SaintLucifer
beer, I want beer
TORONTO (CP) - The Toronto Blue Jays' newcomers made an instant impact on the field and instant converts of the fans in the stands.
Troy Glaus doubled and scored, Lyle Overbay singled and scored and Bengie Molina crushed a two-run homer to back a dominant Roy Halladay as old and new blended seamlessly for the Blue Jays in a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Twins in Tuesday night's season opener. "You saw it all tonight," said manager John Gibbons. "By design."
Alex Rios also hit a two-run shot and new closer B.J. Ryan pitched a quick and easy ninth for the save while a sold-out Rogers Centre audience of 50,449 chanted his name.
"There was a lot of positive energy out there," said Ryan, who struck out two. "I was fired up, it's opening day, the expectations are running high. You want to go out there and prove yourself."
The crowd also broke out into "Ben-gie, Ben-gie" chants, embracing the upgrades made by general manager J.P. Ricciardi that have inspired hope for a return to the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
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"We've got to come in and do our thing," said Molina. "We're not just any player on the team. We came here knowing what we need to do."
Glaus, Overbay, Molina and Ryan - along with starter A.J. Burnett - were all added over the winter, adding $30 million US to the club's payroll and pushing it to about $75 million.
Their additions were meant to address shortcomings in the lineup, at the back-end of the bullpen and in the rotation and it went to plan Tuesday before a rowdy crowd that enjoyed an additional $12 million Cdn spent on renovations around the stadium.
"Everybody did something and that's a big part of our team this year," said Halladay. "We're going to rely on everybody and nobody has to carry the load. To be able to see that type of game the first time out where everybody is doing something, really plays into what we need to do all year."
Halladay, making his fourth straight opening day start for the Jays, was outstanding, allowing three runs, two earned, in 7 2-3 innings. The only hard hit ball against him early came on Rondell White's sacrifice fly in the first inning, which forced Vernon Wells to make an incredible catch against the wall in centre.
"It stopped a big inning," said Halladay. "It kept us in striking distance and gave us a chance to pile up some runs."
That's exactly what happened as Halladay (1-0) cut through the Twins, 83-79 in 2005, from there while the offence went to work against fellow Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana (0-1), who allowed four runs on 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings.
"I threw some good pitches and they got some good swings," said Santana.
Glaus opened the fourth with a double, moved up to third on Overbay's single and scored on Shea Hillenbrand's sacrifice fly. On the next pitch, Molina clobbered the ball off the fifth-deck facing in left to make it 3-1 and prompt fans to start chanting his name.
"Unbelievable feeling," Molina said of the fan reaction. "It felt great."
An RBI single by Russ Adams in the sixth pushed the lead to 4-1 before a Reed Johnson single put two men on and knocked Santana out of the game. Alex Rios followed with an infield single off Juan Rincon but Vernon Wells struck out with the bases loaded.
The Twins cut into the deficit on home runs from former Blue Jay Tony Batista, back from a year in Japan, in the seventh and Shannon Stewart in the seventh before Rios tagged Jesse Crain of Toronto for a two-run blast in the eighth that made it 6-3.
Scott Schoeneweis retired Joe Mauer for the final out of the eighth before Ryan wrapped things up in the ninth.
"We could just tell through spring training that the guys we brought in were going to fit in really nicely," said Schoeneweis. "It's really exciting."
One area where the Blue Jays looked sloppy was their infield defence. Overbay's error on catcher Mauer's chopper in the first led to Minnesota's first run while an Adams throwing error on Mauer's leadoff grounder in the fourth forced Halladay to face the heart of the order with a man aboard. He got them three-up, three-down.
Bumps on the road defensively were expected with Aaron Hill shifting to second to replace departed Gold Glover Orlando Hudson. Hill did make several nice plays and looked strong turning a double play in the third.
The Blue Jays also did a nice job with pre-game tributes to the late Tom Cheek and Kirby Puckett.
Cheek, the beloved long-time radio voice of the Jays, died of brain cancer last October while Puckett, the Twins' Hall-of-Fame centre-fielder, died following a stroke last month.
Shirley Cheek, Tom's wife, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Notes: Jays lefty Ted Lilly unexpectedly threw for 10 minutes in the bullpen and is optimistic that he can make his start Saturday. He's bothered by back soreness. . . . Fans gave Blue Jays bench coach Ernie Whitt and Twins 1B Justin Morneau of New Westminster, B.C., extra loud ovations during the pre-game introductions. Whitt managed Canada's team at the World Baseball Classic while Morneau was its cleanup hitter. . . . The crowd was the fourth-largest to take in a Jays home opener.
GO JAYS! GO JAYS! BLUE JAYS! LET'S PLAY BALL!!
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