Introducing...the 2010 Toronto Blue Jays!

Yes, that is correct. As the title suggests, this will be the first blog post on the Jays. Many pleasant things have occurred this year for the team. They are 10-7 at the moment and currently sit 3rd in the American League's East division behind the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees. OK, that doesn't equal a playoff berth but at least the team has a winning record! This brings me to last night's game vs the Tampa Bay Rays, which was played at Minute Maid Park in Tampa Bay. The Jays defeated Tampa 6-5 behind 4 1st-inning runs off a double to left-field by outfielder Vernon Wells which scored Jays leadoff hitter Fred Lewis and moved Adam Lind to 3rd base. Next up, Alex Gonzalez hit a 2-run single to center-field which scored both Vernon Wells and Adam Lind and moved Gonzalez up to 2nd. These plays all added up to give the Jays a 3-0 lead. To finish up the frame, Jose Bautista doubled to left-field on a fly-ball out to Rays left fielder Carl Crawford. This scored Alex Gonzalez and gave Toronto a 4-0 lead. After that, Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza got the final out and that was the end of the top of the 1st. There would be no more scoring until the top of the 4th inning when Lyle Overbay doubled to Rays right-fielder Gabe Kapler, scoring Vernon Wells. The Jays now lead 5-0. All looked cozy and snug for T.O. until the bottom of the 5th when Tampa Bay finally scored behind Willie Aybar's fly-ball solo home run to left field, which made the score 5-1 in favour of the Jays. After this, Tampa Bay decided to change pitchers: Matt Garza left (having given up an uninspiring 5 runs up to this point) and reliever Grant Balfour came on to replace him. After that, Jays star Aaron Hill belted a solo home run to left field in the top of the 6th to make it 6-1 Toronto. After that, the Jays nearly gave the game away to Tampa Bay. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Ben Zobrist doubled to center-field, scoring Gabe Kapler to make it 6-2 Jays. However, that was just the beginning; the fireworks were still to come. In the bottom of the 7th, Gabe Kapler homered a fly ball to left field, scoring Willie Aybar. This made it only a 2-run advantage for Toronto: 6-4. It grew even worse for Toronto, as B.J. Upton singled to right fielder Travis Snider in the bottom of the 8th, scoring Ben Zobrist to make it 6-5 in favour of the Jays. However, the Jays held on behind reliever Jason Frasor as he was able to get the final 3 outs in the bottom of the 9th to preserve the win. He got the save while Matt Garza received the loss. The winner for the Jays was starter Brett Cecil, who was absolutely masterful in the game last night. He struck out 8 Tampa batters and had all of his pitches working, while Garza had runners on base in almost every inning and had trouble pitching strikes; he struggled mightily. This was especially the case in the top of the 1st inning where Garza threw an incredibly high 40 pitches! Yes, that's right, 40 pitches! I strongly believe that this set the tone for the game and made it too difficult for Tampa to complete their comeback. Every time Tampa seemed to be on the verge of making it, the Blue Jay pitchers shut the door. All in all, this was a solid victory for the team and they should be pleased with their overall effort. One other note must be made before I close...Rays catcher Dioner Navarro was ejected out of the game by home plate umpire Dan Bellino in the top of the 6th inning. This happened after Aaron Hill's solo home run had given the Jays a 6-1 lead at that time. So there's the game; the Jays win 6-5 and take the 1st game of a 3-game series. The next one for the team is TODAY at 6:10 PM in Tampa Bay. You can watch the game on the Rogers Sportsnet TV channel. Have a good one! Here is the recap for the game: Jays vs Rays