By Larry LaRue
The News Tribune
TORONTO – Once upon a time, the roar of the crowd was deafening and the SkyDome was an intimidating ballpark for visiting teams.
On Tuesday, when the Blue Jays rallied late to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-3, it was as if baseball was trying to turn an old phrase.
If a tree falls in the forest …
“I remember when you not only couldn’t get tickets, you couldn’t buy season tickets here,” John Olerud said. “Now you come in and they have the seats in the upper deck covered.”
For a Blue Jays team that won its second consecutive game – for only the second time all season – it was a victory that went unseen in Canada. Not two blocks away at game time, the Toronto Maple Leafs were playing for a spot in the conference finals. And in a nation that puts moose and loons on its coinage, hockey remains king.
Of course, a 13-23 record in the American League East, where they are already 13 1/2games out, might have contributed to a few thousand empty seats.
What are Jays fans missing?
“That’s not a bad team,” Bret Boone said. “You’ve got some guys who can hit, you’ve got some guys who can pitch …”
You’ve just got no one who wants to spend much to watch them.
A crowd that was much smaller than the announced 14,308 – season tickets not used were added in – saw Freddy Garcia make certain it had little to cheer about through five innings. In that first five innings, Garcia allowed two hits.
The Mariners had six, and turned them into three runs.
“The way I was throwing, we should win that game,” Garcia said.
Entering the sixth inning with a 3-1 lead, Garcia couldn’t hold it, and had no one to blame but himself. The first man he faced, Vernon Wells, swung and missed strike three, but the ball was low and away and bounded to the backstop.
Wild pitch. Runner on first.
Dave Berg doubled, and Garcia bore down to strike out Jose Cruz Jr. With two tough hitters coming up, Carlos Delgado and Raul Mondesi, manager Lou Piniella made a choice and walked Delgado intentionally.
“I hate walking guys, but we set up the double play and tried to get out of it,” Piniella said.
Mondesi couldn’t put the ball in play, striking out, and Garcia jumped ahead of the count to rookie Eric Hinske, 0-2.
“We wanted a fastball in, try to jam him,” Wilson said.
“It wasn’t a bad pitch, but Hinske’s a good hitter,” Bret Boone said. “Good hitters find a way to get a hit without putting the barrel of the bat on the ball. It’s not luck, it’s good hitting.”
Hinske sailed an 0-2 pitch over Boone’s head and into right field for a two-run single that tied the game, then Jays catcher Tom Wilson hit his second home run of the night – and third of the year – to put Toronto ahead.
“Frustrating? Of course,” Garcia said. “I got Cruz. I got Mondesi. I got ahead of Hinske. It was a stupid mistake, and I paid for it.”
Not that anyone in Toronto noticed.
Contributing to the weird environment of a ballpark that holds 45,001 – and drew fewer than 5,000 on this night – was the fact that most everyone in attendance was listening to the hockey game.
Evidence? In the middle of an at-bat, when the Maple Leafs scored a goal, the crowd went wild.
“It was always a hockey town,” said Olerud, who played eight seasons here. “They loved baseball, but even in our best years, hockey games always sold out.”
The Mariners, by and large, are not hockey nuts. So after getting down by a run, they made their usual late-inning charge in the eighth inning, and came up with a zero.
Ruben Sierra led off with a walk and was replaced at first by pinch-runner Luis Ugueto. Boone, who earlier had pushed his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games, lined a ball to center field that Wells caught as he crashed into the wall.
“I didn’t quite get it, but I was thinking ‘Get off that wall!’” Boone said, shaking his head.
Olerud lined a ball to center field and Wells made another fine running catch. Mike Cameron singled, and Ugueto challenged Mondesi’s arm and just did beat the throw to third.
Carlos Guillen – 3-for-3 at that point – lined out to right field.
“I’d have traded the first three hits for one there,” he said.
In the bottom of the inning, Ryan Franklin gave up a two-run home run and the Blue Jays had their 13th win. Seattle dropped its 12th loss.
“Freddy probably made too good a pitch to Hinske with two strikes,” Piniella said.
Lots of folks watching at home in the Northwest might agree. In Toronto, no one noticed. By the ninth inning, some fans were chanting “Go Leafs!”
“It’s strange to see it like this,” Olerud said.
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