August 23, 2005
Burying the Blue Jays
Felix Escalona drives in the game winning run with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Yankees a 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays. That puts Toronto 6 1/2 games behind New York in the wild card race. The pressure is on the Blue Jays now to take the last two games of this series or fall out of the race for the playoffs. They've lost a great opportunity to gain ground on one of the wild card leaders.
The Indians put together a come back win of their own, and with the Athletics losing to Detroit, the Yankees and Indians are atop the AL Wild Card race. The Yankees lead by percentage points.
Just 6 days ago you had the Jays as the best team in the division. What gives, Pinto?
They didn't play like the best team in the division.
I wrote a program last year that showed that even the best teams don't finish first. Toronto is having one of those years.
They've had quite a few of those lately, it seems. Looking at their lineup, it's not too hard to figure out why they haven't been successful. It is full of impatient hitters who pile up the outs.