Archive for the ‘Home Opener’ Category

OK, so now that I’ve got my post about how it’s ridiculous to hate-on Sergio Santos is out of the way, HOLY FUCK, SERGIO SANTOS. Which I say, obviously, not in a shoulda-got-a-proven-closer, sky-is-falling, I’m-a-giant-reactionary-twat-who-can’t-control-my-emotions-type way. It’s just, the blown save was pretty much the worst thing ever for a lot of reasons.

For one, it truly was a punch in the fucking gut after it looked like the Jays had a good chance to pull out a tense ballgame, even if you never really feel fully confident– Santos struggling or not– staring at Pedroia, Gonzalez and Youkilis to start the ninth.

For two, for obvious reasons, it really dampened what was, to that point, a terrific atmosphere.

For three, it means more days of having to hold Chicken Little’s hand through concepts like “sample size” and “the season is 162 goddamn games long.”

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The Toronto Star sent photographer Lucas Oleniuk to the Jays opener last night, with the task of producing “ a series of animated picture files” which are “made by selectively capturing elements of a series of pictures displayed in succession and reverse.”

If the assignment was to create mind-bending creep-tacular tableaus of weirdness, then missing accomplished!

Check out several more, much bigger in size, at the rather cool Toronto Star photo blog.

It’s the Home Opener! The St Patrick’s Day, Halloween and New Year’s Eve all-rolled-into-one of the baseball calendar. Welcome back, all you bad drunks, loud drunks, fightin’ drunks, first-time drunks, and respectable, civilized adult functioning drunks! It’s baseball!

Most of all, a giant welcome back to the Jays gorgeous fucking uniforms, which we’ll see, on-field, tonight for the very first time. Again. All is finally right with the world.

Scuttlebutt

We’ve already covered most of it throughout the day, but let’s recap, and then add to it:

- Rajai Davis gets the start ahead of Eric Thames, and Adam Lind is dropped in the batting order, both as lefty-related maneuvering.

- The Jays are limiting beer sales in the 500s tonight to one drink per person per transaction. Some people have been confused: you’re not cut off after one beer, you just have to go get another one– and if every other home opener is any indication, that’s going to mean waiting in a ridiculous line.

- Jack Moore of FanGraphs dissects Chris Perez’s unbel-mazing-lieveably awesome blown save.

- At Getting Blanked, Parkes has the most easily-watchable Red Sox fan ever. Because he hates them. And is amazing.

- John Farrell has a pre-game talk with Bob McCown, Stephen Brunt and that thick-headed guy on the Fan 590.

- And John Lott of the National Post does a nice job looking at Home Opener’s past and present.

TV: Sportsnet

And now tonight’s lineups, by way of the live box score at theScore.com…

Toronto Blue Jays

Y. Escobar SS
K. Johnson 2B
J. Bautista RF
E. Encarnacion DH
A. Lind 1B
B. Lawrie 3B
R. Davis LF
J. Arencibia C
C. Rasmus CF

H. Alvarez RHP

Boston Red Sox

J. Ellsbury CF
D. Pedroia 2B
A. Gonzalez 1B
K. Youkilis 3B
D. Ortiz DH
C. Ross LF
R. Sweeney RF
J. Saltalamacchia C
M. Aviles SS

F. Doubront LHP

Demonstrating something resembling an actual understanding of certain players’ limitations against left-handed pitching, and Ben Francisco’s redundant-at-fucking-best position on the club’s roster, Blue Jays manager John Farrell has done some tweaking to his lineup heading into tonight’s Home Opener against lefty Felix Doubront of the Red Sox.

Rajai Davis replaces Eric “the Butcher” Thames in left field, while Adam Lind is dropped to fifth in the order, with Edwin Encarnacion hitting cleanup.

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Twitterer @yourbestfred sent out this pic from his hotel room at Rogers Centre this afternoon, and… um… I really hope that’s temporary. (Note: They’re cards). Or some kind of optical illusion. Or somehow, at the very least, not Rogers once a-fucking-gain trying to stuff corporately-branded patriotism down our throats in a way that we understand is positively cringe-worthy when we see Americans do it. Are they afraid we’re going to forget which country we’re in?

Look… I like Canada, and I like baseball, but what the two have to do with one another, I will never fucking understand. Y’know, beyond when grotesquely rich companies create crass marketing ploys premised on the idea that people outside of Toronto are dumb enough to believe that by pushing red and white in their faces, the club is acknowledging their existence, and validating their desire to watch the games and spend money on the product being pushed. I don’t hate the flag, I actually like it enough to not appreciate it being crudely exploited by folks who clearly understand the power of patriotism to help their bottom line. Of course, since I have a problem with mindless, maple-dick, sign-every-Canadian-ever patriotism, too– which never goes over well– I realize I’m probably going to be in minority on this one as well.

I’ll say it again, though: ugh. Please stop shoving the flag in our faces. (And fuck off with the National Anthems, while you’re at it.)

Update: You can see what the cards on the other side of the field look like here.