Blue Jays make World Series message loud and clear with Game 1 punch

TORONTO — In the realm of the underdog, my favorite philosopher is Duke. He’s the trainer who at the conclusion of the first round of the bout in “Rocky” implores his overconfident, overdog champion Apollo Creed: “He doesn’t know it’s a damn show. He thinks it is a damn fight.” 

The Dodgers — if they needed the information — learned Friday night that the World Series is not simply going to be a televised coronation. The attempt to defend their title is going to be a damn fight. And the battle in Game 1 was waged on the Blue Jays’ terms with relentless jabs from the length of their lineup and the tenacity to never surrender on an at-bat. With the Blue Jays, it just starts getting interesting when one of their hitters reaches two strikes. 

Toronto did to the Dodgers at Rogers Centre what it had for two days earlier this month against the Yankees — hit and hit and then hit some more. In a nine-run sixth-inning assault, the Blue Jays received either an RBI or a run scored from all nine spots in the lineup en route to an 11-4 triumph that suggested the memo that the Blue Jays were supposed to roll over and play dead for the Dodgers must have never made it through Canadian customs. 

“Everyone’s compared this as David against Goliath,” Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes said. “But I think it’s more like two Goliaths — we are the last two teams standing.”