Concert stage rips up soggy field at Comerica Park
Heavy metal and heavy rain prove to be unlucky combination for Jays and Tigers
Enter Sandman almost put the Toronto Blue Jays’ first game after the all-star break to sleep.
Metallica’s show at Comerica Park on Wednesday was followed by a heavy rain Thursday morning and the stage in centre field left some pretty telltale marks. Earlier in the day, there were whispers that the opener of this three-game series might have to be rescheduled, although that didn’t turn out to be the case.
The centre field area was patchy from the warning track in deepest centre about a third of the way to the cut-out infield.
Jays manager John Gibbons did not seem overly worried.
“I went out there and walked it earlier,” Gibbons said before the game. “When I was driving over here, I got a call telling me it was in bad shape. They put some sod down and they were packing it. I walked on it. It didn’t look as bad as they described it earlier in the day, so I guess they were making some progress.”
Either way, the conditions were the same for both teams, so it didn’t alter the balance of things. But there is always the possibility of injury playing when on a surface that’s not of the level major-leaguers are accustomed to playing on.
“It’s not ideal, but what are you going to do,” Gibbons said. “They had that heavy roller out there, so the (sod) was mixing in pretty good with the existing stuff. They were still going to do more work. I figure it won’t be perfect, but it should be all right.”
Kevin Pillar, the Blue Jay most likely to have been at risk if there were in fact a risk, hadn’t been out to assess the damage, but seemed to be of the same mind as Gibbons — it was just something both teams were going to have to deal with.
Metallica’s tour makes a stop in Toronto on Sunday at Rogers Centre, but with a roof and a concrete floor, any chance of the stage doing damage to the Jays’ home park is negligible.
GET IT GOING
With the days off that an all-star break affords, the Jays could have set up their rotation any way they wanted, with all five starters back and presumably healthy.
Gibbons chose to go with Aaron Sanchez followed by Francisco Liriano and Marco Estrada to start, leaving Marcus Stroman and J.A. Happ to pitch in Boston in the next series.
“Naturally Sanchy was going to go first, because he hasn’t had much of a year yet, so get him working as quick as possible,” Gibbons explained. “(Marcus) Stroman’s finger (which had some blister issues in his previous start) is fine, but this way we give him a few extra days and make sure. Happ, we give him a little breather after he started (last) Sunday. And then get Liriano and Estrada back out there as quick as possible.”
Estrada has had, for him, a rather tough season to date, but Gibbons saw enough in his final start against the Yankees before the break to have some optimism.
“Yeah, I did, and you know things are going to correct,” Gibbons said. “He’s too good. In all reality, he has been so good since he got here that when he does struggle, we are just not used to seeing it. But he’s ironed out a few things and I think he’ll have a big second half. We certainly need him to.”
The Jays exited the all-star break six games under .500 and five games out of the AL’s second wild card spot. There’s plenty of ground to be made up and Gibbons is basing his hope for a turnaround on the return to health of his starting rotation and more of the same for his bullpen.
There is a chance that Joe Smith, who was making a rehab start in Buffalo on Friday night, could be back up with the Jays before they leave Detroit on Sunday night.