Barajas starts the inning off with a single, while Lyle Overbay proceeds to flyout to left, followed by an Adam Lind single, and a Joe Inglett flyout.
Two-out, two-on, and time for the same old Jays, right?
Wrong.
Marco Scutaro walks, and Alex Rios works the count to 3-2, and BELTS a FASTBALL into left-centre for a bases-clearing TRIPLE. But it doesn't stop there folks, as Vernon Wells drives Rios in with a single.
Game tied 6-6.
Following another single and an HPB for Scott Rolen, Barajas caps the bat-around with a 6-4 putout, but the point is that, despite Trevor pulling a Jamie Campbell and saying "maybe this is the game they come back" during the seventh-inning stretch, the Blue Birds have made this thing a game.
Top Eighth
The Orioles can't leave the infield, getting retired on three straight groundballs. Being excited going into the bottom of the eighth is foreign in Toronto this year. There's a weird feeling here, but maybe it helps that the crowd is actually behind this team tonight.
I couldn't look away if I tried.
Bottom Eighth
The Jays score three-straight flyouts, but the mood was lightened by probably the best sign I've ever seen created:
For a good time, don't call my ex.
The man holding that is a genius.
Top Ninth
I'm officially scared now. The only real news that came out of that inning was that Jay Payton played on the same team (Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets) in College that Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra did, in the season that those three catapulted the Jackets to the College World Series.
Poor Nomar. He had a good career, too, until it got derailed by injuries and Mia Hamm.
Bottom Ninth
U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" seems to be the song we play when it's time for our team to thrive in a big moment, which got me thinking about inspiration things you could say to this song while in the dugout, and I came up with this:
"Tonight boys, there's one street with a name. It's called Victory Lane. I'll see you there...."
I'd walk out at the end of that line to have to team score a riveting comeback. I'm a Tom Landry-style hat, a Gene Hackman mustache, and a movie contract away from making this happen.
Following a Marco Scutaro strikeout, Alex Rios draws a walk, and up comes Vernon Wells. Wells follows in the footsteps of Scutaro, but in the process, the ninth-inning steal of second by Alex Rios happens—which is one of the most underrated on the list of "most exciting plays in baseball" (ask Boston Red Sox fans about Dave Roberts and 'The Steal'...don't tell me they don't agree).
The Orioles don't want to pitch to Matt Stairs, so they intentionally walk him, putting two-on and two-out for Scott Rolen, who's mired in a mega-slump lately.
But I guess all you really need to break out is a well-timed Freddy Bynum error.
Euphoria erupts as we watch the ball scoot into the outfield, as Bynum doesn't even bother to stand up from fielding the ball—I know exactly how he feels, too.
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