Yesterday's Game, Executive Summary: John McDonald can catch. Alex Rios can throw. Lots of pitching changes and offensive substitutions. Shea Hillenbrand said "enough of this" and ended it. If I watched the Jays lose to Jeff Nelson, I might have lost it. Thankfully, I didn't. (Yeah, Eric Hinske probably should have slid in feet-first, but what are you going to do?)
What a crappy blown save: B.J. Ryan's ninth inning didn't go so well: ball gets away from Luis Figueroa on Joe Crede's double, Gregg Zaun does everything right on a bunt attempt except picking up the ball and a slow grounder to the left side scores the tying run.
The bottom of the ninth: I went over the top of the ninth above, now here's the bottom. It's easy to say that Shea Hillenbrand swung at the first pitch with the winning run on second, but if that ball is hit two inches higher, Zaun doesn't have to bat. Juan Uribe didn't like fielding just one liner, so he had Zaun hit another one to him. Aaron Hill has a pair if he takes a 96 mph pitch right on the corner with two strikes.
Welcome to Toronto, Luis Figueroa: No pressure. Just the game on the line with extra innings looming and the team's two best relievers used for an inning apiece. Oh. That's not good. Well, I guess that's why he has just three major league ABs.
The bottom of the tenth: Reed Johnson tried to lay one down to move Rios to second but he just gave away an out instead. I didn't think he should have bunted, not with Rios' speed on first and the power of Vernon Wells and Troy Glaus to follow. Pat Tabler (oh, how I miss Rance) said Rios might try to steal...well, why didn't he steal before Johnson failed to bunt? And since when does a 48 year old Jeff Nelson pitch well?
Now, Ozzie Guillen did not bring his closer in with the game tied at 2, but I stopped looking for conventional/unconventional labels to apply to his bullpen usage a long time ago. Case in point: I assumed he was bringing in Bobby Jenks to face Wells and Glaus, but instead we see Nelson, who was out of baseball and only got a job because Kenny Williams noticed him in the press box?
Star of the Game: This one kept changing -- it was John McDonald through seven and a half, Frank Catalanotto through eight, then...well, you get the idea. Obviously, it was Shea Hillenbrand when the dust finally settled. Imagine if it was actually Johnny Mac -- I would have to lead off this article with something like "I promised that this would be a frank record, so far as I can write one, and God forbid that I should pretend that there is not a generous measure of spite in my nature."
For the Chisox: Jose Contreras, who I can't believe is only in his fourth year in the majors. Hasn't he been around forever? Just five hits over seven innings. Honourable mention to the home plate umpire, who made things a lot easier on Contreras.
Unsung Hero: Who can be more unsung than the guy who gets the "BS" tag next to his name? Ryan struck out Iguchi and Thome (and later, Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski) when a gapper by either Iguchi or Thome puts the Jays down two. He also pitched a scoreless tenth. The blown save, as it were, was indeed "crappy" as the only time he was really "beat" by the batter was on Crede's leadoff double. It must have been a night for leadoff doubles down the RF line by left-handed infielders, as Lyle Overbay did the same thing.
It Might Just Snowball From Here: It's official -- Overbay is the Jays' version of Fifth Business. He does the only good thing in the ninth and doesn't get to do anything except watch Uribe play catch with the batters. Perhaps we need to rename this "Unsung Hero" thing.
Today for the Jays: Ty Taubenheim against Jon Garland. I don't know which Robertson Davies characters they would be.
One (or two) last thing(s): Did Aaron Hill actually touch the base on the 5-4-3 in the top of the eleventh? Rewinding and pausing yielded inconclusive results. For that matter, was Jermaine Dye really out at third on Barfield's -- I mean, Rios' throw?