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| An ill wind, I guess you could say |
Rather than the twelfth-inning Francisco Mejía grand slam, or even the baffling Charlie Montoyo decisions that played no small part in getting us there (a two-strike bunt from a bad bunter with two on and nobody out? Four intentional walks in extra innings?), I am choosing instead to think about a wonderful moment that occurred hours (weeks?) earlier, in the third inning: the broadcast went to tape (from a day or so before [home whites, rather than the dark blues]) that showed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. make his way slowly but steadily along the Blue Jays dugout, a special handshake or little dance or merry routine for every teammate and coach he encountered. It was utterly delightful, and I can say that with considerable certainty, because of how utterly delighted I got. And then the broadcast cut back to the live game just in time to see Vladdy launch a two-run shot off of no less a guy than Tyler Glasnow. What I am about to say next would be true even if he hadn't hit another two-run home run in the (ultimately futile) bottom of the twelfth inning, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has quite clearly been the best hitter in Major League Baseball so far this season, as you can tell by looking at whichever manner of statistic or metric you prefer (tastes vary, I get it). We're only a quarter of the way through, so who knows how this ends up, but right now, so far, he's been the best, and it has been just enormously fun to watch. It is at the same time likely he will get better than this, in that few hitters reach their peak at age twenty-three, yet also unlikely he will ever get better than this, as hitters don't get much better than this. But I guess we'll just see!
KS
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