Entering their Saturday afternoon tilt against Colorado, the Jays found themselves in a tie atop the standings with a whole host of other teams, including their opponent for the day -- Colorado.  One thing was for certain, at the end of the day, one of the teams would be a full game out of first with half of the season to go.  As it turned out, the Jays came through with a resounding win over Colorado and, with the help of some other teams, the Jays had moved back into sole possession of first place. 

In the top of the first, the Jays grabbed a quick 3 runs to open the scoring.  Jack got things started by drawing a walk and Bailey got drilled in the back to put men on first and second.  Boki then brought everybody home with his first home run of the game. 

Jack, who has been one of the best pitchers for the Jays this season got the nod as the starter for the biggest game of the year.  Jack came through with a classic “Jack Hansen inning.” (That is actually Coach Bryan’s phrase from last year, not mine…)  A strike out, a walk, a hit, a strike out another walk to load the bases and a strike out to end the inning. 

Up 3-1, the Jays were unable to get anything going in the top of the second, and after one and a half the score remained 3-1.  Excellent defense by Bailey at first and Colin at short, however, kept the score at 3-1 after the top of the third (the first coach pitch inning). 

Jack trotted (if you know who was pitching for Colorado, you will get the pun with the use of the word trotted…) to the mound for the bottom of the second.  And the inning started to look eerily similar to the first: strike out, walk, hit, strike out and another walk.  Only this time Colorado pushed across a run with a walk and then Jack struck out the next batter for the third out of the inning. 

The Jays were able to open the flood gates a bit in their first coach pitch inning by plating 5 runs in the top of the third.  Oliver got things going with his first single of the game (but it would not be his last).  Jack followed with a double that moved Oliver to third, and Colin drove in the first run with a ground out to first.  Boki then drove in 2 more with his second home run of the game.  Ryan and Tommy followed with back-to-back singles and then Zach laced a triple to right to score the final two runs of the inning.  As a result of his key extra base hit, Zach took home one of the players of the game awards. 

In the bottom of the 3^rd and 4th, the Jays came up with huge defensive plays to hold Colorado to zero runs for the first two coach pitch innings of the game.  The bottom of the 4^th saw the finest defensive performance of the past two years that can best be described as “plain’ baseball.”  Colin turned a grounder to short into an out.  The next hitter laced a ball to left center (the other team is going to hit the ball), but Tommy kept it front of him, cleanly fielded it and hit his cut off to hold the hitter to a single.  That would prove to be a crucial play of the inning.  The next hitter smacked a grounder to Bailey at second.  Bailey cleanly fielded the ball and tossed it to Colin for the force out at second.  Those three hitters represent the finest baseball we have played in two years.  We gave up a hit, but with outstanding outfield play, the hit was only a single.  Then, two grounders were easily turned into outs!!  How many times in the last two years have you heard me say, “we have got to be able to turn a grounder into an out.”  Well, guess what Jays, we are now so good at turning grounders into outs that I am surprised when we do not. 

In the top of the 4^th, the Jays plated another run thanks to single by Daniel and Oliver (his second of the game) and an RBI single by Jack.  In the top of the 5^th, the Jays pushed the lead thanks to a lead-off Hamlin-home run by Colin.  Despite another single by Tommy in the inning, the Jays were unable to score any more.  Heading into the bottom of the 5^th inning, the Jays had a commanding 9-1 lead.  Boki took over on the hill in the 5^th and proceeded to strike out the first two batters he faced.  He got himself into a little bit of a pickle by walking the next two batters, but he was able to induce the Colorado clean-up hitter into a weaker grounder back to himself which Boki fielded for the out at first (that’s yet another grounder that we have turned into an out – 5 in a row through the 5^th inning!!)

So, to the 6^th and final inning they went.  The Jays plated 2 more insurance runs on the 6^th to push the score to 12-1.  Oliver hit his third single of the game (thanks to his 3 for 3 performance at the plate), Oliver took home a player of the game award.  After a couple of singles by Jack ad Bailey, Colin pushed across the first run of the inning with a fielder’s choice and Boki drove in the next run of the inning with a double.  Thanks to his 3-4 performance with 2 homers, a double and 6 RBI, Boki took home the third player of the game award. 

Although Colorado was able to score 2 in the bottom of the 6^th (the one inning where the Jays had some issues turning grounders into outs), the commanding lead was safe.  That was just another example of excellent baseball, guys (and gal).  You all contributed to this win against a very good opponent that we beat quite easily.  We have another tough game on Wednesday against Milwaukee, but I think if we play hard with a lot of hustle, we will be very proud of ourselves no matter what the scoreboard says.