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Ben Zobrist Hits Homer, Game-Winning Single

By BrentAbernathyFan
  • This is a hard game to analyze for Scott Kazmir. When 50% of your balls in play are of the fly ball variety, odds are a few are going to sneak over the fences. It happened twice tonight and that really saps an otherwise decent start. We saw how feisty the Jays hitters are when it comes to fouling pitches off just last week, but Kazmir managed to seduce their bats into the same amount of misses as Garza and Niemann combined. Kazmir was at his absolute worst in the 4th inning, tossing 29 pitches and recording only 14 strikes - in the 5th he would throw 17 pitches and get 13 strikes, and in the 6th he would throw 16 pitches and get 11 - as easy as it is to blame the umpire for being a bit too tight with his zone, the calls look correct, Kazmir was barely missing, but missing nonetheless.  His fastball sat around 90-92 with very good movement, he mixed in his change and slider when needed. It's hard to look at his 7+ tRA and feel like he pitched that poorly.
  • Carlos Pena seems like the type of person to vote for Ian Kinsler or Brandon Inge out of principle.
  • The success rate for attempted steals of home is surprisingly high. Injury is usually the reason teams don't attempt it, I suppose when 3/4ths of the play is taking place 90 feet away, the risk for injury significantly lowers. I'm not sure if Dave Martinez made the call for B.J. Upon to go if comfortable or not, but the play worked thanks to Upton's speed, Crawford's keen ability to draw a throw, Brian Tallet's unawareness, and a nice slide on Upton's part. It wasn't long ago he was thrown out after a catcher put the plate on lockdown, and while Raul Chavez tried doing the same tonight, Upton made sure to follow through with his palm, placing it on the plate as he raised.
  • Smash Mouth is like a replacement level version of the Barenaked Ladies.
  • Only in baseball can two teams take 11 innings and combine for four runs, then score more than eight apiece the next night. With Price and Halladay going tomorrow, I'm going to assume we're getting more of game one than game two.
  • Last night, we entered the 8th at the 2 hour mark. Tonight, we were in the 8th through the 3:40 mark. Only in baseball.
  • Did Brian Shouse get lost in luggage? This team has handled 40-year-old pitchers on the DL with the grace of 40-year-old pitchers.
  • Scott Downs is J.P. Howell with more mileage. I have no problem with showing some love towards Downs, mostly because nobody else does. Downs was drafted by the Cubs in 1997, dealt to the Twins in 1998 for Mike Morgan, traded to the Cubs (with Rick Aguilera) for Kyle Lohse and Jason Ryan, trade to the Expos for Rondell White, released by that franchise, signed with the Jays, was finally converted to relief, and is the best reliever in the AL during this season. That's a heck of a journey.  Can you imagine the trade talks Andy MacPhail and Terry Ryan had that second time around?

    • AM: Uh, we'll give you Lohse if you include this kid Downs...

    TR: What was that?

    AM: Downs, we like him.

    TR: Well yeah, you drafted him two years ago.

    AM: What?

    TR: Two years ago, you drafted him. You traded him to us a few months ago, remember?

    AM: No, I'm talking about Downs.

    TR: I...okay, fine, whatever. I guess I owe you one for Morgan exploding.

    • Just think, game three begins 13 hours from when the bottom of the 9th started. Hooray getaway games that start at noon.
    • If tomorrow is Roy Halladay's last start as a Jay against the Rays, I can honestly say I will miss him. Not in the sense that I liked facing him, but that I enjoyed watching him. It's a lot like when the Orioles dealt Erik Bedard. It's been fun Roy, and I hope you pitch well...just not that well.

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