Fallout from Halladay vs. Burnett

The smile on Roy Halladay’s face says it all. Doc had his game face on the entire way through 9 innings, picking up his first complete game victory of the season. A.J. Burnett on the other hand … didn’t quite make it that far.

An incredible 43,737 fans were in attendance for the Halladay/Burnett showdown, as thousands flocked to the ticket windows yesterday, with over 12,000 walk-up tickets sold yesterday alone. It was a perfect storm of sorts, as everything seemed to line up perfectly. The off day on Monday fueled the media circus just in time for the New York Yankees to arrive in Toronto.

Burnett actually didn’t pitch too badly, but when the opposing pitcher is Roy Halladay, it’s easy to look over matched. Aaron Hill’s solo shot in the bottom of the 8th was the beginning of the end for A.J. Burnett, when he was pulled by manager Joe Girardi to a chorus of boos.

In fact, for at least the first few innings, the fans at the Rogers Centre would boo Burnett every time he worked from the stretch. Luckily, the fans realized that they needed to pace themselves if they wanted to boo Burnett and A-Rod all throughout the game. Speaking of which, for once the focus was not on Alex Rodriguez and he managed to stay very low-key. That’s probably best for him, since A-Rod doesn’t seem to have the best luck with the media in Toronto.

All in all, it was a great game to watch and it was fantastic to see the city of Toronto and Blue Jays fans everywhere get so involved and so excited about a baseball game. Let’s keep the momentum going for tonight!