All Things Bubba

September 24, 2005: Toronto 7, N.Y. Yankees 4

One year ago today, the Blue Jays played the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Jaret Wright was the starting pitcher, but he was ineffective. He also displayed his alarming tendency to attract flying objects. Aaron Small, newly moved to the bullpen, came to the rescue. Sure is handy to have an extra starter in the bullpen with Wright on the mound.

Unfortunately, the Yanks were not able to climb out of the early hole. (Though that wasn't all Wright's fault. Errors by Cano and Matsui put four of Toronto's seven runs on the board.)

The pre-game show featured a short interview with Bubba. Five days after his walkoff homer, they were still talking about it.


There's a video file of the interview here. It's about 14 Mb, WMV format.

Among other things, Bubba says no one had ever given him a chance, until that one month last year.


Bubba was 1 for 2 for the night, with a run scored. His hit was an infield single. It was hit toward the pitcher; he couldn't handle it, and by the time he chased it down, the speedy Bubba was on 1B.


As usual, Bubba got his uniform dirty. Probably on this great play, where he made a terrific diving catch.


(Man, I miss seeing plays like that. We've got some solid outfielders now, but no one who plays with Bubba's spark. Who gets his uniforms quite that dirty.)

Despite his solid performance on offense and defense, Torre decided to pinch-hit for him in the 6th inning. With Ruben Sierra. (Arrggh. Sierra was batting something like .108 for the month, while Bubba was hitting around .340.) Bubba spent the rest of the game on the bench.


(Don't ask me what he's got in his mouth. A huge wad of gum? Sunflower seeds? Not tobacco, I hope.)


As it turned out, Sierra did get a hit. Bubba cheered him from the dugout.

At the end of the day, Bubba's diving catch was chosen Play of the Game.