Tigers 2 Blue Jays 3 (11 innings)
That one had some of everything.
Shaun Marcum wasn't great, except when he had to be. He gave up 8 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings but only 1 run. With guys on base he was terrific. The run against him was a Miguel Cabrera solo homer. He only had one 1, 2, 3 inning.
Jesse Carlson, Jason Frasor and Scott Downs all did a good job out of the pen.
Kevin Gregg, not so much. Going for the one run save, he gave up a leadoff triple to Austin Jackson, which made life tough. He got a strikeout but then gave up a single thru the drawn in infield. Another single put the tying go ahead run into scoring position. A hard hit line drive was thankfully right at Travis Snider and a ground ball to Edwin Encarnacion for a force at 3rd got him out of the inning with a tie.
Shawn Camp got the win pitching the 10th and 11th innings. He gave up a leadoff walk in the 10th and any TV baseball commentator will tell you that all lead off walks score, but this one didn't, even with a Yunel Escobar error on what should have been the 3rd out. Yunel charged in nicely on the ground ball but gave it a careless (no no, I won't say lazy) flip to first that pulled Jose Bautista off the bag. Camp had a perfect 11th despite some hard hit balls. Edwin made a very nice throw from his knees to first.
Offensively we did just enough. Jose Bautista and Adam Lind had solo homers in regulation time, number 42 for Jose. Is there anyone out there that thinks he won't get to 48 homers to set a new franchise single season record?. Aaron Hill drove home the winning run in the 11th with a single, his second walk off hit of the year. We had a chance to win it in the 10th. With 2 out Escobar and Bautista walked but Vernon Wells struck out to end the inning. We only had 8 hits on the day, Justin Verlander pitched a great game. 2 hits each for Bautista, Hill and Buck (who also had 3 ks). Escobar and Hill had 1 each. Snider, Wells and Encarnacion had 0 fors, tho EE had a walk. Lyle Overbay and Fred Lind shared an 0 for.
Overbay caused a bit of excitement, coming out of the game with not obvious explanation, in the 6th. When he wasn't seen shaking hands, I figured it wasn't a trade and apparently it isn't. He has a flu.
We had a couple of poor plays in the field. Yunel's error and Travis Snider misplayed a deep fly to RF. It wasn't called an error but it should have been. The ball just went over his glove but he really didn't look graceful going back for the ball. Perhaps the outfield wall scoreboard caused him some worry.
Jays of the Day are Camp (.283 WPA), Bautista (.208), Hill (.208), Marcum (.206) and Frasor (.131). I'll give Lind an Honorable Mention for the homer which could have been the game winner, if it wasn't for the blown save. Suckage numbers go to Wells (-.264), Gregg (-.191), EE (-.143, but a couple of nice plays in the field) and Snider (-.120 and the misplay in the field).
Snider needs to play everyday. He needs to get into a rhythm. He needs to know that even if he has an 0 for 4 he won't be sitting on the bench for the next week. But then I'm preaching to the choir.
Tormorrow is game 3 of the 4 game series. Brandon Morrow (9-6, 4.39) goes for the Jays. Jeremy Bonderman has been scratched from the start, Alfrado Figaro (0-1, 5.79) (sounds like a character from an opera) gets the start. Bonderman has a 'sore ribcage'. The game is on the 'normal' Sportsnet channels, 1:00 start.