J.P. Arencibia Homers in the 16th, Jays Win

Blue Jays 7 Indians 4 (16 innings)

Just wow.

The longest opening day game in baseball history.

So much happened...I don't know where to start.

Let's start with Jays of the Day: Luis Perez (.753 WPA) pitched us 4 scoreless innings, he was a little wild, gave up 3 walks, but no hits and no runs along with 3 strikeouts. Edwin Encaracion (.241 WPA) for the double that drove in 2, including the tying run. He thought it was out. I thought it was out, but it hit high off the wall. Jose Bautista (.238 WPA) 3 for 4, including a home run. Kelly Johnson (.178 WPA) 1 for 5, 2 walks. Francisco Cordero (.136 WPA) very important scoreless inning of relief. I'm also giving one to J.P. Arencibia, even though his WPA isn't high (.024), he tagged out a runner at the plate, on a wild pitch, he threw out a runner stealing, did a great job blocking pitches in the dirt, and there was the game winning homer.

Random notes from the game:

• I don't understand why Farrell didn't bring Sergio Santos into the game at the start of the 16th inning. It made no sense at all to me. Perez did a great job but he had thrown 3.2 innings already, he was wild, and, well, Sergio is our closer. By having Perez get one out, it cost Santos a save. And the batter that Perez pitched to was a right-handed batter. I don't agree with the idea of saving your closer for the save, in extras, but if you do, let him have it.
• Ricky Romero wasn't good. Or at least he had one bad inning. He gave up 4 runs in the 2nd inning, 3 off a Jack Hannahan home run. He would have given up at least one more run had JP not made a nice lunging tag on a runner trying to score on a wild pitch.
• Rajai Davis popped up a bunt, watched it, turning it into an easy double play. Worst moment of the game.
• Colby Rasmus was 0 for 7, but hit the ball hard, at least twice. He made a great catch in center, but also made a very bad error that allowed a runner to move from first to second.
• Adam Lind had our first hit, a hard hit double. He also walked, which allowed EE to tie the game.
• Brett Lawrie was 0 for 6, with a big walk that came in front of JP's homer.
• We used 5 infielders and it worked. Farrell brought Omar Vizquel into the game, with the bases loaded and we got a big double play.
• Eric Thames went 0 for 4, with a walk. He made two bad plays in the field. On a hit down the line, he couldn't cut it off, so it went to the wall for a double, then he threw the ball into second, where no one was playing, because there was a runner going to third. Lucky Lind was following up the play. The throw should have gone to the cut off man. And he moved in on a ball over his head and ended up missing it.
• JP made a throw from his knees to catch a runner stealing, it was a great throw, almost nailing Jason Frasor, who didn't seem to know the runner was stealing.
• Our bullpen pitched 11 innings of scoreless relief. Great jobs by Frasor, Oliver, Janssen, Cordero, Villanueva, Perez and Santos.
• Suckage award goes to Davis (-.498 WPA, and the idiot moment on the bunt. Romero gets one too for a -.207 WPA, but he battled after the bad inning. Thames (-.154) and the bad plays in the outfield. Lawrie (-.250) and Rasmus (-.201) hit the number too, but I'm not giving them awards (your mileage might vary) because Rasmus made that great catch and hit the ball hard and Lawrie took that walk and then was safe at second on what could have been a DP in the 16th. It was a hit and run but the ball went to the pitcher, who went to second. A slower runner would have been out. Also, he goes down the line as hard as anyone. He was just out twice.

I'm sure there is more, I'll likely write more about the game in the morning but I have been on the computer for hours now and I want a break.

The multiple game threads were great fun. Thanks all that joined in. Sorry that we enforced a no gif rule but the threads were long and moving fast. I think we'll be saying no gifs (until the end of the game) for, at least, the first month of the season.