I purposely didn’t start yesterday’s game report right away because I needed some time to take in all of the commentary, and work through for myself the implications of everything that happened.
So, let’s start with this: Jose Bautista must be planning a major “good luck” clubhouse gift to the Toronto Raptors in advance of the first game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals tomorrow night. The shocking picture of Bautista’s glasses flying and his head snapping back under the impact of Roughned Odor’s wild sucker punch was the shot seen ’round the entire baseball world, making front pages everywhere that baseball is news.
Except in Toronto, where the shenanigans that transpired yesterday afternoon under the sun at faux-beautiful Global Life Park were shoved off all the front pages by an even bigger story, the historic second-round game-seven playoff win by the Raptors, who annihilated the Indiana Pacers to move on to the Eastern Conference finals against King Lebron and the Cleveland Cavaliers. So thanks, Raps, for having Jose’s back, though in a somewhat different way than what we saw from the loyal Kevin Pillar, who showed himself once again to be fearless when the trumpet sounds.
I liked the bat flip. Not just because it said “Look at me”, which, love him or hate him, Bautista declares with every action on the field. It said so much more than that. It said, “Take that Harold Reynolds, say something stupid about Canada now.” It said, “Beat us if you can, but do it on the field.” It said, “You want to win with a cheap run but you don’t have the cojones to pick up the ball when it comes to you? This is how you win a ball game!”
Of course the Rangers hated the bat flip, but then to spend all winter brooding—and bellyaching—about it, when they had only themselves to blame for losing to the Jays? Seriously? I’m not sure if I’d share Manager John Gibbons epithet of “gutless” to refer to the Rangers’ display yesterday, but it is interesting that they waited until they were on friendly ground to retaliate. And that they waited until they had the fewest possible at-bats left against Jays’ hurlers before taking a retaliatory shot at Bautista. And that their chosen agent of revenge was a recently-called-up rookie whose loss to the team won’t much matter. (In fact, has anyone questioned why Matt Bush was even left on the mound to face Bautista, improbably tasked with holding the one-run lead they had just acquired, in only his second major-league appearance?) And that the guy who turned the usual baseball dance-me-around-again Willy of a “fight” into something very real and dangerous is arguably one of the dirtiest and most obnoxious players in the league.
Odor told reporters Monday that he had to protect himself, presumably both against the famous Bautista death stare, and against being plowed at second. I’m not impressed with the rowdy Roughned’s “I thought he was going to hit me so I hit him first” defence. I also suspect that, like many of today’s players, he’s not exactly steeped in the lore of the game. If he had ever seen any of the grainy footage of Ty Cobb flying into second, his sharpened spikes two feet off the ground, he would know not to suggest that Bautista’s slide was anything exceptional. If anything, the way Bautista went into second made it clear that his only point was to make a point, and certainly not to hurt Odor. Having seen footage of some of Odor’s own more flagrant takeouts at second, I’m not sure if I could say the same about his respect for his opponents.
My last observation on this entire debacle focuses on Gibbie’s appearance in the fray. His sang-froid never fails to amuse me. He’d already been ejected in the third inning, and he knew he was going to face major repercussions for going back on the field, yet there he was, out there supporting his boys and getting his two cents’ worth in, heedless of the consequences. And, as always, looking as if he had just been awakened from a nice long nap, and didn’t know exactly where he was, or what day it was, or what was going on. Gotta love him, even when you want him gone!
The game? What about the game? Oh, that. Yeah, there was a game yesterday, and yeah, the Jays should have won, and yeah, the bullpen coughed it up again, but is any of that news on a day like yesterday?
I’m sorry, of course it is. The match-up was Aaron Sanchez, hoping to continue to enjoy the roll he has been on, against Cesar Ramos, who drew the spot start for the Rangers. The choice fell on Ramos presumably because the Rangers wanted to start a lefthander against the Jays, and they wanted any lefty whose name wasn’t Derek Holland. Sanchez worked as advertised and remained on the hill, having given up one run through the first four, while Ramos laboured mightily and wriggled off the hook several times before giving it up to reliever Andrew Faulkner with one out in the Jays’ fifth. Faulkner induced Edwin Encarnacion to ground into a double play to extract himself from the bases-loaded mess he inherited from Ramos, and the Rangers came to bat in the home half of the fifth with the teams tied at one.
With two out, catcher Bryan Holaday’s double to centre cashed in Ryan Rua, giving the Rangers a temporary two-one lead. Rua had reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Elvis Andrus, whom Sanchez had walked with one out. Oh those bases on balls. The undisciplined (ya think?) Odor fanned to end the inning, leaving Holaday to die at second.
That brings us to the sixth, and in retrospect it occurs that maybe the Rangers didn’t plan the coming brouhaha in advance. Maybe it was the events of the sixth that brought all the ghosts of Game Five out of their coffins to dance again on the field, and it was all just too much for the poor Rangers’ sensitive little souls.
Troy Tulowitzki led off with a single up the middle. Cue the ghosts, as Michael Saunders hit a double-play grounder to Odor, who decided in hounour of the NBA playoffs, to dribble the ball instead of going to second with it. All hands safe. At this point, Rangers’ manager Jeff Bannister, who seems to like the feel of a noose around his neck, turned the ball over to Jay-lover and all-round good guy Tom Wilhelmson. Russell Martin grounded to Adrian Beltre at third, who threw to second for the force on Saunders. Though it wasn’t really a double-play ball, the Rangers challenged Saunders’ slide at second, and lost. First and third, one out. Darwin Barney surprised everyone by whimsically laying down a bunt that didn’t escape catcher Holaday’s range. While the latter clutched the ball and waited hopefully, lest Tulo might run into him on a failed safety squeeze, like the groom waiting for the bride at the alter, Barney scampered to first, left uncovered by first baseman Mitch Moreland who was charging in for the bunt. Bases loaded for Pillar, who grounded into a 6-4 force, finally scoring Tulo to tie the game. His spurned suitor Holaday did not greet him with a kiss at the plate.
Wilhelmson, indulging his obvious flair for the dramatic, proceeded to walk Josh Donaldson, just so that he could have the pleasure of facing Bautista with the bases loaded and two outs in a tie ball game. Now I hate that stupid expression “deja vu all over again”, but it does seem to come up rather often, doesn’t it? True to form, Bautista shot a double past Ian Desmond in centre to clear the bases and vault our heroes into a five-two lead. Bannister, dancing with the one he brung, stayed with Wilhelmson, even after he hit Edwin Encarnacion on the first pitch, which strangely did not precipitate a brawl, and was rewarded, in a manner of speaking, when Justin Smoak went down swinging.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Rangers got one back on Adrian Beltre’s solo homer to centre, but there were already two outs and no reason to worry as Sanchez faced the still struggling Fielder who continued to play his role to perfection by grounding meekly back to the mound to end the inning. Just to show what a nice guy he was, Bannister even sent Wilhelmson back out to the mound to help the Jays out a bit more. But after he loaded the bases with no one out on a double to centre by Tulo, a single to right by Michael Saunders, and a walk issued to Russell Martin, even Bannister knew that it was time to get his beleaguered righty out of the game.
Enter, to ominous rumblings from the gods above, Matt Bush, who had made his major league debut against the Jays on Friday night. How ironic is it that Bush had spent some time in the Jays’ organization on his long road to the majors that also included a significant amount of time spent in jail for numerous DUI charges. His is one of those feel-good rehabilitation stories that should make you want to root for the guy. Now? Not so much, though I doubt that what transpired in the eighth was at all his idea. Bush acquitted himself well in the seventh to limit the damage to one run on a sacrifice fly by Pillar, and we moved to the bottom of the seventh with the Jays having re-established their three-run lead.
Sanchez had thrown only 83 pitches to this point but immediately got into trouble, giving up a double to Moreland, who advanced to third on a single by Andrus, and scored as Ryan Rua grounded into a double play, cutting the lead to two, but providing hope that Sanchez might finish the inning with the lead intact at two. But he never quite got into the barn to cool out in peace, as he prolonged the inning with a walk to Holaday and an infield single by the odious Odor. That was enough for Gibbie, who clearly didn’t think that the third out was in the cards for Sanchez, and called on Jesse Chavez to do the job. Well Chavez did get the third out, a Beltre pop up to first, but only after he had allowed a three-run homer to Ian Desmond, followed by a Nomar Mazara single. Heading to the crazy eighth, the Rangers had taken a 7-6 lead.
For some reason, it didn’t seem peculiar to me that Bannister sent Bush back out to the mound when it was absolutely time to call on the Rangers’ setup man. Of course when he immediately drilled Bautista with his first pitch of the inning, my “ah-ha” moment came just as home plate umpire Dan Iassogna was issuing warnings to both benches. A lot of people are wondering why he didn’t eject Bush immediately, without a warning, which is his prerogative under the rules. Then Encarnacion skied to right, causing Bannister to bring in lefty Jake Diekman to turn the switch-hitting Smoak around, and setting up the fateful play. Diekman did his job, of course, getting the double-play ball out of Smoak to end the inning, but as we all know, it was just a bit more complicated than that.
With all that seemingly out of the way, it was time to move on, except for one little matter. Chavez returned to the mound to start the bottom of the eighth, and there can be no doubt that he only planned to throw one pitch. Facing automatic ejection for hitting a batter after the warning had been given, he was already heading for the dugout when that pitch bounced off Prince Fielder’s padded thigh. Cue the evacuation of the dugouts again, but this time the exchange played itself out, and quickly fizzled with no further mayhem. Chad Girodo and Roberto Osuna combined to dispatch the Rangers with just an Osuna walk to Ryan Rua, and the denouement was well and truly in progress.
Shawn Tolleson being both burned and in Bannister’s doghouse, Sam Dyson came in to close things out. Thus returned to the fray one of the main actors in last year’s farce, perhaps causing the blood to stir among the multitudes, but it really was over before it was over this time. The Jays went quickly and meekly on three ground balls, as Dyson had to throw only eight pitches to finish the game. Not lost on the astute observer was that the road trip, on which the Jays could conceivably have gone 6 and 0, left them with a 3-3 sawoff, and an extremely bitter taste in their mouths. In all three losses they had been leading or tied late in the game, and all three losses were by the thin margin of one run. Time to come home, indeed.
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