Second Chance At A First Impression - GameThread - Red Sox @ Blue Jays

Instead of a real game intro I have instead put up a pathetic attempt at poetry because I was in a meeting and completely forgot about putting this GameThread up. Yea, yea, yea, I know it's my second day on the job but hey it slipped my mind. Good thing I got a reminder from JohnnyG before I headed down to watch the game.

Anyway, the Blue Jays are trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression on the home crowd. We all know what happened in last night's game to send Toronto fans into anger and panic, so hopefully the Blue Jays will have a nice old fashioned blow out against the Red Sox' incipient starter Daniel Bard. We in Toronto know Bard rather well, of course, as he set-up for Jonathan Papelbon before being turned into a starter this season. Bard has never started against the Jays--in fact tonight will be his first start ever, after pitching in relief for 192 Major League games. Bard has pitched more innings against the Blue Jays over his career than any other team, recording an ERA of 4.07, a WHIP of 1.027, 32 K, 10 BB over 24.1 innings in 21 appearances.

Facing him will be young Kyle Drabek, who is also trying a second time to make a good first impression on Toronto fans. The Son of Doug has had 2 career starts against the Red Sox, pitching a total of 9 innings, having given up 12 runs on 15 hits, 5 of which were homers. He also has struck out 10 and walked 7. Let's hope that Drabek bucks that trend and demonstrate to us that small selective sample sizes like that are not good forecasting tools.

The Jays' line up will be their standard against righties: Escobar SS, Johnson 2B, Bautista RF, Lind 1B, Encarnacion DH, Lawrie 3B, Thames LF, Arencibia C, Rasmus CF.

The Bostonians will counter with some changes from yesterday: Ellsbury CF, Pedroia 2B, Gonzalez 1B, Ortiz DH, Youkilis 3B, Sweeney RF, Ross LF, Saltalamacchia C, Punto SS.

Daniel Bard

#51 / Pitcher / Boston Red Sox

Height: 6-4

Weight: 215

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jun 25, 1985

VERSUS

Kyle Drabek

#4 / Pitcher / Toronto Blue Jays

Height: 6-1

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Dec 08, 1987

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