Ichiro the Blue Jay Killer

PitchFX courtesy of Brooks Baseball

Who else but the mighty Ichiro would drive a dagger through the hearts of the Blue Jays for the final blow of the ballgame?

If you thought that pitch was way outside the strike zone, just check out the PitchFX above. Ichiro was so determined to hit that pitch not matter what that Scott Downs could have thrown the ball ten feet outside of the zone and Ichiro still would have got the game-winning hit.


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And that’s why Ichiro is a career .353 hitter against the Blue Jays. Kudos to a great hitter and congratulations to Ichiro on his first career walk-off hit.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.

6 thoughts on “Ichiro the Blue Jay Killer

  • July 29, 2009 at 5:23 pm
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    How come everybody says "poor Scott Downs"?

  • July 29, 2009 at 6:46 pm
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    It was a fine pitch against an even finer hitter — but … the bases shouldn't have been loaded in the first place. It would have been absolutely heroic to have escaped that.

  • July 29, 2009 at 7:05 pm
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    You're right, Scott Downs should not have gotten himself in that position in the first place. A cleanly fielded bunt and the entire game could have been different.

  • July 29, 2009 at 8:29 pm
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    That was the first walk off hit by Ichiro ever? Wow, that's hard to believe from a hitter that seems to always have a timely hit.

    I have to agree with the growing opinion that Scott Downs needs to be used in lower leverage situations. This closing thing is not for him apparently…

  • July 30, 2009 at 1:09 am
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    Hard to believe, but it's true! 1345 career games without a walk-off hit.

    I don't know if it's time for Downs to be demoted yet, but it seems like he's been overworked this past week and maybe still suffering from effects from his injury. Downs has had a pretty rough week, maybe he just needs some rest.

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