Jays 12 Twins 2
You know, I'm not sure who these guys are in the Jay's uniforms, but man are they fun to watch. Last year we didn't have a player with 100 RBI. Wells led the team with 20 homers. This year things will really have to change for us not to have at least one 100 RBI guy and we should have a few with more then 20 homers.
Everything went well today, well except for Rios, he was 0 for 5, hitting .250 now but it's early and I wouldn't worry. Everyone has a slump at some point -- if he's in a slump, batting .250 so it isn't so bad. Everyone else had at least 1 hit. Aarron Hill had 4 hits. We had 4 homers: 1 each for Rolen, Hill, Wells and Michael Barrett. Every starter, except Rios scored. We even took 5 walks, Moonraker was intentionally walked, pretty decent respect for a rookie and Adam Lind took 2 walks. Since he only had 16 all of last year, 2 in a game is a good sign. Even John McDonald, in as a defensive replacement, had a hit.
Scott Richmond had a good start, he gave up 2 runs, 1 earned in the first inning, 1 scored on a passed ball by Barrett. That was the only runs he allowed, he pitched 6.1 innings giving up 4 hits, 3 walks while striking out 3. The 3 walks is a little surprising, last year he only walked 2 in 27 innings, this year he's already walked 5 in 10.1 innings. Shawn Camp, Bill Murphy and Brandon League pitched 2.2 perfect innings to finish the game. It is great to see League pitch a good inning after a couple of bad outings.
Jays of the Day? Hill (.235 WPA) and Rolen (.144). No suckage Jays but Rios came close (-.078).
As you all know, all the players in the majors wore number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. I wish I had something profound to say about Robinson. At one time I read everything I could find about him. I guess about all I can say is he was a far far better man than I could ever be. He took insults that I could never imagine and was able to turn the other cheek. Because he had to: if he reacted like any other person would react it would have set back to cause of getting blacks into the majors by years.
There is a Canadian connection to the Robinson story, the Dodgers sent Robinson to Montreal to play in the minors because they knew Canadian fans would accept him. And they did. He was loved in Montreal. If you want something to be less proud of, if you thought racism was dead and gone, read some of the posts on the MLB website under the story about Major League players wearing Jackie's number today. People certainly are brave when they don't have to sign their name to things.
Anyway the Jays are now 7-3 and in first place again. Tomorrow evening Doc pitches for the Jays while Francisco Liriano goes for the Twins. Doc is 2-0 after two starts while Liriano is 0-2 with a 7.23 ERA. Let's enjoy.