Jays v Twins. Saturday April 2nd 2011.
Jays flying high after last night’s power outburst. Lots of buzz on the radio and in print. Toronto fans seeing the results of Alex’s rebuilding last night but most of all I think is the totally different style of play that Manager Farrell is using compared to the Cito years of big bats period.
This team has speed and is aggressive and also has power as shown in the four home runs last night. It will be exciting to watch as this team is no longer one-dimensional and will make things happen if the hitting disappears or a pitcher has a lousy outing. We will be seeing steals, delayed steals, double steals, singles turned into doubles and doubles into triples. A catcher than can run a triple ???? when did that last happen in Toronto ? Sorry Jose nothing personal.
Today the turn of Kyle Drabek, looking for his first major league win and attempting to show that he is not just a minor league phenom but the real thing. Tough line-up for him in the Twins.
Line-ups: Twins: Span, Nishioka, Mauer, Morneau, Young, Thome, Cuddyer, Valencia, Casilla, and Liriano pitching.
Jays: Escobar leading off today without Davis, Hill, Bautista, Lind, Encarnacion, Nix, Rivera playing in left for Snider, Molina, McCoy in centre for Davis, and Drabek pitching.
Davis not in the line-up with ankle injury from last night game when he was picked off at first. Not serious but day to day. Mike McCoy in centre as Corey Patterson is still on DL. Snider may not be playing with lefty Liriano pitching. Too bad as I thought he was going to everyday player. Then again Manager Farrell may be getting his bench in to games as early as possible to keep them sharp.
Crowd not that great, looks like half of last night’s 47,000 plus, but people are saying that there are huge line-ups at the ticket windows as a result of walk-up traffic. What I do like though is the huge number of young children, obviously many in for the Junior Jays Day but it does seem to me to be much larger than usual. It should be interesting to see the crowd on Thursday next week for the school day matinee. Kudos to the organization for their encouragement of the children today from the introduction with the players to the announcing and the running of the bases. Jays do a good job in this area.
Drabek on fire striking out the side in the first and retires 15 of the first 17 hitters he faces. Nishioka draws two walks and that is it for the Twins until the sixth. Nishioka reminds me of Ichiro the way he slaps at the ball to left whilst moving away to the right.
Drabek first single was by Span in the sixth but he recovered to finish the inning and gets a great ovation as he leaves with this game in hand.
Jays go out early with Molina first pitch home run which bounces off the top of the fence in left. Kept on carrying but that is the short fence.
Liriano gets into big trouble in the fifth. With one out, he walks Bautista and a single to Lind. Gardenhire then brings in Kevin Slowey but Snider pinch-hits for Rivera and golfs it into shallow right for two more runs.
Liriano only goes 4.1 innings but throws 94 pitches. The five walks certainly did not help him either in pushing up that pitch count.
The excellent: Drabek with one hitter but took a no hitter into the sixth. Seven strikeouts and three walks but he managed to get out of trouble each time. He has to get in the rotation with that type of pitching. Major decision for Manager when Morrow is back but these things usually have a habit of working out. The other positive is that it will put pressure on the others especially Cecil, Litsch and Reyes.
Also excellent this afternoon. Jayson Nix, playing his first game excelled with bat and glove despite only arriving here four days ago. He made a great catch off Thome playing the right shift at second, leaping high to save a double. Followed by his first home run for Jays and then a great diving save later with throw to first to get the out. Nobody missed Edwin today at third. Jayson Nix will be a great asset off the bench and obviously no slouch to fill in at second or third.
Power of Jays hitters in first two games, also in response to those who said Jays would miss Wells, Overbay and Buck. Jays have scored six home runs and from five different players in the first two games.
The very good: Two scoreless innings of relief by Camp and Rzepczynksi. Everyone in the line-up gets on base and seven of the nine have hits. Escobar, Molina and McCoy with two each. Escobar had a great triple, more speed. Great pinch hit 2rbi double by Snider which put the game out of reach, Travis golfed it into right with one hand. Jays turn two double plays.
The crowd much better behaved this afternoon than last night which is good to see with so many children around. Good also to Jays organisation for the number of staff outside the stadium to help the crowd although it sounds as if the ticket office was the problem today as people were still coming in at 2.30 complaining of the lineups.
That shift right for Thome is going to backfire one day when Jim just slaps it into left but I guess percentages rule strategy.
Jays go for the sweep tomorrow with Cecil, but Brett has to pitch better than he did in Dunedin, Twins are one power laden team just waiting to break out. But great 2-0 start by the Jays and I am sure that many who came today will be back. The TFC were also playing at BMO field at the same time which would cut into the crowd today by a few thousand.
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