Day 4...Toronto

The CN Tower

On Thursday, June 11th we took the trip international. Our 3rd game in as many nights would be in Toronto as the Blue Jays hosted the Red Sox. The drive was a fairly easy one and we rolled into Toronto mid-afternoon. Our first stop was at a campsite a bit outside the city. We pitched our tent, set up camp, and headed to a train station where we caught the train downtown. We were both struck by the cleanliness of the train as well as that of downtown Toronto.

We hadn't gotten tickets beforehand, and during these early days of SkyDome, getting tickets was no easy feat. Skydome, with it's retractable roof and innovative amenities (including an in-stadium hotel and restaurants) was quite the drawing card. Add to that the fact that the Blue Jays were a fantastic team that would go on to win the World Series not only in 1992 but 1993 as well, and you can see how they eclipsed 4 million in total attendance by season's end.

Toronto had won the AL East in 1991, but had been bounced in the ALCS four games to one by the Minnesota Twins and their ace, Jack Morris, who defeated Toronto in both game one and game four. Morris would go on to put up one of the most famous pitching performances in MLB history, with his 10-inning shutout of the Braves in game seven of the World Series.

In the off-season, the Jays made sure they wouldn't fall prey to the dominance of Morris again; they went out and signed him to become their ace, with Morris ultimately leading them to their first World Series championship! In addition to 1991 and 1992, Morris had also been the ace of the 1984 Tigers, making him the only man to be the number one starter for three different world champion organizations.

On this night, he Red Sox were in town for the first of a four game set, and tickets were made all the more difficult to come by as a premier pitching matchup would pit Morris against Roger Clemens. Clemens was the reigning Cy Young Award winner (his 3rd time winning the award) and he had averaged 20 wins a season for the previous six years. Little did anyone know at that time that five years later, Clemens would become Toronto's ace, winning back-to-back Cy Young Awards for the Blue Jays in 1997 & 1998, and then win two more Cys with the Yankees (2001) and Astros (2004).

Blue, Blue Jays. Blue-Blue-Blue Jays. Thank you!

In order to make sure we got tickets to the sold-out game, we made sure to arrive hours before game time. Outside the stadium people were unmistakably excited about that night's game. Among the memorable folks we encountered was a drummer in a Blue Jays jersey, playing for donations. He sang a song, the lyrics of which consisted of one line repeated over and over: "Blue, Blue Jays, Blue-Blue-Blue Jays." The only variation was when somebody put some cash in his bucket, he would point at them with drumstick and inject a "Thank you!" into his song.

We ended up buying scalped tickets outside the stadium for the then-kingly sum of $25 apiece. It was a budget buster for us, but would be well worth the price.

Roger Clemens warming up

Clemens entered the game with a 9-3 record and a 1.56 ERA, but he was no match for the Blue Jays on this night. Joe Carter would hit a two-run homer in the third, supplemented by solo shots in the seventh and eighth by Pat Borders and future Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield. Meanwhile, Morris was every bit the ace he was advertised to be on this night. He through a complete game, four-hit shutout against a lineup that included former Cardinals Tom Brunansky and Tony Pena, future Cardinals Scott Cooper and Phil Plantier, and a Hall of Famer in the making in five-time batting champ, Wade Boggs.

After the 4-0 Blue Jays victory, we capped the night off with dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe overlooking the field from above the right field wall, and hung out downtown until we returned to our campsite. We were thrilled to not only the iconic surroundings, but even got to see them close the roof while we ate. I was saddened to see that though Skydome remains under the sponsor-named Rogers Centre label, Hard Rock is no longer there, having closed up shop in 2009.

Miles Driven Today: 267
Total Miles Driven: 1,090

Click here to see the next post in this series.
Click here to see the previous post in this series.
Click here to see an index of posts in this series.

We were WAY up high. After taking this photo, I turned around...

...and took this one of Eric standing at our seats in his white shirt and red hat, WAY up there!

Hall of Famer Dave Winfield homered on this swing...

...and these are the fireworks that ensued!

Post-game dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Game Played on Thursday, June 11, 1992, SkyDome
Red Sox 0 27-28 Lost 2 4th, 8½ GB                 1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9    R  H  E                 -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -    -  -  - Red Sox         0  0  0   0  0  0   0  0  0    0  4  0 Blue Jays       0  0  2   0  0  0   1  1  X    4  7  0 W: J Morris (7-3), L: R Clemens (9-4) Blue Jays 4 38-22 Won 4 1st BATTING Boston Red Sox               AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details J Reed 2B                     4   0   2   0    0   0  .293  .742   16    2   1   L Rivera SS                   3   0   0   0    1   1  .250  .621   14    0   1   W Boggs 3B                    3   0   0   0    1   0  .267  .762   13    1   1   M Greenwell LF                4   0   0   0    0   0  .237  .580   14    3   0   E Burks CF                    3   0   1   0    0   1  .250  .729   14    4   0   P Plantier RF                 2   0   0   0    1   0  .212  .638    9    2   0   CS T Brunansky DH                3   0   1   0    0   0  .283  .774    6    0   0   S Cooper 1B                   3   0   0   0    0   0  .213  .522   12    2   0   T Pena C                      2   0   0   0    0   0  .224  .550   10    8   0     H Winningham PH             1   0   0   0    0   0  .222  .532    6    0   0     J Flaherty C                0   0   0   0    0   0  .148  .364         2   0    R Clemens P                                                              0   1   G Harris P                                                             0   0 Totals                       28   0   4   0    3   2              114   24   4 BATTING TB: J Reed 2; T Brunansky; E Burks. Team LOB: 4. With RISP: 0 for 4. FIELDING DP: 1. W Boggs-J Reed-S Cooper. BASERUNNING CS: P Plantier (2, 2nd base by J Morris/P Borders). Toronto Blue Jays            AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details D White CF                    4   0   0   0    0   1  .237  .665   13    4   0   J Kent 2B                     4   0   0   0    0   0  .239  .879   17    1   1   J Carter RF                   4   1   2   2    0   2  .273  .806   23    2   0   HR D Winfield DH                 3   1   2   1    1   0  .317  .919   15    0   0   HR K Gruber 3B                   4   0   0   0    0   2  .221  .670   15    1   0   GDP J Olerud 1B                   3   0   0   0    1   1  .241  .714   15   11   0   C Maldonado LF                3   0   0   0    0   2  .255  .722   18    4   1   P Borders C                   3   1   1   1    0   0  .249  .712    7    2   1   HR M Lee SS                      2   1   2   0    1   0  .256  .679   13    1   1   J Morris P                                                               1   3 Totals                       30   4   7   4    3   8              136   27   7 BATTING HR: D Winfield (10, off R Clemens; 8th inn, 0 on, 1 out to Deep LF); P Borders (6, off R Clemens; 7th inn, 0 on, 1 out to Deep LF-CF); J Carter (12, off R Clemens; 3rd inn, 1 on, 2 outs to Deep LF). TB: J Carter 5; D Winfield 5; P Borders 4; M Lee 2. GIDP: K Gruber (7). RBI: J Carter 2 (41); D Winfield (34); P Borders (13). 2-out RBI: J Carter 2. Team LOB: 5. With RISP: 0 for 2. FIELDING DP: 1. J Olerud. PITCHING Boston Red Sox             IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS R Clemens, L (9-4)          7.1   7   4   4    3   7   3   1.79   31  131-78     2-11    52    - G Harris                    0.2   0   0   0    0   1   0   1.79    2    5-4      0-1          0-0 Totals                      8     7   4   4    3   8   3          33  136-82     2-12         0-0 Toronto Blue Jays          IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS J Morris, W (7-3)           9     4   0   0    3   2   0   3.94   31  114-68     9-13    78    - Totals                      9     4   0   0    3   2   0          31  114-68     9-13         0-0 Balks: None. WP: J Morris (8). IBB: None. HBP: None. OTHER Umpires: HP - Rich Garcia, 1B - Dan Morrison, 2B - Tim Welke, 3B - Dale Scott. Time of Game: 2:43. Attendance: 50,423. Field Condition: Unknown. Weather: 79° F, Wind 3mph in from Leftfield, Sunny, No Precipitation.