My Trip to Toronto, or Roy Halladay Is Amazing

Thanks Roy.

If this is to be the end—Roy Halladay’s last game as a Blue Jay—then it was to be the finest end that one could imagine. Halladay dazzled and went nine innings yet again, but was foiled by Evan Longoria in the 10th as the Rays went on to win 4-2 Friday.

I couldn’t be having more fun in Toronto. The food is great, the people very gracious, and if you can tolerate the fallout from a garbage worker’s strike, downtown Toronto is a must visit for everybody.

After lots of haggling and phone calls, I was able to commandeer a seat for Friday’s game two rows back from the field, and directly behind the third base photo bay for the game. Check here for photos of the game. I did find out that the rumors were true though, and that the scalpers here do actually sell many tickets for below face value, and often. But it all was well worth the effort.

Rogers Centre is amazing. Open, clean, with a wide concourse, and what looked like pretty great seats throughout. I don’t get the 500 sections though, which is mile high, and steep enough to make you wonder why you’d ever want to watch baseball up there.

The capper was that the roof was opened by the seventh inning, which I’m told is something of a rarity here. So, I pretty much got the full tour, and then some. It’s a big change from Wrigley, but a great place to see the game, especially from the 100 Level.

As for Halladay, I’m not sure if television does him justice. The break on his curveball is just sick, and he actually looked as sharp in the ninth inning as he did early on in the game. He struck out 10, giving up only four hits. There was a bit of trouble in the third, when a pair of sacrifice flies by the Rays would score two, but that was it.

It was a signature performance, sure to have teams drooling further for his services, even if the reports are true that the Phillies have passed on a deal for him.

But ultimately he’d have to leave, giving way to Scott Downs, who immediately got into trouble, and when Evan Longoria hit a double to left just out of reach of a diving Joe Inglett, that was the ballgame. Sadly, the Blue Jays may be worse than the Cubs offensively, so you can imagine the mass exodus from the stands when those runs scored.

Thanks for the memories Toronto, and I guess I’m headed back to Chicago for the first few games of the Cubs-Astros set. Till then.