Bautista and rest of Blue Jays give the city what it really needs
Game 5 was one for the ages
They stood screaming and spraying and jumping from atop a table in the Blue Jays clubhouse, Marcus Stroman beside Kevin Pillar beside Aaron Sanchez beside David Price beside Mark Buehrle and in the midst of all the astounding emotion and excitement, someone shouted “Where’s Jose, we need Jose.”
Indeed they did. When Jose Bautista climbed up beside them, a moment he probably dreamed about for much of his storied baseball career, first there was more hugs, then applause, then another chant.
“We are heat, we are heat,” they yelled together, wearing T-shirts that read “Toronto wants more.”
For one historical and frenzied night of baseball, there was no need for more. This was enough. This was more than most of us could handle. It cost general manager Alex Anthopoulos his voice. It had Paul Beeston on the phone to the commissioner between innings, doing his own kind of screaming. There was on-the-field madness, off the field madness, and more than a little bit in the stands at Rogers Centre.
For now, all that was enough. Celebrate today and get ready for tomorrow. A guide for both players and fans ... this 6-3 win over the impressive Texas Rangers was exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating, believable, unbelievable, shocking, stunning and about a hundred other adjectives in between.
“It was crazy, exhausting and awesome to be on the right side of it,” said Josh Donaldson, who knew just how close victory came to defeat. Just how close a best-offive series almost went the other way.
“We never gave up,” he said. “(Bautista) Bats is a great player. He showed up in that opportunity the way stars are supposed to show up. He came through for our team.” Bautista came through. The kid pitchers, Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna came through, giving up just two earned runs to the powerful Rangers.
The defence, led by Ryan Goins at second base and Kevin Pillar in centre field, made differencemaking plays, possibly run-saving plays.
Bautista hit the game-winning home run after his pal Edwin Encarnacion took advantage of the first time Texas pitched to him and slammed a home run of his own.
And in between, the benches cleared twice without punches being thrown, too many fans got out of control and tried throwing things themselves, and the forever criticized manager John Gibbons made a quiet move that many won’t talk about, pinch running Dalton Pompey for Martin in the seventh inning that forced a Texas error with his speed.
The win, Anthopoulos said afterwards, was a blur just as his eyesight was after being sprayed with so much beer and champagne.
If there has been a baseball game, or kind of sporting event like this in Toronto before, no one could remember it. Toronto is used to losing these weirdo kind of games: Maybe this Blue Jays team is putting a lot of the past behind them for the city and creating their own path.
There was noise and hysteria and fans who just wouldn’t leave the Rogers Centre well into the night, but on the third floor, if you walked past team president Beeston’s office, there was no partying, just his beloved stench of cigar smoke.
“When I smelled that, I knew he was in there,” said Anthopoulos. “No way he’d come down here. He doesn’t do that kind of thing.’’
It was so close to being the end of this marvellous Blue Jays season, so close to being the last game of Beeston’s career in baseball, LaTroy Hawkins’ career, Buehrle’s career, dressed in uniform, tossed from the game for making an appearance on the field when he wasn’t part of the lineup. So many players, young, old, playoff veterans for the first time, pitching kids, the rental David Price, all together, all jumping and hugging and photographing each other.
“How can you not feel great for Paul?” said Anthopoulos, feeling a little great for himself, for his team. This was different than any Blue Jays win or game before it. This is the kind of game someone may write a book about one day, the kind of outcome that too often ends up with a Toronto defeat.