Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Blue Jays 12

There's room for you if you say "I do"
But don't say no or you'll have to go
We've done no wrong with our blinkers on
It's safe and calm if you sing along

If you didn't see any of yesterday's game, you'll want to read "A grand day for Zaun, Blue Jays" by Spencer Fordin.

The were all kinds of hilights in yesterday's game, such as Gregg Zaun's homerun. What was most notable for me, though, was the back-to-back-to-back homeruns the Blue Jays hit off of Arbuckle Wells in the 3rd inning.

First there was Vernon's shot to left:

Then Canuck Koskie followed suit:

And not to be outdone, Shea "Moffatt Will Pay" Hillenbrand cleared the fences:

You can imagine how the Boston hurler felt about this. But if your imagination is broken, here's a picture to help you out:

It's a cruel, cruel summer
Leaving me here on my own
It's a cruel, cruel summer
Now you're gone

There have been 3 other times in Blue Jays history where the Jays have hit back-to-back-to-back dingers:

April 26, 1983: Oakland 7 - Toronto 4

The Jays hit 4 homeruns in this game, yet managed only 4 runs. Willie Upshaw hit one in the 4th inning off of starter Mike Warren, then victimized Warren in his very next at-bat, which was in the sixth inning. The next two batters, DH George Bell and RF Jesse Barfield hit solo shots off of Warren. Surprisingly, manager Steve Boros allowed Mike Warren to stay in the game after allowing three consecutive homers. He managed to cause Ernie Whitt to ground out to first then allowed a single to Rance Mulliniks before getting yanked and replaced by Keith Atherton.

Warren was credited with the win, bringing his record to 3-2 on the season. Giving up homeruns would eventually be his undoing, however, as he left major league baseball just two years later with a career record of 9-13. In his career he gave up 28 homeruns in 204.7, a fairly high total for someone pitching his home games in the Oakland Mausoleum.

September 12, 1987: Toronto 13 - New York 1

A much better game for the Jays than the previous one. This was a particularly notable game for Yankee hurler Bill Fulton, as it was his major league debut.

In the top of 7th, reliever Pat Clements began the inning by plunking George Bell. Fulton then came on in relief and had a pretty decent inning. First Ernie Whitt flied out to left. Barfield was up next and he hit a single, but Fulton bounced right back by striking out Kelly Gruber. Willie Upshaw walked, leaving the bases loaded with 2 outs. Fulton got out of the inning unscathed by having Canadian Rob Ducey ground out into a fielder's choice.

The 8th inning started out very well for Fulton, with rookie Nelson Liriano flying out and Lloyd Moseby grounding out to third. It was all downhill from there. First Manny Lee and George Bell hit singles. Then Ernie Whitt homered. Then Jesse Barfield homered. Then Kelly Gruber homered. Then Fulton hit the showers and was replaced by Pete Filson.

Bill Fulton gave up 3 homers, a walk, and 5 runs over an inning and 2/3rds. This didn't not deter manager Lou Piniella from using Fulton against the Jays, as he had Fulton pitch an inning of relief against Toronto a week later. That outing was a little more successful, as he only gave up one run in one inning of relief. That run was a solo shot by Willie Upshaw. Fulton would keep improving: in his third outing of the season he pitched 2 scoreless innings against the Red Sox, picking up the win!

It would be the last game of his career. But at least he went out on top.

April 18, 2000: Anaheim 16 - Toronto 10

Before yesterday, the Jays went 1-2 in games where they hit 3 consecutive home runs. Who would have guessed that?

The Jays victimized a Canadian hurler in this game, with Craig Grebeck?!?, Raul Mondesi, and Carlos Delgado going yard against London, Ontario's Jason Dickson. Dickson went 5.1 innings, gave up 4 runs (all courtesy of the 3 homeruns) and collected a win, bringing his record to 2-0 on the 2000 season. He would go on to collect 2 more decisions in 2000, both losses to Tampa Bay. He has not thrown a single in pitch in the major leagues since.

Notes: Thanks to Bauxites Named For Hank for the pictures, and Jonny German and Mick Doherty for locating games where back-to-back-to-back homers were hit. The specific game information comes from Retrosheet.

Fishwrap Roundup

Fordin: "Wells concerened about wall"
Fordin: "Three Jays' Minor Leaguers suspended"
Zwolinski: "Workers soften boards' impact"

Posted by Pepper Moffatt on Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 09:48 AM EDT.

Blue Jays 12 - Red Sox 5 | 20 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

mathesond - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 10:06 AM EDT (#110317) #

According to the Good Doctor's article, there was another time the Jays went back-to-back-to-back:

Toronto hadn't done that since August 2001, when Shannon Stewart, Carlos Delgado and Raul Mondesi went deep against Minnesota.

Pistol - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 10:36 AM EDT (#110321) #

5 games in here are the small ball results:

0 stolen bases
0 sacrifice bunts
1 sacrifice fly

The Jays are also tied for second in MLB with 9 HRs.

Useless Tyler - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 10:48 AM EDT (#110323) #

They had a few hit and runs yesterday, though.
And they have been at least attempting to steal, which is something. Still no bunts, though.

Anyhoo - come out to 518 today, people. I'll be there with at least 1 friend and perhaps some others, but we need to start convening the Cheer Club of old, the Cheer Club that wasn't just a few teenagers yelling really loudly.

Pepper Moffatt - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 10:50 AM EDT (#110324) #

I must have missed that one.. but you're right.. they did!

I wonder if there's any others I've missed.

Leigh - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 10:58 AM EDT (#110325) #

London, Ontario's Jason Dickson

I have emailed baseball-reference about this before, but to no avail: Jason Dickson is from Miramichi, New Brunswick.

dp - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 11:10 AM EDT (#110327) #

Great win for the Jays- I dig steals and a well-executed hit-and-run, but man, sac bunts drive me crazy. The Mets suck right now, and Randolph's clueless managerial style indicate it won't get better. Monday, with Reyes on 2B in the 5th, no one out, he has Matsui, the #2 hitter, bunt Reyes to 3B. He gave away an out with the #3-5 hitters coming up. This kind of thing drives me insane, it just seems like we as a freaking society should know better.

Good to see the boys hitting. Any idea why Adams is being used in such a weird way? Trying to break him un slow, keep his confidence up, or is McDonald just that much better at SS?

Andrew K - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 11:29 AM EDT (#110329) #

Well I can now finish my self-imposed battersbox famine, as I have managed to catch up with Friday and Saturday's games on mlb.tv archive (I was busy yesterday). I don't like to spoil the game by knowing the result before I watch, so I have to stay away from this place.

And what great games. We have to be realistic, and slumps are sure to happen, but it's great to see the way the Jays play this year so far. I'm so jealous of people who saw either game in the flesh.

I have two observations. One, I fear for the outcome of today's game. The smoke signals on Lily are poor -- he may just not have it yet, and Pete Walker is on standby. But that's not much use if Lily gives up a few runs to start the game. Nonetheless I will enjoy watching a game live. I wonder who is being sent down.

Two, I have serious reservations about the team's view of platoon advantage. I'm sure that's the reason that McDonald started on Saturday. Genuine evidence of even the existence of a platoon split is fairly weak for players as a whole (i.e. some players do have a split, but some appear not to -- and this sounds a pretty plausible situation, with different pitchers' and batters' techniques differing so much). The obsession with matchups may be counterproductive.

We just don't have enough players to be making wholesale changes as early as the 6th or 7th inning, bringing in both pitchers and batters on the basis of maybe a single at bat. If, say, a game against Boston goes to extra innings we run a risk of having nobody left on the bench and players having to field in unusual positions (also laying ourselves open to Boston's use of their third leftly pitcher to get a crucial out).

I don't like it, especially on the pitching side. It smacks of making decisions based on statistical non-evidence, one of the things which irritates me the most. Let's hope that Gibbons (or whoever advises him in this respect) can settle down and not feel the need to tinker so much.

PS: I got the Rogers feed on mlb.tv for Friday's game. Jamie Campbell was pretty good, even counting the couple of slips. I like him. His colour man, not so much.

Andrew K - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 12:27 PM EDT (#110331) #

I can't give a first-hand attribution because I'm not a subscriber, but according to a comment in this thread on John Sickels' web site there is an article on BP which mentions that the banned-substance tests from the Grapefruit league are due out soon, and 60-80 players failed.

I don't know why I should honestly expect the Jays' and affiliates players to be any cleaner than those of other teams, but I do hope no more of our players are tainted by this, beyond the three from last year. I'm pretty unimpressed by those three (even if they were to claim that the substance involved aren't performance enhancing, a professional athlete knows better than to take substances). If there really are 60-80 players on the list, we are unlikely to escape with none.

Halladayfan32 - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 12:29 PM EDT (#110332) #

It's official. Gabe Gross got sent down to Syracuse this morning.
http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story.asp?id=121059

Andrew K - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 12:34 PM EDT (#110333) #

"I'm looking forward to going down and getting four or five at-bats every night and really get my season cranked up."

Great attitude. I think we'll see him back before long -- either when someone gets injured or traded.

Coach - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 12:37 PM EDT (#110335) #

Outstanding pictures, NFH. I love how Koskie is perfectly still, except for the blur of his hands. A classic illustration of an inside-out swing.

Lots to like about our Jays, eh? I knew how good Hinske would be with the big mitt, and it's great to watch his confidence returning at the dish. What I've seen of Frasor and Chulk is promising, and apart from one pitch to Big Papi, Doc has been tremendous.

Tinkering? Every manager needs a couple of weeks to figure out his personnel. You want to get your bench involved and keep everybody ready to play before settling into regular lineups and bullpen usage. So far, Gibby's learned not to call on Schoeneweis three straight days. They would have given Walker some work if they weren't preparing Pete for a possible start and likely long relief today. I'm sure SS won't be a strict platoon, but McDonald will earn more starts by hitting LH pitching; the obvious time to give Adams a day off is against a tough southpaw.

Jamie Campbell, from what I've heard, is doing very well and can only improve. I'm looking forward to his chemistry with Mulliniks and Fletcher, both of whom show more promise than the incumbent analysts. As much as I admire and enjoy the work of Mike Wilner and Jerry Howarth, I'll be listening to the radio only as a last resort. Even reading the lineups, Sawkiw is awkward. Many of his ad-libs are cringeworthy.

Following baseball from a greater distance this season, I'm especially grateful to all my colleagues at the Box for their superb work. The original content here never ceases to amaze, and even the game threads have been interesting.

Chuck - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 12:54 PM EDT (#110336) #

Nice to hear from the man who is responsible for the House That Coach Built.

I think it was Jordan yesterday who suggested that Crozier might not be a bad call-up. I agree. If Gross isn't going to play much, fine, let him play every day in AAA. Crozier doesn't truly fit into any long term plans, so bringing him up to be a role player (and denying him a bunch of AB at AAA) would be appropriate. He's a switch-hitter with a decent glove at 1B and could play an outfield corner in a pinch. With all the platoon-related flip flopping that Gibbons seems to want to do (and to which I don't object), Crozier could be a highly useful player at the end of the bench.

Hopefully the 12-man pitching staff goes down to 11 once Lilly can prove he's not a 4-inning starter. I'm guessing that the organization is looking at Lilly/Walker to be a combined starter for the time being.

Pepper Moffatt - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 01:00 PM EDT (#110337) #

Today's game thread will be up in a few minutes. Sorry for the delay.

Pepper Moffatt - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 01:05 PM EDT (#110338) #

I have emailed baseball-reference about this before, but to no avail: Jason Dickson is from Miramichi, New Brunswick.

He's grew up there, but he wasn't born there. He was born here (London) and lived here until he was 2 or 3.

Named For Hank - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 01:54 PM EDT (#110350) #

Hey, thanks Coach. That Koskie image in full also shows his feet, which are positioned in what looks to me (a non-batter) to be incredibly painful.

It'll show up as a picture of the week soon.

Keith Talent - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 03:39 PM EDT (#110398) #

there is an article on BP which mentions that the banned-substance tests from the Grapefruit league are due out soon, and 60-80 players failed.

I'm always up for a conversation on steroids. Anyone else think this current crop of Major Leaguers is, and will continue to be, protected by the powers that be? Look who's getting caught, minor leaguers and one very marginal Devil Ray (and a Latino, if you want to play the Jose Canseco race card). It makes sense to protect this group and rid the problem at the minor league level. Afterall, the owners and GMs didn't care that these guys were juiced, they looked the other way, and it would be hypocritical for them to suddently start being vigilant and punishing.

The Sanchez steroid bust was the token major leaguer who was sacrificed so Bud Selig could say, "there, you see, the system works." And then carry on to only root out the problem at the minor league level. And to be honest, I'm not sure that isn't the best way to go. If the steroid problem in MLB really is widespread, how bad would it be to start suspending people all over the place? This is the reason congress wants to get involved. Baseball can't be trusted. But if they root out the problem at the minor league level, and steroids are phased out over the next 10 years, who's to say that's not the best way to go?

robertdudek - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 04:18 PM EDT (#110428) #

I'm picking co-MVPs for this game: Zaun for putting the game out of reach, and Frasor for getting a huge strikeout of Manny and pitching a flawless 8th facing the meat of the order.

Andrew K - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 04:33 PM EDT (#110441) #

Keith,

I used to think that suggestions that mlb was conspiring to keep it quiet that players were on steroids was paranoia. I thought that baseball was probably apathetic and in no hurry, but also in a weak negotiating position with the players union.

But I watched quite a lot of the congressional hearings (I didn't have much else to do that day) and I was highly unimpressed. This business about suspensions been non-compulsory (a fine was an option, instead) was only discovered because congress subpoenaed the draft agreement, and the fine option was removed only because they pressed this issue very hard. I do not believe that it was a drafting error, or other unintentional error, that let this clause in. And there are still questions -- which they just won't answer -- about the procedure of the tests themselves, which makes them easy to compromise. So I've come to the conclusion that mlb really is protecting high-profile players.

Now the extent to which they are conspiring, I don't know about. I don't know whether they have actually supressed a positive result, for example. It would be hard to get away with that. I think the reason there are so many more positives at the minor league level is because they test for so many more things, including amphetamines and recreational drugs. And that some baseball players take recreational drugs doesn't surprise me, although I wouldn't have much time for a player who did.

Anders - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 05:02 PM EDT (#110451) #

It was definetly an exciting game. The Cheer Club came through on a 'going, going, Zaun' about two seconds before he hit the grand slam too.

Some observations
Halladay has been good, but not great. He's not getting hit hard (except for the Ortiz hr) but he's not getting a ton of swings and misses. Still, he knows how to pitch, and all signs are encouraging.

The dome looks nice, but there are always gonna be problems with the scoreboards on the walls.

Rios played well, and gets my vote for game mvp. 3/4, and he got absolutely robber of a base hit by mueller. (although he did get a favourable call on an infield single)

Frasor was very good too.

Keith Talent - Sunday, April 10 2005 @ 07:52 PM EDT (#110472) #

As much as I admire and enjoy the work of Mike Wilner and Jerry Howarth, I'll be listening to the radio only as a last resort. Even reading the lineups, Sawkiw is awkward. Many of his ad-libs are cringeworthy.

True that, Coach. Is it part of Sawkiw's job to make Howarth sound good? Because it works. Being originally from the West Coast I was only really exposed to Blue Jays radio last year; and my impression then was that Jerry Howarth had merit if only for his instantly recognizable, nasaly voice. But this year, alongside Mr. Sawkiw, I can really hear what a dynamo he is. The amount of imagery he can spin in a handful of words, he's a treasure to the ears. Sawkiw, on the other hand, well... It's always about him, who he played with in the minors, reminiscing about his college days: Who cares? He doesn't add a whole lot to the broadcast. Which is a shame, because baseball is a great radio sport.

Blue Jays 12 - Red Sox 5 | 20 comments | Create New Account

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