Game 31 – Signs of Life

The Jays racked up an amazing 3 hits w/RISP, it is too bad they had 13 AB’s. Although they did not score a whole lot against the LH Danks, they at least were getting some hits and they did drive his pitch count up early. It is an improvement over what they have previously been doing against LH’s and most importantly it was enough to win.

Another strong outing from Litsch and he went 0.1 IP longer than any previous start. He was very efficient w/his pitches only throwing 78 pitches in 7.1 IP. Sure he gave up 2 HR’s but they were just solo shots and most of the time solo HR’s alone won’t beat you, although w/the Jays offence these days maybe they will. It is the 2-run and 3-run HR’s that kill you especially when the runners on base are there b/c of walks, and Litsch did not walk a batter.

Good to see Vernon come through w/a couple of 2-out RBI hits. The Jays need any hits they can get w/RISP but those 2-out hits are always a little more demoralizing to a pitcher when he is so close to getting out of the inning.

I’m assuming Hill was going 1st to 3rd on Wells 2nd RBI hit b/c he wanted to get the CWS to cut the throw home off allowing the 2nd run to score. If not it was a bad decision, in fact even if that was his reasoning it was a bad decision b/c w/2 outs Rios got a good jump from 2nd and it was not going to be close.

Joe Crede is a solid fielder, but he hasn’t looked that way the past 2 games w/2 errors leading to 5 unearned runs. The 2 unearned runs in game 1 were the difference (actually the only runs), and the 3 unearned runs in game 2 represented the difference. You won’t see it often from him, but nice to see the Jays taking advantage of something offensively.

On to the stats:
WG: Crede, Rios (1)
ME(r): Hill (1)