Three hours and fifty-five minutes later...
That was by far the worst Josh Towers has looked this season, although the special circumstances surrounding his performance will probably buy him a little slack with management. He had nothing - he couldn't even throw his fastball for strikes, which is pretty much what his whole game is based on. That the Rockies only scored five runs off him is somewhat mystifying.
Brian Fuentes thought the Matt Stairs hit that started the winning rally was a big deal, and I must admit I was awfully impressed by it myself. Fuentes deals from a kind of high sidearm arm slot, and his left arm barely even seems to bend in his delivery - if you're a left-handed batter, it must seem like he's slinging the ball at you from somewhere down the first base line. Stairs hung right in there and rapped the first pitch smartly up the middle....
I didn't even notice it as it happened, so deep and intense was my focus on the pitch at hand - but Tallet and Frasor struck out the side in consecutive innings, fanning six guys in a row. When's the last time that happened in a Jays game, anyway?
Wells hitting leadoff worked out nicely for Vernon, and it also worked out very nicely for Gregg Zaun. Twice Zaun came up to bat with Wells on first, and twice he ripped base hits to right. It's possible that with no one on first, he would have had just a couple of uneventful groundouts.
The Rockies are an appealing and interesting team, with an exciting future. But like a lot of young teams that have never been good before, they do make mistakes that can cost them the occasional ball game or two. The throwing error by the rookie catcher would be the most obvious example, of course. But there was also Todd Helton, of all people, running them out of an inning when Lind surprised and threw to second instead of making a pointless throw to third.
Finally, where would this team be without Troy Glaus?
That was by far the worst Josh Towers has looked this season, although the special circumstances surrounding his performance will probably buy him a little slack with management. He had nothing - he couldn't even throw his fastball for strikes, which is pretty much what his whole game is based on. That the Rockies only scored five runs off him is somewhat mystifying.
Brian Fuentes thought the Matt Stairs hit that started the winning rally was a big deal, and I must admit I was awfully impressed by it myself. Fuentes deals from a kind of high sidearm arm slot, and his left arm barely even seems to bend in his delivery - if you're a left-handed batter, it must seem like he's slinging the ball at you from somewhere down the first base line. Stairs hung right in there and rapped the first pitch smartly up the middle....
I didn't even notice it as it happened, so deep and intense was my focus on the pitch at hand - but Tallet and Frasor struck out the side in consecutive innings, fanning six guys in a row. When's the last time that happened in a Jays game, anyway?
Wells hitting leadoff worked out nicely for Vernon, and it also worked out very nicely for Gregg Zaun. Twice Zaun came up to bat with Wells on first, and twice he ripped base hits to right. It's possible that with no one on first, he would have had just a couple of uneventful groundouts.
The Rockies are an appealing and interesting team, with an exciting future. But like a lot of young teams that have never been good before, they do make mistakes that can cost them the occasional ball game or two. The throwing error by the rookie catcher would be the most obvious example, of course. But there was also Todd Helton, of all people, running them out of an inning when Lind surprised and threw to second instead of making a pointless throw to third.
Finally, where would this team be without Troy Glaus?
