TORONTO - GAME RECAPS

September 18th - Toronto Blue Jays 8, Baltimore Orioles 5 - Attendance 18,604

After a week off due to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, baseball got back to business in Toronto as Cal Ripken, Jr. made his last visit to Canada. Jason Johnson started for the O's while Kelvim Escobar took the hill for the Blue Jays.

The Jays got off to a quick start as Alex Gonzalez hit a solo home run in the first and Brad Fullmer and Felipe Lopez followed with back-to-back shots in the second off Johnson. But the Orioles fought back, scoring once in the third on Chris Richard's RBI double and twice more in the 6th when Escobar walked three straight after giving up two singles.

With the score tied at 3, Raul Mondesi led off the bottom of the 6th with a solo homer, the Jays' fourth of the game. After Johnson yielded two more singles, it was bullpen time, as Bale came in to try to end the threat. But pinch hitter Tony Fernandez singled in a run and it was 5-3 Toronto.

Because this was the first game back after the week off, the managers wanted to get their bullpens a lot of work, so plenty of pitching changes were the order of the day. Pedro Borbon started the 7th inning for Toronto and watched as Jerry Hairston cracked a home run to bring the Orioles within one. In the 8th, it was Paul Quantrill, and he blew the save as Ripken hit is 13th of the year to tie the game at 5. The fans stood and applauded until Ripken tipped his hat.

In the Toronto 8th, Jorge Julio was brought in as the 5th Oriole pitcher and he was hurt by his defense. After Homer Bush singled with one out, Josh Phelps grounded hard to third. Ripken stopped it but couldn't hang on and an error was charged to him as the Jays had men on first and second. Jose Cruz, Jr. struck out for the fourth time but then Gonzalez hit a ball deep down the line - going, going, and gone! The Jays were up 8-5. 

The 6th Blue Jay hurler, Billy Koch, closed it out in the 9th, getting Jeff Conine to ground into a double play to end the game. This was a great game as the Jays had two leads that they blew, but they won in the end. But the somber nature of the pre-game ceremony kept the small crowd quieter than usual. Nonetheless, this game gets an 8/10.

September 19th - Toronto Blue Jays 4, Baltimore Orioles 1 - Attendance 31,303

Roy Halladay started for Toronto and gave up a run in the first inning as Jeff Conine singled in Luis Matos. The Jays got that one back in the second when Brad Fullmer doubled down the line, scoring Carlos Delgado.

Delgado takes third on a wild pitch

In the fourth, Delgado led off with his second single of the game, and Raul Mondesi followed with a long home run to left field to give the Jays the 3-1 lead. Three more singles in the fourth added another run, and that was the game as Halladay cruised, retiring 14 in a row at one point, and going 7 strong innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts. Billy Koch struck out Cal Ripken to end the game as the Jays won a very quick game (2:13). This game gets a 7/10.

Halladay delivers