| 2007: The Year That Was |
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Well, that’s a wrap for the ’07 Jays. Some people like to get all misty-eyed and reminisce on the season that was while it’s still fresh in their memory and there’s no better way than compiling a highlight/lowlight list.
1) Aaron Hill’s steal of home against the Yankees on May 30. Stealing home is just a wicked badass thing to do, more so when you do it to beat the hated Yankees and their hook-nosed Mormon-believing starter Andy Pettitte. At the time, the Jays were actually a game and a half ahead of the Yankees in the standings—bet you didn’t remember that off the top of your head—and seemed to be showing signs of recovery after the horrid 9-game losing streak they opened the month with. 2) Dustin McGowan’s near no-no against the Rockies on June 24. I’ve been rooting for McGowan (aka Mr. Burns) for years now and this effort was a big raspberry to all those—including some members of the Toronto media—who’ve said he’d never live up to his potential. McGowan took his no-hitter into the 9th only to lose it to a piddly single from no. 8 hitter Jeff Baker. Not Todd Helton or Matt Holliday, but that seems to be the way she goes. He hung tough and retired the next three batters for a 1-hit complete game shutout. I picked him up in my fantasy pool that night. Solid. 3) Frank Thomas’ 500th homerun on June 28. Yes, it is still weird thinking of The Big Hurt as a Jay, but it would be remiss to overlook such a significant career milestone. He should have done it at home instead of in a getaway day game in the Metrodome, but what can you do? After an awful April/May, Thomas rebounded and put up respectable numbers considering his age and limited mobility. Let’s hope he actually chooses to take some ABs in Spring Training this year… 4) Johnny Mac’s defence. In a year when you miss the playoffs there’s room for a fluff category on your highlight list. Yes, he hits worse than a handful of NL pitchers, but he will dazzle you with the glove on a regular basis. 5) CBC Jays coverage. The venerable CBC splashed out some cash and now produces the best Jays telecasts of the club's three carriers. Jim Hughson of Hockey Night in Canada is a great play-by-play guy and the colour commentary combo of Rance Mulliniks and Jesse Barfield is fantastic. Barfield doesn’t talk much, but when he does it’s usually insightful and he pulls no punches. Rance is a much, much better commentator when he’s not talking to an infant like Jamie Campbell. TSN needs to get out of the baseball business—seriously, Rod Black and Gord Miller were the best you could find?—and Sportsnet really should get its shit together. Here’s looking forward to more CBC weekend games in ’08.
And of course, the lowlights:
1) The 9-game losing streak in early May. It pretty much killed off all playoff hopes one month into the season. Depressing. Let’s not talk of this anymore. 2) A-Rod goes bush league and shouts “A-Ha!” to distract Howie Clark on an easy pop-up on May 31. You’ve heard the story a million times; A-Rod’s actions were absolutely disgraceful. It might have been funny if he’d done it in a George Costanza voice, “Ahhhh-haaaaaaa!”, but no. At least Josh Towers (Josh Towers?) manned up and beaned A-Rod on the left knee on August 6 as retribution, forcing both benches to empty. Still, I can’t escape the feeling that this purple-lipped stripper-loving baby got off lightly. 3) Watching Doc get annihilated in the two starts before his appendectomy DL stint in May. It was a relief hearing that our ace had to go under the knife for something non-pitching related after watching him get pummeled by the Rangers on May 5 (9 ER in 5.1 IP) and the Bosox on May 10 (7 ER in 5 IP). Come to think of it, the whole month of May should be on this list. Long story short: he came back and was Doc-like for the rest of the way. Nothing to see here. 4) JP’s “it’s not a lie if we know the truth” approach to PR. We were told BJ Ryan had a back injury and then we hear that he’s going for season-ending Tommy John surgery. WTF? Seriously, dude, that’s not cool. I’d rather a GM who’s economical with the truth than one who lies outright to the fans. This little brain fart will undoubtedly crop up again if the club stalls in ’08 and calls for JP’s head grow too loud to ignore. 5) Royce Clayton/Tomo Ohka/Jason Phillips. If you watched any Jays’ games in the first half, this requires no further explanation.
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