Rookies bring down the Red Sox
Henderson Alvarez held them scoreless for six innings. Dwayne Wise made a spectacular diving catch to rob Carl Crawford of a leadoff triple in extras. Brett Lawrie absolutely crushed Dan Wheeler’s offer to centrefield.
When it was all said and done the 160 million dollar Red Sox were left checking their programs to see who the hell had just beat them. And you just know it made for a cranky bunch in the visitor’s club house when the dust settled on today’s 1-0 victory. The look of shock on Boston’s faces countered with the expression of pure joy on Lawrie’s as he rounded the bases was pure gold. In a long season, games like today remind me why I’m a Jays fan.
It was fun to watch Lawrie leap and stomp home plate but I couldn’t help but think of Kendry Morales. Still hard to believe Morales hasn’t played since May of 2010. Fortunately Lawrie managed to celebrate his walk off without putting his career at risk.
If there was any bad news to come out of today it was that Josh Beckett left the game with an injury. It’s not that I’m worried about his health but as a Jays fan I love when he pitches. The Jays always light him up.
Of course today was the good. This past weekend was the ugly as the New York Yankees swept away the patchwork Jays lineup. It was frustrating but as I mentioned before, all part of the process. While they did go 0-3, the Jays did show some signs of being able to hang with the big boys. If not for a big inning in the 9th of yesterday’s game the Jays would have only been outscored 9-13 in the series.
It’s a big if, but IF the Jays can win tomorrow against Jon Lester they’ll have Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero lined up to close out the series. Good chance to take 3 of 4 or at least earn a split.
Blue Jays Nest 
Nice win! Good game!
I know what you mean about thinking about Kendrys when you see something like that. I know folks like to make it sound like he was dancing a jig on homeplate, generally acting like an ass and deserved what he got, but all he did was jump up and down once and land terribly. Without the landing part, it’s something two or three guys on every team in the MLB do every time they go yard and 99.999999999999% of the time, it’s harmless, understandable exuberance. Our Mark Trumbo likes to jump on home plate once every time he hits a homer and every time he jumps on that plate, I cringe.
— Kristen
I love it when rookies take down big-money teams! I’m a Rays fan though, so no surprise. I think Brett Lawrie is having a great rookie season so far, and has a good chance to win the ROY next year. I just published an article about AL rookies actually: http://yossif.mlblogs.com/2011/09/06/the-rookie-of-the-year-debate/
The Rays Rant (http://yossif.mlblogs.com/)
I agree with you and Kristen everytime I see someone leaping when arriving at home plate. Though home plate is flat, the edges of it are angled. A walk off home run is exciting to watch and Brett Lawrie has been exciting for the Jays this year. It should be a good series.
Wayne
http://giantorture.mlblogs.com