Double Switching

May 1st was my second ‘baseballiversary,’ or more comprehensibly, the second anniversary of the day I inexplicably sat down and started watching this strange and beautiful game. It seems like a weird thing to commemorate, but I’ve realized that’s partially because nobody really knows when they started watching a sport; It’s just something that’s always there. I guess if I wanted to I could theoretically come up with the date I started watching hockey—if my parents told me the date they brought me home from the hospital, and I found the date of the Calgary Flames’ first game after that. You know?

So it’s fascinating to be able to pinpoint the exact date and time and say “This is where it started.” For me, it started with the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, Litsch vs Nova, a 5-2 loss for the visitors but nevertheless remarkably thrilling for someone who had no idea what was going on. The first Blue Jays home run I ever saw was off the bat of Adam Lind. So it goes.

This is especially interesting to me this month, because merely days before that odd milestone I visited Yankee Stadium for the first time—to see the Blue Jays. The Jays lost that one, too; still, the coincidence of the date was not lost on me.

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Boy, we needed that.

I was faced with the world’s most wonderful scoring conundrum in the first inning when the Blue Jays sent eleven batters to the plate against floundering Barry Zito, scoring six runs—Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista had two at-bats each in the frame, which had me frantically scrambling to figure out what to do. No one at the ballpark could quite believe what was happening. Six! Runs! In the first! (Yelling!)

In the end I used the boxes in the second inning—sure feels nice to be on the happy side of a card like this for once.

When Zito finally got Bautista to line out to Sandoval for the third out of the inning, the Rogers Centre was on their feet applauding the team’s ridiculous first (or perhaps standing for Zito?), something I don’t think I’ve ever seen. In the end, the Blue Jays scored ten runs for a second game in a row but without hitting a single home run, which is easily the weirdest part of this whole wild night. Ten runs on eighteen hits, all in the ballpark!

Maybe things are getting better.

Dickey: 6.0 IP 6H 2ER 2BB 10K!
Zito: 5.2 IP 12H 8R/5ER 2BB 2K

Dickey, might I add, got Buster Posey to strike out swinging twice.

And first star Melky Cabrera went 4 for 5 with a double, scoring twice and reaching base the fifth time on an error by Pablo Sandoval. Can he get a ring every day?

Guys, I forgot what winning decisively was like and the Blue Jays have done it twice in a row against teams doing much better than they are. This is actually fun. I haven’t been so relaxed at a Blue Jays game in ages.

Tomorrow, Ramon Ortiz vs Ryan Vogelsong … a duel for the ages.

• A fan running onto the field and sliding (rather well) into second base.
• Another fan running onto the field and immediately getting tackled.
• Paper airplanes flying down from the stands to land on the field.
• R.A. Dickey surrendering seven earned runs, eight total.
• Dave Bush surrendering four home runs.
• Jon Lester pitching seven shutout innings.

• A Blue Jay baserunner advancing past second base.

It was a rough day at the yard. R.A. Dickey had none of his usual mystifying stuff, instead allowing five earned runs before the first Red Sox out. (I can imagine some jovial Jays fans walked in with their beers in the middle of the first inning, laughed at the scoreboard error, and then realized with horror what was actually happening.) Dickey ended up lasting 4.2 innings, surrendering eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits and a pair of walks. He struck out five. Lester, on the other hand, gave up only five hits while striking out six, and neither he nor Clayton Mortensen gave up a run. The Blue Jays didn’t put up much of a fight in trying to bail out their starter, and the crowd started chanting “Go Leafs Go” in late innings … it was a mess.

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I ripped that title off from Matt English, who is much funnier than I am. And he made this:

A selection of Blue Jays transactions over the past month:

October 21: Manager John Farrell released from contract, traded to Boston with David Carpenter for SS Mike Aviles.

November 3: Mike Aviles & Yan Gomes traded to Cleveland for RHP Esmil Rogers.

November 8: Free agent Maicer Izturis signs. RHP Jeremy Jeffress traded from Kansas City for cash.

November 19: Henderson Alvarez, Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Jeff Mathis, Anthony DeSclafani, Justin Nicolino, and Jake Marisnick traded to Miami for Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck.

Free agent Melky Cabrera signs.

November 20: Blue Jays name John Gibbons manager.

It’s been quite a month. (see the full list)

Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun published a blow-by-blow account of the blockbuster trade with Miami, going all the way back to talks in July after three starting pitchers went down; it’s absolutely riveting, and should be required reading.

Gibbons’ hiring—well, we’ve got quite the running game with this new lineup, and Gibbons has less of a penchant for bunts and playing for one run than Farrell did, so we’re already making improvements. I like it a lot.

I actually refrained from writing about any of this because what can you even add? The Marlins trade still doesn’t even seem real. The Blue Jays’ first four hitters in the last game of the season were Rajai Davis, Adeiny Hechavarria, Brett Lawrie, and Adam Lind. If the projected lineups hold, they’ll open the season with Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion.

I can’t even believe it.