Results tagged ‘ Alex Gonzalez ’
Blue Jays 10, Athletics 2
The Blue Jays showed off their good friend the long ball yet again, this time going yard three times in a 10-2 win over Oakland. Alex Gonzalez, who is the biggest positive surprise of the early season for Toronto, hit a pair of long shots to give him seven on the year, while Vernon Wells went deep for his eighth. Brandon Morrow pitched well in a six inning outing, fanning nine batters and allowing just two earned runs.
The Good:
Alex Gonzalez: Drove in four runs, hit two home runs and scored twice. He’s back from his slump.
Vernon Wells: Three hits, two RBI, one home run and two runs scored to boost his average to .337.
The Bad:
Fred Lewis: Went 0-for-5 and left four runners on. When you consider there was no one on base the first time he came up, that’s four runners LOB in as many plate appearances. His average is now down to .200.
Cito Gaston: I’m a Gaston guy, but his calls have been sketchy this season. With A-Gonz swinging a hot bat, Gaston elected to pinch hit John McDonald … who promptly hit into a double play.
Buck Watch: Yikes. Buck was in fine form during this one:
Pat Tabler: “Did I read somewhere that [Oakland starter] Cahill was a shortstop?”
Buck: “A lot of these guys are athletic and were shortstops, yeah.”
Way to just give an answer that means nothing. But that wasn’t his best gem on the night.
Buck, after Gonzalez’ first home run: “With six home runs in the month of April, Alex Gonzalez sets Toronto’s new franchise record for home runs by a shortstop in the month of April, breaking the previous record of five set by Marco Scutaro in 2003.”
Scutaro, of course, was in the New York Mets system in 2003, playing just 48 Big League games and spending the rest of the campaign in the minors. His big home run season was last year with Toronto.
Royals 4, Blue Jays 3
The Blue Jays failed to sweep their home series against Kansas City yesterday, with a 4-3 loss in 10 innings. After trailing until the eighth inning, the Jays tied the score at three to push for extras. But Scott Downs gave up a two-out, solo home run to Royals third baseman Alex Gordon in the 10th and the Jays failed to equal things in the home half of the inning. All in all, it was a sub-.500 homestand, but not bad considering the absence of Aaron Hill and Edwin Encarnacion.
Hill will rejoin the club tomorrow in Tampa, while Encarnacion and Brian Tallet were added to the 15 day DL yesterday, retroactive back to the day after their last games.
The Good:
Fred Lewis: The speedy fielder had perhaps his best game as a Jay, with a hit, and RBI, a steal and a run scored.
Alex Gonzalez: After cooling off a bit, the shortstop swung a hot bat again in the loss, hitting his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning (a two-run shot).
Shaun Marcum: He’s still looking for that elusive first win, but in seven innings of work, was strong with six hits allowed and only three runs against, while fanning six batters and only walking one.
The Bad:
Lyle Overbay: Went 0-for-4 again, with three strikeouts.
Vernon Wells: See Overbay’s line.
Buck Watch: N/A. This one wasn’t on TV, so I caught a wonderful radio broadcast by Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby. You can’t beat baseball on the radio!
5-1!
What another bunch of late-game heroics for the Blue Jays. After a bit of a snoozer for the first seven innings, the Toronto offence finally woke up just in time. A monster eighth, including home runs by Alex Gonzalez and Jose Bautista, paved the way to a Toronto comeback against Baltimore. Toronto edged the O’s 5-2 after trailing until the eighth inning. In the ninth, Edwin Encarnacion added an insurance home run to help out the cause.
The Good:
Alex Gonzalez: Two home runs for a guy the Jays picked up to help out defensively is a real asset. Gonzalez now has four home runs through six games.
Casey Janssen: Six games into the season, Janssen has three wins. Talk about pitching well, but also being in the right place at the right time.
The Bad:
Lyle Overbay: Toronto’s 1B went 0-4 to drop his season average to .087, yikes.
John Buck: Had an 0-for day as well.
Numbers Game: The number of Toronto’s stolen bases through six games: 1. Alex Gonzalez has the lone Blue Jays steal.
Buck Watch: No Buck today! Sam Cosentino did play-by-play today for the first time that I’ve heard, at least. He filled in admirably. There were times he didn’t appear comfortable, but being alongside longtime colour man Pat Tabler must’ve helped. Either way, I’d take Cosentino over Buck, but I expect Buck’ll be back before long.
Watchability: I’ll admit I was flipping back and forth between this one and the Masters for the first handful of innings, but the late game heroics were awesome. The eighth inning was great, and helps this game early three and a half balls out of five.
malcolmmacmillan
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