Blue Jays 4 Giants 0: Great start for R.A. Dickey

Blue Jays 4 Giants 0

That's the R.A. Dickey we wanted to see. He pitched 8.1 innings, allowed just 2 hits, 2 walks with 5 strikeouts. And he drove home the winning run. What more could you want?

That double by Dickey might be my favorite moment of the season, so far. After showing bunt, he pulled the bat back and slapped a double past Pablo Sandoval who was coming in for the bunt. Henry Blanco scored all the way from first. I'm not sure what was more unlikely, Dickey hitting a double or Blanco being able to score from first on anything short of a home run.

We scored 3 more runs that inning. Jose Bautista singled home Dickey. It was nice to see Bautista hit, he was just 2 for his last 26 at bats before that single. After that Bautista stole second, Edwin Encarnacion walked and then Jose and Edwin pulled off a double steal. Jose was just safe. The ball beat him to the bag at third, but the tag was late. Mark DeRosa singled them both home.

That was all the runs we'd need. We had 8 hits on the day, 3 for Adam Lind, all against lefties. Maybe he's earned another start against a lefty? Melky Cabrera, Maicer Izturis and Colby Rasmus were the starters to have 0 fors.

Dickey gave up a single and a walk and came out of the game with 1 out in the 9th. Casey Janssen came in and got the game ending double play, picking up his 12th save. Edwin made a nice play, going to his left to get the ball and making a decent throw to second to start the DP. But I still don't understand why Edwin wasn't pulled for a defensive replacement. Kawasaki should have come into the game.

Maicer Izturis had a great game with the glove. I'm sure that was the best defense he's shown us this year. He made a very nice diving stop behind second and a glove hand flip to second, just getting the runner. As well he he made a diving catch of a line drive and caught a couple of popups making deep behind 3rd base.

Jays of the Day: Dickey (.275 WPA as a pitcher and .154 as a batter) and Bautista (.105).

Suckage: No one, Izturis had the low mark at -.090 but that doesn't take his defense into account.

We had a nice GameThread for a weekday after game. 512 comments from 37 of us. shortofbrillant led the way was 63 fluttering comments. I'm missed out on some of the thread, I did interviews with 5 CBC radio stations about the Biogensis stuff. Not exactly my favorite subject but it was fun.