Posted on 04/18/2006 8:28:41 PM PDT by demlosers
The Toronto Blue Jays went toe-to-toe with the mighty New York Yankees, withstood a big first shot and then beat up their ace.
Alex Rios and Troy Glaus clubbed two-run homers off an ineffective Randy Johnson while Gustavo Chacin recovered from a terrible first inning to pitch into the seventh as the Blue Jays whipped the Yankees 10-5 Tuesday night.
Rios also hit a run-scoring double in the first and a sacrifice fly in the sixth to match his career-high with four RBIs while Glaus added a solo shot in the seventh for the Blue Jays (7-6), who remain scorching hot at the plate.
A Rogers Centre crowd of 48,776 watched the impressive start to a tough eight-game homestand against AL East rivals New York (6-7), Boston and Baltimore that serves as another early-season measuring stick for Toronto.
Things didn't look good early, when Chacin (3-0) was ripped for four runs in the first on Gary Sheffield's RBI single, Alex Rodriguez's two-run homer and Jason Giambi's solo shot.
But Johnson (2-2), who left his last outing with what he called fatigue, was pounded from the get-go. Rios got the Jays on the board with his double in the first and scored when Glaus nailed his fourth homer to left.
The Jays tied it in the second on John McDonald's sacrifice fly before Rios clubbed his fifth homer of the season to put them up 6-4.
Glaus doubled and scored on Jason Giambi's throwing error in third — after Johnson was slow to cover the bag on Bengie Molina's infield single — to make it 7-4 and the rout was on from there.
Chacin, meanwhile, settled down and kept the Yanks at bay through six. The sophomore lefty left in the seventh after Robinson Cano opened the inning with a single and later scored on Derek Jeter's double off Justin Speier to make it 8-5.
The Blue Jays extended their lead to 10-5 in the bottom of the seventh when Glaus pounded his fifth homer and Molina — who reached when Gary Sheffield dropped his lazy fly ball in right — scored on a wild pitch.
Johnson, who left his last start after five innings because he felt tired, only lasted 3 1-3 innings in the type of outing that will set off alarm bells in New York. He gave up seven runs on nine hits and two walks and the damage would have been worse if Johnny Damon didn't make three outstanding catches against the wall in centre-field.
Two of them robbed Vernon Wells, whose hitting streak ended at 12 games. Damon's best catch came in the fourth when he slammed face-first into the wall as he snared Wells's drive.
Speier followed Chacin with 1 1-3 scoreless innings before Scott Schoeneweis got two outs in the eighth and B.J. Ryan mopped up in the ninth.
Notes: Aaron Hill ended an 0-for-13 streak with a double in the second. . . . Chacin was one of a record seven Venezuelan pitchers to start on the same day in the majors. . . . Yanks reliever Tanyon Sturtze is day-to-day with a sore lower back. . . . Cano's single in the seventh ran his hitting streak to eight games.
Toronto and Boston are pretty even this year. Both teams have good pitching and both have deep benches.
NY will be buying pitching at the trade deadline.
Ping.
Yawn. We get a thread like this every time the Yankees have a bad spell. Bump this up in October and we'll see how things look then.
The BoSox look awesome. I like the Blue Jays, especially Glaus and Halladay. I despise the Yankees of today, but I do like the historical Yankees.
I'm an Astros fan through and through. We had another wild one with the Brew-Crew tonight. They almost came back from being down by as many as 9! Somehow we withstood the assault to win 13-12. Milwaukee will make the NL Central very interesting this season.
The Yankees did not improve their front line pitching this year whereas Boston and Toronto did. Boston is far better defensively than last and managed to get younger, Toronto added corner infield power, improved catching and a closer and both teams are very deep in the bench area.
Damon was great in Boston but we have Crisp for 4 years at $17 million and the Yankees have Damon for $52. Crisp is injured right now but Damon's a crash into the wall away from an aggravated shoulder.
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The MFY in last place is alwasy welcomed. However, they got off to a slow start last year and still won the division.
Shilling, Papelbon and Beckett are looking fantastic and the team is much better defensively. Crisp (despite the finger injury) is going to great in CF and if Patriot's day was any indication, Manny has found is bat.
However, Pena has been killing me with his strike outs and awful glove and Foulke doesn’t look like he’ll return to his 2004 form. But overall the team look like it can win 95+ games
Curiously, the MFY stood pat with regards to pitching and they look the worse for it. But the Evil One can always open his checkbook and get some help, so it’s hard to count them out.
But Steinbrenner cannot counter the Curse of A-Rod. No team with A-Rod on the roster will ever win a Championship.
I thought it was the Hillary curse?
Haha - I remember that second thread from last season. Don't the Yankees always start real slow, then wind up winning the division every year?
It's difficult to tell. Personally I think it's the A-Rod curse because he is the anti-Mr. Clutch. The Peyton Manning of baseball. A guy who comes through only when the outcome of the game is not in question. He has purple lips.
But Hillary can account for the postseason woes as well. As long as they are losing, maybe it doesn't matter what the cause is.
No doubt. A-Fraud is that last guy I'd want at the plate with the game on the line.
GIVE ME BIG PAPI!
Big Papi and Pujols are two of the best and most clutch players around. I'd add Berkman to the list but he's not quite at that level yet.
Hello, anybody home?
Check the standings today.
Hello, anybody home?
Check the standings today.
Yep and the Detroit Tigers still have the best record in baseball.
Not at the Yanks expense.
They've taken 3 of 4 from the Tigers so far this season.
We'll see come playoff time.
The A-Fraud curse lives!
Just thought I'd remind everyone of this. Who won the AL EAst for the ninth year in a row? In fact, for the ninth year in a row, the teams in the AL East finished in exactly the same order.
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