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Message #: 29371
After the rarity of a series win at home (one more week like that and we might actually reach .500!!!), the Jays simply couldn't stand the prosperity and pulled off yet another one of our microscopic-probability "nobody does it like us" chokes in the opener, then split the final 2 games in Arlington.... Game 1: Todd Stottlemyre had an eventful (i.e. "bad") start but didn't take the loss, in fact leaving the mound with a 6-2 lead in the 8th. The eventfulness began at the very start of the game when Stott allowed a leadoff single to Lance Johnson, then picked him off. A single by Pat Kelly followed -- he was picked off too. A third single, followed by a successful SB, and then a fourth -- with the runner gunned at the plate. When Texas's leadoff hitter in the second reached base, Stottlemyre had not yet retired a batter and allowed 5 straight singles; this one finally came home to score. The Rangers almost added to their lead in the 3rd when superchoker Robbie '1e15' Alomar committed an error. Texas failed to capitalize, but Alomar wasn't done yet. Not even close. The Rangers led 2-0 in the 6th when some rare surgery actually favored us -- 6 men reached base, all 6 scored and Roger Pavlik was sent to the morgue, to be replaced by newly-activated Dennis Cook, our old nemesis. Cook was in the minors for good reason; his 1993 card is a batter's paradise of extra-base hits. So of course the Luckless Jays never laid a glove on him (5.1 IP, zero runs). And yes, we needed to, that 4-run lead notwithstanding. Nobody chokes like the Blew Jays. In the TEA 8th, Stottlemyre loaded the bases with 1 out. Duane Ward came in and did what he always does -- choke up some runs, but they weren't charged to him. Those would come later. With the Jays up by the count of 6-4 now, Ward allowed a single in between a couple of outs in the bottom of the 9th. When a batter rolls on Ward's card it's often an out; when they roll on their own card it's nearly always a hit, year after year. And on it went today: five batters faced so far, 3 outs on Ward's card and 2 hits on batters cards. Next up came Joey Belle, who rolled on his own card. Naturally it was a hit, a triple in fact, and the score was 6-5 with 2 outs in the 9th. Juan Gone came up and rolled.... on Ward's card! Hooray! A routine x-grounder to Mr. 1e15. Game over, we win. You must be joking. Of course Alomar boots it; the score is 6-6 and we go to extras. In the 12th IRod gets a surgical split card triple and 2 batters later an x-grounder -- to You Know Who -- gets through and yet another incredible, unbelievable choke by the unluckiest team in the league is in the books. Jays lead 6-2 in the 8th, lose 7-6 in 12. Sabotage Robbie did nothing at the plate either, his timely 0 for 6 performance resulting in a batting average that matched his fielding percentage. =========================================== Game 2: For a guy with a 6-1 record (6-2 now), Bobby Witt's season has been one nightmarish start after another. Although he didn't walk everybody in the house today, and allowed almost nothing but singles, his support squad let him down by LOBbing 12 runners while Witt suffered through some surgery that went the usual way, with the Jays as the patient. Final score: 5-3. Toronto stranded runners *in scoring position* in SEVEN of the nine innings, but still almost dug out of Witt's 5-0 hole via 3 late runs. We got the tying runs on base in the 9th but, like so very many others, there they died. =========================================== Game 3: The hitters showed up today, as starters Jack Morris and Kenny Rogers combined to allow 20 hits in 14 IP. But despite another stellar relief outing from "Boom Boom" Cook and his equally bombardable partner Jeff Bronkey, Morris rode a 1 walk, 11 K performance to a wobbly 9-5 complete game win. Down 3-1 early, Toronto came back to take a 5-3 lead in the 5th, which required just a handful of batters for Morris to relinquish. Devon White's 3-run homer in the 6th (on a split card fully 19 numbers below our average!) ended Rogers' day and brought on the Dynamic Duo to shut us down, which they did. But after letting the Rangers tie it up in the 5th, Morris allowed no further scoring and limited them to 3 singles the rest of the way. 8th-place hitter Pat Borders led the attack with a 3 for 4 day featuring 2 doubles and 2 runs scored, and is now hitting .299 (!) as one of the very few standouts on Team Massive Underachievement. Alan |
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