The Blue Jays put together a great home opener with a 3 game series against the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. All 3 games they just out pitched the Sox and even showcased some of the offensive power we are hoping to see this season. The 3 game winning streak brings Toronto’s record to 4-2 and puts the Jays in 2nd place in the AL East behind the Baltimore Orioles. (WHAT!) The Jays will open up a 3 game home stand against the Oakland A’s on Tuesday at 7pm.
Game 1 Toronto showed that they have some quality pitching the rest of the league needs to take note of. They also showed some power in the line-up behind the leadership of the Big Hurt and 2nd basemen Aaron Hill. They just out played Boston and won with a final score of 6-3. The win brought Toronto to 2-2 on the year.
As a team the Jays strung together 10 hits off the likes of Knuckle-baller Tim Wakefield and company. It just seemed like the Sox were having a hard time getting Toronto hitters out. Designated hitter Frank Thomas went 1-for-3 including a double and 2 RBI. He had brought his regular season batting average to a sorry .167. Aaron Hill went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored. He brought his regular season batting average to an impressive .313.
Shawn Marcum was given the start for the Jays and pitched a great game considering the power the Red Sox line-up holds. Marcum went 7 innings strong only allowing 3 hits, 3 runs, and he struck out 8. He earned the win for Toronto and brought his record to 1-0 this season. Jeremy Accardo came in for the 9th and got his second save of the season.
Game 2 showed even more offense and the pitching was equally impressive as game one. Toronto scored 10 runs on 11 hits including a homer from Frank Thomas, number 514 of his career. The 10-2 victory brings the Jays record to 3-2 so far this season.
There were many strong performances to report on but mainly Frank Thomas and short-stop David Eckstein had the most impressive games for the Blue Jays. Thomas, as stated above, hit his 514th homer of his career and went 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and a run scored. He brought his average to .235 this season. Eckstein went 2-for-5 with 3 RBI and a run scored. He was also caught stealing by the combination of Buchholz and Varitek. The final player worth mentioning is Vernon Wells who went 1-for-3 with a RBI, 2 runs scored, and he was walked twice. Overall this was a great game for the offense and we can plan on seeing many more like this in the 2008 season.
Righty Jesse Litsch was given the start for Toronto and worked 5 innings allowing 5 hits, 2 runs (all earned), and he struck out 2. Four different relievers came in to finish what Litsch started and combined they pitched 4 innings allowing only 3 hits, no runs, and they struck out 2. This is exactly the kind of performance the Jays are going to need from the bullpen if they plan to beat teams like the Red Sox consistently.
Game 3 Toronto showed that they have the ability to repeatedly beat the great teams like Boston. They only put together 5 hits against Sox pitchers but scored 7 runs in the process. The final score was 7-4 and the win brings the Jays record at the end of the series to 4-2.
Frank Thomas was once again the big performer in this one going 1-for-4 on the game. The 1 hit was a grand slam in the 5th off Manny Delcarmen. The homer is The Big Hurts second game in a row with a jack, and his 515 of his career. Vernon Wells also had another good game going 1-for-3 with a 2 run shot off Boston ace Josh Beckett in the 4th inning. The homer is Wells 2nd of the season and it brings his season average to .286 so far. Alex Rios also had a solid game going 1-for-2 including a double and 2 runs scored. The offense once again played well and is starting to get into a grove.
Toronto ace Roy Halladay got the start and went 8 innings deep giving up 8 hits, 4 runs, struck out 6, but he allowed 3 homers to Ellsbury, Varitek, and Drew. He brought his ERA to 4.20 this season and his record to 1-1. Accardo came in for the 9th and got his 3rd save of the season striking out 1 in the process.
What a great series for any Blue Jay fan. Anyone can get excited when you sweep the Boston Red Sox, especially when they are the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox. I am very excited by the performances from the pitching staff and even more excited about the way the offense handled the Sox pitchers. If we can keep up games like these we have a serious chance of stealing the AL East from the Yanks and Sox.
Next Up: The Jays will open up a series with the A’s at the Roger’s Centre. Look for A.J. Burnett to get the start and match up against A’s righty Chad Gaudin.
