Blue Jays Defeat Angels, 4-2, on Boo Kelly Gruber Night

The fans arrived early Monday night, taking no chances of missing the opportunity they have been eagerly anticipating. This was not only a baseball game, this was an extravaganza.

Where else would you have TV stations and newspapers counting the days until Kelly Gruber arrived, a pregame news conference attended by representatives of nine TV stations and a crowd caring less about the Toronto Blue Jays’ 4-2 victory over the Angels than the chance to acknowledge Gruber?

Cheer if you appreciated the All-Star third baseman for his 7 1/2 years in Toronto, where he once was the most popular athlete in town.

Boo if you thought he was a malcontent who lost his desire to play and agreed with criticism by former teammates when he was traded to the Angels.

Many of the 49,177 fans chose to boo him the moment his picture appeared on the huge scoreboard. They were taunting him by the game’s conclusion. Gruber’s former teammates mostly ignored him, with only a couple of them bothering to say hello.

The hostility, though, was not unanimous. There still were Gruber fans cheering him, and several banners welcomed him back. Yet, the boos will be remembered.

“I tried to prepare for the worst scenario,” Gruber said, “and it obviously wasn’t the worst scenario. I just went out and tried to stay focused.

“I don’t care what people say, or how they act, I know I gave my all for this organization. I’ll never forget this night as long as I live.”

Perhaps ironic was that while Gruber was being booed, Angel center fielder Chad Curtis was ignored. It was as if fans spent so much time working themselves into a frenzy over Gruber, they forgot that Curtis triggered last week’s brawl with the Blue Jays.

“You know, in a lot of ways you’ve got to be a pretty good player to have a whole stadium boo you,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “An ordinary player, they don’t (care). I thought he played well under the circumstances.”

Gruber went two for four, but also made an error. The boos became louder each time he stepped to the plate.

“Hey, Wade Boggs got some boos when he came back to Boston,” catcher Ron Tingley said, “so that doesn’t mean anything. I know he was nervous, but he got pretty pumped up.”

Rodgers preached about Gruber’s aggressiveness before the game in a closed-door team meeting. Rodgers told his players that he wouldn’t tolerate their lackadaisical play of late, and that it was time to play as they did in the first six weeks of the season.

The Angels had 11 hits, but they were all singles and none came with two outs and runners on base. The result was their sixth defeat in their last seven games, leaving them in third place in the AL East with a 28-26 record.

“I’m kind of lost right now,” said leadoff hitter Luis Polonia, who was 0 for four. “I feel like I haven’t done a thing all year.

“It can’t keep going on like this. We can’t just keep relying on Chad (Curtis) and (Tim) Salmon.”

The Angels are expected to soon be without Curtis, who went two for three and is hitting .396 over the last 26 games. He said late Monday that he probably will begin his three-game suspension tonight.

“Playing with that hanging over my head could be a distraction,” Curtis said, “and I’d be something other than human if that didn’t cross my mind tonight. I’ll probably just accept it.”

The Angels, who could be playing with a 23-man roster, still are awaiting the diagnosis on bullpen stopper Joe Grahe’s inflamed right shoulder. The initial report, Rodgers said, is that the injury won’t require surgery, but they will learn today if he needs to be placed on the disabled list.

Perhaps now, as Blue Jay Manager Cito Gaston suggested, it’s time for Gruber to let go of his past.

“He’s done some good things for this organization,” Gaston said, “but it’s time to move on. This chapter of his life is over. It’s time he realizes that.”