After Action Report

This is over a week coming, but I thought I'd write about my trip to Toronto. The family had a good time. The game could've been better as the the Royals took revenge on me through the Blue Jays. We went up early and walked around. There is very little remaining on Front Street compared to what I remember in the "Glory Days." And maybe that' s the reason. There were over 4 million people visiting the SkyDome in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Enough to support a nice trade along the route north of the stadium. But the game we were at was the second home game of the season and the paid attendance was less than half capacity. All the seats in the upper deck of the stadium were $2 Canadian and it was more than half empty. We were looking for a hat and maybe a jacket for the boy, but came back with just the hat.

Our seats were pretty great, due to the generosity of the Blue Jays and the fact that we got them early. There was a problem with ordering tickets online in February and the Jays sent us vouchers for tickets for one of these 2 games. We were in the 9th row on the first base side, just past the bag. We had a great view and were well within foul ball range, although none came close. The boy was fascinated as soon as he got in his seat. He watched the end of Batting Practice as well as all the warmups and stretching. It bodes well for future trips this summer.

Josh Towers pitched great, even if he didn't get the credit for it. I'd put him up against any other 5th starter in baseball this year. Gregg Zaun had a nice pinch-hit homer. But two miscues by Matt Stairs, playing left field for an apparently injured Reed Johnson led to two runs that shouldn't have happened. Troy Glaus was visibly limping as he came down the line. Ultimately, Reed Johnson and Troy Glaus got put on the DL, along with closer BJ Ryan, but I'm not actually too concerned. Adam Lind was called up from Syracuse and should provide the bat, if not the defense, to replace Johnson. The bullpen has been pitching great (except for Ryan) and Jason Frasor steps into the closer role, a role he had back in 2004. John McDonald (the boy likes to say that name, along with Lyle Overbay) and newcomer Jason Smith will platoon at 3B until Troy Glaus is ready.

As of right now, I am listening to a tie-game first place battle between the Jays and the Red Sox. It's been a pretty good year so far, but it's going to take 16 Wins a month to win this division, and we've got 148 games left.