The Blue Jays opened up the regular season against the New York Yankees on Tuesday with a 3-2 loss. This will be the last opening day held at “The House that Ruth Built,” also known as Yankee Stadium as the Yank’s will be moved to a new home next season. Toronto played a solid game but couldn’t string together any hits, struggling to get just 2 runs.
The only extra base hit for the game came from 2nd basemen Aaron Hill off Yankee starter Chien-Ming Wang. The other hits were scattered throughout the game getting just 1 run in the 2nd and 1 in the 5th. The 2 RBI came from LF Shannon Stewart and Marco Scutaro, who is currently filling in for the injured Scott Rolen. Stewart went 1-for-4 in the game with the 1 RBI. Scutaro went 0-for-3 with 1 run, a RBI, and he was walked once. The only other good thing to report on was the base running displayed by the Jays recording stolen bases from Rios and 2 from Scutaro. Its not like Toronto didn’t have chances to win the game, they left 6 runners on base and 3 runners left in scoring position with 2 out. They are going to have to capitalize on chances like these especially when facing the “almighty Yankees.”
There was a bright spot that did come from this game. Toronto ace Roy Halladay had a very strong game going 7 innings strong giving up 7 hits, 3 runs (all earned), and he struck out 3. The even brighter spot was the effort given by Yankee starter Chien-Ming Wang who went 7 innings strong giving up 6 hits, 2 runs (all earned), and he struck out 2. Both pitchers played up to expectations with Halladay getting the short end of the stick.
There wasn’t much action in this game but if you are into pitching duels this was your kind of game. Toronto will have to maximize their chances in the next few games against the Yankees if they hope to get a win. I think they can because we can expect more offense from this team.
Next Up: The Jays will play the 2nd game of the 3 game set against the Yankees at 7:05. A.J. Burnett will get the start for Toronto and will be matched up against Mike Mussina.
