Okay, who had Jason Frasor getting the Jays first save of the season? The reliever with one foot always seemingly out the door got the final out in the nervous ninth to preserve a 5-4 victory over Cleveland Saturday afternoon in the state of Ohio.
In a perfect world, we should be focusing on how the 2-0 Roy Halladay kicked the gluteus maximus of Mr. Cy Young 2008, aka Cliff Lee, in his own backyard. However, to borrow a line from the Pauly Shore flick "Jury Duty", it's society's nature to "suckle at the teat of human tragedy" as yesterday's thread focused on B.J. Ryan's continuing struggles to regain his form. A 5-1 lead in the ninth seemed pretty safe after Halladay went seven innings and Scott Downs got through the eighth. I don't know about you but when Rod Barajas' fly ball died at the warning track in center to end the top of the ninth, I had a feeling the Jays were going to wish they had that extra run to play with. Despite hitting some balls hard, Barajas had a tough day at the dish by going 0-for-4, dropping his average to .071. His day behind the dish would get rougher in the ninth when Ryan reached the mound.
The Beej started by walking Ryan Garko on a 3-2 pitch. Ryan found himself in another 3-2 count to Kelly Shoppach but the Indians catcher rapped into a 6-4-3 double play. Is it just me or does Shoppach look like Jack Parkman from the movie "Major League 2"? You decide by clicking here and here.
Just when it looked like Ryan was out of the woods (which is a hell of a David Wilcox album, by the way!), trouble started brewing again as he loaded the bases on two walks and a single. Mark DeRosa, batting 48 cents prior to his at-bat, wound up at .091 thanks to a bases-clearing double. That was it for Ryan and in came Jason Frasor, who struck out Victor Martinez on a foul tip to end the game.
All of this nonsense nearly overshadowed a sterling effort by the Doc, who gave up only one run on five hits and two walks over seven frames. His only blemish was an RBI double by Grady Sizemore in the fifth. In all, Halladay struck out seven and got a whopping 12 groundball outs while Downs struck out another in working a one-hit eighth.
Halladay got an early lead to work with when Marco Scutaro drew a leadoff walk off Lee and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Rios in the first. Aaron Hill sprayed a groundball the other way to right field to score two more runs in the third. The Jays got a break on the second run when Shin-Soo Choo delivered a strong throw to the dish, only to have Shoppach drop the ball at the plate when Kevin Millar arrived. It looked like Millar did the hokey-pokey by sticking his left foot out to touch the plate after he was stopped cold in his tracks by the Indians backstop. Toronto added to their lead on an RBI single from Adam Lind in the fourth to go up 4-0. The Jays restored their four run lead in the eighth when Scutaro's sac fly scored a pinch-running John McDonald. Lind, Hill, Millar and Jose Bautista all had two hit afternoons while Scutaro had a hit and three walks in a perfect day at the dish. In total, the Jays had 11 hits and drew seven walks but left a dozen men on base.
This afternoon, the Jays send lefty David Purcey to the mound against Anthony Reyes. First pitch is at 1:05 p.m. EDT from the former Jacobs Field.
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In other TDIB notes....
* It looks like the real C.C. Sabathia showed up as the Yankees beat the Royals 6-1
* The Red Sox escape with a 5-4 win over the Angels as Jason Bay's homer was the difference. Where was that at the Rogers Centre last month?
* The O's beat up on the Rays 6-0 at Camden Yards behind Jeremy Guthrie and three relievers.
* The Tigers get by the Rangers 4-3 at Comerica Park.
* The M's rally for five runs in the eighth and ninth to beat the A's 8-5.
* Paul Maholm and the Bucs smoke Johnny Cueto and the Reds 10-2 in Ohio.
* Bartolo "Chacin" Colon and the White Sox blank the Twins 8-0 at the Cell.
* Albert Pujols' grand salami and three run dinger lifted St. Louis in a 11-2 slaughter of the Astros at Busch Stadium.
* The Padres get 10 K's from Jake Peavy and two HR's by Henry Blanco in a 6-3 win over the Giants at Petco.
* Livan Hernandez gets the win as the Metropolitans hand the Marlins their first loss of the season, 8-4 in Miami.
* Cubs pull out a 6-5 win over the Brewers in Beer Town thanks to Alfonso Soriano.
* Dodgers destroy the D-Backs 11-2 on the road.
* Brett Myers hands out three more balls over the outfield fence but the Phils still win in Denver, 8-4.
* Today's Probables for your viewing pleasure.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20090412070914130
