Crazy Night in New York as Carlson Suspended, Tallet & Downs Leave Game and Jays Blow Lead.

After Wednesday night’s brawl and 10-4 victory for the Toronto Blue Jays against the New York Yankees at their home park in New York, the Jays proved to the baseball world that they still had plenty of fight left in them for the remainder of the season.

Both squads’ rosters were shorter on the night as suspensions were announced by Major League Baseball for the incident that occurred the night before.

New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada and Blue Jays reliever Jesse Carlson were both suspended for three games each and drew fines. Posada was fined $2,500 while Carlson was fined $3,000.



Blue Jays catcher Rod Barajas was fined $1,000 but will not miss any action.

New York Yankees first base coach Kevin Long and reliever Edwar Ramirez also drew fines of an undisclosed nature.

New York Yankees call up Shelley Duncan was suspended for three games, but appealed. Duncan is allowed to participate in ball games until the appeal is approved or revoked.

The Jays would send left hander Brian Tallet to the mound to pitch against journeyman right hander Chad Gaudin.

Tallet would only last two innings in the game after being struck in the right foot by a Robinson Cano line drive in the bottom of the second inning.

Tallet finished out the inning, but would pull himself out of the game to begin the third, allowing two runs on two hits, walking one and striking out one.

After the Blue Jays offense tied up the ballgame in the third on a Jose Bautista home run and an Adam Lind groundout RBI, the Jays bullpen duo of Shawn Camp, Casey Janssen and Jeremy Accardo would do a magnificent job of holding the powerful Yankees offense to zero runs, on two hits and one walk over a combined five innings of work.

The same could not be said for late inning men Scott Downs and Jason Frasor.

After the Jays clawed their way to a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning, Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston called upon the usually reliable Downs to cover the inning.

After successfully getting slugger Mark Teixeira to hit a tapper back to him at the mound, Downs allowed a single to Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez which was followed by a two run home run blast off the bat of Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui into the right field bleachers.

Personally watching the blast on television made me realize how easily the ball flies out into the right field stands in New Yankee Stadium.

Normally when a ball hits a bat, the crack of the bat alone will be a definite sign that a ball is leaving the park. I did not hear this on Matsui’s swing and in my honest opinion this hit would have been a double in any other stadium.

The two run blast by Matsui was followed by a Nick Swisher single and another terrible moment for Jays fans.

On a possible double play ball off the bat of Robinson Cano, pitcher Scott Downs raced over to first base to cover the bag as Lyle Overbay threw the fielded ball to second, while running off the mound Downs came up hobbling.

As Jays fans know Downs has had major foot problems throughout the season and it looked as if the injury was aggravated at first, until Downs reach for his hamstring area as he hobbled back to the mound. Downs was immediately taken out of the game as Blue Jays closer Jason Frasor would take over.

Frasor would pitch a scoreless third of an inning to complete the eighth inning and return for the ninth.

Frasor would allow a leadoff single to Yankee speedster Brett Gardner, who proceeded to steal second base and move to third on a Derek Jeter groundout.

Young Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli would pinch hit for Jerry Hairston Jr, a great move by Yankees manager Joe Girardi, as Cervelli would single in the game winning for a 5-4 Yankee victory.

The Jays would blow yet another lead late in the game, similar to their loss to the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.

The disappointed Jays ended up with a two game split of the series against the Yankees when it could have easily been a sweep of the American League East leaders at their home park.

As for Tallet and Downs, Tallet had an X-ray that revealed no structural damage and the injury has been classified as a deep bone bruise.

Tallet may miss his next start which could be a problem for the Jays as they have officially shutdown both Brett Cecil and Marc Rzepczynski for the season with innings limitations. Fans will have to wait and see if Tallet can make the start or if the Jays will have to resort to drastic measures.



Downs tweaked his right hamstring and will be examined by team doctors in Florida on Thursday. It is a very good possibility the Jays will shut down Downs for the season. With only sixteen games left on the schedule the Jays would not want to have Downs suffer further damage to a body that has been plagued with injuries all season.



The Jays bullpen should suffice.

With the recent September call ups of Brian Wolfe, Dirk Hayhurst and Jeremy Accardo the Jays have more than enough relievers to choose from.

The Jays have an off day tonight as they travel to do battle with the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in Tampa. This will be the final series of the season between the two teams as Canadian born right hander Scott Richmond will go to the mound for the Jays to face off against Rays right hander “Big Game” James Shields.

In other baseball news:

Arizona Diamondbacks long ball artist and free swinger Mark Reynolds has infamously reached the 200 strikeout mark for the second straight season.

Reynolds accomplished the mark with four strikeouts in Wednesday's 6-5 loss to the San Diego Padres.

Reynolds holds the major league record for strikeouts in one season with 204, which he accomplished last season and will most certainly pass this season as well.

No other player has ever struck out 200 times in one season.



The Detroit Tigers main trade deadline acquisition in the form of starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn may not be able to help them in their potential playoff hopes this season. Washburn may be out for the remainder of the season due to an injured left knee.

The Tigers left hander pitched only one inning Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals before leaving the game when his knee swelled.

Washburn has been battling pain in his knee for months.