This was a weird game.
First off, the non weird part. It was the first game I scored on my iPad. I’ve used the software called Scorepad for awhile now on my iPod Touch (and for a few years before that on my old Palm PDA), but now that I have an iPad, the screen real estate makes just about everything easier to do. If you have an iPhone, an iPod Touch, or an iPad, you should look at Scorepad. It’s good stuff. Anyway, about the game..
This was a very weird line game. The Blue Jays had seven runs on five hits, and three errors. The Rangers had four runs, also on five hits with an error. Two of the Jays errors came on the same play.
But we did get out first. Michael Young scored on a muffed play by Toronto third baseman Edwin Encarnacion. We had a chance to get more, as there were still runners on base, but we didn’t get anything. Toronto tied it up in the third on a ball that was a true textbook definition of wind swept home run ball. There was no way that ball should have gone out under it’s own power. Alex Gonzalez really lucked out there. It got worse in the fourth when the total number of walks given up by Rangers pitching game back to bite us.
Let’s put it this way. Between Rich Harden & Dustin Nippert, they pitched 6.1 innings. They walked NINE Blue Jays. It’s part of the reason the Blue Jays had more runs than hits. On top of that, there was a hit batter in there somewhere. But the two runs the Jays scored came on consecutive bases loaded walks. Not good. That was pretty deflating.
We got some good feeling back in the bottom of the fourth, as both Vlad Guerrero & Nelson Cruz walloped solo home runs on back to back pitches. That tied the game again at h3 in the bottom of the fourth, but that’s as close as we’d get. The Jays plated two more runs in the top of the fifth, then additional ones in the 7th & 9th.
Rich Harden was really all over the place, which was also bizarre as he struck out eight batters. Walked five. Had no control, but had enough stuff to strike out guys. It was maddening, because early on I thought if he went 7 or 8 innings, he’d strike out like 14 or 15 guys. Sigh. Darren O’Day continued to look good, and Darren Oliver gave up his first earned run of the year (including all his spring time). Overall, a not very well pitched game. Way too many walks.
On the positive side, Vlad Guerrero led what little offense we had by going 2-4. Chris Davis had a double, and Elvis Andrus singled in there, too. But Guerrero looked like old Guerrero, which was really nice to see.
Didn’t like the loss, but it’s still early. I’ll get over it quickly. Just concerned about Harden.