Yesterday afternoon marked the occasion where Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Brandon Morrow would throw his final pitch of the 2010 season as he squared off against the New York Yankees in New York.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos and the franchise officially announced earlier in the week that Morrow, who had never pitched a full season as a starter in his young career, had reached his innings limitations for the season and with the Jays far from contending for the American League East division crown or the AL Wild card the team thought it best to shut him down.

His final start of 2010 did not go as planned, as he only lasted three innings allowing five earned runs on six hits, walking three and striking out four.

With the loss Morrow completed his 2010 season with a record of 10-7 with an earned run average of 4.49 in 146.1 innings pitched across 26 starts for the team. He allowed 136 hits, 11 of which were home runs while hitting 9 batters, allowing 76 runs to score and walked 66. His most impressive statistic would be his strikeouts as he fanned 178 hitters, tying him with the Minnesota Twins Francisco Liriano for fourth in the AL.

The Blue Jays acquired the former first round pick from the Seattle Mariners in the off-season for reliever Brandon League and minor league outfielder Johermyn Chavez.

Morrow’s time in Seattle was a confusing one for the youngster as he was consistently flip-flopped between the bullpen and the starting rotation, which in turn led to struggles for the flame-thrower.

Upon coming to Toronto his career numbers were nothing to bat an eye at, with eight career wins to go along with sixteen saves in 196.2 innings pitched which included fifteen career starts, but Anthopoulos made it blatantly clear that Morrow would be inserted into Toronto’s rotation immediately.

Having a clear-cut role is always a fantastic way to give a player confidence and in his case it could have easily pushed him towards the right path in his career as he went on to pitch very well for the Blue Jays.

However, things did not start off well for the 26-year old right-hander. Morrow’s first two starts in a Blue Jays uniform against the Baltimore Orioles & Chicago White Sox in April were very rocky as he allowed a combined 12 runs across nine innings of work walking six. It was apparent early on for Toronto fans that the youngster possessed the stuff to pitch at this level, but his lack of control would get him into trouble at times.

Morrow would have sporadic good starts in April and May, most notably an April 19th performance against the Kansas City Royals (7IP, 3H, 1ER, 2BB, 8K) and a May 31st start against the Tampa Bay Rays (7IP, 3H, 1ER, 2BB, 1K), but the lack of control caused him to step out of some games far earlier than anticipated.

The May 31st start against Tampa could have actually been a turn-around start for Morrow as the season progressed as he seemed to back off as far as velocity went in order to gain some needed control. He used that start to finish off the month on a high note and continued his fantastic pitching into June.

Brandon Morrow was impressive for Toronto in his first full season as a starter.

In June Morrow had a fantastic month keeping runs to a minimum as he pitched to an ERA of 1.91 and worked deep into games pitching 33 innings across five starts. He only walked out of the month with one win over the St.Louis Cardinals, but pitched very well against tough Yankee & San Francisco Giants teams in no-decisions.

He seemed to be learning from pitching coach Bruce Walton as well as fellow rotation members Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum & Brett Cecil that high-octane gas and strikeouts do not make you a pitcher. He was looking more and more like a Major League pitcher as every start came upon him and fans in Toronto were beginning to see the same attributes that earned him a first round draft selection in 2006.

After two tough starts against the tough division rival Yankees & Boston Red Sox to begin the month of July Morrow turned things around yet again and pitched to two wins over the Orioles to end the month before he would go on to a memorable month of August.

After defeating the Yankees, despite a mediocre performance on August 2nd, no one in baseball was expecting Morrow to walk into his August 8th start against the Tampa Bay Rays and pitch quite possible one of the best games of 2010 as well as in Blue Jays franchise history.

He absolutely dominated the Rays, pitching the complete game nine innings, allowing zero runs on one hit, striking out seventeen batters, walking two. The lone hit against came in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs as Rays third baseman Evan Longoria snuck a groundball past Jays second baseman Aaron Hill to break up the no-hit bid. Most in attendance and watching at home considered the play an error on Hill, but the score keeper did not agree. The pitching performance earned him national-wide television footage and put the Jays young starting rotation on the map even more than they already were.

After taking an extended period of time off after throwing 137 pitches against the Rays he came back to pitch poorly against the Oakland Athletics on August 17th. The extended period of time off left him with decreased velocity while he looked overly sluggish on the mound.

That would change in his next two starts against the Yankees once again followed by the Detroit Tigers where Morrow would return to late season form allowing only three earned runs on nine hits, striking out 21 in twelve innings combined before his final start in a losing effort yesterday.

The up and down season was exactly what Toronto could have expected with a young pitcher in his first full season in a starting rotation, but the excitement that Morrow brought to Blue Jays baseball from June onward turned him into one of an impressive foursome featured by the Jays.

The starting rotation has been impressive all season long and Morrow is one of the main reasons why this occurred.

As he watches from the bench he can reflect on his season and should in this writer’s mind be impressed with the way he handled himself throughout 2010.

He stayed injury-free, pitched masterfully and changed the way he pitched which in turn helped him thrive.

If Morrow continues to pitch the way he did this season this could just be the beginning of a wonderful big league career.