Friday 8 April 2016

Toronto Blue Jays 7, Boston Red Sox 8, Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

Tonight was the Toronto Blue Jays' home opener.  When tickets went on sale for this game a couple months ago for fans on Twitter, I was on it right away.  Alas, the available tickets sold out within minutes and I wasn't successful so I bought tickets for tomorrow's game.

When tickets for tonight's game went on sale to the public a couple days later, I logged on right away just for fun and was shocked to discover that I'd managed to get a couple.  Whoohoo!   The game was totally sold out.

There is a giant banner around a column of the Rogers Centre celebrating that the Blue Jays were AL East Division Champions last year.


Boston is in town for the weekend.


There is a lot of anticipation for this year.


They were giving out rally towels as everyone came in.


Gord and I figured there would be line-ups to get in so we got there about an hour and a half early.   Our seats were in section 541, in the second row, to the left of the jumbotron.


We watched the players get warmed up.


Blue Jays starting pitcher, Marcus Stroman, got mentally and spiritually prepared for the game.


Here was the Blue Jays' starting defensive alignment.


Here were the starting pitchers.


Blue Jays third baseman, Josh Donaldson, was named 2015 American League Most Valuable Player and had his award presented before the game tonight by former Blue Jays player, George Bell.


Former Blue Jays player, Roberto Alomar, and current Blue Jays player, José Bautista, unveiled a new banner.


RCMP officers came out for the singing of the national anthems.


Members of the Canadian Armed Forces opened a large Canadian flag when it came time for our national anthem.


Former Blue Jays president, Paul Beeston, was honoured on his retirement and threw out the ceremonial first pitch.


Before the game started, the managers of the two teams and the umpires huddled.


Stroman threw out the first pitches to start the game.


Here is the Blue Jays starting line-up and their walk-up music.


Here's the view of the field from our seats.


There's the Blue Jays dugout.


I bought a Blue Jays cap during the game.


Ace, the Blue Jays mascot, encourage everyone to sing when Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede was played.


The prize for the 50/50 draw was over $68,000!  Gord and I said that if we won it, we would put it towards knocking down our mortgage.


Alas, we didn't win :(


The Blue Jays started out strong but lost 8 - 7.  Here are the stats for the game.


It's great to have the Blue Jays back!  Fingers crossed they win tomorrow!

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