The Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees listen to the Canadian National Anthem prior to the Jays home opener at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Thursday. When the game got underway, the Jays found themselves outclassed by the slugging Bronx Bombers. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Blue Jays bomb in their 2018 season opener

Hopefully, for Canadian baseball fans, the highlight of the 2018 Toronto Blue Jays season didn’t occur Tuesday night in Montreal when Vladimir Guerrero Jr., son of long-time Expos superstar and freshly-minted Hall of Famer, Vlad Sr., hit a dramatic ninth-inning homerun to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in an exhibition game at Olympic Stadium.

Jays rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (forefront) celebrates his walk-off homerun with teammates to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 during ninth inning spring training baseball action on Tuesday in Montreal, the city where his father, Vladimir, achieved stardom. Young Guerrero will start the 2018 season in the minors for more seasoning. (Paul Chiasson/Canadan Press)

Ironically, Vlad Jr.’s round-tripper may some day come to rank as one of the great moments in Expos history–14 years after the team left for Washington, D.C.

Vlad Jr., of course, was wearing a Jays uniform, but if any name is synonymous with Montreal baseball it’s Guerrero.

And the number the kid, who is just 19, was wearing was his dad’s 27.

Former Toronto Blue Jays pitching great Roy Halladay’s name is honoured during the Jay’s opener in Toronto on Thursday. Halladay died in an aviation accident when the plane he was piloting crashed last November. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

The long-suffering Montreal fans went crazy.

In Toronto on Thursday, reality raised its sometimes ugly kisser as the Jays hosted the New York Yankees in their 2018 season opener.

How did it go?

Well, when the highlight of the Opening Day ceremonies is honouring long-time Blue Jays star pitcher (and possible future Hall of Famer) Roy Halladay, who died in a plane crash in the off-season, you know all didn’t go as planned.

When the game actually began, the Jays picked up right where they left off last season, when they spent the year in the lower reaches of the American League East.

Pick your pejorative.

Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson (20) reacts after popping out during eighth inning American League baseball action against the New York Yankees in Toronto on Thursday. It was that kind of night for the Jays and Donaldson, who has been diagnosed with a ‘dead arm’ that will likely prompt immediate changes to the Jays’ lineup. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

An error on the first play, two batters later, a deep, deep shot into the right-centre-field stands and–bingo–with one out into the first inning, the Jays trailed the mighty Yankees 2-0.

It got worse.

The Jays drummed up a total of two hits and lost 6-1.

Supporters–optomists by nature–will say, “Hey, it’s only one game.”

Others mind respond, “Thank God for small mercies.”

The Blue Jays’ Troy Tulowitzki will open the regular season on the 60-day disabled list with bilateral heel bone spurs, the team announced before Thursday’s season opener against the visiting New York Yankees. This was not the news the Jays nor their fans needed to hear. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Two hits, crummy pitching, the realization that star third baseman Josh Donaldson, who spent much of last season nursing nagging injuries, was sporting “dead arm,” the dawning awareness that one-time star star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, the man who supplied much of the juice for the playoff drive three years ago, won’t be back from injuries for at least 60 days, if that.

No, yesterday’s Opening Day at Rogers Centre will likely rank as one of the most listless in baseball history.

Questions abound already.

Can things get better? Is there any reason for hope. Is this season going to be a write-off while the team and their fans wait for the young hot shots, including Guerrero Jr., to arrive? Will the hot shots be ready when they do?

For some answers, I spoke Friday with Richard Griffin, a long-time RCI contributor and the baseball columnist for the Toronto Star.

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