#6 SB looper bad break BH9 #6 2,H		BBFC BFB BB			5-3
8.  D Johnson 1B 9th C Kotchman 1B		FB8(7) FO8! /		BCSF BC K /			GB5(6) 5-3
9.  E Johnson SS			CbBB BX FO8(9)		CBX #1 SB 2-6 BH8(7) short		3UA /
Per-Inning Totals	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	Totals
Runs Hits Errors LOB	0 0 0 0	1 2 0 1	0 1 0 2	0 0 0 1	0 1 0 1	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	2 2 0 0	3 6 0 5

Rays Pitching Totals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P/S	ERA
Wade Davis	6.0	6	2	2	3	2	0	112/71	2.77
Brandon Gomes	2.0	0	0	1	0	0	0	21/11	0.00
Cesar Ramos	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	8/4	5.40
Kyle Farnsworth (W, 2-0)	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	13/9	0.87