The Blue Jays rode a six-run sixth inning and a key error by The Prettier Alex Gonzalez to a 7-5 win over the Devil Rays. Ted Lilly got the win thanks to six innings of solid work, despite an ugly start to the seventh that saw him depart after giving up a three-run homer to rookie Jonny Gomes. The bullpen put in solid work to see him home.
Dewon Brazelton began for the Rays and pitched well until the sixth inning. For the first four innings, Brazelton had quite good control, but that deserted him in the fifth. Alex Rios stung a ball right back at him, and Russ Adams and Frank Catalanotto bailed Brazelton out by popping out on 3-1 and 1-0 counts respectively. That set the stage for the sixth. With runners on first and third and one out, Shea Hillenbrand continued his torrid streak by doubling in a run, and following an intentional walk to Hinske, Gregg Zaun bounced a potential inning-ending DP ball to Alex Gonzalez at third. Whereupon Cutie Pie launched the throw over the head of catcher Toby Hall, Alex Rios followed up with a single to drive in two, and at 4-2 the Blue Jays never looked back.
All in all, a satisfying win to stop a Jays losing streak. But surely, it was a routine game? One to disappear into history without remark?
Maybe.
There will be 2,430 scheduled regular-season games this year, of which something north of 2,400 are likely to be played. Most of those games will indeed disappear into the mists of history. One of my favourite baseball sites, baseballlibrary.com, has a feature entitled "The Baseball Chronology" that I quite like. Thinking about this game made me ask, what possible reason would the Baseball Chronology have for remembering this game, thirty years hence?
I thought of four. In a salute to the Baseball Chronology, I'll present them in their inimitable style.
>> April 26, 2005: Tampa Bay OF Jonny Gomes hit his first major league home run in a 7-5 loss to the Blue Jays. Gomes will go on to hit 411 home runs over his career, including 219 in seven seasons in Tampa Bay, making him the franchise's all-time leader in home runs. Gomes's homer came in the seventh inning off Blue Jays starter Ted Lilly.
Unlikely? Perhaps. But Gomes is a prospect with terrific power potential, and could become a serious home run hitter. As early as 2003, Robert Dudek identified him as the top power hitter in the minor leagues (in terms of pure results).
>> April 26, 2005: At Rogers Centre, Tampa Bay surrender six runs in the sixth inning to lose 7-5 to Toronto. Tampa fall to 8-12, and before the end of the week Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella will step down.
Even more unlikely? What was unlikely was Piniella taking the Devil Rays job in the first place. The team isn't moving forward, perhaps unsurprisingly as their pirching has made no progress and their best young player is currently on the DL. I don't think it would be beyond Piniella, who has stated that this will be his last mangerial job, to step down at any time in frustration over the lack of progress by the Devil Rays.
>> April 26, 2005: Blue Jays DH Shea Hillenbrand gets three hits in four at-bats, including an RBI double, as the Blue Jays defeat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-5. Hillenbrand's three hits raise his average to .388. That will represent his high-water mark for the season, but Hillenbrand will get hot again through June and July and hit .339 for the year, capturing the AL batting crown.
Is that even possible? Could Shea Hillenbrand win a batting title? (Editor's Note : At the very least, it won't be his high-water mark. Hillenbrand will go 2-for-3 tomorrow to get to .398.)
In my view, Hillenbrand is the type, if not necessarily the quality, of hitter that wins batting titles frequently. A line-drive hitter who doesn't have overwhelming home run power, who plays a relatively undemanding defensive position. His only black marks are that he's right-handed (of the last forty batting crowns, only eleven have been won by righthanded hitters) and that he's more impatient than the typical batting champ.
Is he good enough? Hillenbrand's 10 most-comparable players at his age, according to baseball-reference, are Troy O'Leary, Rip Repulski, Danny Litwhiler, Carl Everett, Dick Wakefield, Bernard Gilkey, Marty Cordova, Felipe Alou, Jeffrey Leonard, and Tony Gonzalez. According to the PECOTA system, his ten most-similar players are Mickey Hatcher, Vic Power, Hubie Brooks, Dave Stapleton, Lou Piniella (wow!), Tommy Davis, Danny Carter, Chris James, Charlie Hayes, and Ray Knight.
Of those 20 players, some of them had very good hitting years at age 29 or 30. Hubie Brooks in 1986 hit .340 and would have won the batting title, but fell about 40 games short due to an injury. Carl Everett had a monster season. Bernard Gilkey came eighth in the batting race. But generally, these players didn't hit .300, and certainly didn't contend for the batting title. Only one of these 20 players ever won one - Tommy Davis, who won the NL crowns in 1962 and 1963 when he was 23 and 24.
Which brings up another point about the batting title - it's a young man's preserve, and Shea at 29 is getting long in the tooth ot become a competitor. Still, he's up there now, so we'll enjoy the ride.
>> April 26, 2005: The Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-5 at Rogers Centre. The win starts a fifteen-game winning streak that propels the Jays towards their first division title in 12 years.
I think this is the one many of us would prefer; I'll leave it at that. Anything is possible.
Every game has the potential to be special, to change the tide of baseball history in some way, great or small. It's often said that every game bears watching because if you watch carefully enough, you'll see something you've never seen before. Perhaps each game bears remembering, too; we can never be sure if we'll have reason to go back to it later.
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