[CraigB] huge, huge game today
[CraigB] that was the most important game this year
[CraigB] first, other than the KC games, they were on a long losig streak
[CraigB] and Halladay represented their best chance of breaking it
[CraigB] and the Royals don't count, to be frank
[CraigB] second, if they had lost, they were very likely to come back home under .500
[CraigB] now, they're likely to come back home over .500
[CraigB] a huge difference

There were not many runs in the early going as you might expect with each team sending out their ace. The Jays tagged Sabathia for a run in the second and third, but, the Indians didn't get on board until the 6th when Doc got himself into a little jam and a wild pitch brought a run home. Neither pitcher was on tip-top form, I'd say both brought their A-/B+ stuff. I have certainly seen Sabathia pitch better this year, but I still felt he had a slight edge over Halladay for much of the game, Doc seemed to be having a little trouble putting hitters away and was not quite his usual hyper-efficient self.
Gilmore and RBillie put it well in the chat:

[Gilmore] maybe this term gets thrown around too often, but I think Roy has been effectively wild today, which is the reason for the high pitch count. He doesn't have his normal command, as evidenced by the 2 walks and all the 3 ball counts, but he is still getting it done with his stuff
[RBillie] Roy's not pitching like himself. i think he needs to mix his pitches up a bit more. too many fastballs.
[RBillie] look how good his curve is though. he needs to use it more. he doesn't have command with the fastball.

Behind Halladay there was some brilliant defense. I ran out of superlatives for O-Dog long ago, so I'll simply say it was another typical Hudson performance at second. He produced a handful of simply excellent plays, the highlight a backhand snag and strong off-balance throw that saved a run in the sixth and baled Doc out of his mini-jam. Sparky had quite a day with the glove himself, his strike to second to nail Crisp going for an ill-advised double was a thing of beauty.

The best news for the Jays though had to be from the bats of Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. Vernon was two for four and broke the game open in the eighth with a 3 run homer off Sabathia. Rios, hitting leadoff, went two for three with his second homer of the season coming in the third, a big pulled drive to left centre, he's at a very respectable .305/.343/.461 for the season now. It's only one good game for Wells, way way too early to say he's back, but when you've had as many bad days as he has this year every good one is encouraging.

Interesting to note, for those of us who have called for an extra hitter, that the bullpen was so stretched after the last couple of games that David Bush was warming up at one point. Should Doc have had to come out before the end-game it seems Bush would have pitched and Chacin would have moved ahead in the rotation to take Bush's next start.

Around the majors

* The Big Hurt is on his way back, like the White Sox need any extra help right now, he was in Ottawa for the start of a AAA stint with Charlotte.
* Rich Harden is on the 15 day DL with a strained stomach muscle, Keiichi Yabu will take his next start on Wednesday in Boston.
* Manny Ramirez became the 39th player to hit 400 home runs. Question of the day - he's 32, how many is he going to hit in his career ?
* Jeff Bagwell is going to have shoulder surgery in 'a last chance effort to salvage his playing career'

Mini Roundup

Very few baseball stories around the canadian press today, apparently there was some important hockey game or other on yesterday that seems to have the Sportswriters all worked up.
Allan Ryan’s game report from The Star.
Mike Ganter in The Sun
Larry Millson in The Globe