Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Misty Water Colour Memories

So I'm watching tonight's game, and they decide to have a poll on the most memorable moment of the exercise in frustration that has been the Blue Jays 2007 season. And I went... HUH?

I had this very idea my own self just a few days ago. I thought I'd make some suggestions of my own, appeal to the readership for more. But here's the thing: the first three memorable moments that sprung to my mind didn't even make the TSN list. (Were they, perchance, in games broadcast by someone else?)

Anyway, their poll includes:
a) Thomas' 500th home run. Nice, but it would have meant a lot more to me if he hadn't hit 487 for other teams.
b) Aaron Hill stealing home against the Yankees. OK, that made my list. That was really cool.
c) The game ending DP against Seattle. I think they mean the August 31 game, when with the bases loaded Hill dived to get Ibanez hard shot up the middle.
d) Jesse Litsch debut. Well, that was nice. But I was actually in the house for Brandon Lyon's debut.
e) I can't even remember the other one any anymore.

Meanwhile, the very first thing I thought of was:
- Dustin McGowan taking a no-hitter into the ninth against Colorado, and settling for the one-hit shutout.
- The six run rally against Tampa in the bottom of the ninth, to steal a most improbable win.
- Russ Adams' grand slam against Papelbon. Hey, it was just last week, I was in the house, I was really excited and doing my best to act professional

And after those, I remembered:

- The Halladay-Buehrle game. The Jays have no baserunners all night long. Not a one. Zilch. And they win anyway.
- Reed Johnson returns to the lineup with a spectacular diving catch of Victor Martinez' line drive in the ninth inning.
- Josh Towers drilling A-Rod. Well, I enjoyed that one an awful lot. The twerp had it coming. Even if it was an accident.

I also seem to have this memory of Wells scoring a big run from first base on a single...

Anyway, come on people!

Or perhaps... we should brood, and scowl, and ponder the worst moments of 2007?

Posted by Magpie on Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 09:18 PM EDT.

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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Gerry - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 09:38 PM EDT (#174775) #

I have to go with the Aaron Hill steal of home, it was against the Yankees after all and the Jays won the game.

Original Ryan - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 09:41 PM EDT (#174776) #

This is probably what you're referring to. The one you're missing is a catch by John McDonald against Oakland. I agree, it's not the best list to choose from. FWIW, I voted for Hill's steal of home.

One game that stands out in my mind was this one. I wouldn't put it on a top-five list for 2007, but I always liked the way the Jays came back in the bottom of the 10th inning after coughing up 2 runs in the top of the frame. John McDonald came through with a big two-run single to tie up the game, and then Curtis Thigpen scored on an ugly error by the Rockies' catcher. The comeback in this one wasn't close to the miracle one against Tampa, but it's still one of my favourite memories of 2007.

Magpie - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 09:47 PM EDT (#174777) #

One game that stands out in my mind

Yeah, that one was a lot of fun (I was there!) - I think the reason it's difficult to include is that it wasn't so much the Jays being memorable so much as the Rockies screwing up. (not just Iannetta's ill-advised throw - I remember the whole game as the Fuentes Meltdown!)

ANationalAcrobat - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 10:03 PM EDT (#174778) #

I'm glad you made a thread like this.

The Thomas 3 homerun game was just excellent... in fact the whole series against Boston (sweep) last week was glorious.

jeff mcl - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 10:29 PM EDT (#174779) #

Doc threw a Jack Morris-y 10-inning CG against the Tigers at the Rogers Centre way back in April before our hopes were dashed. Not as exciting as McGowan's near no-no, but it was still bigger than half of the "official" list.

ayjackson - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 10:34 PM EDT (#174780) #

I think the best moment was the Hill steal of home and the best game was the McGowan game (it was thrilling). I might have said Adams' slam against Papelbon if I hadn't left the room to put my girl to bed as the count went to 2-0, then come back 30 minutes later to see that the final score was 6-1.

Alex Obal - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 11:06 PM EDT (#174782) #

The Halladay-Buehrle game. The Jays have no baserunners all night long. Not a one. Zilch. And they win anyway.

Then there was the second one, decided by a Jerry bleepin' Owens 336-foot home run in the seventh inning. The average length of the two Doc-Buehrle games was 1:58. They were both 2-0 shutouts. Both times, the losing pitcher wound up with a complete game.

The Jays must face the White Sox on Opening Day every single year until one of these two retires.

fozzy - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 11:11 PM EDT (#174783) #

For me it was the McGowan game.

I remember being at Sears looking for furniture and walked by in the 7th, and the crowd on its feet; it was obvious that the furniture was going to have to wait. By the 9th inning, a very large group of people had gathered in the electronics section, holding their collective breaths as McGowan pumped 97mph fastballs in on the helpless Rockies batters. For a city like Thunder Bay, which is as apathetic to baseball as any I know, it was an impressive thing to see so many people interested in the game, as McGowan finished off the Rockies in the 9th.

Needless to say, I was in such a good mood I didn't even realized we purchased a $1,500 coffee table at the end of it all. Mr. McGowan, the bill is in the mail; my wife, however, thanks you.

AWeb - Wednesday, September 26 2007 @ 11:33 PM EDT (#174785) #

The 2007 Jays : a team again frustrating in their consistent average-ness. Their worst record against any team: 8-10 (Yankees). Best record against any team : 10-7 (Baltimore). .500 in the division, 1 game over against the other two AL divisions (+2 in interleague). But despite that, they have had quite a few memorable moments this year.

One of my favourite moments of the year not yet mentioned was Marcum's 6 innings of no hit ball, followed in the next game by 4 more innings of no hit ball. Also Marcum related, he started a 1-0 shutout in LA a night after a crushing loss, which was a great game I stayed up to watch (not easy on the east coast). Another vote for Hill's steal from me as well. The night they hit 4 HR off Santana was memorable to me for some reason.

Season low point : 9 game losing streak, Halladay gets destroyed twice in a row (including the 9th loss), Ohka and Zambrano are both allowed to start games during the streak-capping sweep by Boston...yeah, that hurt. The BJ Ryan injury/incident is a close runner-up.

guerinto - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 12:16 AM EDT (#174786) #

B and C are the only 2 worth voting for in the ones you listed.

paulf - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 12:48 AM EDT (#174788) #

Shaun Marcum taking a no-hitter into the 7th in his first start in his hometown. Not as impressive as McGowan's game, but the added drama of him pitching through obvious pain was something to see.

Jevant - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 09:15 AM EDT (#174795) #

Hill's steal of home had to be the best moment. And I really liked the Tampa comeback, in terms of memorable game. Although I'll remember that grand slam off of Papelbon and the ensuing sweep for a long time as well.

Mike D - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 11:12 AM EDT (#174798) #

I would vote for the Hill steal of home, although I have to agree that the Marcum flirtation, like the McGowan flirtation, was great drama.

The low point for me is easy: May 10. With B.J. Ryan's jersey hanging in the dugout to commemorate his out-for-the-season shutdown, the Jays -- after getting waxed 9-2 and 9-3 -- dedicate their efforts to BJ as they get throttled 8-0 at home by the Red Sox (and poor Doc landed in the hospital for appendicitis). It was their ninth loss in a row and the series sweep was celebrated by a mass of ugly, cloying Boston fans. It doesn't, and didn't, get any worse than that.

But the Hill steal of home, just weeks later, was something I'll long remember.

dan gordon - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 12:17 PM EDT (#174805) #

In addition to Marcum's game where he took a no-hitter into the 7th, while pitching with the pulled muscle in his leg, there was also Marcum's first start of the season. He pitched a no-hitter for 6 innings, but had to come out due to the pitch count. Man was he good for a couple of months. Don't know if his late season struggles were tiredness, or reversion to a more realistic level of performance, but it will be interesting to see how good Marcum can become - for a couple of months he was one of the best starters in baseball.

You don't often see a pitcher get pulled while working on a no-hitter like that, but interestingly, it happened again shortly after when Phil Hughes was pulled while working on a no-hitter in the 7th inning in his 2nd ML start, due to an injury.

VBF - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 12:30 PM EDT (#174806) #

Litsch's debut coupled with Thomas' magnificent creation that ended up being 'Jesse's girls' and an intense crowd does it for me. The stars completely aligned for that one. Jesse's dad watching from the camera bay made it storybook.

Optimists always find silver linings for everything, but even the biggest pessimist has got to like the pitching going into next year. Can't wait!

ayjackson - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 12:43 PM EDT (#174808) #

How about Burnett winning the sausage race - well, the first time anyway?

Ryan Day - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 02:36 PM EDT (#174824) #

I think this is one of those cases where it's important to draw some semantic distinctions. A game, or even an inning, isn't really a "moment" in any conventional sense of the word. So with that in mind:

Best Moment: Aaron Hill steals home. (Because geez, that was awesome)

Best Game: I'll go with McGowan's one-hitter. With Marcum, I didn't really think he'd do it, if for no other reason than durability; but McGowan was so close.

Best inning/Sequence of Events: The 6-run comeback against Tampa. Sure, it was against Tampa, but it was still pretty great.

jeff mcl - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 04:05 PM EDT (#174832) #

Honourable mention should go out to the upstart CBC for showing Sportsnet and TSN how a ballgame should be professionally called, produced and presented.

Hoff - Thursday, September 27 2007 @ 09:46 PM EDT (#174838) #

The Tampa Bay games takes the cake for me, hands down. I was there, and brought my buddy who's been giving me slack about being a Jays fan since highschool. Losing in the ninth, and not only did we come back from behind, BUT I'm pretty sure the winning run came in on a bases loaded walk.

Aaron hill stealing home was amazing, but I love comebacks, to me that is what watching baseball is all about.

Too bad our comeback this season has come a little too late.

#2JBrumfield - Friday, September 28 2007 @ 12:31 AM EDT (#174841) #

I was fortunate enough to see the Jays big comeback over Tampa and McGowan's one-hitter but the games that stand out for me were the two White Sox games the first weekend of June when they came back from 3 runs down both times. The first game featured the Sal "the speed merchant" Fasano beating out a bunt to start a rally in the Saturday game and the second game saw Jeremy Accardo stranding the tying run on 3rd with a punchout to end the game after surrendering a leadoff double.

My other favourite memory was the Jays 12-1 whupping over the Dodgers on my birthday, thanks in large part to a grand salami by the Big Hurt.

Jeremy - Friday, September 28 2007 @ 08:00 AM EDT (#174842) #

Accardo coming back from a 3-0 count to strike out Jhonny Peralta with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth and preserve a scoreless draw until Alex Rios' RBI single scoring Reed Johnson. A great way to go into the All-Star Break.

King Rat - Friday, September 28 2007 @ 11:47 AM EDT (#174851) #

Hill's steal of home and McGowan's one-hitter would top my list, but an honorable mention has to go to Reed Johnson robbing Victor Martinez of a game-tying double in the ninth in his first game off the DL. It was like something out of a movie.

G Baier - Friday, September 28 2007 @ 05:38 PM EDT (#174857) #

I have to agree that the Johnson return game deserves honorable mention. I was there and the ovation he got for his first at bat overwhelmed him a little bit - he looked like he was blushing on the jumbotron, but he later earned the applause for diving so fearlessly into that field turf lava rock on his first game back from the DL.

christaylor - Saturday, September 29 2007 @ 09:01 AM EDT (#174864) #

I know it is off topic, but the reminder for all this love this for a mediocre player (Johnson) makes me think that if that if the only thing JP does this off-season is dump Reed Johnson, I'll be happy. He's blocking the more talented Lind (who'll never learn to hit lefties if he never sees them) and Gibbons instance on playing him saw the hot bat of Stairs rot on the bench during the dog days. At the very least Johnson ought not be able to walk into spring training next year and be handed the starting LF job. As I see it, it is much more likely that we'll see the second half 2007 Johnson for the rest of his career rather than the Johnson of his magical 2006 first half. He's a scrappy sort of player that tends to endear himself to baseball types, I just hope he is not so endearing to the Jays management that we have to see a position that ought to be filled with a player with an above average OPS+ filled with a player who'll have a below average OPS+.

Mike Green - Saturday, September 29 2007 @ 01:18 PM EDT (#174872) #

Johnson had back surgery this year, so judging his value to the club over the next few years should be done with patience. Assuming that he arrives at spring training fully recovered, he is at the least a very valuable 4th outfielder. He can play all three outfield positions and owns a .307/.370/.461 mark lifetime against left-handed pitching.

Seamus - Saturday, September 29 2007 @ 02:21 PM EDT (#174874) #

My high points:

- McGowan's near no hitter was great. I was at the game, and the crowd was electric.
- Russ Adams grand slam put a nice cap on the season.
- The 6 run rally against Tampa Bay.

My low points:

- April 14th. Jays lose to Detroit 10 - 7. BJ Ryan blew the save giving up a hit and 3 walks. I remember watching the game, and I couldn't believe what was happening. BJ was so dominant in '06, that it was obvious something must be wrong. This ended up being his last outing of the year. I think it set the tone for the season in some ways.

- April 28th. Jays lose 9 - 8 to Texas. Does anyone remember this loss? The Jays battled back twice in the wild game, only to have Frasor blow the lead in the ninth. The Jays tied the game again in the bottom of the ninth, but lost in extras. I don't know why, but this game really stuck out to me as an example for how frustrating this season was as a whole. The Jays lost so many games that they really should have won over the course of this year.

It's interesting that this team has seemed so much more frustrating than last year (at least to me), and yet will have a pretty similar record. I suppose that's a good sign considering the injuries and horrible performances of some players. I think if Wells, Overbay, Johnson, and Glaus can even just perform to average expectations next year this could be a very good team. The young pitching is very exciting.

Alex0888 - Sunday, September 30 2007 @ 02:19 PM EDT (#174905) #

Low point has got to be that huge losing streak

FanfromTheIsland - Tuesday, October 02 2007 @ 06:23 PM EDT (#174959) #

How about Matt Stairs stealing third? That was fun. :)

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