Game 9 – Situational Hitting

For the 2nd straight game the Jays are shut down by a LH, something that shouldn’t happen very often w/all the RH hitters in their lineup. It’s not like they didn’t have some chances, in both the 2nd and 6th they had runners at 2nd none out and the next batter failed to advance them leading to them not scoring in either inning. They also had the leadoff man on in the 3rd and 5th but they didn’t even make it to 2nd base. All that was just against the starter. They also had runners at 1st and 3rd with 1 out in the 11th but couldn’t score, although Scutaro was robbed of a hit by Hannahan.

It was bad to see Travis buck come up to bat in the 12th , he already had 6 hits in the series, of which 5 were doubles, and what does he do hit another double. Of course the key at bat in the 12th was the one by Kurt Suzuki, who got HBP. The reason you walk Hannahan was to set up the DP, or at least give League 2 righties to get out. By hitting Suzuki he then needed to double off Brown to avoid facing a lefty. I did not agree w/leaving Downs in last night for the 8th mainly b/c of the RH’s he would have had to face but also b/c he was burning him out making him unavailable for this game and he would have been perfect to come into face Buck.

After watching Jack Cust in this series, I wonder how long he remains a starter. The reason he has always been up and down throughout his career was on display. He caught fire last year when he came up with OAK, but he went 1 for 13 in the series w/2 walks (1 intentional) and struck out 5 times. If he stays in the starting lineup and gets over 500 AB’s he could break the strikeout record.

Speaking of strikeouts, Thomas went down 4 times on strikes. However, he did walk twice so that is still a .333 OBP and strikeouts are just another out same as a flyout or groundout. Except in the case like in the 2nd when Thomas was up w/Wells at 2nd and none out, and a flyball or groundball to the right side would have advanced the runner. Now you don’t pay Thomas to just move the runner, you want him driving in runs, and it is early in the game while you would expect runs wouldn’t be at a premium for the Jays facing a lefty but I’d rather not see Thomas go down looking, at least put the ball and you have a chance of moving the runner.

On the +ve side another great start for Marcum, I’m surprised at the strike out totals in the early going. Good work by the other relievers Frasor, Tallet and making his big league debut Jesse Carlson. Not an easy situation to make your debut, bases loaded in extra innings, even if your team is already given up the lead.

Here are the stats: I debated over whether Rios deserved a mental error on the Wells fly ball that dropped in but ultimately decided he should have been able to read it soon enough to make it to 2nd, especially w/his speed.

Adv: Cust
P-Adv: Marcum (1)
NAdv: Ellis, Thomas (1), Stewart (1)
P-NAdv: Eveland 2, Marcum (1)
WG: Hannahan, Barajas (1)
ME(r): Rios (2)
ME(f): Devine