Game 112 – Secret Weapon

Roy Halladay was once again dominant giving up just the 1 run over 8 innings on only 4 hits. He walked one and struck out 8. Sometimes he just makes it look so easy, but it sure is a joy to watch.

The Jays pulled out a new secret weapon for scoring runs. Since they don’t seem to be able to get many hits to drive in runs, they have now resorted to getting hit. Twice in this game a Jays batter got hit by a pitch w/the bases loaded. Given the way Halladay pitched those 2 runs would have been enough, but nonetheless the Jays did kick in a few hits as well. They went 3 for 13 w/RISP and also picked up a SF. Not exactly impressive but it got the job done.

The A’s pitchers really struggled w/their control. They issued 4 walks and hit 3 batters. Gallagher especially struggled as he issued all 4 walks and hit 2 batters. He threw 49 strikes and 45 balls, and that was just in 3 innings of work.

It was interesting to see Eckstein out there at 2B. Maybe it is a way to try and get him more playing time. The thing is its not Inglett he should be replacing, it is Scutaro. I don’t get where this Cito lovefest for Scutaro comes from. This team needs offence and clearly Eckstein is the better hitter of the two. He has proved over his career and even this year he has better numbers across the board. He has a higher AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, even AVG w/RISP. Plus even if you consider defence I’m not sure Scutaro is any better defensively at SS than Eckstein. Eckstein has even had to keep his numbers up while his AB’s come few and far between.

Bobby Crosby was one of the only A’s to have any success against Halladay as he provided all their scoring thanks to a solo HR in the 8th. He also had a 1B in his prior AB in the 5th. He was one of just 3 A’s who did not strike out (in fact the only players not striking out were the 7-8-9 hitters).

Here are the game stats:
Adv+: Barajas (8), Stairs (5)
P-Adv+: Gallagher 2
NAdv: Stairs (7), Eckstein (5)
P-NAdv: Gallagher, Meyer
DE: Suzuki