AN OPENING DAY FOR THE BIRDS
Jays fall to Orioles in extra innings
You might forget over a long winter why it is you love baseball so much and then Opening Day happens.
Even in defeat, damn dramatic defeat, there seems to be magic and wonder almost everywhere.
Baseball things you have never seen before.
Baseball things you may never see again.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” said Orioles manager Buck Showalter following his team’s 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in 11 innings.
Then he asked how long the game was in real time. He was told it was under four hours. “And no replays,” he said. Except the plays worthy of being replayed over and over again. You will see them today and tomorrow, next month and next year. The best plays never go away anymore.
Not necessarily the game-winning home run by Mark Trumbo, the late-signing free agent, in the 11th inning, a walk-off homer in the same inning in which Edwin Encarnacion’s home run eliminated the Orioles from the postseason six months ago. A walk-off home run is at least common.
The two “how did he do that?” plays Baltimore’s Manny Machado made at third base, however? They were something to see. Something to remember.
The second play, the one in which he threw out Devon Travis from his knees in the 11th inning, will be put to the kind of symphony music the highlight shows specialize in.
He made a play against Kevin Pillar on a high chopper an inning earlier with the degree of difficulty somewhat similar.
“Manny,” said Showalter in admiration. “My God. Who else makes that throw?” he asked, then answered: “Nobody.”
There was jumping all around home plate, the 25 Orioles bouncing as one, just as the Blue Jays did around home plate last October when it was Encarnacion’s turn to play hero. This is just one game and that was playoffs and the circumstances were different — even with the same home plate umpire.
“It didn’t seem weird at all,” said Showalter, asked about the unlikely occurrence of the Jays losing on a walk-off home run in the very same inning they eliminated the Orioles last October. “It seemed appropriate.”
Showalter went on to praise his starting pitcher, Kevin Gausman, and the Blue Jays’ starting pitcher, Marco Estrada — “he’s one of the best in baseball” — and just about everybody who played in the opener, including last
This is a rivalry now. There’s something going on with these teams. You can feel it.
year’s home run leader.
And another irony: With the score tied, Showalter went against his best instincts and used his closer, Zach Britton, the same Zach Britton he was so criticized for not using in the wild-card game. Britton pitched the ninth and 10th innings of a 2-2 game, gave up three hits and was bailed out by Machado’s brilliance at third base.
In one day, one game, he basically made the Britton story disappear.
The Orioles won 3-2. The Jays won 4-3 in the wild-card game.
“What do we play them, 18 more times, or something like that? This is just the beginning,” Showalter said. “This is why you do what you do.”
Steve Pearce, the former Oriole, in his first game with the Jays, had three hits, played first base and left field and scored a run.
Pillar also pulled off the never witnessed before. On two consecutive swings, he missed the ball, sending his bat sailing into the stands along the third base line with each swing.
“I’ve never seen that before and I turned to John (bench coach John Russell) and asked, ‘Ever seen that before?’
“And he said ‘I’ve never seen that before,’” Showalter said.
There were also two terrific defensive plays by Jose Bautista, once throwing out a runner at second, once stabbing a line drive and turning it into a double-play at first base.
The plays made it look like Bautista has found some youth in his game, even if he finished 0-for-5 at the plate and had Orioles fans chanting “We don’t like you’ during some of his at bats. They don’t. And it added to the drama of the day turned to night. The game started in the sun and warmth of the afternoon, but it was cool when Trumbo ended the game by taking Jason Grilli’s pitch over the left-field wall.
“This is a rivalry now,” said Adam Jones, the Orioles’ centrefielder. “There’s something going on with these teams. You can feel it.”
“That was an intense game,” Showalter said.
“They grind and grind — it’s high intensity. It wears on you. Where’s the breathing room?”
The breathing room comes today, that rare scheduled off-day after the season opener, then they’re back at it Wednesday night here in Baltimore.
The routine is the schedule, not the play.
The wins and the losses, they come over 162 games. But Opening Day happens just once.
And this Opening Day, this one at still majestic Camden Yards, was special.