Rank Russell's homer in Blue Jay history

SharoneWright · Post #1 » by **SharoneWright** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:16 am

Jeff Blair just stated Russell Martin's 3-run shot in the 7th v. the Yanks (10 games before the playoffs) ranked "in the top 3 or 4" homers in Blue Jays history........ A bridge too far???

1. Alomar v. Eck?
2. Carter to win it all in '93?
3. Sprague in '92?

All clearly (to me) hold the top 3.

What else beats R-Mart?

Other big homers:
-Doug Ault first inning bomb on opening day of franchise history.

-Gruber in '92 WS....

Spoiler:

-I (barely) remember a shot by George Bell beyond the LF wall in Yankee Stadium down the stretch to win the East in 1985 (I think)... Also his 3 homers off Saberhagen to open the season in 1988...

-I also randomly remember this shot also down the stretch in 1987 by The Prime Dog into the upper deck in Yankee Stadium..

Spoiler:

-Canseco upper deck SkyDome shot. Memorable for sure.

-Delgado 4th homer off Windows in 4 homer game... Memorable.

Some of these don't even belong. But what have I missed? Was Russell's dinger yesterday night really the 3rd or 4th most important home run in Blue Jays history?

Boogie! · Post #2 » by **Boogie!** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:49 am

lol... i saw this segment and i honestly thought to myself, "is this guy serious right now?"

not a playoff game... jays were already up 1-0 and the yankees didn't end up scoring... even if they HAD lost the game, there's enough baseball left that it wouldn't have necessarily destroyed their season...

hypothetically, say the jays were actually down in the bottom of the ninth and martin his the game winning homer, i still dont think its one of the greatest home runs in jays history... and i dont claim to know every single memorable home run, but just given the context of the game its an overreaction to give it that sort of importance...

Randle McMurphy · Post #3 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:51 am

I saw the same segment and Blair is off his rocker (or at least just BS'ing and not giving a damn). That Martin HR isn't anywhere close to that (they were in a winning position before he hit it, it didn't clinch anything, and there is still plenty of time left in the season). Hell, we could conceivably have a bigger HR than that over the next 10 days.

In the same segment, he also said that the division race was basically over already which...no. The Yankees could definitely make up 3 GB in 10 games, it's happened plenty of times before.

Jays4WS · Post #4 » by **Jays4WS** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 11:19 am

I listened to the podcast last night and had to rewind it. I know Blair says some ridiculous things but this might be the dumbest thing ever. As others have mentioned they were already winning, the HR didn't change anything but give the team a little breathing room. I don't understand how you can compare this to the likes of Alomar, Carter.

Just imagine what he will say when someone gets a big hit in the playoffs.

Raptor_Guy · Post #5 » by **Raptor_Guy** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 12:26 pm

You have to keep in mind the Jays haven't clinched the division yet. If the Yankees come back and overtake us, then Martin's home run is just another home run. However, if the Jays edge out the Yankees by one win, then sure, maybe it's a bigger home run.

IMAN5 · Post #6 » by **IMAN5** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:20 pm

I was at the game live, the homerun was amazing, the crowd went wild, I still get chills thinking about it.

But even I know that's not in the top 5 homeruns ever by this franchise. It's probably not even top 20. There are 5 better home runs this season alone I can think of (Donaldson's walk offs, Goins walk off, Smoak grandslam, Edwin's hat trick, Smoak from both sides of the plate on Canada day, etc)

Skin Blues · Post #7 » by **Skin Blues** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:24 pm

Biggest HR by a Blue Jay over the past week for sure. But as was already mentioned... we were already winning, and would have won without it. Stuff like this is why I don't listen to the radio, haha

rarefind · Post #8 » by **rarefind** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:53 pm

Here is the reality, it was an exclamation point. A freaking awesome exclamation point but nothing more. The game was 1-0, I am sure it was demoralizing to the Yankees but it wasn't the deathblow that decided the division. The hyperbole of Blair is a bit much. Regardless of what the Yankees players/coaches say, they still want to win the division. The season is not done, not by a long shot.

It is a bit ridiculous to hear Blair with this logic on the Fan about this unsurmountable 3 game lead but then hear the jays are JUST 2 games back of the AL lead. If it is possible for the Jays to catch KC, it is definitely within reason to believe the Yankees are not done either considering their schedule at this point.

hyper316 · Post #9 » by **hyper316** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:24 pm

I think Martin's HR was worth something, giving a cushion to ensure a win to be up 3.5 games instead of losing and being 1.5 games ahead. When the season is over, that 2 game swing might be very important in deciding a division title vs a wildcard spot.

s e n s i · Post #10 » by **s e n s i** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:36 pm

that HR doesn't mean anything unless we win the division. and even then i still don't think it's that huge considering we were already winning at that point. bautista's game-winning go-ahead jack in the 10th in NY in august was more important. same with edwin's jack to tie the game versus NY a couple weeks ago. martin's HR, while reassuring, wasn't even the most important shot this month, let alone up top 5 in jays history.

0 - 100 · Post #11 » by **0 - 100** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:37 pm

He is such a clown.

It was a clutch hit no doubt but nothing to put in the history books

s e n s i · Post #12 » by **s e n s i** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:43 pm

heck, using blair's logic you could make a case that pillar's grounder up the middle in the 6th was one of the biggest hits in franchise history. come on now.

LLJ · Post #13 » by **LLJ** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:01 pm

Jeff Blair is a tool. Time and time again he has proved that. Unfortunately, he is just one of many in Toronto sports journalism. Steve Simmons, Doug Smith, Mike Wilner, Cathal Kelly...

Hell, almost 80% of them are. So much styrofoam.

Boogie! · Post #14 » by **Boogie!** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:27 pm

Raptor_Guy wrote:You have to keep in mind the Jays haven't clinched the division yet. If the Yankees come back and overtake us, then Martin's home run is just another home run. However, if the Jays edge out the Yankees by one win, then sure, maybe it's a bigger home run.

how? it wasnt even the game winning hit... if anything, we should be talking about pillar's single with two outs since that ended up being the game winning run.

Raptor_Guy · Post #15 » by **Raptor_Guy** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:43 pm

Boogie! wrote:
Raptor_Guy wrote:You have to keep in mind the Jays haven't clinched the division yet. If the Yankees come back and overtake us, then Martin's home run is just another home run. However, if the Jays edge out the Yankees by one win, then sure, maybe it's a bigger home run.

how? it wasnt even the game winning hit... if anything, we should be talking about pillar's single with two outs since that ended up being the game winning run.

To play devil's advocate.. A-Rod led off the 9th with a double, if they were down 1-0 they might've found a way to score him. Obviously they weren't gonna bunt or try to sac fly him home down 4-0.

Boogie! · Post #16 » by **Boogie!** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:00 pm

Raptor_Guy wrote:
Boogie! wrote:
Raptor_Guy wrote:You have to keep in mind the Jays haven't clinched the division yet. If the Yankees come back and overtake us, then Martin's home run is just another home run. However, if the Jays edge out the Yankees by one win, then sure, maybe it's a bigger home run.

how? it wasnt even the game winning hit... if anything, we should be talking about pillar's single with two outs since that ended up being the game winning run.

To play devil's advocate.. A-Rod led off the 9th with a double, if they were down 1-0 they might've found a way to score him. Obviously they weren't gonna bunt or try to sac fly him home down 4-0.

except we're talking about everything in hindsight... any hypothetical scenario that might have happened plays no role in the context of that home run because it didn't happen. the yankees didn't score and kevin pillar's rbi was the game winning hit... when you look back on it in history no ones gonna remember that a-rod hit a double in the top of the 9th and that maybe they couldve scored him some other way to tie the game. and like i said in my original post, even if the jays ended up losing that game, theres enough baseball left that really, they could still win the division either way... that home run didnt mean that much... we might as well be talking about bautista's game winning home run in yankee stadium in the top of the 10th because that was the first game of the impending sweep that would eventually cement us at the top of the division...

Hoopstarr · Post #17 » by **Hoopstarr** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:38 pm

Maybe if it clinched the division for the first time in 22 years. Even that's a maybe.

Post #18 » by **TheDoctor** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:41 pm

SharoneWright wrote:Jeff Blair just stated Russell Martin's 3-run shot in the 7th v. the Yanks (10 games before the playoffs) ranked "in the top 3 or 4" homers in Blue Jays history........ A bridge too far???

1. Alomar v. Eck?
2. Carter to win it all in '93?
3. Sprague in '92?

All clearly (to me) hold the top 3.

What else beats R-Mart?

Other big homers:
-Doug Ault first inning bomb on opening day of franchise history.

-Gruber in '92 WS....
Spoiler:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wpV9GCsrU4[/youtube]

-I (barely) remember a shot by George Bell beyond the LF wall in Yankee Stadium down the stretch to win the East in 1985 (I think)... Also his 3 homers off Saberhagen to open the season in 1988...

-I also randomly remember this shot also down the stretch in 1987 by The Prime Dog into the upper deck in Yankee Stadium..
Spoiler:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYFonO0KDSg[/youtube]

-Canseco upper deck SkyDome shot. Memorable for sure.

-Delgado 4th homer off Windows in 4 homer game... Memorable.

Some of these don't even belong. But what have I missed? Was Russell's dinger yesterday night really the 3rd or 4th most important home run in Blue Jays history?

I get chills even reading the top 3.

I went so crazy at my grandparents house when Alomar hit the HR off Eckersley.

Martin's was a really big regular season home run, but we've had some beauties in the golden days of the Jays.

metafisical · Post #19 » by **metafisical** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:58 pm

Kawasaki's first MLB home run.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nwsIj6rG1s[/youtube]

duppyy · Post #20 » by **duppyy** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 9:31 pm

metafisical wrote:Kawasaki's first MLB home run.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nwsIj6rG1s[/youtube]

Best part about that home run is it came against the Orioles. The Orioles forum was going crazy with rage for giving Kawasaki a homer lol.