Did Miguel suddenly remember how to pitch, or what?

Or did the Jays switch Batista with Mariano Rivera without telling anybody?

Mariano Rivera doesn't have that nasty splitter. :)

Suddenly Batista as a $5 million closer doesn't look like such a bad investment. I wonder what happened out there today? Did he listen to Arnsberg and Zaun? Did he just feel better out there?

That might have been the best outing by Batista all season.

Although the game got very dicey in the 2nd half, the bullpen slammed the door when they had to.

What happened to Aaron Small? Looks like the bulb came on late for him. He has been amazing this season.

This is a bad cliche, but "trust your stuff". In the past few outings, Batista kept throwing that bloody cut fastball. And everyone and their grandma seems to be able to hit it.

He did use a couple cutters (92 mph), but also used the splitter (88 mph) and ran his straight fastball up to 98 mph. It's all power, and it's all off-timed. The splitter looks exactly like a cutter coming from Miguel's hand, but drops, which is how he got Sheffield and Matsui looking like little leaguers.

Let's hope he uses all three all the time from now on, because that was just amazing. I've never seen so many Yankees looking so utterly helpless since they tried to hit Wakefield when he's on.

I've had enough! I'm sick of 24 players working really hard to grind out a lead, and then Batista blowing the game. JP should be ashamed that he didn't make a trade at the deadline, and indeed he should never have signed Batista in the first place. The guy is a bum, an idiot, who just doesn't try to get people out. We desperately need to find a proven closer this offseason.

Oh, wait, hang on.

I'll save it for next time, eh?

Batista did not shake Zaun off once.

Is that the difference? Is Batista merely over-thinking everything?

That may be the difference...but I don't remember Batista throwing that Splitty minus a handful of times all year. I find it hard to beleive that he was shaking off Zaun when he called a splitty all year, and decided to throw it today. But if so....NEVER SHAKE OFF ZAUN.

I noticed Batista K a batter recently with that Splitty and I wanted to call on WWJP and scream at JP to tell Miggy to mix it up a bit. Only one man has ever been able to close games out with throwing one pitch over and over and over. Why try and be Mo? When you can be Mo and Gagne into one?

I'm a huge fan of the 2 pitch closer. Please keep it up Miggy, and you'll be just fine. I have not seen him make a batter look as dumb as Pasada looked after that last Fastball. Swinging wasn't a thought in his mind until Zaun was already out shaking Batista's hand.

I actually think Batista's coming around to his teammates in this short span from Tuesday. After he hit rock bottom on Monday, on Thursday when fans behind the pen were mocking Batista, Pete Walker actually stood up, turned around and told the fans to be quiet. I think team chemistry made a breakthrough recently.

After the last strikeout, Batista seemed to make a point of repeatedly pointing at Zaun in congratulations. That suggests Zaun's pitch calling was inspired and (even better) Batista realizes it. Four batters, four strikeouts. Batista must have been riding some kind of wave of mojo after striking out Giambi with the bases loaded in the 8th.

Is that the difference? Is Batista merely over-thinking everything?

With all due respect, gentlemen, I don't think there's reason to believe that there is a "difference" just yet. Batista had a great game, but let's not get carried away. It could very well be just "one of those things."

Anybody else notice how solid SS Loogy has been this season. He was awful in April and May but he has been excellent ever since.

Since June 1st he has only given up 9 er's in 39 innings for an ERA of 2.31 He has only given up 1 er in his last 17 appearances.

He hasn't given up a HR since May 11th.

I remember Da Box was very upset at the SS Loogy signing in the off-season (including myself) but so far it looks like a good one.

Oh yeah I forgot to add Mr. Frasor hasn't allowed an ER in his last 14.1 innings of work.

Just got back from the game. Yeehaw!

Have to give El Artista his props. He pounded the strike zone early in the count, and was more judicious late in counts. Excellent outing. Good work, 'pen!

Mike D.. during the post-game handshakes many of the Blue Jays were pointing up at the same spot. Being at the game, do you have any idea what that might have been?

Wow. Batista using more than one type of pitch? Mixing up his locations? What does he think he is? A major league veteran? I've honestly been puzzled by the way he has approached relieving all of this year. I don't know how a guy goes from being a Swiss Army knife of pitching to trying to get by on a cut fastball alone.

I think you need to see more of a pattern than one game but I'm sure this is more the type of result JP and Gibbons were hoping for when putting him in short relief. It's not that his secondary pitches have to be dominant...they just have to be there so the batter doesn't sit on speed and movement. Mix a cutter, 4 seamer, 2 seamer, and splitter and that's a lot you can do as a reliever.

With all due respect, gentlemen, I don't think there's reason to believe that there is a "difference" just yet. Batista had a great game, but let's not get carried away. It could very well be just "one of those things."

I didn't mean difference like "he suddenly got better", I meant difference like he pitched totally differently. He could do the same thing next time and be bad with six different pitches, who knows? But he definitely did something different from the rest of the season today.

I agree with NFH. There is a HUGE difference between facing FOUR batters, K'ing FOUR batters (one of which being Giambi with the bases loaded), and blowing 2 run leads in the ninth.

Can he really dial his fastball to 97mph? If he can, that is some arsenal. Cut, split, 97mph fastball.

Sorry, James W. I was making my way to the exits during the post-game handshakes. I'll post if I read anything in the papers tomorrow.

Why did Miguel Batista suddenly get better? I think it has something to do with the crowd at the RC.

At home, he has had 18 save opportunities for 13 saves. On the road, he has had 20 save opportunities for 17 saves. His first blown save on the road wasn't until July 13 against Tampa Bay.
I think that it has something to do with the hostile environment at the Rogers Center. He blows a save at home,he gets booed. That gets him rattled. Next time, he gets booed which makes him blow another save.
On the road, he might think, 'Unfriendly crowd, block it out.' He gets in a zone and strikes out 4 straight batters at Yankee Stadium.

I agree with NFH. There is a HUGE difference between facing FOUR batters, K'ing FOUR batters (one of which being Giambi with the bases loaded), and blowing 2 run leads in the ninth.

Do you really expect Batista to blow two run leads every time he pitches? Baseball players...they have good games and they have bad games. This was a good game. Aren't you guys overanalyzing just a teensy bit? If Ken Huckaby suddenly goes 4-for-4 tomorrow, nobody's going to suggest that he dramatically changed his approach.

Do you really expect Batista to blow two run leads every time he pitches? Baseball players...they have good games and they have bad games. This was a good game. Aren't you guys overanalyzing just a teensy bit? If Ken Huckaby suddenly goes 4-for-4 tomorrow, nobody's going to suggest that he dramatically changed his approach.

Did you see the game? Batista did dramatically change his approach -- that's why we're asking if the change in approach is why he succeeded! We're not saying "Hey, he did good, is something different?" We're saying "Hey, he did something different and something good happened! Was it the something different that helped?"

We'll know for sure next time he goes up there. I was hoping to see him again today to see what he did, but it's a good thing he'll get some rest. I hope he gets a couple more shots at closing the rest of the season and we'll see what happens.