This is a big thrill for a longtime Jays fan like me.

Awesome pics #2JB :) Thanks for posting them.

Great shots to help the memory in future years.  At least you can prove it when 50,000 claim they were there when #50 was hit.

Bautista leads the team in many offensive categories, of course. One of them is Most Different Spots in the batting order - he's hit in seven different places (every spot except 8th and 9th.)

Alex Gonzalez hit in six different spots. Vernon Wells and Yunel Escobar have been in the same place every time.

Also from today's Game Notes - Ricky Romero has got the opposition to hit into 52 GDPs over the last two seasons. That leads the majors. And while Romero leads the AL with 17 Wild Pitches, 13 of them came in his first 9 starts and just 4 in his last 21. Safe to say Buck and Molina figured him out?

click hear!!

Oh, very, very clever, young sir.

I, for one, can't get enough Jose Bautista threads.

If you're listening to the audio of his home runs, you can follow along using this link from Baseball Reference (scroll down a bit to see the 2010 ones).

So, at 52 he is tied for 25th all-time for a single season.

• 53: No one
• 54: 6 player seasons (Ortiz in '06 and A-Rod '07 are most recent).
• 55: No one has ever stopped at 55.
• 56: 3 player seasons, twice by Griffey Jr
• 57: 2 times, A-Rod & Luis Gonzalez
• 58: 4 times, including Ryan Howard
• 59: Babe Ruth in 1921 (all time record at the time)
• 60: Ruth of course
• 61: Maris 'natch
• 62+: Sosa (3 times) & McGwire (2 times) & Bonds at 73.

Realistically another 2-3 HR is all we should hope for, putting Bautista into the top 20 all-time, maybe at an odd ball number like 53 or 55 which no one has ever stopped at. Doubt he can hit the 8 more needed to reach Ruth or 9 to reach Maris.

I must say that I was not very happy with Baltimore throwing at Bautista today.  In a postgame interview on the radio, Craig Murphy attributed it (possibly) to Showalter.  He said that Simon, the pitcher, is one of their hardest throwers and might have been brought in for specifically this task.  When he missed the first time, he came back a second time and got JB.  So clearly we are not speaking of an accident here.  I know that it is part of baseball, but JB had not done much damage today or yesterday for that matter.  I could not listen to the whole game, so I don't know if the Jays responded at all.

Bautista was hit in the third.  Scott was hit to lead off the fourth.  That should take care of things.  Bautista's next at bat was in the 5th, suspiciously facing a short reliever.  This was the first time all season that Simon had pitched before the 7th inning.

Circumstantial evidence did not support the Orioles deliberately hitting Bautista.  Consider:

Bautista was 0-5 yesterday

VanDen Hurk didn't throw at Bautista in the first inning

In the third, VanDen Hurk's first pitch was outside and he hit Bautista with his second pitch.

In the fifth Simon's first two pitches were up, but not really up and in.  If Simon was trying to hit Bautista the pitches should have been at body height, not at head height.

I will admit that Simon's third pitch was straight at Bautista, but why wait until pitch three unless he was trying to cover his tracks.

The Orioles may have thrown at Bautista deliberately but why today, and why in those at-bats?

 

On a similar topic, on the radio during Saturday's game Alan Ashby felt that the Jays should have thrown at Jake Fox because of his slide, knee high, into Aaron Hill on the DP attempt.

suspiciously facing a short reliever

Interesting theory - though I don't remember us ever using Frasor to beam somebody.