On a day in which Mike Francesca and Chris Russo were castigating the Nationals for being “uncompetitive” and ESPN’s Buster Olney recalled the ’93 Padres (61-101) and ’03 Tigers (43-119) in predicting a long season in DC, Florida closer Jorge Julio did his part to make the Nats look good.
Julio retired just one of the batters he faced, blowing a 2 run lead, and allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk during a wild 9th inning Washington comeback, as the hosts prevailed, 7-6. Dmitri Young’s Don’t Call It A Walkoff single (actually a fly ball down the left field line — would’ve been a sac fly anyway) brought home Kory Castro with the tiebreaker, ensuring that for at least one day, the Nats are a .500.
With runners on first and 2nd in the 9th and clinging to an 8-7 lead, The Indians’ Joe Borowski was bailed out by a terrific falling-down catch in deep left field by Jason Michaels, robbing Joe Crede of extra bases and denying the White Sox the probable winning and tying runs. Grady Sizemore, Andy Marte, Jim Thome and Tadahito Iguchi all homered earlier in the day in what appeared to be a nearly empty Cell. Heck of an 8th inning by ChiSox reliever David Ardasma, however striking out the side with the bases loaded on 11 pitches.
Though the Blue Jays can take some solace in nearly erasing a 9 run deficit against the defending AL Champs, ownership can be excused if they feel as their investment in A.J. Burnett has been almost Dreifortesque (Chan Ho Parkish?). The former Marlins starter failed to make through more than 2 innings today, and when Victor Zambrano is amongst the mop up options, well, that’s all you need to know about the burden placed on the rest of the squad.
Randy Wolf, Gonzo, Meet Bill Plaschke.