August 07, 2009

Heroes




Joe Carter rightfully deserves the title of "World Series Hero." But there is no bigger home run in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays than Roberto Alomar's two-run shot off of Dennis Eckersley on Sunday, October 11, 1992, in the 9th inning of game four of the ALCS.

It was at that moment when the Blue Jays shed the label of chokers and, finally, became the best team in baseball.

Robbie took home the ALCS MVP trophy, and rightfully so. His numbers from the six-game series were outstanding:

26 at-bats, 4 runs, 11 hits, 1 double, 2 home runs, 4 RsBI, 5 stolen bases, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, a .423 batting average, .464 on-base percentage, .692 slugging percentage, and a 1.157 OPS.




Speaking of heroes, the one, the only, Paul Molitor. Check out his numbers from the six-game 1993 World Series:

24 at-bats, an astounding 10 runs scored, 12 hits, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs, 10 RsBI, 1 stolen base, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts, a .500 batting average, .571 on-base percentage, 1.000 slugging percentage, and a mind-blowing 1.571 OPS.

MVP, indeed.

There were others. In his career in the ALCS, spanning three years (1991, 1992, and 1993), Juan Guzman started five games for the Toronto Blue Jays. He won them all, with an ERA of 2.27; 31.2 innings pitched, only 8 earned runs allowed. He walked a ton of guys, 18, but struck out 22.

Who can forget Jimmy Key's performance in 1992? Pitching from the bullpen during the ALCS, he made his final start as a Blue Jay in game four of the World Series, going 7.2 innings, allowing only one run on five hits, while striking out six. Key threw 91 pitches that night, 57 for strikes. Roy Halladay would have been proud.

It wasn't the last we'd see of Key. He came out of pen in game six to throw an inning and a third of one-hit relief; the winning pitcher of the game in which Toronto was crowned World Series champions for the first time ever in life.

There are so many more performances I could single out. Too many.

Tremendous memories. I'll relive them all tonight, in what will be one massive love fest at the SkyDome. I anticipate never hearing the building louder than it will be tonight. Until the Toronto Blue Jays win another World Series ...

10 comments:

Ian Hunter said...

You're gonna make me cry, man! There were so many beautiful memories from those teams, and each time a see a picture it brings the memories flooding back.

I can't wait for tonight ... it's hard to believe that there's actually a game going on!

Shane said...

You're cool. I hate DJFs, they're such tool bags, and their writing pales in comparison to yours.

Steve G. said...

Alomar's greatness has kind of flown under the radar a bit. Him and Barry Larkin and Alan Trammel all retired right as offense exploded, and I think it's going to hurt their Hall of Fame cases. Alomar definitely gets in anyway though; can't keep him out with those numbers.

William J. Tasker said...

Alomar was one of the greatest talents I've ever seen in baseball. Molitor was a great hitter. And don't forget that Jimmy Key started as a Yankee and was one of the worst deals they ever made.

Death by Leafs said...

The uni's tonight were beautiful. I wish I had gone, but reliving all those moments on TV and watching the assembled heroes take the field gave me goosebumps.
I actually can't watch or even think about Carter's home run without getting goosebumps and hearing "Touch em all, Joe" in my mind.

It's sad to state this on the day that JR retires, but winning lasts forever.

bkblades said...

If the Jays are going to lose every game like tonight against the rising, but still basement dwelling Orioles, they should make it Back 2 Back weekend all the time, so we can all forget.

In any case, I will never, ever tire of Alomar's ALCS home run, especially since it shut down Dennis Eckersley and his ridiculous moustache, finger pointing ways.

William J. Tasker said...

By the way, I keep forgetting to mention how much I love the logo on the top of this blog, with the Toronto skyline and the three players above them. The logo is truly impressive and professional.

showcase29 said...

pure props for sauga sont!

Zack said...

I just figured you'd probably want to know that there is published Masshole support for Alomar as a first or second ballot Hall of Famer.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

@ Ian: I may or may not have cried on Friday night. I'm an emotional little jackass.

@ Shane: DJF started this gangster blogging shit, and this the mother fucking thanks they get? In all seriousness, thanks for the comment. There's a ton of Jays content out there in the blogosphere; I appreciate anyone and everyone who comes by to read this corner's. The DJF guys are good at what they do; they're pioneers. Their comments section has gone to hell, and that's unfortunate, but it's definitely good for some laughs. There's some gold in there, every night.

@ Steve: Robbie goes in as the first Blue Jay. I think I'm going down to Cooperstown for that one.

@ William: I wasn't aware that Key started out as a Yankee. You learn something new every day. That shit is true.

@ Death By Leafs: I too loved the unis. It's tough to relive the highlights and not get emotional. Those teams meant a lot to all of us. Like I wrote in my post after the game, no matter how many times this team finishes 4th, nobody can take 92 and 93 away from us.

@ BK: Eckersley needed to be brought back down to earth. I couldn't have picked a better guy than Robbie to bring him back. Hard to believe that there could be a bigger home run in the franchise's history than Carter's, but Alomar's might just be.

@ William: Thanks buddy. My boy Dean, who blogs over at 25th Hour (check your local blogroll), will appreciate your kind words. I too am quite in love with the banner.

@ Showcase: He's most deserving. Kaberle went up there seamlessly.

@ Zack: That's hard to believe, first of all, and encouraging, second of all. There's no Masshole hatred towards Robbie, that's probably why he's supported. During those years the Jays were dominating, I have no idea what the Red Sox were up to, because they were complete ass. Go Jays.