The Game started innocently enough but then the air was taken out of the Roger Center as the people around me at the game realized that Jayson Nix was playing second and that Edwin Encarnacion was back playing third base and the reason why it was important was because Jayson Nix was injured trying to turn a double play and I thought that it would be the return of Chris Woodward but instead it was Johnny Mac. This came full circle at the end of the game with two big surprises and the first was Juan Rivera got a hit (5 for 43 this season as a Blue Jay) who then was replaced for a pinch runner and that is where Chris Woodward made his first appearance in 7 years in a Blue Jay uniform but it did not matter because the second surprise happened when the next batter Johnny Mac did something he is not known for doing which is hitting a home run and won the game for the Blue Jays 7-5.
Jo Jo Reyes was the Blue Jays starting pitcher and I shouting at him that if he wanted to continue to collect a major league salary he needed to throw strikes and he did so but he throw strikes and a lot of them during the first 3 innings as he throw 57 pitches over this period and gave up Sac fly in the first and a single in the third both to B.J. Upton and it scored Samuel Fuld both times. Then I went to get some popcorn on the concourse and after that he pitched 4 more innings and throw only 43 pitches and his strikes in the 5 inning got hard hits as 3 of the first 4 Ray batters got hits including a Johnny Damon (who got booed mercifully every time he came to the plate) double and Samuel Fuld triple who scored 3 of the Rays 4 runs and drove in the other one. So Jo Jo Reyes pitched 7 innings and throw 100 pitches and 71 for strikes while giving up 6 hits, 4 earn runs, and 1 walk while striking out 6 batters.
Then Jose Bautista fell a single short of the cycle and had two final at bats and walked both times and scored all 4 runs for the Jays going into the 11 inning with a double in the first and tied the game at 1 and in the bottom of the fourth he lead off with a triple which was doubled in by Adam Lind to tie it @ 2 and then homered in the bottom of the 5 inning to make it 3-3 Rays and finally walked in the eight inning and was doubled in by Edwin Encarnacion to tie it at 4.
I do not know how like 18 thousand of the 23 + thousand were all around home plate between first base and third base and then most of the rest where out in the 100 outfield seats where I was tell the one Rays fan to go back to Tampa most of the night but in reality a great sports fan is a great fan no matter what team they cheer for. I also hear something very strange back on the concourse after the game where a huge group of fans where standing around a TV watch Johnny Mac be interviewed after the game and very loud Johnny Mac chant went up and the Johnny Mac cult following gets bigger every game.
Great game, great environment, and an extremely impressive pitching performance by Jo Jo Reyes
Tom Mehegan
No comments:
Post a Comment