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Downs Blows Lead in 8th, Jays Lose

Yankees 5   Blue Jays 4

Well, the Yankees took an early lead off Brian Tallet when they scored two runs in the first inning, off an RBI double by Mark Teixeira and an RBI single by Hideki MatsuiVernon Wells doubled to lead off the second, but the Jays were unable to cash him.  In the bottom of the second, Tallet took a grounder off his foot.  He stayed with the ball, got the out at first and got a strikeout to end the inning.  In the top of the third, the Jays came back to tie it up, thanks to a solo homerun from Jose Bautista and successive singles from Travis Snider and Marco Scutaro (an infield single off Yankees starter Chad Gaudin) and an Adam Lind RBI groundout.  Shawn Camp came on to relieve Tallet due to injury concerns related to the grounder he took off the foot in the third and pitched three scoreless (indeed excellent) innings.

The Jays plated a run in the sixth  off a Vernon Wells single, Lyle Overbay double and Rod Barajas RBI groundout, but were unable to add to the lead thanks to an intentional walk to Jose Bautista (I'm not making that up), which led to a Moonraker strikeout against Damaso MarteCasey Janssen pitched an excellent sixth inning and the Jays added another run in the top of the seventh when Scoot doubled and Lind got him in with a sacrifice fly.  Tek came back out for the seventh and ran into a bit of trouble when he gave up a single and Edwin Encarnacion made an error (albeit on a pretty tough play).  However, Jeremy Accardo came in and got a quick strikeout, walked Derek Jeter and then induced a fly ball to left to escape the inning with the two-run lead still in tact.  Tom requested that I do the recap and that's when things -- naturally -- fell apart.  Cito went to Scott Downs for the eighth and before being removed with -- I think -- elbow tightness, he yielded a single to Alex Rodriguez and a game-tying dinger to Hideki Matsui.  Jason Frasor closed out the eighth, but the Jays were unable to capitalize on a Moonraker bunt single in the top of the ninth and the score was tied at four going into the bottom of the ninth.  Leading off the inning, Brett Gardner singled off Frasor on a full count and predictably stole second base.  Derek Jeter grounded out to put Gardner on third and he scored when Francisco Cervelli (playing only because of Jorge Posada's suspension) drove him home with the game-winning single.

Jays of the Day: Camp (.185), Accardo (.159) and Overbay (.159).  Honorable mentions to Scoot and Vernon, who had a single and double each, as well as Tek, who would have fared better, were it not for E5's error.

Towers goes to Tallet (-.110), though he may have fared better if he'd been able to stay in.

Batistas go to Snakeface (-.380) and Frasor (-.306).

Hinskes go to Lind (-.161, in spite of the two RBI) and E5 (-.138, plus the error) and Rod Barajas comes close (-.095).

Well, at least we don't have to watch anymore Yankees walk-off wins this year.