J.P. Arencibia Had One Heck of a Day
There was no doubt about it, today was all about J.P. Arencibia.
As I watched it all unfold from my seat at the Rogers Centre, I couldn’t believe what was happening. Not everyone realized it at the time, but history was made today.
J.P. Arencibia was the first player since the year 1900 to hit two home runs and have four hits in his major league debut (hat tip to Jordan Bastian). When it comes to big league debuts, you could not have asked for more from J.P. Arencibia.
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Another interesting thing happened at the ballpark this afternoon as well. Within the matter of two at bats, Arencibia had the crowd in the palm of his hands. By the time he stepped into the box to take his fifth at bat, the crowd was on their feet chanting “J.P. J.P. J.P. J.P”.
Incredibly, J.P. Arencibia transformed into a Blue Jays fan favourite in just a matter of one afternoon.
I joked about it earlier this afternoon about the Jays Shop having to hurry up and start printing J.P. Arencibia jerseys, but low and behold they already had them in stock. And I don’t doubt that they were already sold out by the end of the day.
Aside from maybe Travis Snider, can you recall a player in recent memory that has conjured up this much excitement in a Blue Jays uniform?
Many wondered whether J.P. Arencibia’s power numbers in the Pacific Coast League would translate over to the Major Leagues. If you need an indication whether it was a success or not, just look at his numbers today.
All it took was one pitch to make his presence felt in the city of Toronto. And you know what? I think it was love at first sight.
When I become that senile old man at the ballpark who reminisces about the days of yore, this is one of the games that I will look back on a remember with very fond memories.
Welcome to the show, J.P. Arencibia. If your debut was any indication of what’s in store, you’ll have many more curtain calls, shaving cream pies and Gatorade dunkings in the near future.
Being at the game today (and driving 3 hours with 2 kids) was something special. The scary thing is that JPA didn't get all of either of the HR pitches. The 2nd one was an opposite-field poke shot of the end of the bat.
According to Bastian, he was using Bautista's bat and VDub's batting gloves.
I've been to a few Jays playoff games (no WS unfortunately), and that was the atmosphere in the old 'Dome today.
I am so glad I went to the ball park today! Nothing better than drinking a beer in the sun and watching history!
I was hoping for an exciting start from JP, but I never imagined he'd post this line:
0.800avg/2.200slg/3.000ops
That was a great, great debut for the rookie. I'm hard pressed to think of a better one – Daniel Nava had a memorable first plate appearance for the Red Sox, smashing a grand slam on the first pitch he saw, but overall, J.P. had the better day.
LeRoux, sounds like you guys had a great time. I was talking with some other folks about the game, and we couldn't recall a game in recent memory with an atmosphere like that. It was truly incredible.
Matt, you couldn't have written a better ending (aside from maybe a 5/5 afternoon or hitting for the cycle) for J.P. Arencibia.
Steve, I recall Nava's first at bat – but JPA had four hits in a row. I know it's only been one game, but this kid can really hit!
Well maybe we all spoke too soon on JP.
Was JP that good that day or was the pitcher that bad? It was a good game for the whole team.
Anon, maybe it was a little of both, but it's not like it was a rookie out there – it was James Shields. And you're right, JPA has been less than impressive since then, but he's only started 6 or so games since then, so he really hasn't had much of an opportunity to play.