Monday, July 30, 2012
A Step in the Right Direction
From the stand point
of the Toronto Blue Jays, Saturday’s 5-1 win
over the Detroit
Most of the chatter
about the Jays, recently, revolves around their injury problems. They have had
horrible luck with the injury bug this year, losing key players at inopportune
times. Nonetheless, the games must be played, and players need to come off the
bench to fill the gaps.
That is exactly what
Omar Vizquel did on Friday night. Omar will be 47 years old in a couple of
months. He banged out a double and a triple to help the cause. He now ranks 44th
on the all time major league baseball hit list, trailing Harold Baines by five
hits. Vizquel has also provided some fine defence for the Jays, in key
situations, and has great presence in the clubhouse.
On Saturday, Henderson
In the fourth inning,
Brennan Boesch drove in Delmon Young for the Tigers with a double to the wall.
The crowd erupted in applause. For a second, that stunned me. Then I realized
that many Tiger fans make the trip east on the 401 from Tiger Country: Windsor , Chatham , St. Thomas , London , even a
few from Detroit
Edwin Encarnacion,
Colby Rasmus, and Yunel Escobar provided the Jays with home runs to chase the
Tigers’ starter Anibal Sanchez. The appearance was Sanchez’s first in a Tiger
uniform, having just arrived from the Marlins, part of the great garage sale of
2012 for the Florida
Encarnacion’s home
run proved to be the winning run. The first pitch from Sanchez did not suit
Edwin, but it was called a strike. He waved his right hand in disgust at the
call. Second pitch, same location, but called a ball. Third pitch, same place,
except that this time the ball was deposited in the outfield seats. It was his
28th of the year, tying him with Bautista for the team lead.
Tigers’ manager Jim
Leyland took much of the blame for the loss. On at least three occasions in his
post-game interview, Leyland voiced regrets
about leaving Sanchez in the game too long.
“To be honest with
you,” Leland told the scrum in his office after the game, “I screwed it up. I
extended him one inning too long. He’s a good looking pitcher.’
With regard to the
loss, Leland said, “Plain and simple, you can’t sugar coat it! Right now, we’re
just not hitting.”
In Sunday’s final
game against the Tigers, Brett Cecil got little run support as the Jays fell
4-1. All of the Detroit
The Jays embark on a
ten game road trip, with many games on the West Coast. I know it’s tough on
some of you old birds to stay up that late, but I have faith in you.
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
July 29, 2012.
# posted by James Hurst @ 11:37 AM 
