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| 9 K's! |
Until the Blue Jays blew it open with a four-run ninth, this was a wonderful, back-and-forth game on what looked like a lovely getaway-day afternoon in Atlanta. I hadn't even realized that the game had started when my old friend Adrian sent me a picture of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. taken from Adrian's seat down the first-base line. It was Adrian's first game of the year, and he picked a good one! Until, like I say, that ninth inning, which of course I enjoyed a great deal, but which I suspect was not as much fun in the park. Pretty much every Blue Jay had a passable day at the plate, by the end of it, but I am particularly cheered by Cavan Biggio's two-for-three with a double and two walks, and Téo's two-for-four with a walk (Bo Bichette can knock in three runs on a couple of hits and it just feels like a regular thing for your twenty-three-year-old shortstop to do at this point). Ross Stripling had a did some classic "settling in after early jitters," a phenomenon which took on a different hue when I finally (and only recently!) encountered data that indicated quite clearly that run expectancy was demonstrably higher in the first inning than in any other, which makes sense, because of how that is when the best hitters are definitely going to be up (makes sense, right?). Mayza struggled in relief, but Payamps, Bergen, and Romano combined to allow but a single baserunner between them in three innings of work. The Blue Jays swept not just the series but indeed the season series over Atlanta with the win, and now sit at 20-16 on the year, a mere game out of first place in the AL East -- and I'm stoked! Also stoked: the internet, over Vladimir Guerrero's light-hearted mimicry of Jordan Romano's quirky delivery. Perhaps you would enjoy to see it?
KS
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