The Rays are now in first place in the AL East.
And not looking like any kind of fluke.
Continue reading “Game 165 // Fourth Inning // The Rays Score Eight”
Tag: Blue Jays
Game 118 // Eighth Inning // Kevin Pillar Steals Home
There’s one man keeping Canadian baseball within the Axis of Fun.
One man putting seats in the stands.
Continue reading “Game 118 // Eighth Inning // Kevin Pillar Steals Home”
Game 112 // Tenth Inning // The Cubs Run Wild
Your Dad wakes up from a nap, just before the tenth inning starts.
“No!” he shouts. “Justin Wilson!?”
Continue reading “Game 112 // Tenth Inning // The Cubs Run Wild”
Game 103 // Ninth Inning // Here Come the Royals
TOP OF THE NINTH: ROYALS 1 – (2) 4 BLUE JAYS
The two teams that rose, in 2015, from the ashes of two down decades. An ALCS for Toronto, a World Series win for Kansas City. And now, sinking down… down… by the law of averages, back to the bottom. Hopskotch jumping between last place and its closest neighbor—with the dream of 2015 a scrapbook piece for history.
But these Royals, these last few weeks. These last few wins. They onto something? Continue reading “Game 103 // Ninth Inning // Here Come the Royals”
Game 89 // Eleventh Inning // Showalter, Britton, Walk-Off
BOTTOM OF THE ELEVENTH: BLUE JAYS 5 (2) – 2 ORIOLES
It’s the eleventh inning of the A.L. Wild Card game. Ubaldo Jimenez steps onto the mound with the 162-game weight of a quavering Orioles season on his back.
“Once upon a time,” says Eddie Johnson, “this guy was unhittable.”
Once upon a time. The long-ago start to a fairy tale ending not so well at all. Continue reading “Game 89 // Eleventh Inning // Showalter, Britton, Walk-Off”
Game 86 // Ninth Inning // Hyun Soo Kim Can
TOP OF THE NINTH: ORIOLES 3 (1) – 2 BLUE JAYS
O’s against Osuna, in the top of the ninth. J.J. Hardy at the bat. The standings close, Baltimore back two games in the Wild Card hunt—Tigers and Mariners looking to sneak up for Continue reading “Game 86 // Ninth Inning // Hyun Soo Kim Can”
Game 59 // Eighth Inning, Toronto // Blue Jay Way
BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH: BLUE JAYS 9 (6) – 9 INDIANS
Unbridled swagger has come home to roost in Toronto, Ontario. A municipal token of cultural pride, soon to be distributed at retail establishments: an a-side image of Drake at a Raptors game, the b-side the hybrid mullet-‘do of Josh Donaldson, pocketed and hung like medallions, in a city-wide fad—from Centre Island to Bloor Street, Oshawa to Mississauga. Continue reading “Game 59 // Eighth Inning, Toronto // Blue Jay Way”
Game 47 // Seventh Inning // The Darwin Barney Game
BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH: BLUE JAYS 4 (1) – 1 YANKEES
It’s yet another classic hit from the greatest of this baseball generation, leaping and bounding his way through the record books, into the hearts of fans, his face on every billboard across Canada—the one, the only… Darwin … Barney?
He’s (at best) the fourth best known Barney in recent history, behind Continue reading “Game 47 // Seventh Inning // The Darwin Barney Game”
Game 36 // Eighth Inning // Bautista vs. Odor
TOP OF THE EIGHTH: RANGERS 7 – 6 BLUE JAYS
The fans at Globe Life Park are chanting USA! USA! USA!! Jose Bautista is being hugged from behind, for over five minutes, by Adrian Beltre. The dugouts are empty. The bullpens are empty. Kevin Pillar is running around like a bull in a stampede.
It was the biggest inning all week, and it was scoreless. Continue reading “Game 36 // Eighth Inning // Bautista vs. Odor”