One Hell of a Series..

This weekends trip to Toronto to catch the Jays play host to the Red Sox was awesome. Those Boston fans who came to Toronto wondering what happened to their beloved Sox, while Toronto fans got a chance to gloat after sweeping the defending world series champs in their opening home series.

The home opener started off with a honouring of Roberto Alomar and Paul Beeston, the former club president who was the club's first employee in 1976. Both had their names placed onto the Level of Excellence. It great to see Toronto play homage to two of the key individuals in the Jays back to back series wins. I'm sure that in the future both will receive consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame.



The game was a near sell out (empty seats thanks to the scalpers unsold tickets). Definately a rowdy bunch and a good mix both Toronto and Boson fans. I liked seeing the Jays powder blue uniforms return. The Jays will be wearing these every Friday. Our seats were up in the 500s, but we got a great view of the field. Marcum pitched a great game, going seven strong innings with 8 k's. I have to admit that Boston did look sluggish out on the field.

The Saturday game featered Clay Buchholz vs. Jesse Litsch, and the Jays youngster outpitched one of Boston's young arms for the win. Buchholz did strike out seven, but the Sox bullpen struggled. Frank Thomas hit his first home run of the season and Alex Rios showed that he was going to be a big time threat this year with two doubles.

We listened to the Sunday game driving home from Fallsview Casino, as the Jays (ok mostly Frank Thomas) shelled Josh Beckett for 5 runs in his first start of the season. Facing Doc, Beckett sounded like he was in good form until he left something juicy for Vernon Wells to drive out of the park. Beckett was pulled in the 5th inning after loading the bases. Frank Thomas, who looks far from having a "slow" start promptly parked a Delcarmen pitch in left-centre field for a grand slam leading to the Jays first sweep of the season and Doc Halladay's first win of the season. Halladay looked impressive again going 8innings with 6 k's.

I'm sure that Boston fans reading this will say that the Red Sox are suffering from being on the road for nearly a month, but I have to admit that the Jays looked really good. Marcum and Litsch seem to be great out of the 4th and 5th rotation spots and the Jays offense seems to have found its steam. Wells, Rios and Thomas are all hitting well. One thing is for sure...the Jays are not scared of the Red Sox and look to be sending a message that they are going to be everpresent in this years race for the American League East title.

Intersting Note: Ortiz was hitting .115...ouch.