Yankees 2 Bautista 3
Wow, Jose Bautista was intense. You have to like that. It is great to see a player take the game so seriously. I've really have to enjoy watching him this year. Homer number 39 game the Jays a lead and number 40 gave us the win.
He was pretty much our whole offense today. Other than Bautista's 2 homers, we had 5 hits for the game. 2 for Yunel Escobar, one each for Fred Lewis, Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells.
We really should have had the game won in the first inning. We loaded the bases with no one out. Ivan Nova was having a hard time finding the strike zone. Vernon got to a 2 ball count and then chased a pitch high, popped a ball to medium left field. I'm not sure if it was Lewis or Butterfield that made the decision to try to score on it but it was a mistake. Adam Lind struck out and that was the inning.
Brandon Morrow pitched great. 6 innings, 4 hits, 2 walks 12 k. He did give up two runs but the first scored because Lewis misplayed the ball in right and Bautista could have made a better play on the Posada double that scored Cano in the 6th. With good plays in the outfield, he would have gone 6 scoreless innings. It is too bad we didn't score for him, he deserved a win.
Shawn Camp, Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg each pitched a scoreless inning in relief. Snakeface got the win, 5-5 and Kevin Gregg got his 28th save. He looked good out there, considering the 8 days since he last pitched. Gregg has been terrific the last couple of months.
Jays of the Day are Bautista (no kidding, .489), Gregg (.167), Escobar (.125), Downs (.109) and Morrow (.097). Camp deserves honorable mention too. Jays with Suckage numbers are Wells (-.143, though he got credit for Lewis' out at the plate, so his number could be better), Lind (-.115, 3 k), Hill (-.099), EE (-.097) and Molina (-.096).
The game had it's fair share of drama. Escobar was thrown out of the game for, well, something. He didn't like a strike call against him, but didn't say much. Then after the inning, standing at his position, the plate umpire came out towards him and threw him out of the game. For what I don't know but there is no way the plate umpire should be walking towards a player, who is standing in his position, to continue an argument. I player should be allowed to complain away from the ump. Cito was also thrown out when he came out to inquire about why Yunel was thrown.
I know you aren't allowed to argue balls and strikes but this looked like an umpire who was searching out trouble. Of course, later in the game Nick Swisher argued balls and strikes, loudly, right in the umpires face and that was ok. Curtis Granderson did the same in the 9th, not quite as loudly, but again he was allowed to stay.
The other dramatic moment was when an Ivan Nova pitch came inside on Bautista. He wasn't pleased and let Nova know about it. The benches cleared but nothing much came of it. But when Jose homered in the 9th, he very much enjoyed it, staring down the pitch (no longer Nova) and having a little more fun than normal running the bases. He also got a curtain call from the Rogers Centre crowd. A very nice moment.
Tomorrow the Jays face Dustin Moseley (3-2, 4.76) making his 6th start of the year. The Jays beat him earlier in the month. Marc Rzepczynski (1-1, 4.76) making his 5th start of the year. Yeah they both have the same ERA.
Nothing is better than beating the Yankees. Let's do it again tomorrow. The game thread was fun tonight, join us tomorrow if you can.