We've seen the revised extra-inning rules the last two years in Sahlen Field, and it's always had a weird feeling associated with it. My thought has been to play the 10th inning and only then go to the goofy "ghost runner" at second base to start the 11th and subsequent innings.
Never expected to see it in the major leagues. And certainly never expected to see it in downtown Buffalo because we weren't supposed to have baseball here this year. Remember?
Ah, 2020. What a world. The big leagues finally come to town and on our first two nights, we get transformed to bush leagues.
The Blue Jays and Miami Marlins split the games, with Toronto posting a 5-4 win in the opener Tuesday and Miami responding with a 14-11 triumph Wednesday. Both ended in the 10th inning, which is exactly the point unfortunately.
The feeling you get around the game is people understand why we can't be at the park for hours on end this year, but that you hope the powers that be don't make this a permanent change. It seems, however, like that's the way this is heading.
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"I don’t like it,” Marlins catcher Francisco Cervelli said. “Every year, there’s a new rule, new things. This is not softball, this is not the Olympic games. This is baseball, but it’s what it is. I have to adapt to this.”
Like many Blue Jays, first baseman/DH Rowdy Tellez sampled the extra-inning rule while with the Bisons. He's not much of a fan, either.
"I think it kind of tampers with the integrity of the game," Tellez said. "Having a runner on second base makes it easier. I know a lot of guys don't like extra innings, pitchers don't like extra innings but ... I just think starting with a runner on second makes the game slower. I'm not a huge fan of it, but it's implemented and it's something we deal with and plan for it accordingly.
"I'm more of an old-school type of guy. I like to do it the hard way. I don't mind playing that many innings."
Coronavirus protocols that demand limited time at the ballpark go in the face of extended extra-inning games. And a lack of marathons saves on weary arms in the bullpen, especially with a compressed schedule, so MLB is 2-for-2 on this point.
Through Friday, 14 of the 21 extra-inning games this season finished in the 10th. Five others ended in the 11. Two went 13 innings, the Astros' July 29 win over the Dodgers and their Aug. 7 loss to the Athletics. So not a single game to the 14th inning and only two reaching the 12th.
It's what we've seen the last two years with the Bisons, who played just one game in that span that went to 12 innings.
"When it comes to rules that are the same for everybody, there really shouldn't be any complaints," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. "What we don't like are the 15-inning games, 20-inning games. That's what baseball is trying to stay away from this year.
"I'm not a big fan of it. It doesn't feel like the game I've played in or managed before. But with the scenario we're in, we just try to deal with it."
What's the strategy? It seems like you try to score multiple runs if you're the road team. If you're the home team and can keep the visitors scoreless, you start with a man on second and you quickly bunt him to third with one out.
"You're on the road, you want to score more than one. You don't want to give them an out. You want to hit," Montoyo said. "The home teams seem to be bunting. ... It's tough to be in the road team in that scenario. You don't score and they're in a position to just bunt guys over. "
The Tampa Bay Rays gave up a run in the 10th in their July 26 game against the Blue Jays in Tropicana Field, so they knew they had to be swinging and didn't just play for a tie. Kevin Kiermaier laced a two-run triple to right to rally the Rays to a 6-5 victory.
"I don't think the pitchers have been thrilled with it," Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the rule here Friday. "I really don't think the home team just looks to get the guy to third base. We were at first and second and 'KK' swung away to win the game. It just depends on the matchups you have, who's available as the hitter, what part of the lineup, the speed on second base. There's plenty of things we try to account for to help us make the best decision."
Keep your distance
The Blue Jays had a socially distanced celebration after Travis Shaw's walkoff single in the 10th inning of the opener here. MLB keeps reminding teams that lots of hugging and high-fiving is a very bad look – and a health hazard – in the era of coronavirus. Officials got particularly concerned with what they saw in Oakland after Matt Olson's walkoff grand slam for the A's on opening night, and the outbreaks in Miami and St. Louis upped the ante.
Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette said he was heeding the warnings after Shaw's hit.
"First instinct was to go grab him and hug him and all that," Bichette said. "But halfway in my jog towards him, I was like, ‘Oh wait, I’ve got to stay away from him.' It was alright though. It didn’t take away any of the excitement."
Travis Shaw raises his hands after hitting the game-winning RBI in the 10th inning against the Miami Marlins at Sahlen Field on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020.
Montoyo haunts Herd
The Blue Jays public relations department was good enough to give me the initial question on Montoyo's first Zoom call in Buffalo on Tuesday night, so I took the opportunity to ask him an innocuous question – and also to remind him of his infamous place in Bisons history.
It was third baseman Montoyo who fired a relay throw home to catcher Joe Kmak to nail Greg Edge with the final out of Game 4 of the 1991 American Association finals between the Bisons and Denver Zephyrs in Mile High Stadium. Looking for one win to close their first championship, the Bisons entered the ninth inning trailing, 9-0, and getting no-hit by lefty Greg Mathews. But they amazingly got the deficit to 9-6 and loaded the bases for Greg Tubbs.
The future Buffalo Baseball Hall of Famer whacked a double in the left-field corner to score two runs, but Edge was ruled out at home by umpire Scott Potter in what remains the most controversial call in franchise history. The Zephyrs won the series the next night, 12-3. Montoyo answered my questions in reverse order.
Said a smiling and sheepish Montoyo: "First of all, he was out by a mile at home plate 30 years ago. ... But I know you got the tape."
Dear Blue Jays ...
• The fan cutouts look great in the ballpark but are a disappointment on TV because the TD Bank ads behind home plate are absurdly dominant. They can't go on the wall padding to make more fans visible? There are far fewer cutouts visible here than in most MLB cities, which is a shame.
• For that matter, it's disappointing there's no mention of Buffalo anywhere on any signage. The Jays even went with maple leafs instead of the longstanding buffalos for the distance markers on the outfield fence. At the very least, it would seem a banner could be hung on the vast spaces on the left-field screen that says "Sahlen Field" or "Buffalo" or something.
• Celery suddenly appeared behind a window in the Bisons' offices Friday night. Mascot races can't happen on the field this season, but some teams are putting them on video and playing them in the park to gives the players and coaches a few laughs, and even show some on TV.
The Bisons and Blue Jays should tape a few WCC races on the ballpark plaza and get them on the video board. We need Chicken Wing, Atomic Wing, Blue Cheese, Carrot and Fish Fry. We're in Buffalo.
Around the horn
• Marlins manager Don Mattingly on finally ending his team's three-week road trip in Buffalo before heading to Miami for Friday's delayed home opener in Marlins Park: "You think you’re leaving for a few days. You pack hardly enough and the next thing you know it’s a month later and you have to pay rent again.”
• Marnie Starkman, the Blue Jays' vice president of business and operations who was a point person for the incredible work done at Sahlen Field, is the daughter of Howard Starkman, the team's legendary public relations director.
Howard Starkman, who was one of the Jays' first five employees hired in 1976 and retired in 2014, served as the official scorer for Tuesday's historic opener here. To minimize people in the ballpark, scorers are working remotely and watching on TV rather than sitting in the press box.
• Goofy 2020 calendar: We went into Saturday with 13 teams having played at least 20 games – a third of the season – while the virus-ridden Cardinals had played only five. And the trade deadline was 16 days away.
• Wednesday's 14-11 slugfest wasn't the first Marlins victory I covered by that score. The other was Game 3 of the 1997 World Series on a frigid night in Cleveland. The game was tied 7-7 in the ninth before then-Florida exploded for seven runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
• The Blue Jays' trek to Buffalo makes this the first season since 1957 with three teams playing in New York and the first season since 1968, the year before the Montreal Expos were born, with no games in Canada.
