Congratulations to the Ottawa Lynx for the outstanding day at the park yesterday. I’m going to lead off with my post from Out of Left Field:
LYNX: MR. BURNETT COMES TO TOWN.
In a picture perfect day for baseball, the rehabbing A.J. Burnett (0-0, 1.80 ERA) went five innings, putting up seven Ks, one walk and one earned run. He was dominant early, striking out six of the first seven batters he faced in Syracuse’s marathon 14 inning affair (box score, play-by-play) with the Lynx this afternoon. At the end of the day, he threw 66 pitches, 45 of those for strikes. Rumors that he was disgruntled about having to make an appearance at the minor league level appear to be completely unfounded; he talked with Ottawa fans, signed autographs and generally seemed to be a pretty happy camper.
Not so the Ottawa Lynx, losing a heartbreaker after coming back to tie it on a clutch three run homer by Gary Burnham. As a team they left twelve base runners stranded, including Jim Rushford who doubled to lead off the 11th inning. Matt Childers (6-2, 5.03 ERA) had a respectable outing, lasting 6 1/3 and giving up a pair of homeruns in the third (the second of which looked foul to our unbiased eye). Having burned through five pitchers today and four yesterday, tomorrow’s day off is just what the team needs.
Despite the loss, the big winners on the day were the Ottawa Lynx. A full parking lot and a huge walk-up crowd made for a great day at the ballpark. Actually, the biggest winners for the day were local baseball fans, including one colleague who plunked down his $9 only to discover he would get to witness a classy MLB pitcher to boot.
The tough part about guest blogging for Neate is that there’s a certain standard I feel compelled to meet - you know, where you actually have to have a discussion about what actually went on during the game, backed up by objective things like stats. It’s a different world over there.
Unlike here, where I can talk about “the boy” collecting an autograph from A.J. Burnett, and a friend’s near “brouhaha” in the line-up for pizza.
A mixed blessing.
First off, I should reiterate the lede: Congratulations to the Lynx. Considering confirmation about “A.J. Day in Ottawa” didn’t come till late Friday, the Lynx did a great job preparing for the event. Thankfully, as it has for the most of the season, the weather played along serving up a great day for baseball. I was truly impressed by how A.J. conducted himself; he signed autographs between his warm-up and the game itself, played along with the crowd during the game (giving a thumbs up from the mound in response to a shouted question about how his shoulder was feeling), and then signed autographs after his day was finished.
A.J., relaxing after his start.
Tough break for the Lynx on the actual result, but it was nice to see Gary hit another one out (blogger: He pointed to the stands after touching home plate. We choose to believe it was at us). Unfortunately, they left one too many runners on base yesterday.
Gary’s 9th, on its way.
To use the cliche, A.J. was “lights out” on and off the field.
Finally, much respect to our buddy Mitch for standing up for the “common folk” in the Pizza Pizza line!
