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rfmcdonaldThe impact of the Toronto Blue Jays' actually entering the Major League Baseball championships versus the Texas Rangers, more than two decades after the Blue Jays' 1992 victory, has been huge. The idea of having a potentially victorious sports Has struck me almost as disorienting, a real novelty. Others ... blogTO's photo feature of the "Blue Jays Nest" at Toronto City Hall where fans watch the games together, or Transit Toronto on the TTC service disruptions wrought by the thousands going to see the game. That the Blue Jays have not done well--well, I point you to Bruce Arthur's Toronto Star article written after the first loss. (One more to go?)
Toronto waited 22 years for this. Well, not this, exactly. There was a moment where the first Toronto Blue Jays playoff game in over two decades appeared to morph from disappointment to disaster, a grease fire that spreads to the drapes. Things went wrong. Then more things. The roof was closed, for some stupid reason, but it felt like it was caving in.
“It’s not the end of the world,” said catcher Russell Martin, in French, after a 5-3 loss to the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the best-of-five American League Division Series. “I can only speak for myself, but I’m ready for tomorrow already.”
Before anybody hyperventilates, this wasn’t fatal. It was just an awful way to play the first playoff baseball game in more than two decades in this town. That’s all.
“I know it’s there,” said ace David Price, who became the first pitcher in major-league history to lose his first six post-season starts, and admitted to some healthy, natural nerves. “I know it’s there. Hopefully (a win) comes in my next start. And if not, my next one, and my next one.”
There’s no guarantee Price will start another game for the Blue Jays, and that’s up to everyone else. Price just wasn’t very good: he hit three batters all season, and two on Thursday. He allowed home runs to the number eight and nine hitters in the Rangers lineup. He wasn’t an ace. It happens.
