In a game that didn’t lack for
drama, the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Texas Rangers 6-3 on Wednesday
afternoon, to win the best-of-five ALDS three games to two to advance to the
American League Championship Series for the first time since 1993. It was a
game that a little bit of everything: solid starting pitching, home runs, great
defensive plays, but also a fistful of erros, a little bit of controversy, a
couple of bench-clearing incidents and an idiot analyst on Fox Sports who
obviously doesn’t think before opening his mouth.
After falling behind 2-0 early,
the Jays battled back to tie the game thanks to a Jose Bautista RBI double in
the third and an Edwin Encarnacion home run in the sixth. With the game tied at
two, no one knew what to expect going into the seventh inning.
And we got the controversy. I’m
sure I don’t have to repeat what happened, but let’s just say it was blatant
interference that allowed the Texas go-ahead run to score. Whether intentional
or not, interference is still interference and the run should not have counted.
As for the idiot analyst, that would be Harold Reynolds who drew the ire of
Canadian baseball fans when he mentioned during Game 3 that Canadians grow up
watching baseball, not knowing how to catch.
Well, Harold, tell that to Larry
Walker, who won seven gold gloves in his career. Mr. Reynolds obviously is
frustrated at not having such a stellar career (.258 batting average, only 21
home runs in 1374 games and NEVER played in the postseason) that he feels the
need to justify himself by trying to look smart and speaking matter-of-factly
during the broadcasts. How Fox decided to replace the legendary Tim McCarver
with this guy is beyond me. The worst thing about the dramatic events of the
seventh inning was having to listen to his drivel. And the unfortunate thing is
we’ll have to listen to him for another couple of weeks.
Anyway, back to the game. The
bottom of the seventh provided a lot of drama but we’ll just stick to the
scoring summary. A Josh Donaldson base hit that turned into a force play scored
Kevin Pillar with the tying run, setting the stage for Jose Bautista’s
monstrous three-run home run that put the Jays ahead for good. While I’m not a
big fan of seeing players stopping to watch their home runs and flipping the
bat, I think if I ever hit a ball that far, I’ll be doing the same thing.
Then it was time for Roberto
Osuna. The 20-year old who was born a year and a half after the last Jays’
postseason appearance, entered in the eighth inning with one out and the tying
run at the plate. He proceeded to retire five straight batters to secure his
first career save in the playoffs and continue to amaze me that this kid is as
cool as it gets and never gets rattled by anything.
Another no-decision for Marcus
Stroman did little to devalue his pitching performance. For the second straight
game, he had a rough start but turned it around and held Texas at bay, giving
his teammates a chance to rally for the win.
After a day off today, the Jays
will play in the ALCS starting on Friday night. Their opponents will be the
Kansas City Royals who took care of the Houston Astros 7-2 in their fifth game.
It sets up a rematch of the 1985 ALCS in which the Royals beat the Jays in
seven games after being behind three games to one.
During 2015, the teams played
each other seven times, with the Jays holding a 4-3 edge after dropping two of
three in Kansas City in early July, but coming back to win three of four in
Toronto less than a month later.
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