TORONTO – This is what life is like on the regular in baseball’s upper crust. An ebullient, sell-out crowd on a sparkling summer’s day, a celebration of its team’s prized deadline acquisition, an ace dealing like a boss against a rival for the post-season, the promise of better times, of bigger things hanging in the air.
Things are really good there.
On a pristine holiday Monday, with David Price making his debut, with Josh Donaldson again making the crowd chant M-V-P, M-V-P, with a victory that grabbed them a share of a wild-card spot, the Toronto Blue Jays and their fans got a taste of what they’ve been missing for most of the past 21 playoff-less years.
Their new brilliant left-hander was, umm, brilliant, retiring 15 straight after escaping a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the fourth unscathed, seizing momentum in a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. In all, he threw eight innings of one-run, three-hit ball, and struck out 11, a record in a Blue Jays debut.
Things can be really good here, too.
“I’ve pitched in quite a few big games, but that atmosphere today, that takes the cake,” Price said afterwards. “I’ve never experienced anything like that. That was cool.”
A sell-out crowd of 45,766 stood and cheered as he walked off the field following Eduardo Nunez’s grounder to second that ended the eighth, prompting him to tip his cap. They chanted his named as he disappeared into the dugout, and screamed and made noise and were boisterous and were happy.
Price and his new teammates gave them lots of reason to be.
“People are real excited about the moves Alex (Anthopoulos, the GM) made,” said manager John Gibbons. “It’s definitely created a lot more optimism, that’s for sure, and we’ve responded. We’ve played pretty good during that stretch, which is the key part of it.
“Full house where they’re into it, it’s definitely a different feeling.”
The love wasn’t reserved solely for Price, whose every move, it seemed, drew applause.
Donaldson ensured the gem wouldn’t go to waste when in the fifth he followed Troy Tulowitzki’s leadoff single with a line shot off Ervin Santana – remember when five Blue Jays players agreed to defer salary in an attempt to sign him two springs ago? – that cleared the wall in right for his 27th homer and a 3-1 lead.
That was the game, although for good measure, RBI singles from Edwin Encarnacion and Justin Smoak in the seventh made sure to put things out of reach, the Blue Jays moving three games over .500 at 55-52 for the first time since July 2.
They’ve won five of six to move into a tie with the Twins (54-51) for the second wild card spot, with three more at Rogers Centre versus Minnesota before heading to New York for three against the AL East leading Yankees.
Opportunity is nigh.
“This is a good time for us and this is when you need to be playing your best baseball, anyhow, no matter who you’re playing,” said Donaldson. “I’m not saying that the games before weren’t important, but this is when you can make up some ground and see where you lie in the standings.”
The week of meaningful games comes on the heels of a week of meaningful transformation.
The additions of Price, Tulowitzki, LaTroy Hawkins, who pitched the ninth, Mark Lowe and Ben Revere have reinvigorated the Blue Jays and their fan base, deepening a roster that had its flaws.
“With all the acquisitions we made, it gives us another level of confidence in ourselves and so far, we’ve been playing pretty well,” said Donaldson. “I think you’re going to start seeing us play our better baseball of the year. So far, it’s worked out well.”
Excitement for Price’s debut was everywhere, with injured right-hander Marcus Stroman tweeting a picture of himself watching the game from class at Duke, and NBA star Kevin Durant making his way into the building.
Everyone wanted a look at the Blue Jays’ first true ace since Roy Halladay.
“You try and feed off of it as much as you can,” Price said of the crowd and the hype. “You can’t get too high out there. You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. You have to stay even-keel. Whenever your emotions get the best of you, that’s when you get away from your game.
“I’ve experienced that before where I’ve been too pumped up. Six days ago, pitching in Tampa, I watched to pitch so well, and I just put too much pressure on myself to go out there and throw the baseball the way that I know that I’m capable of throwing it. Today, I just wanted to go out there and have fun, pitch as deep as possible into the game and keep it close for our offence.”
Was it fun?
“Yeah,” he said with a big grin, “that was fun.”
More importantly, the win gave the Blue Jays some quick dividends from their boldest trade in years, as winning tight games against teams ahead of them in the standings is why he was acquired.
Price gave up a solo shot to Torii Hunter in the top of the second, matched quickly by Ryan Goins in the bottom half, and shut off the tap.
“Something I noticed about him today is that after every out, he kind of regains his composure, resets the clock, every guy that steps into the batter’s box, he resets his game-plan and focuses,” said Donaldson. “He was able to keep his composure very well, and that’s what you see from a lot of very good pitchers.”
The Blue Jays saw it from Price on Sunday, but after years of grimacing as he shoved on the mound, this time they smiled. He belongs to them now, and life is good with him.