First off I'm suprised he signed a minor league deal. It would be crazy if Woodward signed a Major League deal while Gomez got a minor league deal.

My fav. memory of Gomez was his Grand Slam off of Schilling which sealed the deal for a Jays victory.

In an otherwise boring blowout at Yankee Stadium (thanks for nothing, Sean Douglass), Gomez flashed some serious leather. He made a tremendous play in the hole, and a fantastic leaping grab of a liner that turned into a double play.

I liked how he played hard, even when times were tough.

Chris was a very good utility infielder, I'd be pleased to have him on my team... I don't understand having John MacDonald, (I don't know him) but its clear we don't need both...

It's hard to have memories of a backup infielder who only played one year with a team, but I'll try. Other than GOMEZ HIT GRAND SLAM NOW...not much. He played first base a lot, which kind of pissed me off (this was pre-Phelps-for-Crozier). His most similar player through age 33 is Mike Bordick, in a nice little coincidence. I guess I didn't really expect much from him, and I don't remember a lot. Best of luck to Chris in Baltimore.

April 22, vs Boston:
- C Gomez homered to left, C Delgado, E Hinske and O Hudson scored.
-M Malaska relieved C Schilling.

He played first base a lot

To be fair, he actually played only 19 games. He started 12, just one more than Phelps. Call it hyperbole on my part.

Gomez's numbers last year were not too much worse than Womack's numbers last year, and their career numbers are very close. Yet, Gomez gets a minor league deal and Womack gets a guaranteed 4mil. Crazy.

Anyways...Gomez...yes.

How about this? He had three HRs last year. One of them was that grand slam off Schilling. The other two were Pinch-Hit bombs.

Good thing I don't believe in clutch...:)

It couldn't have been easy to be a utility infielder on a club that was expected to do well, and fell way, way short of expectations. Gomez kept on plugging like a true pro.

He'll end up on his feet, in Baltimore or somewhere else. I'm kind of hoping, for purely selfish reasons, that it's for a club in any other division. Good luck to him.

All season I remembered Chris' belly-flop slide into home to score the winning run in extra innings against the Angels in late May - IIRC one of the Molinas forgot to cover the plate.

http://unusualsuspects.741.com/3.html
I share the same moment as almost everyone else.
Except i phoned my friend who's a huge Red Sox fan and happened to be at the game and made fun of him.

Good times.

On a side note, i have an on again off again web comic with featuring that same friend, with this particular edition coming the day after the sawx lost that 3rd game to the Yankees. I ended up looking kindof stupid. COMN if interested

Gomez, or THOR as he prefered to be called, will leave his mark on the Blue Jays even after his departure. It was because of THOR that the Allmighty Cheer Club came to be, with our (I.E. NFH) creation of our first in a LONG line of gimmicks.... the

HAMMER OF WISDOM

THOR inspired the creation of the HAMMER which was toted to every game I attended until it was replaced by the Hentgen for Closer sign. THE HAMMER became a rallying point for the Cheer Club as many rules were placed upon it. We first discovered to our surprise that it was not a powerful hammer, but rather a wisdom granting hammer. One that would gift the at bat Blue Jay with the wisdom to walk, or wait for his pitch (so long as we were all standing and screaming THE HAMMER COMPELS YOU! THE HAMMER COMPELS YOU!). We also noticed to our surprise that the HAMMER has the opposite effect on Ted Lilly and must be hidden at all times from him.

It is because of this wonderful gift, that the Cheer Club became what it is, and we will always think of THOR as our founding father.

long live THOR for

We Are The Sons of Chris Gomez.

http://today.ninemsn.com.au/mediaPopup.aspx?MediaID=5334
GOMEZ HIT GRAND SLAM NOW are Not Enough Molinas are my most indelible memories of THOR too. I also remember Gomez nearly beheading Mariano Rivera with a two-out, two-run, game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth inning of an extra inning loss to the Yankees in July. Throughout the Season from Hell, Chris was our own Mr. Clutch.

(Hey, minor hijack about the Cheer Club: COMN and fast-forward to about three minutes into the video file. You'll see, among other things, a "Going Going Zaun" with the drum, and bird droppings' thoughts on Aussie Rules football.)

Too right. "Sons of Chris Gomez" has a ring to it. Thor definitely merits a standing ovation the if he ever steps to the plate again at SkyDome.

He played first base a lot

To be fair, he actually played only 19 games. He started 12, just one more than Phelps. Call it hyperbole on my part.

One could argue, that on a team with Phelps on the bench, 19 games is not only a LOT, its TOO MUCH..

it IS however, 19 games that Berg DIDN'T play there...

#26676 Posted 12/08/2004 09:54 PM by Ryan Lind:

Gomez's numbers last year were not too much worse than Womack's numbers last year, and their career numbers are very close. Yet, Gomez gets a minor league deal and Womack gets a guaranteed 4mil. Crazy.

While their career OPS are almost identical, the big difference is speed:
- Gomez (31 career SBs)
- Womack (335 career SBs)

That's what has kept Womack in the bigs. He's one of the last pure speed guys (no power, or other discernable offensive talents).

For some reason, I remember all the baserunning blunders. It was as if he wasn't really as quick as he looked, and he kept getting sent after an extra base, and he kept getting thrown out...

Ah, remember the good times. HIT GRAND SLAM NOW.

I guess this is an "indirect" Gomez memory -- I'd been out of the country and mercifully missed the Jays' terrible April. Shortly after getting back, I went to a Royals-Jays game with another Bauxite, who filled me in on much that I'd missed. (I remember being rather puzzled to see Kevin Cash with twice as many RBIs as Vernon Wells).

At one point, he mentioned Gomez's grand slam. Interestingly, the guy beside him chose that point to pipe up and say that it was, in fact, Chris Woodward who hit the grand slam. After a bit of "No, I'm pretty sure it was Gomez" -- "No, I'm pretty sure it was Woodward", the discussion ended. I figured I'd look up the boxscore later, though given the source, I assumed that it was Gomez.

Interestingly, shortly thereafter one of those "Meet your new Blue Jays" between-innings bits appeared on the Jumbotron. As luck would have it, the featured Blue Jay that day was Chris Gomez... and, of course, they showed a clip of the Grand Slam! After some laughter, I heard a sheepish "I guess it WAS Gomez, after all" come from a couple seats down... :)

I'd have to say that the most memorable was the slide to home in the 10th inning against Anaheim. I had been to the first 2 games of the series (both comeback games, the second being more dramatic) and i almost suffered consecutive heart attacks when Pond hit that difficult grounder to 1st to barely get by the 1st basemen, then when Gomez was in the run down, and lastly when i realized that nobody was covering home plate.

And believe it: The Anaheim Angels when interviewed afterwards said the crowd of 15,800 (and change) was so loud at that moment they couldn't hear themselves speak.

http://www.torontobaseballguys.com
Definitely the slide into home vs. Anaheim. That rundown seemed to last about 45 seconds, and I think I made my wife deaf in one ear when I shouted "there's no one covering home!"
That was pretty sweet, here's hoping Gomez does well for himself

Go-Go-Gomez in the future.