Happening Elsewhere: Lucky 17 For the Blue Jays

While Roy Halladay was inching out a heart-palpitating win against the Mets yesterday afternoon, a much less-heralded pitcher on his old team was doing work north of the border. Blue Jays pitcher Brandon Morrow, on loan from the Dallas Stars for the NHL off-season, took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Rays. With two outs, Evan Longoria slapped a hard grounder to second which Aaron Hill was unable to field cleanly, not only ending the no-hitter, but threatening the win, since it made two men on with just a 1-0 lead for the Jays. Then Morrow struck out Dan Johnson--his 17th K of the game--to preserve the good ol' complete game shut out.

It seemed like after the game, the reporters and analysts were treating the game's end result as a disappointment, due to the broken-up no-no. But let me repeat it for the cheap seats out there: SEVENTEEN F'ING STRIKEOUTS. That's, like, real hard to do. It's easily the single-game best for anyone this season, and certainly the most in the majors for some time--no one's struck out more than 17 in a game since Ben Sheets fanned 18 for Milwaukee in '04. Even in this over-hyped Year of the Pitcher, that means something. "That
would have been a great feat," said Morrow of the lost no-hitter, showing both perspective and probably a healthy dose of sarcasm, "But I’ll start at a complete-game, one-hit shutout
with 17 strikeouts.” 

Amazingly, this might not even have been the Blue Jays' most notable game of the weekend. Just a day earlier, they began their humiliation of the Rays from the other end of the diamond, clubbing eight home runs on their way to matching Morrow's K total with an impressive 17-run performance. Among those going yard were outfielder Jose Bautista, who currently leads the majors with 34 dingers (somehow), and rookie catcher J.P. Arencibia, who marked his debut in the majors by going 4-5 with two homers. It's hard to look up stats on how long it's been since the Blue Jays led SportsCenter two days in a row, but I'm guessing it was well before Mitch Williams started working at the MLB Network. 

Hey, don't sleep on those Blue Jays--they've won seven of their last ten, they're getting it done on both ends, and they're up to seven games over .500 now. Oh wait, they still play in the AL East? Never mind. Go back to sleep.