Father Time is undefeated, but for one day, the elder statesman of the Yankees got the best of one of the youngest Blue Jays – and it was a big deal in more ways than one.
When Darren O’Day struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to end a threat in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ 3-1 win over Toronto on Monday, he looked pumped for the moment.
“If I didn’t still get excited about it, I should probably go home. Relief pitchers live for those situations of getting out of trouble,” O’Day said after the game. “I made it a little more exciting than it could’ve been.
Sometimes it happens, but you just have to step back and refocus.”
Even bigger for O’Day: he’s known Vladdy Jr. for more than a decade, because his father is someone O’Day called “one of my favorite teammates.”
“It’s funny; I met Vlad Jr. when he was eight or nine, when I played with his dad in Anaheim in 2008,” O’Day recalled. “He was a little guy – not that little – running around the clubhouse. I played with his dad again in Texas (in 2010) and I got to see him grow up a little bit.”
O’Day had has faced Vlad Jr. three times already this season, and Guerrero is now 0-for-3 against him this year and 1-for-4 lifetime (he doubled in their lone matchup in 2020). There are 15 more games for the two to face off this season, but even though it’s a new old relationship, Vladdy Jr. still knows exactly who O’Day is – and vice versa.
“I saw him in spring training a few years ago and I didn’t know if he’d remember me. I talked to him and he remembered,” O’Day smiled. “It’s cool to watch him, he’s grown up to be a great hitter. He’s fun to watch play, and he reminds me of his dad, who was one of my favorite teammates.”
Vladimir Guerrero Sr. is a Hall of Famer, but even he was only 2-for-5 with a walk and a hit by pitch in seven career plate appearances against O’Day, who was 25 and a rookie when he played with the elder Guerrero in Anaheim.
Thirteen years later, O’Day is a bridge between generations – although he never faced either Dante Bichette or Craig Biggio, the fathers of the Jays’ other two second-generation studs – but that doesn’t make the 38-year-old feel old in the slightest.
“(Vlad Sr.) is living legend and I got to play with him early on, so it’s pretty cool to have faced a father-son combo there.”
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