Game 12: Gus the Polar Bear vs The Gambler

Saturday, April 16 2005 @ 07:00 PM EDT

Contributed by: Magpie

Yeah, I know, everyone seems to be calling him Morpheus (in Oakland, they called him "The Fly") - but Liam is an even bigger Tragically Hip fan than myself and Gus the Polar Bear was his idea, and I'm sticking with it. It's blood, you know.

Kenny Rogers... well, he knows what he's doing out there. He gives up a few more hits than your average AL pitcher, but makes up for it by allowing fewer walks and fewer homers. He's even harder to run against than Ryan Drese. Last year, opponents stole two - yes, two - bases all year while the Gambler was on the hill. Over the last three years, he's allowed as many balks as stolen bases.

Six balks and six stolen bases. In three years. So, forget the running game tonight. Rogers still gets more ground balls than fly balls, but he's nowhere near as extreme a ground ball pitcher as he used to be. He made some kind of adjustment during his one year with the Twins, and seems to have continued with it.

And a reminder. We're into the regular season, the games are televised now. We can assume that everyone's watching. So we don't need the play-by-play the same way we needed it during spring training. Save your strength, gang! Enjoy the game! We can cut that stuff out now, unless someone chained to a radio specifically asks for a visual description of something.

Lineups? We got lineups. Jays make a few changes...

Menechino, 3b         Soriano, 2b
Johnson, lf           Blalock, 3b
Wells, cf             Young, ss
Koskie, dh            Teixeira, 1b
Hillenbrand, 1b       Hidalgo, rf
Rios, rf              Allen, dh
Zaun, c               Mench, lf
Hudson, 2b            Mathews, cf
McDonald, ss          Barajas, c
Chacin, p             Rogers, p
Play ball!

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