Sunday, August 8, 2010

Brandon Morrow Complete Game - No Hitter ruined with 2 outs in the 9th



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Above: The fateful final inning. Morrow loses his bid for a no-hitter in the 9th, with 1 out to go.

Below are the game notes I wrote while scoring the Jays game at the Internet Score Card - the almost no-hitter by Brandon Morrow - starting when it became apparent something special was happening. My first mention comes in the 5th...

All the outs and the hit, a VIDEO: Scroll Down (found via Huffington post)

Top of the 5th

Not to be-little the euphemism, but the strike zone is as wide as it can be with out confusing wild pitches with strikes in the scoring.

Bottom of 5th

Molina is on with a walk, and on a scorcher foul, hit by Wise, 1B D. Johnson can't get around Molina, who he is playing behind, to get to the ball before it twists foul - so he plays in front of him now. Molina is joking around, decrying the diss. Then he starts with a jogging run to second - and then the pitcher winds - Molina steals it on the pitcher, standing up.

Top of 6th

Bartlett swings and dives at the same time and the high inside pitch hits the barrel of the bat as he bails. Umpire thinks it's off his shoulder, but Cito Gaston asks him to get another opinion. They reverse themselves and meanwhile we're watching video that clearly shows it hit the bat - foul ball. Next pitch is K eleven for Morrow.

Zobrist with 2 outs now, hits a long line drive blast. Wells has the line... and he hits the wall as the ball hits the pocket of his glove extended in a complete stretch near the top of the wall - for the out!

Euphemism still intact.

Vernon Wells dislocated his big toe on the catch above, and is replaced by Snider as a pinch hitter and in CF by Wise from left field and Snider into LF.

Top of the 9th

Brandon Morrow's no hitter is broken up by a Evan Longoria with a skidder between 1st 1nd 2nd. Aaron Hill dives for it, but it goes in and out of his glove and off into right.

I thought the umpire squeezed Morrow on the Zobrist BB at bat. I think I could see Morrow saying to himself, f*#k it, I'm just going to pitch around him, put him on and start over with Crawford.

This team is really loose and happy with themselves. While Morrow is talking to the Sportnet announcers a bucket of ice water is tipped on Brandon's head, and just about gives him a heart attack. As he's getting ready to begin again with the interview a towel full of shaving cream arrives. Morrow is not amused. A real serious major league pitcher - and that's probably part of the reason why - he's got ice water in those veins.

The Toronto Blue Jays sweep the Tampa Bay Rays.

After a day off tomorrow the 3rd place Boston Red Sox arrive for a 3 game set, 7:07 PM, Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

ESPN Box score for this game.

Morrow gets a complete game 0-1 win with 17 strike outs on 137 pitches and 97 strikes with only 2 bases on balls. 4 runners reached all afternoon.





mh

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