NewsBarajas torments former club in ninth
Blue Jays sweep Phils as veteran hits pinch-hit homer
By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com
06/18/09 7:28 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA -- Rod Barajas does not have many fans in Philadelphia. That much was easy to figure out any time the Blue Jays catcher stepped up to the plate at Citizens Bank Park over the past three days. The Phillies' faithful possess long memories and have decided that Barajas deserves no love.
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In the ninth inning on Thursday afternoon, Barajas' name was announced throughout the stadium and the crowd again erupted with an angry round of boos directed at the former Phillies player. Barajas answered by launching the first pinch-hit home run of his career -- a solo blast to center field that sent Toronto on its way to a grueling 8-7 victory.
Barajas' late heroics helped overcome an abbreviated outing from rookie starter Brad Mills in his big league debut and made Toronto's continued struggles with runners in scoring position easier to swallow. A win is a win, though, and the Blue Jays' latest sealed a three-game series sweep over the reigning World Series-champion Phillies.
"That's why baseball is such a great game," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "You never know what's going to happen. You come in here and sweep these guys over here who probably have one of the better teams in baseball and we struggle against other teams. That's why you show up every day."
The end result helped Barajas laugh off the rude welcome he receives whenever he returns to Philadelphia. For a player that only suited up for 48 games for the Phillies during the 2007 season, Barajas must have left quite an impression. The reaction from the fans likely stems from an incident that took place in May of his lone season in Philly.
Barajas knows it, too.
"Probably," said Barajas, who was careful not to add anything else. "Who knows?"
During a game against the Marlins that season, Barajas did not block home plate in the ninth-inning of a tightly-contested game on the road. The catcher avoided contact and Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez scored the game's tying run on the play. It was a decision on Barajas' part that left a sour taste in the collective mouths of Phillies fans.
Barajas, who has hit .500 (8-for-16) with four homers and 10 RBIs against the Phillies since leaving the team, said the boos don't bother him.
"They're great guys over there," Barajas said of his former teammates. "I don't listen to the fans. I have a job to prepare for and a job to do. If I let that affect me, I wouldn't be doing my teammates right."
Barajas said that Phillies catcher Chris Coste jokingly joined in the fans' animosity.
"When I go up to hit, Coste is booing me too," Barajas said with a laugh.
Barajas' only job on this afternoon was to be prepared to grab a helmet and a bat and serve as a pinch-hitter if the Blue Jays (37-31) needed him. The catcher was out of the starting lineup, but it became clear that he would not have a complete day off as the game wore on. Toronto used eight pitchers and 12 position players in a contest that lasted three hours and 48 minutes.
The Jays and Phillies (36-28) combined for seven home runs in a game that included three lead changes. Philadelphia starter Joe Blanton surrendered a two-run shot to catcher Raul Chavez in the second and a solo blast to Adam Lind in the sixth. Mills, who lasted just 3 2/3 innings in a 94-pitch debut, yielded a second-inning solo homer to Jayson Werth and a two-run shot to Jimmy Rollins in the fourth.
There was also the solo home by Phils right fielder John Mayberry Jr. to put the Jays behind, 5-3, in the fifth, and a pinch-hit blast from Greg Dobbs in the eighth inning, when the Phillies scored twice to knot the score, 7-7. Dobbs' homer off Brandon League came after the Jays scored two runs in the top of the frame to take advantage of a costly fielding error by Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz.
For all the offense, the Blue Jays still finished 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-5 with the bases loaded. Toronto stranded three runners in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, ending the three-game set with the Phillies with an 0-for-14 showing with the bags full of Blue Jays.
"It's been a struggle," Barajas said. "I did a tremendously horrible job the other night. It just happens. You go through spurts where you're not getting the job done and normally that's when teams struggle. We've been able to find a way around that and win these close games."
The way things have been going, it might have been fortunate for the Jays that Barajas stepped to the plate with no one on base in the ninth inning.
With Phillies interim closer Ryan Madson on the mound, Barajas opted to look for a fastball. After watching two pitches go by for strikes, Toronto's catcher jumped on a heater and sent it to center field. Philadelphia's Shane Victorino climbed the wall in an effort to snare the fly ball, but it ducked over for a homer that caught everyone by surprise.
"It wasn't a strike," Madson said. "It was off the plate and up. It surprised the [heck] out of me."
Maybe no one was caught more off guard than Barajas.
"I didn't think I could hit it that far to that part of the ballpark," he said with a laugh. "I think it went in the bushes. I was kind of surprised. I was running as hard as I could, because I wasn't sure if it was going to have enough legs to get out."
After using Barajas, Gaston only had one position player (shortstop John McDonald) left on the bench and just two pitchers remaining in his bullpen. Both available relievers, B.J. Ryan and Jeremy Accardo, began warming up beyond the right-field wall. Ryan has struggled all season and Accardo -- called up from Triple-A Las Vegas on Thursday -- had taken a red-eye flight through the night to get to Philadelphia.
Those were Gaston's options, and the Phillies nearly had one last rally in them.
Ryan entered in the ninth inning and issued a leadoff walk to Chase Utley. After Ryan then struck out Phillies slugger Ryan Howard, Gaston turned to a jet-lagged Accardo. The right-hander allowed a one-out single to Pedro Feliz, but eventually induced a game-ending flyout off the bat of Mayberry.
That preserved Barajas' game-deciding home run -- one that Phillies' fans won't soon forget.
"When I went up there, I wasn't trying to hit it out of the park," Barajas said. "I just wanted to get on base and give the other guys a chance to drive me in. Fortunately for me, he kind of left a pitch where I could handle it."
Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
