Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4: A Waddle-Off Win

Jose Molina: plump.

What a weird one! The Blue Jays put thirteen hits on the board against the Yankees' five, but ended up edging them by but a single run in the bottom of the ninth. The story of this one was base runners left stranded, and that is especially true if the particular story you are telling is the story of Edwin Encarnacion, who left ten aboard last night, ten. E5 has actually had a spectacularly unclutch season: despite his sixteen home runs, thirty-five doubles, and an OPS right around the .800 mark, he's only knocked in fifty-two, despite generally hitting not too far behind Jose Bautista, who gets on at an MLB-best rate of .449 (last night: 1 for 1 with 4 BB). What I am wondering here is, how is that even possible? 


Dustin McGowan got the start last night, and three runs on three hits over five against the Yankees is pretty acceptable, especially when you take into consideration that this was a spot start for the injured Brett Cecil, who missed his turn in the rotation because he sliced the index finger of his right hand whilst cleaning a blender. "It had two blades that stick straight up and two out to the side, and I hit one of the ones that were sticking straight up,” Cecil told John Lott of the National Post in "Cecil Scratched After Losing Blender Battle." 


C. C. Sabathia was pretty bad last night, which we're not used to seeing. I'm not saying Justin Verlander shouldn't obviously win the Cy Young this year -- because he totally, totally should -- but it's interesting that so few have been talking about what an awesome year Sabathia has been having. Last night, though, he was surprisingly hittable, despite striking out eight in less than six innings. I think I like C.C., despite the obvious stain on his character of pitching for the Yankees. I can't really say why.


Anyway, after some truly futile attempts at small ball -- such horrendous bunting you have never seen -- Jose Molina ended all the silliness in the bottom of the ninth with a line drive to the wall off of Cory Wade, plating Brett Lawrie and making everyone feel a little better about, again, the worst bunting you have ever seen. 


KS