Jays' Top Ten Most Exciting Home Openers: #4: 1984

Top Ten Blue Jays’ Home Openers

#4: 1984 vs Baltimore Orioles

               

George Bell

                In 1984, the Jays played their first ten games on the road and came into their home opener against the defending World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles with a 6-4 record. The O’s were struggling at 2-7 and both teams were already falling behind the surging Detroit Tigers. Detroit was 7-0 and on their way to a 34-4 start. While the Jays would finish with the same 89-73 record as they had in 1983, and finish second in the AL East Standings, they were 15 games behind Detroit at season’s end.

                But the home opener on April 17 at Exhibition Stadium was the start of the second season in which the Jays were a legitimate contender in the division. Doyle Alexander would be the starting pitcher for Toronto while Baltimore would counter with Mike Boddicker.

                The game was scoreless as the Orioles came to the bat in the top of the fifth and they got to Alexander for two runs. A solo home run by John Lowenstein opened the scoring and an RBI single by Al Bumbry accounted for the second score.

                Boddicker managed to keep the Jays off the scoreboard until the sixth. Back-to-back singles by Lloyd Moseby and Willie Upshaw led off the inning. A third consecutive single, this one by Cliff Johnson, scored Moseby and the lead was cut to 2-1. A walk to George Bell loaded the bases and then Toronto tied the score on a sac fly by Buck Martinez. The Jays, however, were unable to score any more in the inning.

                In the bottom of the eighth, Bell came to plate again with two runners on. He singled in Upshaw to give Toronto a 3-2 lead. Rookie relief pitcher, Jimmy Key, got two outs in the ninth and veteran Dennis Lamp picked up the final out to record the save as the Jays held on to win 3-2.

                Key was the winning pitcher having thrown 1 2/3 innings in relief of Alexander. Three Jays had multi-hit games: Moseby, Upshaw and Johnson. 

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Jays' Top Ten Most Exciting Home Openers: #5: 1993

Top Ten Blue Jays’ Home Openers

#5: 1993 vs Cleveland Indians

               

Third baseman Ed Sprague

                After playing the first two games of the 1993 season in Seattle, the Jays returned to SkyDome to play the Cleveland Indians on Friday, April 9. But before the game, the members of the 1992 Blue Jays were rewarded with their World Series Championship rings. It was a reminder to the fans, and the newer players on the club, that the expectations for Toronto were at an all-time high.

                And while the ’92 club relied on solid pitching and timely hitting to win the World Series, this home opener would serve notice that the ’93 edition would be using their bats to outclass their competition.

                Juan Guzman would start on the mound for the Jays and quickly gave up two runs in the top of the first. But Toronto tied it in their half of the inning when Devon White scored on an error and Paul Molitor scored on a Joe Carter sacrifice fly.

                Ed Sprague’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the second gave Toronto a 3-2 lead. In the third, the Jays doubled their run total as Molitor scored on a Carter ground out, John Olerud scored on a Darrin Jackson single, and then Jackson scored on an RBI single by Pat Borders: Jays-6, Indians-3.

                Another RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, this time by Roberto Alomar, scored White and the lead was now 7-3. After scoring a run in the top of the fifth, the Cleveland bats roughed up Guzman and reliever Mark Eichhorn for six runs in the sixth inning.

                The Indians would take their 9-7 lead into bottom of the seventh inning. Toronto would retake the lead with four runs coming on a Sprague RBI ground out, an RBI single by Dick Schofield and a two-run triple by White. One inning later, Sprague would double in two more runs and the score was now 13-9 for the Jays.

                The Indians would mount a threat in the top of the ninth, but managed only one run as Jays manager, Cito Gaston, called on closer Duane Ward with two out and the tying run on deck. Ward would get a ground ball to second off the bat of Kenny Lofton and Alomar tossed to Olerud at first to end the game at 13-10 for Toronto.

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Jays' Top Ten Most Exciting Home Openers: #6: 2008

Top Ten Blue Jays’ Home Openers

#6: 2008 vs Boston Red Sox

               

Jays' second baseman Aaron Hill

                This is the only game on the Top Ten list in recent memory, and in fact, the only of two after the strike-shortened season of 1994. That’s because in the last 20 years, most of the home openers have either been losses or rather boring, blowout victories. The 2008 game played on Friday evening, April 4^th, 2008, however, was an exception.

                The Jays welcomed the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox to the Rogers Centre. Shaun Marcum got the starting assignment on the hill for Toronto while the Sox would go with knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

                Both pitchers were brilliant early on as the teams combined for three hits and no runs after five innings. After Marcum got the Boston hitters one-two-three in the top of the sixth, the Jays finally got to Wakefield. Canadian Matt Stairs drilled the second pitch that Wakefield threw in the sixth over the right field wall to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, RBI singles by Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill would make the score 3-0 before the sixth was over.

                In the top of the seventh, however, the Red Sox tied it when J.D. Drew drilled a three-run homer off of Marcum. But the Jays regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Frank Thomas doubled to centre, scoring David Eckstein and Shannon Stewart: Jays-5, Sox-3.

                Toronto added an insurance run in the eighth when Eckstein singled in Hill. Jeremy Accardo would pitch the ninth and pick up the save as the Jays won the game 6-3, Marcum picking up the win after pitching seven innings, surrendering three runs on three hits and a walk, while striking out eight.

                For the Jays, Overbay, Hill and Marco Scutaro had multi-hit games, while six different players scored the runs.

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