Change Ups

In late June, three of the pitchers for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Alley Cats’ major league affiliate, were out with injuries. Scott Walker had rotator cuff surgery, Esteban Loaiza had a broken finger, and Roy Halladay had a strained bicep. Jason was given the opportunity to travel to Cleveland and debut as a Blue Jay. He jumped at the chance. As the game loomed just two days away, Jason felt both nervous and excited. Kendra took Thursday and Friday off to travel to Cleveland with him to watch him play his first Major League game. On Friday night, the game between the Blue Jays and the Indians, Jason Boyd made his major league debut. Pete Walker and Justin Miller carried the Jays through the first seven innings. In the bottom of the 7th inning, the pitching coach called Jason to warm up and get ready to go in. Jason started throwing and warming up his arm. When the 8th inning started, Jason walked to the mound for his first pitch in the majors, looking considerably more confident than he felt. Travis Fryman, a righty with a .217 batting average, stepped to the batter’s box for the Indians and Jason staired. He wound up and threw straight down the center at 89 miles per hour. He heard the sound he wanted as the ball slammed into Ken Huckaby’s catchers glove. Jason followed up with the same pitch straight down the center at 86 miles per hour. Another swing and miss by Fryman. Jason threw a third pitch, high and outside. One ball, two strikes. Jason took in a breath and looked over the top of his glove as he wound up. Another high and outside. Two balls. Jason’s nerves had calmed and he was simply playing baseball, like he had done since he was a boy. As he read the sign from Huckaby, Jason threw to the inside, looking like another ball, but at the last minute the pitch broke and curved inside the corner of the plate. Three strikes and Jason had started his major league career with a strike out. Next in the Indians lineup was Russell Branyan, a leftie when it came to hitting. Branyan was having a decent year, so Jason was hoping to keep him off base, but the first pitch connected with Branyan’s bat and tipped foul. Jason blew out a breath and threw hard. At 90 miles per hour straight down the center, it was a good throw, but Branyan was ready and shot the ball out to center field. The good news was that he went no further than first base. Jason took a few breaths and prepared to pitch against the next batter, Milton Bradley, a righty. Bradley, like Branyan, had also been having a good year. Jason threw eight pitches against Bradley, two strikes, two balls, and three went foul off of Bradley’s bat. The eighth pitch connected and went high into right field. Raul Mondosi, playing right field, easily caught the pop-up and prepared to throw to first to keep Branyan in place. Two outs, Jason thought. He blew out his breath slowly and wound up for the next pitch. Matt Lawton swung on the first pitch and connected hard. By the time the ball was back into infield, Lawton was on second and Branyan was resting comfortably on third. Not good, Jason said to himself. Things got worse as he looked up to see the next batter step into the box. The crowd was going wild as Jim Thome tapped his bat on home plate. Thome, who was hitting over .400 and had 26 homeruns this year stared back at him. Thome had a grin on his face and settled into his batting stance. Jason threw two balls and then a slider. Thome watched the first two pitches go by and swung on the third. The sound, however, was ball on leather as Huckaby caught the pitch. Jason’s third pitch was high and outside, but Thome swung on it, just connecting and throwing the ball high and over the back stop netting, bringing the count to 2-2. Jason wound up and threw a curve. He had struck out more batters with this pitch than any other. However, Jim Thome was not just any player and as his bat connected with the ball, Jason knew where that ball was headed. As he looked, the ball cleared the right field wall and all three batters trotted home. Jacob’s Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, erupted as the sold out crowd roared, signaling their approval. Jason struck out the next batter, holding the Indians to three runs in that inning. Not a great start. Jason dropped onto the bench as the ninth inning started and rested his head in his hands before sitting back and taking a drink of water. He let himself sit for only a minute before getting up and going back out to the bullpen to keep his arm warm. Through the bottom of the ninth, Jason was able to keep the Indians to only one more run. The final score was Cleveland Indians 7, Toronto Blue Jays 3. It wasn’t the way Jason had wanted to start a Major League career. He blamed himself for the loss with the four runs he had given up. Kendra reminded him that this was a team sport and everyone was on the hook to get the win, not just him. It didn’t matter. As the pitcher, Jason knew it came down to him, just like the quarterback in football knows the win or loss comes down to him.