Sunday Dog Dangling Afternoon Victory

Toronto Blue Jays 4, Boston Red Sox 3

It's great to be the Sweeper than the Sweepee... for a change. Maybe it was because it was the first week of NFL football or it was just the weather. It definitely felt like a slow game for most of the afternoon as even your recapper ended up snoozing between the 8th and 9th innings.

The lineup wasn't all that impressive considering the Jays 5 and 6 hitters were Rajai Davis and Anthony Gose. However the duo was the ignition for the Jays offense as they started the 3 run one out rally in the 4th inning and the winning run in the 9th. Between them they went 4 for 8 with 2 stolen bases and 3 runs scored.

The 3 run 4th started when Rajai Davis singled off loser Clay Buchholz with one out. Gose lined single to left that advanced Rajai to 3B. Jeff Mathis then lined an RBI single thru the 2B hole vacated by Pedroia who was faked out by Gose's fake steal attempt. Omar Vizquel lofted a sac fly to shallow LF and Gose simply out ran the throw to score the tying run. Adieny Hechavarria singled to score Mathis. It was a strange play because the Red Sox SS cut off the throw as Mathis scored (there was some discussion in the GDT as it looked like the Sox could have thrown Mathis out) and ended up getting Hech who tried to advance to 2B. Otherwise Clay Buchholz owned the Jays and shut them down till the 9th.

Carlos Villanueva didn't pitch as sharp as he had in the past few starts and didn't have a good breaking ball or pinpoint command. He gave up a long 2 run home run to Jacoby Ellsbury in the 2nd inning and a bomb to Dustin Pedroia in the 6th inning (yes, he does hit the up and in fastball.) Still he managed to throw a serviceable 6 innings even without his best stuff allowing 7 hits 3 earned runs 2 walks and 2 strike outs on 97 pitches.

The Bullpen came in and slammed the door shut as Steve Delabar (3 outs), Aaron Loup (2 outs) and winner Brandon Lyon (1 out) shut down the BoSox till the 9th inning.

Like the 3rd, the 9th started with one out as Rajai Davis singled and then advanced on a stolen base. He moved to 3B on a Gose line drive single. Gose promptly stole 2B as Kelly Johnson pinch hit for Jeff Mathis. KJ was intentionally walked to face Omar. Viz lofted a fly ball for the SF that scored Rajai. It was at this point that Bobby V lifted Clay for Tazawa who walked Hech after KJ stole a base and then struck out Brett Lawrie to end it.

Closer Casey Janssen came on to finish it. Instead of the drama free saves we've come accustomed to, it got real tense real fast. James Loney singled up the middle for a leadoff hit. Cody Ross smacked a long loud foul ball that was a few feet away from being a game winning 2run home run. Casey managed to strike Ross out looking on a nasty curve (best pitch of the inning) to get the out. A loud out to CF by Jacoby Ellsbury and then a foul popup by Aviles that was caught by Yorvit Torrealba for the final out.

The Jays of the Day are Gose (.177), Davis (.162), Janssen (.234). I'm also giving Delabar, Vizquel and Loup JOTD for their contributions today.

Suckage Jays were Lawrie (-.134) and Rasmus (-.100)

Next Game is Tuesday in Toronto Vs Seattle.