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TORONTO — That's some transition the Toronto Blue Jays made Sunday: from the Importance of Being Frank to living the A.J. Burnett Experience.
From drama to comedy. From seeing prospective Hall of Famer Frank Thomas walk out the clubhouse door to standing on the field behind a pitcher who never ceases to amaze and confound — and that's only what he does to himself.
And far from being upset with umpire Jeff Nelson after a six-walk outing in a 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, Burnett stood in front of his locker wearing an Eat the Rich T-shirt and wondered what it would have been like to spend the previous couple of hours in Nelson's shoes.
Seriously? Seriously.
Toronto Blue Jays batter David Eckstein celebrates his three-run home run against the Detroit Tigers with John McDonald during the fourth inning of their game in Toronto on Sunday. (Mike Cassese/Reuters)
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- Detroit Tigers
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Jeremy Accardo
- A.J. Burnett
- Miguel Cabrera
- Shawn Camp
- Jesse Carlson
- David Eckstein
- Placido Polanco
- Alex Rios
- Nate Robertson
- Scott Rolen
- B.J. Ryan
- Gary Sheffield
- Frank Thomas
"I'd like to see how hard it is to umpire when a guy's throwing what I'm throwing up there and it's going everywhere," Burnett said, trying to digest the wonder of it all. "I had electric stuff from the get-go. I just couldn't harness it."
David Eckstein's three-run home run in the fourth inning stood as the telling blow, and Eckstein's pint-sized infield partner John McDonald — starting at third base — had a two-run single as the Blue Jays won for the second time in three games of a four-game series that wraps up Monday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.
They're 2-0 since manager John Gibbons stared down Thomas on Saturday and told the 39-year-old designated hitter he was not in his plans any more. They're 1-0 since general manager J.P. Ricciardi met early Sunday with Thomas and gave the slumping slugger his unconditional release.
No waivers. No trade talks.
The Blue Jays have purchased the contract of catcher Robinzon Diaz from Triple-A Syracuse to take Thomas's place and more moves are afoot.
Third baseman Scott Rolen (fractured finger) started an injury rehabilitation option at Single-A Dunedin Sunday and could be with the Jays by next weekend. Also due to be brought up soon is outfielder Adam Lind, who has roared out of the starting blocks at Syracuse, but is suffering from a slightly strained neck caused by a hotel pillow.
The Blue Jays, 10-9, have already paid Thomas roughly $1.3-million (U.S.) of the $8-million he's owed this year. According to the club, they're on the hook for the rest of his base salary (about $6.7-million), less whatever Thomas receives from any club that signs him.
That 2009 option year worth $10-million that would have kicked in had Thomas made another 304 plate appearances this year? Gone into the ether. Gone into A.J. World. The Blue Jays also avoid about $1-million in bonuses Thomas likely would have achieved.
"We got a great year out of him last year and this year he was scuffling a little bit," said Ricciardi, who said he meeting with Thomas was amicable — which doesn't describe Thomas's reaction on Saturday when Gibbons told him of his fate before the Blue Jays beat the Tigers 3-2 to snap a six-game home losing string.
"This is a situation where I don't think you want to let it stay around," Ricciardi said. "You just want to deal with it. It's a situation where you want to do what's fair to him and what's fair to us."
Gibbons's take on the situation? "We move on," he said. "The game goes on. We go on."
And the Blue Jays did go on to do something they failed to do in four previous opportunities this season: beat a left-handed starter.
Southpaws were 4-0 against the Blue Jays, but the Tigers' Nate Robertson, 0-2, gave up eight hits and all five runs in five innings, striking out three and walking one.
Barring a Cy Young Award or some such thing, chances are that Burnett's career will be remembered mostly for throwing a no-hitter in 2001, in a game in which he walked nine batters and struck out seven.
He must have had flashbacks Sunday, when he struck out the side in the first inning, got two more quick outs in the second, then walked four of the next six batters he faced.
But he was an expert in damage control all day, getting Magglio Ordonez to ground out with the bases loaded to end the third inning and retiring Jacque Jones and Edgar Renteria with a run in and a man on second in the fifth.
Burnett threw 113 pitches, 62 for strikes.
His final inning was grand theatre. From the way he patted second baseman Aaron Hill on the head as if to say "good little boy" after he threw out Carlos Guillen for the first out, to the way he looked in at Nelson after ball four on Ordonez and held out his hands in a "aw, c'mon" gesture, then leaned over indicating the pitch had been a strike but the umpire had instead reacted to Ordonez's movement. (The Tigers' cleanup hitter had done a fine selling job on the pitch.)
Nelson yanked off his mask as if to argue with Burnett. Eckstein came in to talk to the pitcher, but Burnett patted him on the side. No worries. Burnett got out of the inning after giving up a run.
"It's an emotional game," Gibbons said. "The umpires know how to handle that. There were some borderline pitches he thought he missed, but when you're scattering it, it's tough to get those calls. That's just the way it is. He was missing his curveball."
