"That's it! You people have stood in my way long enough! I'm going to Clown College!"
I don't think any of us expected him to say that.
August was, well, it was a really bad month for the Toronto Blue Jays. Really, really bad. The local nine finished off July with a hard fought win over the Houston Astros, thanks to a timely ninth inning home run off the stick of Nolan Reimold. This put Toronto at 60-50, just 1.5 games back of Baltimore and three games ahead of the Seattle Mariners for the second wildcard. A month later, they were five and half games back of that last wildcard spot with four teams in front of them, an insurmountable ten games behind the Orioles and any hope of postseason baseball had nearly faded. Ouch. I thought I had a rough month.
What's to blame for this precipitous fall from contention? Who is this culprit of menace that derailed the train that was our 2014 Blue Jays? Where does that evil Basilisk lie, that so ravaged our beloved squad that they lie wounded and broken beyond the castle walls? Am I so very badly overwriting this introduction? You'd better believe it.
Many will point the blame at the front office (or ownership) for their extreme inaction at the trade deadline (Danny Valencia aside). The theory is that not improving the team with a big acquisition (or even a medium-sized one) while many other AL teams did, somehow soured the clubhouse. The players decided this organization wasn't fully dedicated to winning now and disheartened, they fell into a funk which escalated further and further as the losses piled up. Geez, this theory is kind of depressing. Could it be what actually happened though?
Maybe. Who really knows, aside from those in that clubhouse every day. Personally, I find that narrative a bit too simple. Besides, I'd rather talk about the facts of what actually happened than the subjective why it happened.
This answer is simple. The offense completely crashed. And not a slam-your-bicycle-into-a-tree-and-sprain-your-wrist kind of crash, this was a Starship-Enterprise-smashes-into-an-asteroid-field like crash. From August 1st to September 2nd, the Toronto Blue Jays were dead last in the American League in runs scored with 94, and this includes the 8 run outburst against Tampa on September 2nd. They were the only team not to score at least 100 runs in that span. And really, it was a team-wide calamity, infecting everybody on the roster save a lucky few. Adam Lind came back and hit an empty .266 (a .668 OPS); Steve Tolleson lost his magic and batted .120; Nolan Reimold's clutch bomb would be his last as a Blue Jay, and now most will remember a 5-35 August run and a dropped ball in extra innings. Juan Francisco fell into a slump so bad (6-46/.136 with only 1 RBI) that I've forgotten this guy actually crushed some serious homers. Edwin came off the DL too soon and managed to bop couple of home runs but OPSed .581 while doing it. Only Navarro, Reyes and Melky Cabrera remained respectable hitters in this span (even Melky only slugged .371). Oh, and Bautista was still awesome. But when you're fielding a lineup for a month with one great hitter, three decent hitters and a whole lotta nothing, it's going to be tough to sustain a lot of rallies.
So in conclusion, August stunk. It pretty much crashed the season. But at least there was one little golden nugget to be taken from that stretch for the Bluebirds: this game. One of the most incredibly interesting, exciting, and downright goofy games this franchise has ever played. It will probably be considered one of the best games in the entire 2014 MLB season, and I'm sure we'll be seeing Jayson Stark make a long mention of it at the end of the year. It is, of course:
August 10th, Detroit Tigers at Toronto.
It began as a sunny Sunday afternoon game in TO. The local nine were just beginning their August swoon, blowing a heartbreaker that Friday night that saw Casey Janssen squander a two run ninth inning lead. Toronto had won the Saturday game though (thanks to a strong Stroman outing) and were looking to snatch the rubber game from the Tigers. It didn't promise to be easy, however, with newly acquired Toronto killer David Price standing in the way. The Blue Jays were also wearing red jerseys, clearly to tempt the wrath of both the Baseball and Fashion Gods.
Mark Buehrle toed the rubber for the Bluebirds, getting the first two outs without much trouble. Miguel Cabrera (that guy is good) singled up the middle, then Victor Martinez hit a routine ground ball to short. Unfortunately, this was the 2014 Jose Reyes, who bobbled the bounce, hesitated (he looked to second base) and then tried to get Martinez at first unsuccessfully (Martinez is slow but not that slow). The Tigers took advantage: Torii Hunter singled into left-field, though the ball was hit too hard to score Cabrera. The bases were loaded for J.D. Martinez. Buehrle fell behind 2-0 and threw one down the middle of the plate, which J.D. smacked up the middle past a diving Reyes (ugh), scoring Cabrera and Victor Martinez. 2-0 Detroit.
The Tigers weren't done. Nick Castellanos was the next batter and he smacked another single into centerfield, scoring Hunter for the third run of the inning. Buehrle froze Alex Avila to finally end the frame, but the damage (all unearned) had been done. With David Price pitching for the Tigers, this one already looked like it could be over. 3-0 Detroit.
Toronto got a little something brewing in the bottom of the first, however. Melky Cabrera singled into right field with one out, and a batter later Danny Valencia drew a full count walk to put two on with two out. Dioner Navarro came up but couldn't get the runners in, hitting a modest fly ball into the glove of Torii Hunter in right-field. After one, 3-0 Detroit.
The top of the second inning was extremely Buehrle like, as he threw a grand total of four pitches to retire Romine, Rajai Davis and Ian Kinsler. The Blue Jays jumped back to the sticks and things began promisingly with Nolan Reimold drawing a leadoff walk. Price's command of the strikezone was looking shaky, so he decided to grab the strikezone with both hands and start shaking it around a bit (sorry, that made more sense in my mind). With a trio of fastballs in the mid-high 90s, Price struck out Tolleson, Rasmus and Goins to end the Toronto second, keeping the score 3-0 Detroit.
So to the top of the third, where Miguel Cabrera was in a particular up-the-middle kind of mood. Victor Martinez then hit another double play ground ball to Jose Reyes and again the Toronto shortstop couldn't make a play. There were two on with nobody out and Detroit looked ready to put this one away. Hunter then hit a liner to shortstop, a ball that Reyes was at last able to get a glove on and record an out. The next batter, J.D. Martinez, had seen enough of these soft singles. He ripped one down into left-field that hopped in front of the wall, scoring Cabrera to make it 4-0. At this point, "if you want something done you've gotta do it yourself" grumbled Buehrle to himself. He froze Castellanos and Avila with two perfectly placed 84 mph fastballs, striking out both and escaping the third without further damage. 4-0 Detroit.
David Price continued to unlock "god mode" upon the Blue Jays. He struck out a flailing Jose Reyes, got a weak foul out from Melky and looked to finish off Joey Bats as well. Price however fell behind to Bautista so he grooved in a pitch that Jose launched deep into centerfield. Back went Rajai Davis, and as he did so often as a Blue Jay, made a tremendous leaping catch against the wall to rob the Toronto slugger of extra bases. It was that kind of defensive play that Rajai would make every so often just to tease everybody, but a nice catch is a nice catch. Still 4-0 Detroit.
To start the top of fourth, Romine doubled into the gap and Buehrle was in trouble again. Rajai Davis then hit a ball up the middle which Goins snagged and threw to first to get Davis, advancing Romine to third. Kinsler was next and he smashed one deep into the Toronto sun. It bounced high off the turf and over the left-field fence for a ground rule double, scoring Romine to make it 5-0 Tigers. Toronto manager John Gibbons had finally seen enough of Buehrle, who'd already allowed seven hundred hits in this game, and went to the bullpen for sidewinder Todd Redmond. Redmond struck out Miguel Cabrera with some high cheese and a batter later got Hunter to fly out to centerfield, squashing any further trouble. But it was now 5-0 Detroit. With David Price pitching, this game was done.
The bottom of the fourth inning, despite a Valencia leadoff single, turned out to be fruitless for the Blue Jay offense. Redmond went back to work the top of the fifth. After a strikeout of J.D. Martinez, Castellanos launched another ball deep into right-field, one that sailed over Bautista's glove by inches. It rolled up against the bullpen wall and Castellanos had a double. Strangely unsatisfied, Castellanos then took off for third during the next at-bat. Blue Jays catcher Navarro seems to have expected this, as he caught a high outside fastball (if it wasn't a pitch-out it sure looked like one) and gunned a bullet to third base. Castellanos was out and the rally was finished. In the bottom, David Price continued to be efficient, retiring Toronto on seven pitches in the fifth. Still 5-0 Detroit.
With one out already in the top of the sixth, Rajai Davis worked a walk off of Redmond. Sure enough, Davis took off on the first pitch. The batter, Kinsler, popped it up in the infield. Rajai didn't notice this initially and kept going, rounding second just as the second baseman (Goins) and first-baseman (Valencia) converged on the ball. Goins caught it, realized Davis was still coming back from second base and fired to Redmond covering first base for the double play. Davis made up for his blunder later that inning though, robbing a Jose Bautista with a sliding catch on a blooper to centerfield. With two out, Valencia hit a hard comebacker that deflected off Price, rolled past a diving Miguel Cabrera and into right-field. Thanks to some crafty baserunning, Valencia was able to sneak into second base. The trainers came out to attend to Price but he insisted he was okay. The next batter was Navarro, who showed his concern by smashing a letter high first pitch fastball deep into the left-field seats for a two run shot. Price, clearly annoyed by the events of this inning, ended it by overpowering Reimold with some determined nastiness. Still, Toronto had finally gotten on the board. After six, 5-2 Detroit.
Todd Redmond at this point had thrown fifty pitches in 2.2 innings of work, and with Blue Jays now within three John Gibbons summoned rookie pitcher extraordinaire Aaron Sanchez. Sure enough, Filthy Sanchez was just that, setting down the heart of the Tigers order (Cabrera, V. Martinez and Hunter) on a nifty 11 pitches, including a curveball to strike out Hunter that had the veteran's eyes wide with helplessness. To the bottom of the seventh, where David Price (well over 100 pitches) was brought back out to face Steve Tolleson. The count went full before Price missed low and inside with a slider, walking the leadoff man. Still, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus kept Price in the game. Next up was Colby Rasmus, Colby didn't wait around, bashing a first pitch Price fastball between Kinsler and Cabrera for a single into right-field. Toronto had the first two runners on with nobody out, the tying run at the plate, and at last they had chased David Price from the game. In came Phil Coke, who some of you might remember was Detroit's only good reliever during the 2012 World Series (kind of like working at a bar and being the only person who knows how to make a gin and tonic.) Well, Coke was brought in to face the lefty hitter Ryan Goins, but Gibbons countered that strategy by pinch hitting Munenori Kawasaki! Who is, also a lefty... Um, but yeah! Kawasaki dribbled a Coke pitch right up the middle into Kinsler's glove, a ball that looked like a double play immediately once the Tiger second-baseman snatched it and ran to the second base bag. Kinsler stepped on second and in one motion threw to first to try completing it, except he rushed the throw and it was wide, pulling Cabrera off the bag. Kawasaki ducked the leaping swipe of Cabrera and ran through first base safely. Runners at the corners, one out, the lineup flipped over for leadoff man Jose Reyes. Reyes, like Rasmus, didn't wait around. He lined an outside Coke breaking ball into left-field, scoring Tolleson to make it 5-3 Detroit. The tying run was now on base, with Melky Cabrera stepping to the plate. The Melkman waited out Coke to a 3-2 count before hitting a bouncer towards third baseman Castellanos. Fortunately for the Blue Jays, Castellanos showed the range of Brooks Robinson on this one (I mean Brooks right now, the 77 year old guy), as he was unable to even knock down a not-hardly hit ball just a few feet to his left. Kawasaki scored from second and the crowd was now going crazy. The tying run was now at second base, Joey Bats was up, 5-4 Detroit.
Ausmus recognized at this point that Coke was going all Ligtenberg on him. He summoned the hilariously named Al Alburquerque (he sounds like he should have a museum named after him in Futurama or something). Anyhow, Al Al is a very effective pitcher in his own right, striking out Bautista on a nasty splitter. At this moment, Reyes (the runner at second) broke for third base. Avila fired a perfect throw, Castellanos made the tag and Reyes was caught stealing. Suddenly the inning was over. All of this incredible buildup had been stopped short and it felt prematurely so. On the replay, Reyes was not running particularly hard towards third, possibly thinking there were already two outs (the count was 3-2) or some kind of bizarre hit-and-run was on. Anyhow, the Tigers still led, 5-4 after the seventh.
Sanchez came back out for the eighth (with Kawasaki taking over at second base) and started off by striking out J.D. Martinez looking with one of the dirtiest pitches any Blue Jay has thrown all season. It was a sinking fastball at 98 (98!) that cut back over the outside corner of the plate. It was a Halladay sinker, it moved that much, only with more giddyup. Good stuff. Castellanos was the next hitter and he lined a single into right-field. He was lifted out for a pinch runner, Ezequiel Carrera (seriously, what's with these names?). After Avila flew out to left-field, Carrera decided to take a shot at second base. The thing is, when you've got a pitcher on the mound throwing upper 90s, the ball gets to the catcher awful quick. This particular pitch happened to be outside also, so Navarro caught it (already out of his crouch) and threw a terrific laser beam to second, nabbing Carrera and ending the inning. (As an aside of politeness, Carrera's helmet came off during his slide and Kawasaki scooped it up instantly and handed it to him). To the bottom of eight we went, 5-4 Detroit.
Al Al (it's so much easier to type that) came back out for the Tigers, facing Juan Francisco who was pinch hitting for Valencia. Francisco, who lately as we all know couldn't hit a beach ball if it had any kind of break to it, struck out for the first out. To Big Juan's credit it was a fastball, if that's any better. Navarro was next and he too struck out on a sharply moving Al Al fastball. And for the hat trick, Reimold watched a 3-2 splitter catch the outside corner and he too struck out. 5-4 Detroit, heading to the ninth.
Sanchez came back for a third inning and was just as dirty as before, inciting weak contact from everybody except Rajai Davis, who watched a 97 pitch explode through the strikezone for another strikeout. So it came to the bottom of the ninth, Joba Chamberlain coming in for the save. Chamberlain had been the loser the previous day in extra innings, surrendering a Reimold double in the tenth. The Blue Jays were hoping this could be a case of Deja Vu all over again and things got off to a good start, with Anthony Gose getting a pinch hit single into right field. Rasmus was next but Chamberlain struck him out quickly on three pitches. On that third pitch Gose took off for second. Avila threw down to the glove of the shortstop Romine, the ball arriving just as Gose slid head first into the bag. The umpire emphatically called Gose out but Gibbons would have none of that, ordering it to be reviewed (rightly so). The replays showed just how close a play it was: from certain angles Romine's tag appeared to catch Gose as his left hand reached the base, but from others Gose seemed to slide in just by a split second. That split second turned out to be enough: the call was overturned and Gose was safe. Needless to say an absolutely huge call in favour of the Blue Jays. Now there was one out but a runner in scoring position, a runner with spectacular speed who could score on almost any base hit into the outfield. Kawasaki was next up, but he flared a ball right into the glove of a charging Rajai Davis in left. The Bluebirds were down to their last out, their comeback approaching nearly as far as it could without being completed.
The man coming up to the plate was Jose Reyes. On a 1-1 count, Chamberlain threw an off-speed pitch that caught too much of the outside part of the plate. Reyes poked it into centerfield, dropping right in front of Carrera. Carrera's throw to the plate was accurate but not nearly in time to get a scoring Anthony Gose. The near sellout crowd was losing their minds: Toronto had come all the way back from 5-0 to tie the game, 5-5.
The inning still continued. Melky drew a walk to push the winning run (Reyes) to second, bringing up Bautista. Here, Ausmus decided to be unconventional. He called for the intentional walk to put Bats on base, loading the bases for the next batter, Juan Francisco. Certainly a lot more can go wrong with the winning run at third than at second, though with two outs you're pretty much hoping your pitcher doesn't suddenly balk or throw the ball into the backstop (Jeremy Accardo and Terry Adams say hello, respectively). To Ausmus' defense, you would much rather have Francisco batting in such a situation than Bautista. Big Juan worked it, though. Getting a full count pitch before Chamberlain threw a breaking ball over the plate outside. Francisco swung his bat hard, missed the pitch and the inning was over. The sound of the stadium deflated but not completely: it was a whole new ballgame and extra innings awaited, tied 5-5.
Brett Cecil took the mound for Toronto in the top of the 10th and he started things off by striking out Miguel Cabrera with a dandy slider down and in. After a Victor Martinez groundout, Hunter kept the inning going with a two out single up the middle, bringing up Don Kelly who'd entered the game for defense in the 9th. Kelly worked Cecil to a full count before the Blue Jay lefty unleashed another sweet breaking ball. Kelly could not get any lumber on it, and the game was tied at 5-5 going to the bottom of the 10th.
The bottom of the tenth began with promise that the Blue Jays might win their second consecative extra inning game. Dioner Navarro looped a ball into left-field off new Detroit pitcher Blaine Hardy for a leadoff single. Gibbons went to his bench, bringing in starting pitcher Marcus Stroman to pinch run for Navarro (note: awesome!). What was not awesome was Nolan Reimold, who chased a bad 80 mph changeup high and way out of the zone to strikeout as the first out. Even less awesome was Anthony Gose hitting a hard groundball right at the Tiger first baseman. Cabrera made a swift turn to throw to second, forcing out Stroman, and hustled back to the bag to receive the throw to double up Gose, ending the Toronto 10th. Still tied 5-5.
To the 11th inning, where Brett Cecil continued some excellent work. striking out Eugenio Suarez for the first out on a Sweet Cecil Slider (TM) in the dirt. Alex Avila, however, waited on a Hanging Cecil Slider (not TM) over the plate and launched it into the left-centerfield gap. It split the outfielders and hit the upper portion of the scoreboard wall. Avila slid into second base with a double and that was the end for Cecil: Gibbons lumbered out of the dugout and summoned Dustin McGowan. Dusty was not rusty in this situation (blech, can't believe I wrote that) as he struck out Romine on a great changeup outside and then got a weak foul pop up from Rajai Davis, stranding the go ahead run at second and keeping the score 5-5 into the bottom of the 11th.
Unfortunately, the Blue Jays bats took an intermission and all went to the lobby in the bottom of the 11th. Rasmus struck out and neither Kawasaki or Reyes could get on base. This game was destined for a 12th inning. McGowan came out again and got a pair of quick outs from Kinsler and Cabrera. Victor Martinez drew a well earned walk however with two outs, followed by a Torii Hunter bouncer up the middle that no infielder could snag. The Tigers were threatening quickly with some two out magic, so out came Gibbons again to summon lefty sidewinder Aaron Loup from the bullpen. Loup's assignment? Don Kelly. Kelly got to a 2-2 count and hit a soft grounder inbetween first base and the pitcher. Loup ran to cover first while Bautista charged in. Jose realized the ball was hit too softly to relay the ball to Loup so he charged at Kelly and just nipped him with a swipe tag, recording the third out and keeping Detroit off the scoreboard yet again.
To start the bottom of the 12th, Melky took an 0-2 fastball from Blaine Hardy (still in the game) and pounded it into left field for another leadoff single for Toronto. With Bautista stepping to the plate again, this seemed like an excellent chance for the Blue Jays to put this one away. Hardy fell behind 2-0 and threw a high fastball over the plate. Joey Bats' eyes became big enough to be visible outside of his shades, and he swung out of his cleats trying to win the game right there. The ball sailed high and modestly deep, but not far enough to even push left-fielder Don Kelly to the wall. He held his ground, waited an hour for the ball to come down and secured it in his glove for the first out. Juan Francisco stepped up and watched a first pitch escape the Tiger catcher Holyday, moving Melky to second base. Francisco this time kept the line moving, drawing a walk. Josh Thole was next (he'd come into the game to catch after Stroman pinch ran for Navarro) and bopped a line drive into left-field, but again at Kelly who made a backhanded catch for the second out. So it came down to Reimold, the hero of the previous day. Yet heroism sadly can be a fleeting thing, particularly in this game. Reimold hit a lazy fly ball into right-field, where the capable glove of Torii Hunter squeezed it and sent this affair into a 13th inning.
John Gibbons decided to turn to his closer here, Casey Janssen, for an inning. After getting a flyball out from Suarez, Janssen walked Holyday to bring up Romine with a runner on. On a 1-1 low and away cutter, Romine punched a ball into left field that dropped in front of Melky Cabrera. The ball took an incredible bounce off the turf and Melky had to leap as high as he could just so it wouldn't get over his head. He fired the ball into second base to Kawasaki, who quickly saw Romine was hung up between first and second base. Muni charged at the runner, while constantly peeking over at Holyday at third to see if he tried to score, before shovelling it to Bautista at first base. Jose ran him down all the way back to second before diving glove first at Romine as he slid into the base. The umpire, however, called Romine safe, leading John Gibbons to immediately ask for another review. The replays showed that Bautista's glove just nicked Romine's leg as he slid into second, and the umpires thought so as well, overturning the call and ruling Romine out. Kelly Gruber is grumbling somewhere. With a runner at third and two outs now, Rajai Davis came up and bounced a Janssen curve to first base. Bautista appeared to juggle the ball as he fielded it, but he gained control and beat a sliding Davis in a footrace to the bag. Janssen had escaped the inning, the score was still tied 5-5.
Detroit summoned a new left-handed pitcher for the bottom of the 13th: Pat McCoy, pitching in his seventh ever big league game. McCoy started well, striking out Anthony Gose and inciting a weak groundout off the bat of Colby Rasmus. Up came Kawasaki, who battled McCoy for eight pitches until drawing a two out walk. Then came Reyes, batting right-handed, who stroked a McCoy pitch through the hole into right-field, sending the remaining crowd into another frenzy as the winning run in Kawasaki was at third base yet again. Melky Cabrera was pitched around for an unintentional-intentional walk, loading the bases in a big spot once more for Jose Bautista. But once again, Jose's aggressiveness got the best of him. He chased a first pitch low and away and tapped a broken bat grounder to second base. Kinsler made the routine play and Detroit had held on to force a fourteenth inning.
And so Chad Jenkins jogged in, the very last reliever left in the Blue Jay bullpen. After a Kinsler groundout, Miguel Cabrera stung one right off the turf and right off the glove of Juan Francisco, who had stayed in the game to play third base. Big Juan was charged with an error and the Tigers had a runner on for Victor Martinez. Jenkins wasn't fazed, getting Martinez to weakly pop out to Francisco, who this time was able to squeeze it for the second out. Torii Hunter, however, hit a broken bat blooper that dropped right in front of Rasmus, putting the go-ahead run at second in Cabrera. Don Kelly followed by hitting a ball that off the bat sounded like certain doom, but hung up in the air long enough for Rasmus to stride over to and make the catch, finishing the Detroit 14th. Tied 5-5.
Pat McCoy came back out and was sharper than he'd been in his first inning, getting a trio of groundouts around a Reimold walk and retiring the side without any excitement. The top of the 15th came and Jenkins decided he would provide some excitement, thankfully the good kind. He struck out Suarez with a sweet slider and then punched out Holyday with a called third strike sinker that even Jenkins smiled to himself after throwing it. After a Romine comebacker Jenkins had retired the side in order and Toronto had a chance to win it once again in the bottom of the 15th.
The commerical break had barely ended when Colby Rasmus ambushed a McCoy first pitch and launched it deep into right-field. Off the bat it looked gone, the crowd thought it was gone and cheered like madness, the television camera thought it was gone and so showed that wide view of the outfield bleachers, McCoy thought it was gone as he strolled off the mound with disgust on his face, and Rasmus thought it was gone and so jogged down the first base line to admire it. It stayed in the yard, bouncing off the upper part of the fence in the right-centerfield alley, putting Rasmus at second but only second. So Gibbons decided for the small game, ordering Kawasaki to bunt Rasmus over to third base. Despite being a terrific bunter, Kawasaki popped up McCoy's first pitch right into the glove of the charging third baseman Suarez, resulting in an extremely unproductive first out. The Suarez Show continued as Reyes hit a hard grounder that Suarez had to drop to his knees to knock down, but he did and fired to first base to get Reyes. Suddenly there were two out and Rasmus hadn't even moved yet. Detroit intentionally walked Melky again (this one was genuinely intentional though) to get to Bautista, then decided to put Joey Bats on as well to load the bases once more for Juan Francisco. Big Juan was eager to finally come through. His bat was gripped tight, his feet digging into the box with force. On 1-0 he swung so hard he stumbled out of the batters box, while the ball bounced harmlessly into the glove of Kinsler who threw to first, sending this game to a 16th inning.
Jenkins returned for a third inning and made quick work of Rajai Davis on a single pitch. Kinsler also put the ball in play early, hitting a second pitch groundball that Kawasaki had to dive for. Muni caught it cleanly but took a tumble on the turf, knocking the ball out of his glove. He picked it up from his back but it was too late, Kinsler had an infield single. Miguel Cabera was next and he lined a ball sharply into left field, advancing Kinsler to third with only one out. Things were getting uncomfortable for Blue Jays fans: they'd squandered so many chances to score and it seemed only a matter of time before Detroit would finally break through. This felt like the Tigers big moment: runners at the corners for a Victor Martinez having perhaps the best season of his excellent career. So Gibbons decided to take the bat away from V-Mart, putting him on intentionally to face Hunter. The infield came in, but with Kinsler's speed at third it would be extremely hard to prevent him from scoring on a groundball. Jenkins jumped ahead 0-2 but Hunter hit a sharp groundball: right at Jenkins. With impressive calmness, Jenkins made a perfect throw to Thole for the force at home, then Thole fired over to first base to double off Hunter and end the inning with the tie intact. They say a pitcher's best friend is a double play, but an even closer friend is a double play off a comebacker with the bases loaded.
The Tigers were running out of bullpen arms as well so they summoned closer Joe Nathan for the third game in a row, trying to send this thing to a 17th inning. Nathan disposed of Thole and Reimold without difficulty, but with two out Anthony Gose dropped a single into left-field. Once again Go Go didn't waste any time, breaking for second base on Nathan's first pitch and stealing it easily. Rasmus was intentionally walked, setting up a heroic situation for Kawasaki with the winning run at second base. Muni lined a first pitch from Nathan that Davis in centerfield (he switched back there in the 11th) misread for a moment. But the ball was hit right at him and he made the catch. So to a 17th inning it went.
Chad Jenkins, once again, made quick work of the first two Detroit batters, Kelly and Suarez. Holyday however kept the inning alive with a single through the left side (once again under the glove of a statue-like Juan Francisco), bringing up Romine. Jenkin's first pitch sinker looked good enough for Romine, as he took a long hard swing at it. Of course, what looks good isn't always actually good, as Romine hit a routine grounder right at Kawasaki, who made a routine throw to first and sent this thing into the bottom of the 17th. Would this one ever end?
The Tigers had exhausted all their relievers so it was time to turn to another option: starting pitcher Rick Porcello, who had made his major league debut in this same building. The first batter was Jose Reyes and like he'd seemingly been doing every at-bat this game, he hit a line drive into the outfield for a single. Toronto had the winning run on base yet again. This particular opportunity to win the game became even more golden when Melky Cabrera followed up Reyes' single with a walk, putting two on with nobody out for Bautista. Like Reyes constantly getting base hits, it felt like every time Bautista came up in this game the winning run was in scoring position. Porcello buckled down and jammed Jose with a high fastball, getting him to fly out into right-field. Next was Juan Francisco, who had seemed to strike out every time the winning run was in scoring position. Big Juan put an end to that and stroked a bullet into right field. The ball hit the turf a foot in front of Torii Hunter, and with some extremely clever instincts he fired the ball into second base to force out Melky. It was a terrific play and likely one that saved the game for the Tigers. Poor Juan Francisco. He didn't even get credited with a hit for that one. So up came Josh Thole, the unlikeliest of unlikely heroes. Would this be his moment? Was this going to be the beginning of the Legend of Josh Thole?
Nope. He hit a ground ball to short and was thrown out. Porcello had wiggled out of the jam and we were off to an 18th inning. Good lord.
To start his fifth inning of relief, Chad Jenkins got a quick ground out of Rajai Davis. Kinsler then hit another groundball past Francisco for a one out single. Next was Miguel Cabrera, apparently sick of playing eighteen innings of baseball and only having a collection of singles to show for it. Jenkins left a pitch right in Cabrera's tirehouse and Miguel pummelled it. The ball sailed high and deep into the late Dome afternoon with only thousands of gasps or horror to slow it down.
Well, that and Colby Rasmus. Colby tracked it the whole way, actually timed his jump perfectly against the wall and came down with the baseball in his glove. Instead of scoring, Kinsler had to retreat all the way back to first base. This was an especially important catch since Victor Martinez soon singled up the middle, which would have certainly scored a run had Cabrera reached base. Instead, Jenkins battled through it to get to his man, Torii Hunter, who hit a weak tapper to Bautista at first to end the top of the 18th, yep, still tied 5-5.
Rick Porcello is having an awfully good 2014. This was clear in the bottom of the 18th when he got Reimold, Gose and Rasmus on a whopping total of four pitches. Yep. So lets move on to the 19th inning, where Jenkins came out to the mound once again. Hey, it's not like they had anybody else left.
Actually, Dickey had begun warming up a bit in the 18th and continued to do so in the 19th inning. This was Jenkins' sixth relief inning after all, and it didn't start well as Don Kelly singled on the first pitch into right field. Eugenio Suarez was next and Jenkins, remembering how he'd struck out Suarez in the 15th, threw him the exact same pitch and struck him out again. That's gotta sting. Holyday was next and he stung one hard into centerfield, a ball that looked destined to drop. Once again, Colby Rasmus was the Breaker of Destiny, stalking the ball until the very last moment when he dove to his left to snag it from the turf. Jenkins was surely out of gas at this point, but with two out he just needed enough to get one more batter: Andrew Romine. Kelly stole second base during this at-bat, but all eyes were on Jenkins: could he get just one more Tiger, after so many great innings pitched in this game? The count went to 2-2. Jenkins took a bit off and threw an off-speed pitch high and away. Romine swing hard, and was way in front of it, missing it completely. Jenkins had escaped again, preserving the tie for the bottom of the 19th inning. 5-5.
Munenori Kawasaki led off for the Bluebirds and used that magic Muni wand to drop a Porcello pitch in front of Rajai Davis for a single. Up came Jose Reyes and he dropped down a bunt, which trickled slowly down the line to Porcello. There was no play at second so Porcello went to first base, except he was so close to the line that his angle was obstructed by Reyes running to first. So Porcello threw it to the left side of the bag, a throw that Kinsler tried to barehand as it went by but with no luck. Kawasaki chugged into third base and Reyes was safe. Toronto had the winning run at third base once more, but this time nobody was out. As they had done all game, the Tigers walked Melky to load the bases for Bautista, batting in this exact same situation for the zillionth time in this game (Zillion is a fitting word for this game). On a 1-1 count, Jose ripped a pitch deep into right-field that was well over a drawn in Torii Hunter. The ball bounced up against the wall in the right field corner while Kawasaki chugged home, finally scoring that elusive winning run for the Blue Jays in the 19th inning. FINAL: Toronto 6 Detroit 5 (19).
Whoa. That my friends, was an absolute doozy to write. Much like the experience of watching this game, I thought it would never finish. There are just so many downright wacky things that happened it's hard to really do them justice. You've got the 39 total hits in the game with only 11 total runs, the 15.2 shutout innings thrown by the Blue Jays bullpen, the fact that the Tigers and Blue Jays played the equivalent of an entire game within extra innings without scoring. You've got Melky Cabrera reaching base eight times, the amazingly timely catches of Colby Rasmus (admit it, you didn't expect him to get either of those balls. I know I didn't), the idea that R.A. Dickey might be coming out of the bullpen to pitch in a 20th inning, the Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament between Ryan Goins and Nick Castellanos across the dugouts, the sight of Juan Francisco constantly slipping out of the batters box (I think he needed new cleats or something), a parade of Detroit pitchers you've never heard of, and the sad afternoons of Rajai Davis and Nolan Reimold (0-8 and 0-7 respectively). And of course, the biggest hero of the afternoon, the man who truly rose to the occasion: Chad Jenkins. Surely the best game he has ever pitched in his life, when you think about it. And you've got to admire the way he just kept going out there, battling out of jam after jam while the offense couldn't help him out. No matter where Chadwick's career goes from here, he'll always have this game and I hope he's proud of it.
As we all know, any momentum the squad might have gathered from this victory was short lived. The team rolled into Seattle and got brutally stomped, leaving them on the fringes of the wildcard race ever since. Whatever, that still was one of the most incredible baseball games I've ever seen.
Assorted Nonsense
It's an open secret around these parts that Colby Rasmus will likely be taking his talents elsewhere next season. He's a solid player but we're sick of the squandered talent: the strikeouts, the balls that "Gose would've caught", the bad throws to home plate that always drift twenty feet up the third base line. I've always liked Rasmus, not because of his baseball talents but because he just seems to be a genuine character. Remember the reports of the guy we thought we were getting when he came here from St. Louis? Descriptions like "anti-social", "doesn't care", "hard to get along with" floated about everywhere. The Rasmus we have? The dude admitted he goes outside the stadium for a chicken hot dog before games. He did the OK Blue Jays dance! The hair!
Listening to the recent interview he gave with Scott MacArthur (which is excellent) really made me appreciate how difficult it must be to have such an extraordinary talent for baseball. The expectations that follow you your entire life are so grand it would be impossible for nearly anybody to escape that shadow. It's hard to find the fun in a game where people constantly tell you what you should be, ignoring who you actually are. Rasmus in the interview even says "It's not an easy game, man" and it isn't. It's very easy to forget that. It demands everything you have physically and mentally, which often times isn't even enough.
It's my hope that Rasmus can take the offseason to clear his mind a bit and find a situation where he can just enjoy playing the game again. I for one will always be cheering for you, Colby. (As long as you stay away from the AL East, of course).
Dirk Hayhurst wrote an article a few weeks ago I found very interesting, detailing his mindset as he made his major league debut. It's a cool read and well written, as Hayhurst's stuff often is.
Check it out here (pardon my link making inability): http://www.hardballtimes.com/im-supposed-to-pitch-oh-no./?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
I'm excited about Daniel Norris but geez his delivery is boring. There's nothing remotely distinctive about it. He reminds me of somebody but I can't remember who.
Will Sean Nolin ever get into a game? Kottaras already has! Come on Sean, you can do it!
Oh and finally, Jose Bautista is awesome. Don't ever even think of trading him for anybody. Okay, anybody not named Clayton Kershaw.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=2014090312182121