Most Entertaining Player: 2 Blue Jays Games in one week

I’ll admit it. I don’t have a favorite Major League Player. I really have not had one since 1979, when Thurman Munson died. I have a favorite team, but no player stands out, as being my favorite since players today seems so transient. It was only a few years ago that Yankee fans hated Roger Clemens or Wade Boggs. With players changing teams more often the some people change underwear it makes it nearly impossible to root for a single player. To quote Jerry Seinfeld, “if you like a team, you are really rooting for the jersey, since players change from year to year” (I am paraphrasing). I have been participating in fantasy baseball leagues for a few years, which also makes it difficult to focus on a single player. If you did try to draft your favorite player it would be very difficult to ward off the other players or you can just kiss your money goodbye if you stick by players and not necessarily the numbers.

So, by chance I happened to have tickets this past week to two different Toronto Blue Jays road games, one at Fenway Park (July 2) and one at Yankee Stadium (July 5). I decided this would be an excellent opportunity to find the most exciting player on a rather drab, small-market team that has certainly under-performed this year. .

The first game was the first game of a day/night double header, a make up of an earlier rain out. When I saw an opportunity to see a day game at Fenway Park, and take time off from work, I jumped at the chance. The game time temperature was a hot and humid 91 and the heat index had to be close to 110. Both teams were working quickly, since they did not seem to want to be outside in this oppressive heat either.

I got to see the knuckleball throwing Tim Wakefield, from right behind home plate. The ball had unbelievable action as it dived and danced all over the place. It was amazing. Needless to say the Jays either did not care or were mesmerized by the pitching. Wakefield gave up 3 hits over 6 innings. We questioned why he was pulled so early, when he was pitching so well, but we figured the heat must have had him fatigued, though it was later reported that Wakefield offered to pitch out of the bullpen in the nightcap. (When do you suppose the last time a starting pitcher pitched in both ends of a double header?). In the 7th inning, things got interesting. Grady Little put in Willie Banks, who quickly gave up a single to Shannon Stewart and a double to Jose Cruz Jr., which scored Stewart. This caused us to question the removal of Wakefield yet again.

On the other side of the plate, Chris Carpenter was getting shellacked (5 hits, 3BB in 6 1/3); it only seemed a matter of time until the Red Sox would break out. A few well-timed double plays were the only thing that kept this game from being a complete blow out. This included a throw from Jose Cruz Jr. to home plate to nail the slow-footed Jose Offerman at the dish. Carpenter gave up a long single off the green monster to Shea Hillenbrand and was relieved after getting Tony Clark. He had a 1-0 lead, so the worst that could happen to him was a no decision. Freshman manager Carlos Tosca, brought in the lefty Scott Eyre to the face left handed Trot Nixon. Eyre had only one job that was to retire Nixon and he blew it by walking him. Tosca then brought in Scott Cassidy to retire the back up catcher, Doug Mirabelli, the promptly gave up a triple to the impressive second bagger Lou Merloni, which scored Nixon and Hillenbrand.

The Red Sox brought Alan Embree in to pitch in the 8th and I thought we might see Uggie Urbina in the 9th, since they had a one run lead and they were trailing the Yankees by 2 games at the time, but Little defied conventional wisdom and stayed with Embree who picked up his first AL save.

Final Thoughts on the game: Nomar Garciaparra has an incredibly sweet swing; his motion is beautiful to watch. Shea Hillenbrand hit the ball hard all over the park and looks like he deserved the starting 3b in the All-Star extravaganza. Lou Merloni hustled and played hard in sweltering heat. Carlos Delgado is a very selfish player, throughout the game the Red Sox infield shifted to the right, and each time he was up, the out was recorded on the right side of the field, he never attempted to go the other way to sneak out a hit. Very selfish. Also interesting was Tom Wilson, the Jays catcher could not get the ball back to the pitcher in the 8th inning, throwing it to the 1st base side numerous times and once throwing it past the pitcher. Very humorous way to end the game

The second game was played in a much balmier 80 with a cool breeze blowing left to right. El Duque Hernandez was making his first start since coming of the DL, and the Jays were countering with Estaban Louiza. This time the Jays showed nothing until it was too late. El Duque shut them down for 6 innings, allowing no runs 2 hits, 2 walks and 9 K’s. It was a very good performance. Louiza on the other hand gave up 6 runs in 4+ innings and was gone before the sunset. He allowed a solo HR to Bernie Williams in the 1st, a two run shot to Jorge Posada in the 2nd , and then a succession of hits to begin the 5th sending him to the showers early. Only a lousy performance by Steve Karsay made this game interesting.

Well my conclusion is that one of the reasons the Blue Jays are so bad, is they have to be the worlds most boring team and watching them twice was even worse than I ever expected. Jose Cruz Jr. deserves the honor for the lone RBI in Boston and a gun from the OF, though I was hoping for Eric Hinske since he is (was) on my fantasy team. He also provided RBI’s and another gun in the second game as well