What a great start to the 2011 Blue Jays season! First, by honouring Toronto's first pair of baseball hall of famers, Roberto Alomar and Pat Gillick in front of a sold out Rogers Centre. The crowd was so loud it was defining. I was getting goose bumps and a little teary eyed during Alomar's speech and the fans response (I am not afraid to admit that).
Game one looked as if the Jays picked up exactly where they left from 2010. They pounded Carl Pavano and the Minnesota Twins 13-3 thanks to a brilliant start from new ace, Rickey Romero and four homeruns from their high powered offence. J.P. Arencibia has probably had two of t he best first games any player could have. With his brilliant two homerun performance in his big league debut in August last season, he adds to that with another two homerun night in his first opening day in the majors. I briefly chatted with his mother after the game, while she was taking pictures of her son being interviewed and recieving the complimentary shaving cream pie. She thinks this team is very close and very exciting with their young nucleus of talent.
In game two, we saw Kyle Drabek dominate a good Twins line-up by no-hitting them into the sixth inning to earn his first career win. The Blue Jays showed patience against Twins left-hander. Fransico Liriano, as he struggled to find the strikes zone walking five batters. Jose Molina got the Jays on the board early in the third by taking the first pitch he sees just over the left field wall for Toronto's fifth homerun in only 11 innings.. Jayson Nix made a big impact in his debut as a Blue Jay, knocking out his first homerun and making a couple great defensive plays at the hot corner as Toronto won 6-1 and take the series.
But the Jays were looking for the opening weekend sweep yesterday afternoon sending Brett Cecil to the mound. He looked solid in the first inning by striking out the side (and getting in the fans side as they were only four strikeouts away from free pizza, but sadly missed out by one). But he struggled with his command a bit walking two and giving up a solo homerun to Danny Valencia in the third. Toronto made it an exciting ninth ining. With the bases loaded and down by one, Adam Lind decides to swing at the first pitch after Jose Bautista battled back from an 0-2 count to work a walk, only to ground out to first and lose 4-3.
It was nice to see the fans at the ballpark this weekend with over 110,000 for the first series. Yes, opening night is always a sell out, and yes, starting the season over the weekend does help. But last season games two and three were ridiculously tiny. Maybe 20,000 combined the next two games. I think the youth of the team and excitement (and Jose Bautista bobble head day) brought the fans out. I just hope it will continue because these guys deserve all the support they can get. They work hard and if you watched the bottom of the ninth yesterday, you see they will not give up until the final out is recorded. They will hit their fair share of homeruns again, but they are going to utilize their speed with stolen bases, taking the extra base on a ball it into the gap and play and exciting brand of baseball.
I hope to see you at the ballpark this season!
Chase
Twitter: @ChaseHadden
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