Notes from Toronto game 2

Forget the small talk, here we go;

• Dome was open today. What a huge difference from last night. The atmosphere was considerably better. Plus, with the roof open you have the CN Tower looming over the field. Pretty impressive. Beautiful day for a game.



• Me, the wife and three daughters all show up early to see the Red Sox take batting practice. We like to chase home run and foul balls. Unfortunately, the Sox chose to not take bp. Afternoon game after a night game. This is not an uncommon occurrence. But after the lack of firepower today, one must question the move.



• For some odd reason it seems the Sox struggle mightily against soft throwing lefties. This rookie guy for Toronto was nothing special. He pitched in and out of trouble all day. It seems after Rocco's rbi single and Lowell's hustle play going to third the ball game was over. Second and third, no outs. Lowrie strikes out looking, the Greek pops up and JD rolls over on a breaking pitch. Ball game.



• Annoying Canuck behind us today was really loud. You could imagine as the game went on he become more and more obnoxious. The guy started the game by saying how bad the Jays were and how awful their starting pitcher was. Then all of a sudden he is their biggest fan. I usually let guys like this have their day but when he said, "This guy (rookie pitcher for Toronto with all the constants) is better than Lester." I turned to him and simple said, "Easy." A couple of Red Sox fans around us laughed. I can sit and take a lot but when something way out of line is said ...



• Penny did not fool them too often today. He is a two trick pony -- fastball and slider.



• Home plate umpire was bad for both sides.



• Lowrie's two base error on the dropped pop up was originally ruled a double. Huh?



• Tomorrow's game will be interesting. Halladay vs. Lester. Rubber game.



• I'm starting to get used to the North People saying "Ay?" at the end of their sentences. I originally thought it was a way for them to ask you to respond to their statement. For example, "That was a great play Scott Rolen made, ay?" But I have found this to not be the case the majority of the time. I've been hearing more of the, "That Scott Rolen is a ballplayer. He makes plays like that all the time, ay." This "ay" serves as a sort of exclamation. Real interesting stuff.



• For some reason, the Blue Jay fans hate Alex Rios. I guess it is because he signed a huge contract and has not performed well. Sox fans realize JD Drew is stealing money but don't hate him for it. I kind of admire a guy that got so much for seemingly putting 10% of his efforts into something. Drew is so talented but just goes through the motions. I am not 100% sure he even likes the game of baseball.

Canadian trivia of the day;

There have been 131 Canadian born players to play in the majors. Larry Walker was their only MVP. Jason Bay their only rookie of the year. George Kottaras is even Canadian. Who is the only player from Canada in baseball's hall of fame? No Internet help.