Jays Opener Review

The Toronto Blue Jays season opener had a lot of things go right.

Adam Lind remained in the same form from the majority of last season. Vernon Wells actually played well,  scoring 3 RBI and hitting a bing-bong his first at bat. Shawn Marcum threw six innings of hitless and shutout ball.

Unfortunately, one out into the seventh inning he gave up a hit. Then let another batter on. Then Nelson Cruz, combined with a strong Texas wind, tied the game.

Jays fans began to get upset, gearing up for the shitacular season ahead to begin in Game One as they feared the worst.

But wait, the Jays didn't back off. Though Snider got himself out, Bautista walked and Hill hit himself a double, moving Jose to third. With men on second and third and one out, Texas elected to walk Lind to get to Wells (a rather smart move coming off last season). Wells, however, drove home a run on a hard hit single to short left field.

So, the Jays took a one-run lead. They had the bases loaded with just one out. Lyle Overbay was at bat facing left-handed David Oliver. Randy Ruiz is sitting on the bench.

Cue my one Gaston complaint of the game: what does Cito do? He keeps Ruiz on the bench, a decision that I personally disagree with. Ruiz would come in as a right-handed, and (at least compared to Overbay), a power hitter.

I realize there are benefits to Overbay, and that he is a former doubles champ, but Randy Ruiz was a boss coming in to pinch hit last season. He also provided a better matchup for the Jays, and while he may not have the eye at the plate that Overbay does, his ability to clear bases is far greater than Overbay's.

In my opinion, he must play here. He must come in at that time. If Anthopolous wants to move Overbay and replace him with Ruiz or Wallace, they need to give Ruiz a chance to play in those situations when he is (projected at least) to be a better option than Overbay.

Overbay proceeded to strike out, then John Buck got himself out on a pop-up.

Of course, the game would then proceed to the unfortunate finish for Jason Frasor, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia scoring the game-winning run with the bases juiced in the bottom of the ninth, leading to the Jays loss.

While no-one knows if Ruiz batting would have changed anything, I would rather have found out what he did then watching Overbay go down looking.

It's an unfortunate loss for the Jays, though the Rangers (and Nelson Cruz especially) deserve a lot of credit for not giving up and completing the comeback.

The Jays will return to action Wednesday, again from Arlington, where Tallet is projected to start against Harden.

Some quick notes on the game:

Adam Lind and Vernon Wells were a deadly 3-4 hitting combo today, doing a terrific job picking up hits and hitting the longball.

Marcum's performance was stellar, and aside from the one mistake in the 7th inning, had a nearly perfect game.

Scott Downs looked great coming out of the pen in the eighth, sitting down the Rangers.

Travis Snider was horrible at the plate. He picked up three strikeouts in a game where everybody else (including Alex Gonzalez) had the bat somewhat going. He did have one nice play in left, but it was not an impressive first start.

Buck Martinez was pretty terrific in the booth, and his pronunciation of Encarnacion far exceeds anything Jamie Campbell did.

There were four Jays-related things in Canada's "trending topics" on Twitter, showing a huge rise in the fanbase.