Game 21 – 2-out Stealing

Well, Hinske giveth and he taketh away. 1st the misplay defensively in the 2nd leads to 2 TOR runs, but then Hinske comes back and ends up w/3 hits (2B, 3B, HR), 2 RBI’s, and 3 runs scored to lead the Rays over the Jays.

Not a good start from Litsch, they need to get more innings out of him. One of the keys to him succeeding is throwing strikes and working ahead. Thru the 1st 3 innings while giving up 2 runs he had only thrown 2 1st pitch balls, one led to a double the other a strikeout. In the 4th he threw 1st pitch balls to 4 of the 6 hitters he faced w/all 4 reaching base, as part of a 3 run 4th for TB, and it could have been worse if not for Carlson.

Speaking of Carlson he continues to impress getting the Jays out of a 1st and 3rd 1 out in the 4th and then striking out the 3-4-5 hitters in the 5th (2 of which are RH). Sure he gave up a HR but that is one bad pitch as he gave the Jays a valuable 2.1 IP to help save the bullpen from being over used.

The Rays fans certainly do not have a high opinion of Camp. I can’t blame them given the struggles he had for them, but he gave the Jays another good outing. And how about Scott Downs getting all 4 outs he recorded via the strikeout.

All the work by the bullpen and all the Jays got back was the solo HR by Wells. After the HR the final 12 hitters were retired in order.

In most cases I don’t mind seeing a player try to steal w/2 outs since it is unlikely you will get 2 2-out hits but if the player is going to steal they should do it early in the count or if the hitter is behind. Once the hitter gets a couple of balls on him you better be able to guarantee the steal b/c the hitter may end up walking pushing you to 2nd anyways. That is why I did not like Scutaro’s attempt in the 2nd w/Eckstein at the plate. Eckstein is great at fouling off 2 strike pitches and easily could have drawn the walk moving Scutaro into scoring position for Hill.

On with the stats: In the case of an error, I will credit the player as if the error was not made. Therefore Zaun’s groundball to Hinske in the 2nd will go down as an Advance not an Advance+ even though Zaun did not get out.

Adv: Zaun (2)
P-Adv: Shields
ME(f): Inglett (1)