Anybody catch the game? I'm a diehard baseball fan and that was one of the more entertaining games I've seen in a long time. I'm glad the umpires got the call right in the 7th inning, even if the home plate ump derped it up the first by calling "time" as he panicked.
It was great series and the Bautista homerun ranks as possibly the 5th most important hit in the franchise's history, behind...
1. Joe Carter's walk off home run in the 1993 World Series vs the Phillies to win Toronto's second championship in two years.
2. Roberto Alomar's home run in the 9th inning of the 1992 ALCS vs Dennis Eckerlsley to tie the deciding game at 6-6.
3. Ed Sprague's 9th inning, pinch hit home run off Jeff Reardon, to win game 2 vs the Braves in the 1992 World series.
4. Candy Maldonado's game winning single off Jeff Reardon in the 9th inning vs the Braves in game 3 of the 1992 World Series. The first World Series game north of the 49th parallel.
Note: I thought Texas was really gritty and I felt for Elvis Andrus. That was disastrous inning that he won't live down for a long time. The guy must just feel awful today. If you're a professional athlete, an inning like that is the stuff that nightmares are made of.
Note: I've see a lot of American news outlets and people commenting on the game, saying that Toronto has the "worst", "most classless", "awful" fans because they were throwing beer cans on the field yesterday. I've seen many people go as far as to say that Canada shouldn't have an MLB team and that Canadian fans know nothing about baseball, etc, etc... While admittedly, the scene was somewhere embarrassing, keep in mind that of the 50,000+ at Rogers Centre, it was only a handful in the grand scheme of things that were actually throwing things. The vast majority of Jays fans (predominantly Canadians) are quality sports fans, just like every over franchise.
I reminded several Americans of just TWO incidents that came off the top of my head...
1. Last weekend in Dallas, after the Patriots crushed the Cowboys, a mob of (presumably) Cowboys fans cheered and encouraged a fellow fan to shoot an opposing fan in the head after the game... In Canada, fans throw beer cans. In the U.S. people get shot in the head at sporting events.
2. A couple years back, a 24 year old Dodgers fan was stabbed to death while leaving the baseball field in San Francisco, simply for wearing his Dodgers jersey in the "wrong territory"... In Canada, fans throw beer cans. In the U.S. people get stabbed to death for being part of the opposition's fan base.
Now, with that said, I still love American sports and I certainly don't paint the Cowboys' or Giant's ENTIRE fan base as classless criminals because of a few deplorable acts...
A very good friend of mine, who happens to be American, said this to me yesterday when he called me to talk about the game...
"I wouldn't worry about them painting your entire fan base as classless, you have to remember that while we (Americans) love our country, this is the ultimate bastion of hypocrisy. Fare, or not, we expect people from other countries to uphold a moral standard far above that of which many Americans are capable of."
I responded:"It's not just Americans, we do it too. Everyone does."
The point is to remember that the "few" don't necessarily represent the "majority".
Bring on the Royals! I absolutely cannot stand that team and I know the tension is going to be high between the two teams! I really hope that Toronto is able to get under their talented, but volatile skin. If I'm Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion, etc, etc, I'm "bat flipping" every single home run I hit!
It was great series and the Bautista homerun ranks as possibly the 5th most important hit in the franchise's history, behind...
1. Joe Carter's walk off home run in the 1993 World Series vs the Phillies to win Toronto's second championship in two years.
2. Roberto Alomar's home run in the 9th inning of the 1992 ALCS vs Dennis Eckerlsley to tie the deciding game at 6-6.
3. Ed Sprague's 9th inning, pinch hit home run off Jeff Reardon, to win game 2 vs the Braves in the 1992 World series.
4. Candy Maldonado's game winning single off Jeff Reardon in the 9th inning vs the Braves in game 3 of the 1992 World Series. The first World Series game north of the 49th parallel.
Note: I thought Texas was really gritty and I felt for Elvis Andrus. That was disastrous inning that he won't live down for a long time. The guy must just feel awful today. If you're a professional athlete, an inning like that is the stuff that nightmares are made of.
Note: I've see a lot of American news outlets and people commenting on the game, saying that Toronto has the "worst", "most classless", "awful" fans because they were throwing beer cans on the field yesterday. I've seen many people go as far as to say that Canada shouldn't have an MLB team and that Canadian fans know nothing about baseball, etc, etc... While admittedly, the scene was somewhere embarrassing, keep in mind that of the 50,000+ at Rogers Centre, it was only a handful in the grand scheme of things that were actually throwing things. The vast majority of Jays fans (predominantly Canadians) are quality sports fans, just like every over franchise.
I reminded several Americans of just TWO incidents that came off the top of my head...
1. Last weekend in Dallas, after the Patriots crushed the Cowboys, a mob of (presumably) Cowboys fans cheered and encouraged a fellow fan to shoot an opposing fan in the head after the game... In Canada, fans throw beer cans. In the U.S. people get shot in the head at sporting events.
2. A couple years back, a 24 year old Dodgers fan was stabbed to death while leaving the baseball field in San Francisco, simply for wearing his Dodgers jersey in the "wrong territory"... In Canada, fans throw beer cans. In the U.S. people get stabbed to death for being part of the opposition's fan base.
Now, with that said, I still love American sports and I certainly don't paint the Cowboys' or Giant's ENTIRE fan base as classless criminals because of a few deplorable acts...
A very good friend of mine, who happens to be American, said this to me yesterday when he called me to talk about the game...
"I wouldn't worry about them painting your entire fan base as classless, you have to remember that while we (Americans) love our country, this is the ultimate bastion of hypocrisy. Fare, or not, we expect people from other countries to uphold a moral standard far above that of which many Americans are capable of."
I responded:"It's not just Americans, we do it too. Everyone does."
The point is to remember that the "few" don't necessarily represent the "majority".
Bring on the Royals! I absolutely cannot stand that team and I know the tension is going to be high between the two teams! I really hope that Toronto is able to get under their talented, but volatile skin. If I'm Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion, etc, etc, I'm "bat flipping" every single home run I hit!
