How many times have you woken up and prayed for the rain?
How many times have you seen the papers apportion the blame?
Who gets to say, who gets the work and gets to play?

For his first ever start in Yankee Stadium, David Bush performed quite well, giving up 3 runs in 7 innings while striking out 4. The game did not start out that well, though, with Bush giving up two of those runs in the first inning alone. This led Bauxite Gardiner West to state:

Bush looks really tentative today. Perhaps the Yankee Stadium mojo is messing with his head.

In this game report, we'll examine how other Jay pitchers performed in their first appearance at Yankee Stadium.

Dave Stieb - September 30, 1979

The first three innings went pretty well for Stieb, as he only allowed three hits, none of which resulted in a run. His second inning was particularly strong as he struck out DH Jim Spencer, grounded out SS Damaso Garcia, and struck out C Brad Gulden.

Things fell apart in the 4th inning with the following sequence of events:

• 1B Chris Chambliss hit a double
• 3B Graig Nettles hit a homer, scoring Chambliss
• DH Jim Spencer singled
• SS Damaso Garcia singled
• C Brad Gulden moves Spencer to 3rd and Garcia to 2nd with a sac bunt
• CF Bobby Murcer doubles, scoring Spencer and Garcia

At that point manager Roy Hartsfield yanked Stieb and replaced him with reliever Tom Buskey. The Jays would go on to lose the game 9-2.

Stieb's line for the day looked as follows:

Toronto Blue Jays     IP     H  HR   R  ER  BB   K
Stieb L(8-8)           3.1   8   1   4   4   1   2

Jimmy Key - June 8, 1984

Jimmy Key's first appearance in Yankee Stadium was not a start. Instead it came in the 8th inning of a 3-3 tie. With the left-handed hitting rookie Don Mattingly came to the plate, manager Bobby Cox replaced his right handed starter Jim Gott with the left-handed Key. Key ended up giving up a single to Don Mattingly. The next batter was the righty bat of Don Baylor, so Cox replaced Key with a righty reliever: Jim Acker.

The Yankees would end up winning the game in the 11th 4-3 courtesy of a Dave Winfield single and stolen base and a Steve Kemp single.

Jimmy Key's line:

Toronto Blue Jays     IP     H  HR   R  ER  BB   K
Key                    0     1   0   0   0   0   0

Juan Guzman - September 1, 1991

Guzman had an excellent first start in Yankee Stadium, allowing only 1 run and 5 hits over 6 innings. Unfortunately he would not pick up the win.

In the 8th inning the Jays held onto a 2-1 lead after a scoreless 7th from Mike Timlin. Timlin's contribution in the 8th was a walk to 2B Steve Sax. With the lefty 1B Don Mattingly up next (does this sound familiar?), manager Cito Gaston replaced Timlin with the left-handed Rob MacDonald. MacDonald got both Mattingly and RF Mel Hall to fly out, but could not collect the final out he needed. First he walked LF Roberto Kelly, then he gave up a single to C Matt Nokes, scoring Steve Sax. The game was all but over when DH Kevin Mass doubled, scoring both Kelly and Nokes. The score at that point was 4-2 Yankees, which ended up being the final score.

Juan Guzman's line:

Toronto Blue Jays     IP     H  HR   R  ER  BB   K
Guzman                 6     5   0   1   1   1   5

Pat Hentgen - June 8, 1992

Like Key, Hentgen's first appearance in Yankee Stadium was not a start. Instead Hentgen came in at the start of the 8th inning, replacing Rob MacDonald. This was a low pressure outing for Hentgen, as the score was 16-1 by that point. No, that's not a misprint.

Hentgen wasn't terrific, but he didn't need to be. In the 8th he gave up a run when LF Randy Velarde's single scored SS Andy Stankiewicz who had doubled his way on earlier in the inning. In the 9th he gave up a run on a solo shot by DH Matt Nokes. The Jays would win the game 16-3.

Hentgen's line:

Toronto Blue Jays     IP     H  HR   R  ER  BB   K
Hentgen                2     3   1   2   2   0   1

Roy Halladay - April 24, 1999

Halladay clearly did not have his best stuff when he started against the Yankees. Over 4 innings he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits. He seemed to be having trouble throwing strikes, as indicated by his 4 walks against only 2 strikeouts. I'd love to tell you more, but Retrosheet does not have play-by-play for this game. Doc's line:

Toronto Blue Jays     IP     H  HR   R  ER  BB   K
Halladay               4     5   0   4   0   4   2

A Bit of Everything

First appearances in Yankee stadium are a mixed bag. Some pitchers perform well, some do not. (How is that for going out on a limb?) The thing that jumped out at me was the fact that Jimmy Key, one of the best starters in Blue Jay history, made his first start in Yankee Stadium as a LOOGY!

Your thoughts?

Note: Thanks again to Retrosheet for their excellent website.

Roundup

• Hoch: Blue Jays' comeback slips away
• Hoch: Halladay shuns spotlight
• Fordin: Speier seeks a change
• Zwolinski: Bush still waiting to bloom
• Griffin: Observations from a young baseball season
• Perkins: Opportunity knocks for Jays to hire Hodge
• Rutsey: Coulda, shoulda
• Rutsey: Bush unlucky: Jays young starter can't seem to buy a win
• Rutsey: April cowers for Wells
• Elliott: Draft Dodging
• Elliott: If the Jays have learned from unloading Izturis, Lopez too soon, they'll let Rios develop into a star