Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Silver Lining - Rangers 6, Jays 4



Dear Red Sox,

Suck it.

Sincerely,
The Toronto Blue Jays

Isn't that enough for you? Rangers win, Red Sox lose and their wildcard lead shrinks to a mere 2 games? Oh, you say you're not a petty, resentful, long-suffering Jays fan. I'll have to try harder then.

Just so we remember why we need this sunny side up bit of self-delusion, today was pretty depressing. The Jays give away another early lead, putting up a mere 1 run in the final 5 innings of the game. Scott Richmond struggled again, giving up 5 earned runs over 5 innings, 2 home runs and 4 walks. All 5 hits coming from 3 players. And at the end of the day, the Jays followed up a 3-6 homestand with a 1-6 road trip. Are you shaking in your boots, Yankees?

It wasn't all bad though. Adam Lind. Obviously. Eternally, Adam Lind. Lyle Overbay took a Tommy Hunter fast ball out of the park, going 2 for 4 on the night and finishing up the road trip with a .348 batting average. Randy Ruiz was appearing in only his 3rd game of the trip but he made an impact, taking Hunter deep in the 4th to cap off a 2 for 4 night. He now has 5 big flys in only 17 games.

On the mound, it wasn't all bad. Jesse Carlson, after having had his streak of 7 scoreless appearances ended on Monday, was able to pitch pretty well in relief of Scott Richmond. He came in with men on first and second with no out and got a grounder which could have been a double play but ended up being just a fielders choice off of Marco Scutaro's error and David Murphy was able to score. Carlson stayed calm, striking out Chris Davis and getting Julio Borbon to fly out to centre. Since August 16th Jesse Carlson has an ERA of 1.13 with 11 strikeouts and a BAA of 0.172.

And how about the GPMODOAT (Greatest Prime Minister of Defense of All-Time)? With runners at the corners, Chris Davis sliced a grounder which might have been through the whole... had Johnny Mac not been playing today. Prime Minister McDonald, not wanting the Jays faithful to dwell on the loss of the GBOAT, made an outstanding diving stop, then with quick wrist action got the ball over to Aaron Hill, who made an even quicker turn to get the ball to first and save Brian "Better than Accardo" Wolfe from a run. So the boys got it done with the bat, the glove and on the mound today. Just, y'know, not enough of the boys.

Tomorrow the Jays start an 8 game homestand with the Yankees and Twins coming to town. The Yankees will be here Thursday through Sunday, and then the Twins will be here Labour Day through Thursday. Get your tickets now, because we all know how busy those post-labour day games get.

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