Toronto fans came out to Skydome in force to witness Game 1 of the Ultimate Showdown between their All-Star Jays and the 1977-2002 All-Star Yankees, but a heavy taste of Ragin' Cajun and too much of a young Indiana lad nicknamed Donnie Baseball sent the crowd home disappointed.
Yankee lefty Ron Guidry, fresh off a 25-3 Cy Young campaign, tossed a complete game three-hit shutout and punched out 13 Jays, while receiving more than enough support from a pair of Don Mattingly two-run homers as the Yankees claimed the first of this best-of-seven by the score of 6-0.
"I felt good today," admitted the soft-spoken Guidry ...
... "But any time I'm throwing to Thurman (Munson) and have a future Hall of Famer like Donnie hitting the ball over the wall, I can just rear back and fire it over the plate. Fortunately, today nobody hit any of them."
That's only a mild exaggeration, as Carlos Delgado reached base three times for Toronto, but his mates never mounted a serious threat against Guidry, who walked three while throwing 124 pitches. Doubles from George Bell and Ernie Whitt in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, and a bloop single by Delgado in the sixth were the only Jay knocks.
When Guidry sandwiched two walks around the first out of the final frame, seldom-used back-of-the-bullpen righty John Wetteland got up to throw for the Yanks, but Lloyd Moseby popped out to Paul O'Neill who was taking a late inning defensive turn in center field and Kelly Gruber struck out to end it.
Roger Clemens pitched well for the Jays, holding his future teammates to three earned runs over eight innings and striking out 12, including leadoff man Derek Jeter three times. After Clemens exited for a pinch-hitter late in the game, David Wells came on to pitch the ninth and surrendered Mattingly's second two-run bomb to put the game out of reach. "I got the pitch up and Mattingly just hit it hard," said Wells, a lifelong Yankee fan.
Bernie Williams had two hits and scored two runs while Munson added an RBI double for the New Yorkers. The Yankees scored one unearned run off Clemens when Bell dropped a fly ball off the bat of Reggie Jackson with two outs in the seventh, which allowed Williams, with a running start, to score from second. Bell's post-game comments on the error are not suitable for print in this family publication.
There was one tense moment late in the game when the Skydome crowd lustily booed former Jay Rickey Henderson as he trotted out to right field as a defensive replacement for Jackson. After the game, Henderson complained to reporters, "Rickey ain't never been nobody's caddy. Mr. October or no, Rickey needs to start and lead off in Game 2. Rickey can embarrass Eddie Whitt."
The Blue Jay contingent was littered with future New Yorkers as eventual Yankees Tony Fernandez, Jesse Barfield, Wells and Clemens and soon-to-be Mets John Olerud and Roberto Alomar all took part.
Half of the game's 54 outs were recorded by strikeout -- no real surprise as two Cy Young hurlers nicknamed "Rocket" and "Louisiana Lightning" matched wits late into the contest.
The tentative pitching matchup for Thursday's Game 2 finds a pair of veteran lefties facing off at Skydome, as Jimmy Key is slated to take the ball for the Blue Jays against the Yankees' Tommy John. Games three and four are scheduled for Yankee Stadium over the weekend with Andy Pettitte and David Cone probables to oppose Dave Stieb and Juan Guzman, though the Jays are likely to consider bringing Clemens back on short rest if he is needed.
Cone was a late addition to the New York roster when the commissioner made a surprise ruling that Key, who had been named to both the Toronto and New York All-Star contingents, could not pitch for both teams.
The box score and game line for this game is available courtesy WhatIfSports.com via e-mail; just ask. A complete statistical overview will be published here upon the completion of the series.
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