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So earlier today, Dave Rutt posted a really wonderful TDIB thread (check it out) that includes this sentence, looking back at this past weekend ... "First J.P. Arencibia has probably the best debut of any Blue Jay in history, and then the very next day Brandon Morrow pitches probably the best game in Blue Jays history."

And an all-new Box Question of the Day is called forth! Actually, in two parts ... (1) If not JPA, what Jay has had the best debut in team history? (Sidebar: What major league debut is the best ever?) and (2) If not Morrow's, what is the best game pitched in Blue Jay history?

Ready? Go!

QOTD: Best game ever? Best debut ever? | 6 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Kasi - Tuesday, August 10 2010 @ 04:51 PM EDT (#220366) #
Don't know about debuts. But for pitched games, it would have to be Clemens 18K game or Stieb's no hitter.
Jonny German - Tuesday, August 10 2010 @ 05:10 PM EDT (#220372) #
Not better than Arencibia's debut, but here's one that I remember: August 8th, 1989, Mauro Gozzo is called up from Syracuse and shuts out Texas for 8 innings to push the Jays over the .500 mark for the first time since opening day. 3 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, game score of 77. He won his next 2 starts and then was sent to the bullpen, where he was used very sparingly and very ineffectively. The rest of his major league career amounted to fewer than 100 IP.
Kelekin - Tuesday, August 10 2010 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#220376) #
Roy Halladay's 2nd start in 1998.  That's the one I remember.  Perfect game through 8.2 IP before Higginson hit that home run just barely over the wall.

James W - Tuesday, August 10 2010 @ 05:27 PM EDT (#220383) #

1)  Arencibia's is the best debut of any major league hitter since they've kept track.

2)  Morrow's game was outstanding, and I'd say it's the best Jays start ever.  At the time, I enjoyed Clemens's first game back in Boston, which was just a giant middle finger to the Red Sox organization.  It's too bad it's Clemens...

Dan Daoust - Tuesday, August 10 2010 @ 05:33 PM EDT (#220386) #

The JPA debut question is no question at all. By any statistical measure JP had the best major league debut ever (only player with 4 hits and 2 HRs), so clearly he had the best Jays debut ever. Maybe had Roy Halladay’s second start been his first start, we’d have a discussion.

The question of best Jays pitching performance ever might be more interesting if we start taking the situation into account. Jimmy Key’s 1992 WS Game 4, maybe? Doyle Alexander’s 1985 division clincher? I still think Morrow’s game will be considered the singular Jays pitching performance of all time -- ahead of Stieb's no-hitter and Clemens' 18 K's, too. I don’t really think of Key and Doyle when I think of 1992 and 1985. When I think of 2010, I’ll think of Arencibia and Morrow (and Jose Bautista, I guess).

Magpie - Tuesday, August 10 2010 @ 06:32 PM EDT (#220405) #
Perfect game through 8.2 IP before Higginson hit that home run just barely over the wall.

Not quite - Dave Stieb (the Roberto Kelly Game!) is still the only Jay to suffer that painful fate. Halladay lost his perfect game in the fifth inning, when Crespo made an error at second base. Higginson was pinch-hitting for Bartee, the leadoff hitter.

That was one goofy game, by the way (I worked it). It was a season finale, and Johnson kept pulling regulars out of the game in the middle of an inning so they could take a curtain call and hear some applause. Stieb himself was expected to come in and finish the game, but the kid on the mound wouldn't cooperate...

Anyway, I would agree with Arencibia (best debut) and Morrow (best pitching performance.) Clemens in Fenway is the greatest F.U. performance by a Blue Jay, and Stieb's missed perfect game is the best pitching performance I was actually in the house to see.
QOTD: Best game ever? Best debut ever? | 6 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.