NOW I'M A BELIEVER

If the Red Sox can finish the season in the same fantastic manner in which they finished Thursday's ball game, they will be in the World Series for sure.
-- Harold Kaese, "The Impossible Dream?", The Boston Globe, July 28, 1967 (Reprinted in Impossible Dreams: A Red Sox Collection.)

It's a different team in a different country in a different century and I'll settle just for the American League Division Series, never mind the World Series, but that famed Kaese article that heralded the Red Sox' memorable '67 season did sum up a 10-inning win over the Angels, which is what the Blue Jays earned tonight with an 8-4 win in Anaheim.

By rights, the Jays should have lost. Not only did they get a gift run in the seventh inning with Vlady Guerrero dropped an easy fly, not only did Los Angeles leave the bases loaded with the scored tied in its half of that inning , not only did Justin Speier get out of a runner-on-third, one-out jam in the eighth, but the Angels also had the winning run on third base with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth and didn't score, as Scott Downs and Jason Frasor combined to stymie David Eckstein, Orlando Cabrera and Tim Salmon, who stood and looked at a third strike.

So it was on to the 10th, where Aaron Hill, with his average hovering around the Mendoza line, reached Francisco Rodriguez for a RBI double that put the Jays 5-4. Just for good measure, Hill's double-play partner, Russ Adams, who's also struggled with the bat early on in this year, hit a two-run single.

Frasor, who came into last night's game with a 9.53 ERA and one demotion to Syracuse under his belt for the year, pitched a three-up three-down 10th to nail down his first win of the season.

Yes, it's only May 19, and it came agains the Angels, who are ripe for the taking these days, but wins like that one make you believe just a little more. And what's sports if you can't be an eternal optimist?

Now, an interleague series against the Colorado Rockies. Because we all know about the simmering Toronto-Denver rivalry, stoked by those NBA Finals showdowns of yesteryear between the Nuggets and Raptors,* not to mention the ill-conceived 1986 goodwill exhibition game between the Broncos and Argonauts where John Elway, taking advantage of the wide-open CFL rules, threw for 800 yards in a single half and as his piece de resistance, even punted a for a rouge.*

(*- indicates this never happened. Although I suspect some Leafs diehards never got over the sight of seeing Lanny McDonald in a Colorado Rockies uniform.)

Pitching matchups: Josh Towers tries to make it two wins in a row tonight against Aaron Cook; Ty Taubenbeim makes his first big-league start on Saturday against Canada's own Jeff Francis; and Ted Lilly is pitted against Casey Fogg on Sunday.

Oh, and all three Colorado starters are pitching on five days' rest. That's doesn't bode well for the Jays. Nevertheless, they'll find a way to get out the rarefied Rockies air with two wins. So it is written, so it shall be done.

OTHER BUSINESS

• Couldn't help but notice this from a Canadian Press story about Oilers Fever:
  
  

  Three time zones away at the Salty Sea Dog Pub on Main Street in Moncton, N.B., manager Carlene Maillet reported the bar was jammed to watch Wednesday's game. She said a few Oiler jerseys can be seen.
  Are they Canada's team? "They are now because Montreal blew it and so did Toronto," she said, omitting the Ottawa Senators, who also fell short after losing their second-round series to Buffalo. (Italics mine)

  Take heart, Ottawa fans. We all know that pub managers have their finger on the pulse of the populace, so draw some solace from the fact that while you stayed up all night to vent on radio call-in shows, the Sens' reprising The Dying Swan On Hockey Skates (now complete with the John Muckler Face!) had no impact on the rest of Canada. Outside Ottawa -- you do know there is a world outside of Ottawa? -- no one cares about the Sens.
• I'm not exaggerating. During the 2002 playoffs, the last time the Leafs reached the semifinal, I was living in Halifax, N.S., and there were signs -- people wearing team sweaters, overheard snippets of conversation, etc. -- that the Leafs were still alive. In 2004, during the Calgary Flames' run, I remember seeing Flames flags waving from vehicles in Winnipeg on the day I left for vacation and arriving home in eastern Ontario that day and being greeted by Flames flags. In between, in 2003, when the Sens made their one-and-only trip to the semifinal, I don't recall any buzz generated by Ottawa's playoff drive. Weird. After all, even Flames fans are buying Edmonton sweaters.
• Like I said two nights ago, Elton Brand seems determined not to let the Clippers lose: 30 points, 12 boards and five blocks last night in L.A.'s series-tying 118-106 win. Witness. Now, if the NBA was run like hockey, I'd tell you to bet the grocery money on the Clippers in Game 7. Alas, this is basketball. There's not only a three-day rest before the deciding game -- which probably benefits Phoenix more, especially Steve Nash -- but in the NBA, you'd almost have to try to lose a Game 7 on your home floor. It happens, but not very often.
• The NHL conference finals start today. Here's a fun fact. In 1984, the Stanley Cup was awarded on May 19. Gee, you think maybe the hockey season is too damn long? Again, that's for another column.

That's all for now. Let's hear it for the Queen City Kids.