Toronto vs Boston. Fenway Park. Patriot's Day. Haven't we seen this before?
Some random facts on the game:
It was a bizarre start for baseball, with the first pitch thrown before 11:09 AM and numerous flyovers by jets marking the start of the Boston Marathon on the third Monday in April. Toronto went scoreless in the first, but they put up back-to-back crooked numbers to get the offense going. The Jays also got one in the ninth but the game ended up six runs apart.
Individual performances include Vernon Wells with an extra-base hit, scoring a run and driving in another (although he did strike out once). Also, Shea Hillenbrand scored and had a multi-hit game, albeit in a losing cause. The Jays' cleanup hitter left a few men on base, which didn't help the offense any. In non-starting lineup news, Reed Johnson replaced Frank Catalanotto in the outfield late in the game and the Jays' 5-foot-11 backup infielder provided an RBI hit off the bench.
Kevin Millar converted a 4-6-3 double play, and the game took more than three hours. Manny Ramirez was his usual dangerous self. Johnny Damon flew out in the first, hit a ball to the right side in the third and made another out in the bottom of the fifth.
Laz Diaz was one of the four umpires on the crew, though he didn't have the tough job of calling balls and strikes or watching close plays at first base, which would be even harder at eleven in the morning.
The losing pitcher left the game in the third, having surrendered seven runs and ending up with a terrible Game Score of 15. Four relievers followed him, including good ol' Brandon L., who tried his best but couldn't prevent the other team from scoring. Boston's starter saw his record go to 1-1 after the game was over.
Greg Myers came up for the Jays in the ninth, but nothing he did mattered either way, since the game was well out of reach by then. Afterwards, Mike Wilner took a look at the out-of-town scoreboard and remarked that the White Sox were facing a divisional rival.
If these game details sound familiar to you, well...they should. That game I just described took place on two separate occasions, two years apart.
Call it the Game Report version of a trick question.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=2005041814451070