Stairs, McGowan lift Blue Jays to eighth straight home win <h3>TORONTO 4, TEXAS 1</h3>TORONTO (Ticker) -- Matt Stairs made sure the home fans hadsomething to cheer about on his memorable day. Stairs had three doubles and drove in two runs and DustinMcGowan threw eight-plus strong innings as the Toronto Blue Jaysposted their eighth consecutive home win with a 4-1 triumphover the Texas Rangers on Sunday. Becoming just the third Canadian player to appear in 1,500career games, Stairs went 3-for-3 with a run scored and alsoregistered a rare stolen base. The other two Canadians to playin as many games were Larry Walker and Terry Puhl. McGowan (8-5) gave up one run and eight hits, walking one andstriking out six en route to winning his third straightdecision. By completing its second straight series sweep at home, Torontohas recorded eight straight wins at the Rogers Centre for thefirst time since April 14-22, 1999. The contest was tied at 1-1 until the fifth inning when RayOlmedo led off with a double off Texas starter Brandon McCarthy(5-8). Following a sacrifice by Russ Johnson, Stairs lined ashot through the gap in left field that rolled to the wall andgave Toronto the lead for good. Stairs, who also doubled in the third, had thought about takinga chance for triple before eventually pulling up. The39-year-old journeyman eventually did get to third, as he swipedthe base on McCarthy's next pitch. It was just the secondstolen base of the year and fourth in the past five seasons forStairs. The 16-year veteran added to the lead in the seventh withanother run-scoring double before leaving the field to anovation as he was lifted for a pinch runner. Vernon Wells' RBI triple in the same frame wrapped up thescoring. The four runs were more than enough for McGowan, who had achance for his second career complete game before Brad Wilkersonled off the ninth with a single. The 25-year-old was liftedfor closer Jeremy Accardo, who allowed another single beforenotching his 20th save. McGowan had an inauspicious start to his 17th start of the season,as Frank Catalanotto drove a 1-2 pitch over the right field wallto lead off the game.The righthander also gave up one-out singles to Michael Youngand Sammy Sosa before retiring both Nelson Cruz and Wilkerson onstrikes to avoid further damage. However, the Blue Jays managed to tie the score in the bottomhalf of the first, taking advantage of two walks by McCarthy totie the score at 1-1 on an RBI single by Frank Thomas. McGowan settled down thereafter, finishing with 14 ground-ballouts during a 104-pitch outing. He was really only threatenedin the seventh, with a single by Catalanotto loading the baseswith two outs. However, McGowan got Ian Kinsler to hit agrounder to third baseman Hector Luna, who got the force bystepping on third. Catalanotto, Sosa and rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia had two hitseach for the Rangers, who completed a 2-7 road.
Stairs, McGowan lift Blue Jays to eighth straight home win <h3>TORONTO 4, TEXAS 1</h3>TORONTO (Ticker) -- Matt Stairs made sure the home fans hadsomething to cheer about on his memorable day. Stairs had three doubles and drove in two runs and DustinMcGowan threw eight-plus strong innings as the Toronto Blue Jaysposted their eighth consecutive home win with a 4-1 triumphover the Texas Rangers on Sunday. Becoming just the third Canadian player to appear in 1,500career games, Stairs went 3-for-3 with a run scored and alsoregistered a rare stolen base. The other two Canadians to playin as many games were Larry Walker and Terry Puhl. "It means I've been around a while and been healthy," saidStairs, who only found out about the milestone just before thegame. "I've never been shy about being a proud Canadian andplaying for Toronto is a dream come true and a good way to tryand finish your career." McGowan (8-5) gave up one run and eight hits, walking one andstriking out six en route to winning his third straightdecision. "He's just coming into his own," Toronto manager John Gibbonssaid. "The stuff's there and he's had a tremendous year. He'sgot a heck of a future." By completing its second straight series sweep at home, Torontohas recorded eight straight wins at the Rogers Centre for thefirst time since April 14-22, 1999. "It's a different feeling at home. You're more comfortable,"said Toronto designated hitter Frank Thomas said. "Wedefinitely have played well at home, but we just have to figureout this road thing." The contest was tied at 1-1 until the fifth inning when RayOlmedo led off with a double off Texas starter Brandon McCarthy(5-8). Following a sacrifice by Russ Johnson, Stairs lined ashot through the gap in left field that rolled to the wall andgave Toronto the lead for good. Stairs, who also doubled in the third, had thought about takinga chance for triple before eventually pulling up. "It lasted for about two seconds and then I realized I'm39-years-old," Stairs said. The journeyman eventually did get to third, as he swiped thebase on McCarthy's next pitch. It was just the second stolenbase of the year and fourth in the past five seasons for Stairs. "I told (Toronto third baseman Troy Glaus) after my first at-batI wanted to steal third," Stairs said. "He was ragging me." The 16-year veteran added to the lead in the seventh withanother run-scoring double before leaving the field to anovation as he was lifted for a pinch runner. Vernon Wells' RBI triple in the same frame wrapped up thescoring. The four runs were more than enough for McGowan, who had achance for his second career complete game before Brad Wilkersonled off the ninth with a single. The 25-year-old was liftedfor closer Jeremy Accardo, who allowed another single beforenotching his 20th save. McGowan had an inauspicious start to his 17th start of theseason, as Frank Catalanotto drove a 1-2 pitch over the rightfield wall to lead off the game. Despite taking him deep, Catalanotto had a great deal of praisefor McGowan after playing alongside him here the past two years. "He's totally different," he said. "We always knew he had thestuff, but now he's putting it together mentally too. It's funto see because we were all waiting for him to really blossom." The righthander also gave up one-out singles to Michael Youngand Sammy Sosa before retiring both Nelson Cruz and Wilkerson onstrikes to avoid further damage. "It seems like I've been in (trouble) so much that I've learnedto pitch out of it," McGowan said. The Blue Jays managed to tie the score in the bottom half of thefirst, taking advantage of two walks by McCarthy to tie thescore at 1-1 on an RBI single by Thomas. McGowan settled down thereafter, finishing with 14 ground-ballouts during a 104-pitch outing. He was really only threatenedin the seventh, with a single by Catalanotto loading the baseswith two outs. However, McGowan got Ian Kinsler to hit agrounder to third baseman Hector Luna, who got the force bystepping on third. Catalanotto, Sosa and rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia had two hitseach for the Rangers, who completed a 2-7 road. "It's been a real rough road trip," Catalanotto said. "We'remore comfortable in our park, so hopefully we can get back andstart playing well."
