From: kirsch@ux.acs.umn.edu (Dave Kirsch)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Blue Jays -- First Game of the Season
Keywords: Tiger Stadium
Date: 7 Apr 92 21:42:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: ux.1992Apr7.214203.9423
Organization: David Cone's Pull Toys and Assorted Paraphenalia, Inc.

In article <1171@yetti.UUCP> darryl@cs.yorku.ca (Darryl "doesn't like to" Gamble) writes:
>April 6th, 1992: BLue Jays vs Tigers -- opening day.

  It's about time. 

>Well, today's game pitted world series hero, free agent multi-millionaire
>Jack Morris vs 20-game winner Bill Gullickson.

  Doesn't something seem inherently amiss about '20 game winner Bill
Gullickson'? Kinda like '20 HR hitter Manuelll Lee'. An oxymoron, at best. 

>Jays second: Olerud doubles and later on Manuel Lee walks (!) on 4 pitches.
>Well, I guess Gullickson found Manuel's weak spot for walks.  Jays go away
>empty handed though.

  I've still got bruises on the bottom of my chin; that'll happen to you when
your jaw hits a hardwood floor at 60 mph. 'Manuelll' actually took a walk. 
God forbid. 

  Olerud looked *real* comfortable at the plate, and smashed a 415 ft double 
off the fence in RCF. Of course, this was off of Bill 'Boom Boom Chi Boom' 
Gullickson; then again, Olerud had to provide most of the speed for the ball.

>Pat Borders hits a home run in the 4th after Lulu (or whoever) the Kissing
>Bandit startles him and finally hugs him.  Lulu want to come to Toronto. :-)
>By the way, Pat didn't hit a home run before the All-Star break last season.

  Apparently, Borders went back to a heavier weight-training regimen this
offseason, similar to the one he used prior to his good '90 campaign. I'd say
expect more power (~15 HRs) this year. Whether or not the additional weight 
work will make him more susceptible to injury, I don't know. 

>John Olerud (who just missed a homer in the second) hits one in the sixth.
>Gullickson finishes the sixth but that's all for him.  Jays lead 3-0.

  And pasted it into the upper deck pretty hard at that. 

>Morris continues on finishing the seventh with the score still 3-0.

  And was obviously laboring and starting to tire. 

>Now, we get to the bottom of the ninth and Cito lets Morris continue pitching.
>Lead off hitter is Cecil Fielder...BOOM...long fly ball, and it's outta here!
>OK, Morris stays and gets two outs and Rob Deer is up...3 strikeouts so far
>today.  Morris gets the count to 2-2 or 3-2, and then...going, Going, GONE!
>Quickly the score is 4-2.   Cito stays with Morris and Morris gets the final
>out and completes the game.

  I could see it coming. Cito didn't have the balls to pull Jack, and Jack 
winds up serving up a couple fat pitches to Fielder and Deer. No harm done 
this game, but I hope Cito only appeased Jack since he was going for a shutout
on opening day. Morris definitely should've been out after the Fielder HR, 
though. Cito's gonna have to realize he's gotta decide when Morris comes out,
whether or not Morris likes it. 

  At least Morris looked pretty good through the first several innings. His 
butt *was* saved by Alomar and White a couple times, though. Forkball looked 
nasty, and he had good location on the fastball.  

  And how about that quote from Dave Campbell, Gary Huckabay's renowned stats
mentor? When talking about Roberto Alomar, "Gets to the ball quicker than a 
homely debutante." Priceless. 

  Sparky Anderson's already up to his usual mastery of overstatement, talking
about the Jays "If they don't have the best personnel in the game, we're all 
drunk." Anyone care to guess, Wild Turkey or Jose Cuervo? I mean, I feel real
good about the Jays' chances this year, but this talk of them winning by 20 
games is a bit silly as long as the Rocket is alive and/or Baltimore gets 
decent years out of a few players. 

  On a different topic, I nominate Cory Snyder for most pathetic AB of the
day, I believe his first plate appearance of the day vs. Ramon Martinez.
Strikeout, of course, and each successive swing looked worse than the previous
one. I believe he used the 'flyswatter stroke' (tm) on the last pitch. 

  In the 'team that already got hosed' category, mark one down for the St.
Louis Cardinals. Milt Thompson gets hit on the hand by a John Franco pitch, 
and despite all kinds of supporting evidence the umpire refuses to give him 
first base. Of course, the Cards go down easily to close out the game. Good 
to know the umpires are already in midseason form, back in the swing of
things. 
 
-- 
Dave Hung Like a Jim Acker Slider Kirsch ... of the Warren Newson fan club 
kirsch@ux.acs.umn.edu                       "Blue Jays all the way in '92"  
It's late. Do you know where your kids are? Have you taught them baseball?  
Mann 'E' Lee is making a million dollar$ this year. Need I say more? 
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball