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Message #: 29709
As the series opener so clearly illustrates (for the zillionth time), NOBODY chokes like the Blue Jays for the simple reason that nobody else works as hard at it as we do. It took an incredible effort to choke that game away, but we did it. The fact that Toronto pitchers went on to finish the series with 15 consecutive scoreless innings was nice but irrelevant, since the opener -- and a couple dozen more games just like it -- shows why we're just running out the clock instead of preparing for the appearance in the ALCS which our talent warrants (see also 1983, 1987, 1991).... Game 1, The Final Coffin Nail: The two hapless starters combined for 9.2 IP, 20 hits, 13 runs, 5 walks and 3 gophers. The difference is that those kind of numbers are expected from Greg Swindell, not from Todd Stottleymre. But it was an important contest, so the Jays had to find some way not to rise to the occasion. Having banged out 17 hits including four home runs and three doubles, you can't really blame the Toronto offense for this fatal one-run defeat. Unless you count the 2 easy BPHRs we missed, and the 2 runners lost on the bases, and the 13 LOB (to Baltimore's mere 5) including the bases loaded twice, and the FOURTEEN runners left IN SCORING POSITION with 2 outs (RLISP 2-Out: a stat Strat must have invented specifically for the Blue Jays) to Baltimore's mere 2, and the ZERO 2-out RBI we got (to Baltimore's mere SIX)..... OK, maybe you can blame the offense. But all those 2-out RBIs the Orioles came through with weren't the hitters' fault, and 5 of those critical runs came in the space of 4 batters as Stottlemyre was surgically dismembered with just one out left to get in the BAA fifth. The O's brought in John O'Donoghue to help our cause, and he did help, enabling us to rebound and take an 8-7 lead in the 7th. Which set the stage for a choke by two TOA relievers who have sub-2.00 ERAs, the key blow being a difficult BP single with -- of course! -- 2 outs in the 7th moments after Clutch Carter had missed an easy 3-run BPHR and found the out to end our half of that frame. Toronto got the tying run into scoring position in the 9th when Devon White doubled, but Joe Clutch got yet another bad split card and turned a game-tying hit into a season-ending popup. Final score: 9-8. =============================================================== Game 2: Pretty much more of the same, including tons of hits (22 for the Jays), tons of LOB, lots more 'RLISP 2-Out' and another pair of starting pitchers who would rather forget what happened today. The Jays got 5 runs for Jack Morris in the first three innings, but Morris gave back every one of them, and more, so as to be losing 7-5 after 3. Morris finished his day, having left the mound for the last time with the score still 7-6 against him and no reasonable chance at a win. But he did win: the offense came up with 4 runs in the 6th, Woody Williams tossed 4 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.54, and the Jays tacked on 4 more runs to make the outcome appear WAY more lopsided than it actually was. Final score: 14-7. Eight of the 9 TOA starters had at least 2 hits, though we were of course skunked on easy BPHRs while the O's went 2 for 2 again. Paul Molitor scored 5 runs and substitute 3B Tim Hulett drove in 4. =============================================================== Game 3: Finally (after 22 weeks) displaying some of the talent that made him a high draft pick in 1993, Jim Abbott pitched 7.1 shutout innings and Duane Ward didn't screw it up; there was absolutely no margin for error. Final score: 1-0. That lone run scored in the TOA 3rd when Alomar led off with a single and raced home one batter later on a very unlikely Joe Carter triple. 'Unlikely' because it should have been an easy home run. For the 7th time in a 1993 road game, Carter rolled 2-6 which is a 1-16 home run chance. He has now missed the homer the *majority* of the time despite the 80% probability of hitting it. At least the adverse result is a triple instead of an out, and this time that run Carter should easily have scored -- of course he was stranded at third since he got there with 0 outs -- amazingly turned out not to make a difference. Ben McDonald had a fine complete-game outing for the home team, permitting just 1 of his 9 baserunners to score; but Abbott was a little better and Ward pitched the way he is supposed to (5 batters faced, 5 batters retired). Too little, too late, but a good outcome in the type of game we lose far more frequently than we win. Alan |
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