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Message #: 29648
The unluckiest team in the league takes one more step towards accomplishing -- for the FOURTH time in the past decade -- failing to win the A.L. East despite having the most talent of any team in it. Against the weakest squad in the league, the Jays pull off a pair of unearned, undeserved chokes as only we can.... Game 1: Toronto's massively underachieving staff ace, Luckless Pat Hentgen, went the distance today and allowed zero runs. Zero *earned* runs, that is. I trust you can see where this is going.... Even worse, a scrap heap scrub named Hillary Hathaway, who has been used by the Brewers to pitch batting practice against every other A.L. team, miraculously had the game of his life -- what a surprise! -- against the massively underachieving Toronto offense (6 IP, 1 run). That run came in the TOA 2nd and was all we'd get off of this obvious future Cy Young contender. Hentgen faced no real threats until the 6th when a cheap bunt single opened that frame, and the runner would eventually score on a routine grounder that Ed Sprague turned into a very critical error. Later, after the third out should have been in the books, ANOTHER blown-x by the TOA infield broke the 1-1 tie and sent us to yet another undeserved loss. Final score: 3-1. Hillary was smartly removed after the 6 most stellar innings of his career, and was succeeded by erratic closer Randy Myers who -- what else? -- added 3 scoreless frames to nail the Toronto coffin shut. ============================================================== Game 2: Another choke for the record books. Luckless Jim Abbott had a 5-2 lead in the 6th; I trust you can see where this is going.... Another critical unearned run shaved the lead to 5-3, when an incredibly timely passed ball harmlessly (ha!) advanced a Brewer runner to second base with 2 outs. So that the next batter could find an out -- with a $ next to it. RBI. The Jays left the bases loaded without scoring seconds later (surely that wouldn't be important) and we choked up another run in the MLA 8th with (natch) 2 outs. The Jays left the bases loaded without scoring AGAIN seconds later (surely that wouldn't be important). Then, with the Brewers down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, Unhittable Paul Kilgus choked up the game-tying hit. It looked like the Jays would LOB a couple more without scoring the 11th, but Greg Myers saved the day with a 3-run homer and Toronto went home with a win! Not so fast. No other team in the league would blow a 3-run lead in extras, but these are the Blew Jays. Mike Timlin gave up a pair of hits but eventually got the Brewers down to their final out again with no runs having scored. You'll never guess what happened next. That's right. So on we slogged through the 12th, 13th & 14th and it was finally time for the Jays to use our not-so-secret weapon: Superchoker Duane Ward. The reliever with the fantastic card and the worst luck imaginable permitted 3 baserunners -- all of them off that fantastic card -- but one of them was a routine fly to left that Joe Orsulak (who tied Joe "Clutch" Carter today at the plate with a brilliant 0 for 7 performance) that fell in for a 2-base error. With 2 outs, Ward retired Dave May to end that threat But wait! Look what that out has next to it -- another one of those little dollar signs! Final score: 9-8, the margin between defeat and victory being precisely a pair of unearned markers in favor of the home team. ============================================================== Game 3: Like Pat Hentgen before him, Luckless Juan Guzman also tossed a complete game and allowed no earned runs. Amazingly, he didn't allow any unearned runs either. But for 6+ innings Guzman's offense provided him nothing to work with because -- also like game 1 -- a ridiculously bad Milwaukee hurler just by coincidence picked this very day to have his best performance of the season! The execrable Jaime Navarro, well on his way to 20 losses, made his 29th start of 1993 and easily bettered all of the other 28. Navarro went 6 innings and was pulled with his shutout still intact after allowing a leadoff hit in the TOA 7th, only the 4th of the day for the Jays. Navarro also issued just one free pass and struck out 6 of the underachievingest hitters anywhere. Sadly for Navarro, that runner in the 7th came around to score. We added a run in the 8th, avoided using the bullpen, and sealed up a 2-0 win. The Brewers committed 3 errors, good for one non-decisive unearned run, but the Jays tried to keep pace by committing 2 more errors of our own. They were both by 3B Scott Livingstone, a very good fielder, who made a month's worth of errors (2) in the space of TWO BATTERS in the MLA 3rd. ============================================================== Game 4: Bobby Witt was as out of control as ever, but he alone among TOA starters seems to have a knack for getting the run support which he so sorely needs. The Jays got a rare chance to participate in some surgery on the good side of the operating table, scoring '*' runs in the 5th and turning a momentary 3-2 deficit into a 14-4 win. Witt registered our 3rd complete game of the series, and ran his record to an astonishing 11-4. "Clutch" Carter drove in 5 in this nailbiter of a 10-run decision, and you can rest assured that each of the 9 superfluous runs Toronto scored will be (or already have been) deducted from a 1-run contest somewhere along the line during another one of our routine failed quests for a well-deserved pennant. Alan |
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