2021 Game Seventy-Seven: Blue Jays 9, Mariners 3

 

He is looking for the ball.

It looked like Robbie Ray had low-key squandered a nice little three-run lead (Semien had doubled in Grichuk and Gurriel, Biggio hit a sacrifice fly to score Vladdy) when he gave up a three-run home run to Ty France in the top of the sixth -- I say "low-key" because giving up three runs in six innings is a fairly reasonable thing to do, and I do not wish to speak ill of it -- but no, it turned out okay: on the same day the Toronto Star ran Mike Wilner's "were I Bo Bichette, I would simply have more plate discipline" piece (I am almost certainly characterizing it somewhat unfairly, and yet not completely unfairly), Bo hit a three-run home run of his own a little later in that very same sixth inning and it was, quite frankly, super exciting to be around. Marcus Semien, having seen that three-run home runs were good to do, chose to hit one in the seventh, and the bullpen went Mayza to Barnes to Saucedo, allowing nary a run to bring the Blue Jays to a mere four games out of the wild card. Which is interesting. Which is interesting. Steven Matz pitches today, and Hyun-Jin Ryu tomorrow, so I am pretty stoked. Oh also! Did you notice that Ross Atkins traded Joe Panik for bullpen help the day after I noted in these very pages that Santiago Espinal had made Panik's rôle seemingly a little redundant? Which is also interesting. Which. Is also. Interesting. 

KS

2021 Game Seventy-Six: Blue Jays 5, Orioles 2

 

First Vladdy was safe, but then he was out, and then 
finally everybody wondered why Luis Rivera sent him

When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run double down 0-2 in the count in the third inning, it was awesome, and yet not quite shocking, given what we have seen so far this season (it does not seem to be "a hot streak" at this point so much as "what Vladdy hits like"); when Cavan Biggio did very much the same thing two innings later, it sort of did border on shocking. Ah, but should it have, to the attentive attender: the "TaoofStieb" fellow of twitter (and elsewhere) notes that "[a]fter yesterday’s game, Biggio’s OPS is up to .976 (.414/.563) in 15 games since returning from injury. For the season, he’s at .726 (.343/.383) and an OPS+ of 101." So he's coming on! Ross Stripling's first start since he got noticeably mad at Joe Panik went pretty well, both in the sense that he allowed only two runs in five reasonable innings of work, and also in that Joe Panik made an error and Ross Stripling didn't freak out about it (one does wonder, honestly, why Joe Panik at third and not Santiago Espinal, a little, but maybe Joe Panik is a great to have around for reasons less obvious to the outside observer; like maybe he handles it really well when Ross Stripling gets mad at him). The Orioles, bless them, kept it interesting enough through the latter innings, but the Murphy, Mayza, Castro, Romano bullpen allowed only a hit and two walks (and those were all Murphy's, actually [he really did okay though!]). The Blue Jays, after that pretty rough stretch, have now one seven of their last eight as they head into a series against Seattle, against whom one thinks wins seem possible, and then Tampa Bay, which could be rough, but what if it isn't? 

KS  

2021 Game Seventy-Five: Blue Jays 12, Orioles 4

 

Put it "on the board"

The Blue Jays had three four-run innings, whereas the Orioles had only one such inning, and in that inequality, I believe, one finds the difference in yesterday's outcome. Were I asked to rank which of the Blue Jays' three four-run innings I favoured, I would first of all answer that I liked them all very much indeed, but that first one, in which Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette hit back-to-back doubles, followed by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez and their back-to-back homeruns, was totally the best one. Vladdy's twenty-sixth home run of the season is his third in as many games, and makes fifty through the first 258 games of his career, which is exactly where his father stood after 258 games, which is a little freaky! It is rendered somewhat less freaky by the footnote that Sr. got to fifty homeruns in 248 games, but then didn't hit one for a while, and so after 258 games both father and son can truthfully be said to have hit fifty, but it's not exactly as freaky as it might first appear (which is "quite"). I am pretty sure both Cecil and Prince Fielder had the exact same number of MLB home runs, too, which would be so easy for me to check right now and yet here I am not doing it. Okay no I couldn't bear it, and checked: 319 HR for each! That's wild! 

Hey so also: Hyun-Jin Ryu absolutely cruised through six but then got dinged for four in the seventh, but not really, in a sense, in that they let him stick around longer than they would have otherwise because it was such a lopsided game, you know? Like, under normal circumstances he wouldn't have been put in a position to have been wacked around like that. So I am unperturbed. Barnes and Payamps looked good in relief! Six back in the division, five in the wild card. 

KS

2021 Game Seventy-Four: Orioles 6, Blue Jays 5 (F/10)

 

Well that's a shame.

After Vladimir Guerrero hit his league-leading twenty-fifth home run in the third to go with George Springer's third the inning before, and with Alek Manoah cruising, it seemed the worst that was going to happen to the Blue Jays Friday night were a couple of really, really bad check-swing non-calls by Joe West. But no, it took Charlie Montoyo too long to get to Jordan Romano when Chatwood and Saucedo didn't have it, and then in the tenth inning Trent Thorton turned out to be, like, made of walks. If Randal Grichuk is able to squeeze the fly ball he ran down in foul territory, does any of it turn out this way? One wonders; one can only wonder. Maybe it's for the best, in a sense, in that the Orioles had lost their previous twenty games on the road -- yeah, twenty! -- which is in fact every road game they have played since May 5th, when John Means threw a no-hitter for them, and then, if I am remembering this right, immediately got hurt and is out until after the All-Star break. So the Orioles were both "due" and "really needed that one," two powerful forces of saying things after games. A drag of a loss, as all games lost late turn out to be, but if the Blue Jays can take three of four from the Orioles that will still be totally fine (a split would be a little dark, honestly). Hyun-Jin Ryu on the mound tomorrow! 

KS

2021 Game Seventy-Three: Blue Jays 9, Orioles 0

 

That's 24 for Vladdy now

The Blue Jays have had pitching troubles this season, but they haven't had, and don't have, bad pitching, really: they had a bullpen that was the best in the league, and then the worst in the league, and now they've settled in between; there have been iffy starts from iffy starters, but in the last several weeks their starting pitching has been among the best in either league. The bullpen was for sure frustrating for a while, but I feel like if you're getting irked by the pitching, you don't actually have bad pitching: you have okay pitching you wish was pitching better. When you actually have bad pitching -- and we have all been there -- you don't feel annoyance or frustration so much as abject pity. And that is what it's like to watch the Orioles this year. They just run these guys out there who have really no chance, and while it is pretty neat to see Lourdes Gurriel hit a grand slam off one of them in a bat-around first, for example, on a basic human level it is also pretty dark. The Orioles could very easily lose a hundred games this year, and in fact at the pace they've set so far, it would be kind of remarkable if they only lost a hundred games this year.

More cheeringly, although it took Anthony Kay several thousand pitches, he gave up no runs on five hits and two walks (eight strikeouts!) in five innings, and the sort of B-Squad bullpen pitched an efficient four innings behind him. Also the emergence of "Reese McGuire: Lefty-Batting Catcher who Can Hit?" turns one's thoughts to Greg Myers' 2003 season, if one is me, and I welcome that thought-opportunity (thoughtportunity) very much. The Blue Jays have won five straight with three more games against Baltimore this weekend, and a quick glance reveals that the pitching matchups look . . . favourable. The Red Sox and Yankees play a series this weekend so whatever happens there, the Blue Jays will be gaining on somebody. And Tampa Bay plays the Angels, so who knows, maybe they will get badly Ohtani'd. It could happen!

KS

2021 Game Seventy-Two: Blue Jays 3, Marlins 1

 

frankly I am of the view that
Robbie Ray's gear isn't tight *enough*

Already up 2-0, the Blue Jays loaded the bases in the second, only for Vladdy to line out hard to left to end the inning, and at the time it felt like, I sure hope we don't need those runs later! But no need to worry, as Robbie Ray was terrific through six, and the Mayza-to-Chatwood-to-Romano bullpen allowed just one hit the rest of the way. That's plenty of use for the better relievers in the last few days, but I get it, you got lock these down, and worry about the next day the next day. And hey, on the subject of next days: it's four against the Orioles, and against four starting pitchers who, unlike the two excellent starters the Marlins just threw at us, are having really, really rough times, like I mean four straight abysmal ERAs (an incomplete stat, plainly, and yet a not-entirely-untelling one). Six back in the East, five and a half for the wild card!

KS

2021 Game Seventy-One: Blue Jays 2, Marlins 1

 

Hey nice job

In his first start since being unkind to Joe Panik, Ross Stripling did great (just a run on two hits over six innings); the bullpen held things together ably (no walks and but one mere hit in three innings from Chatwood, Mayza, and Romano); George Springer returned; the Blue Jays pulled ahead late on doubles from Biggio and Gurriel (I think they got the idea for doubles from all the ones Reese McGuire hit Sunday); and McGuire (not even parenthetically this time) made a great throw for a strike-'em-out/throw-'em-out double play (with Romano pitching, even! my man is usually a free base!). All of these things are terrific in and of themselves, as was Vladdy's nice little low-key two-for-four with a run knocked in, but what was really most striking to me about last night's game is that there may have never been a better one-two combo as far as names at the top of the order than the Marlin's Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Starling Marté (who is the guy who McGuire threw out actually [sorry to say {hey Bo Bichette stole one last night though}]). To have access to names of that calibre is of course unusually good fortune in and of itself, but to bat them one after the next? Is Don Mattingly stunting on us? Is that what he is doing? I wonder, sometimes. Sometimes, I wonder.

KS

2021 Game Seventy: Blue Jays 7, Orioles 4

 

I do enjoy a Ryu Day

"Vintage Ryu cruises in series-clinching gem" is the extremely accurate headline of the game summary posted at MLB.com. I have mentioned this previously, but I think I like watching Hyun-Jin Ryu pitch as much as anybody the Blue Jays have ever had. To see him go a bunch of times through the order, fooling hitters so thoroughly that guys who can catch up to 100 if its straight(ish) are way late on pitches that come in around 88MPH. It's just the best. Because of who I grew up watching, the archetypal crafty (indeed, cræftig) lefty is Jimmy Key, and we all loved Jimmy Key, but this is something else entirely. I did not think there would ever be a Blue Jays pitcher I would enjoy more than Roy Halladay -- and being able to watch him pitch in person so many times was incredible to me -- but yeah, Hyun-Jin Ryu, here we are. He didn't get a lot of help from Trent Thornton, it pains me to say, who came on in the eighth, gave up a homer, hit a guy, then gave up another homer. But Chatwood had another nice appearance (he has had a few now!) in the ninth to lock it down. The Blue Jays' big inning on Saturday was a bat-around ninth; on Sunday it was a four-run bat-around fifth that was not quite as headlong as that but pretty exhilarating nevertheless. And no homers today, oddly, but a bunch of doubles, including one for Téo (back from the Paternity List [congratulations!]), two for Lourdes Gurriel, and three -- three! -- from Reese McGuire. A charming moment on commentary occurred when Pat Tabler, with reference I believe to McGuire's second double on the day, referred to the way he was whacking it all over the field, an innocent remark made delicious by how McGuire got arrested for jacking it in his car (perhaps a truck, now that I think more on it) last year in Florida. Anyway, lots of fun on Father's Day! Except for Marcus Semien, the only Blue Jay who failed to reach base -- 0 for 6 with a pair of strikeouts and five left on. With George Springer coming back this week, it looks like, one wonders if Semien stays at the top of the order (where, aside from pretty much every day but today, he has been awesome), or maybe drops down to five? If they don't put Springer at five for a bit as he gets back into things, it's probably gotta be Semien or Bichette they drop down there, right? Lineup order is one of those things that has been demonstrated pretty definitively to not matter all that much beyond the dead-obvious (first half of the lineup or so: one's best hitters; the rest: one's poorer ones), but that makes it no less fun to think about, and indeed, to dream on a little. Miami up next, and it'd be real nice to sweep, as we are back to .500 now, and it is time to climb.  

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Nine: Blue Jays 10, Orioles 7

 

Marcus Semien is a grown-up though

If ever there was a team that needed a bat-around ninth inning in which they score six runs with two outs -- well I guess every team could go for something like that every now and again, probably, but what I mean to suggest here is that these Blue Jays had been in a funk (in the non-excellent sense of the term) and this seemed good. What a wild game! Marcus Semien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each hit home runs in the first inning (Vladdy's 23rd, which sounds about right, but how 17 for Semien now?) but that quickly faded from view given all of the many home runs Orioles would hit a little while after. They hit six! Mullins was good for two, and Mountcastle, of whom I had not previously heard (forgive me), hit three and tipped his cap the Camden Yards crowd. So hopeless did it seem that Jordon Romano came out to work the eighth not because he was needed, exactly, but because the Blue Jays have been on such a bad run that it had been the better part of a week since they had a lead for him to protect, so they figured they should get him out there to get his work in. Brutal! But it was nice to have him out there, given what went down in the top of the ninth: Biggio walked (he remains really very good at that), Panik flied out, the likable utility infielder (is there any other kind?) Santiago Espinal singled, as did our boy Lourdes Gurriel Jr. before Riley Adams struck out for the second out of the inning. Marcus Semien had a couple of really good takes, if I am remembering this right, to work the count full and walk to load the bases, which chased Paul Fry from the game and brought in Tyler Wells, who had, just, like, the worst day: Bo Bichette, who has fouled off more pitches than anyone else in either league this year (what a stat!) hit a bloop single to right, in and out of Anthony Santander's glove, after a nine-pitch at bat, which scored two; Vladdy doubled on the next pitch, and two pitches after that, Randal Grichuk did the same. It was so great! That Cavan Biggio struck out to end the inning he started by walking felt fine, honestly. And so ends the losing streak! Hyun-Jin Ryu up next! He hasn't looked quite as exquisite as usual of late but I doubt he's totally run out of it (exquisiteness) just yet. Plenty of exquisiteness left, I bet. Also cræft.  

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Eight: Orioles 7, Blue Jays 1

 

When did all the baseball players get so cool looking?
I feel like it is maybe from about 2017 onwards.

I guess maybe the Orioles were due? The only AL East team to win last night were the Orioles, who had theretofore lost eight straight. For their grim part, the Blue Jays have now lost five in a row, though it honestly does feel like a little more, I think because of how the two losses in Boston were of a kind that made you overlook the two wins in Boston, a little? But although the bullpen did indeed collapse in this one -- or at least the Murphy/Beasley portion of the bullpen (Thornton was fine!) -- you can't really pin this one on them: just the one run on four hits against poor Orioles pitching feels like more of the story. Like, the bullpen could have given up fifty. Who cares. (I do not mean that nihilistically but instead in a mode of cheerful practicality.) My experience of this game was pleasant enough, honestly, as I had parts of it on in the early evening, and enjoyed the sight of Camden Yards and the sounds of Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez quite a lot; I tuned out for a bit after Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit his home run (hey good job) and addressed myself to other pursuits before checking back in just in time to see the final out. Charlie Montoya is said to have held a meeting with a small group of players (a cadre of fanatics?) after the game to see how the team is feeling, and word is they were like, "well this isn't good but I guess we'll stick with baseball." Me too!

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Seven: Yankees 8, Blue Jays 4

 

A weird rundown from last night,
but not the weirdest rundown from last night

The first inning ended with a triple play (SABR suggests the first 1-3-2-5-6 triple play in Major League history [we did it]), the ninth inning ended in a double play, and though things in between were marginally better than that for a little while, it sure didn't hold. What can you even say about this poor, poor bullpen: the Blue Jays came back to lead after going behind 3-0 early, but poor Anthony Castro just extremely did not have it in relief, charged with four runs (all very much earned) on five hits in a just a third of an inning of work. Imagine, if you dare, being him. Cavan Biggio, who has been legitimately hot (for real this time!) since coming back from the IL with "a neck thing," nearly hit another home run but very tall Aaron Judge made a perfectly timed and really quite lovely leaping catch to snag the ball just as it was leaving the yard (from my perspective, in this instance, the worst possible time). The Blue Jays led each game of this three-game series in the seventh inning, and didn't end up winning any of them. Not one! I am not personally disheartened, because all I am doing is watching or otherwise attending to baseball games, but I have got to think that this is getting a little disheartening for the fellows themselves, maybe? The Blue Jays are now a game under .500 for the first time in what feels like ages (even though this season isn't even very old yet), but they're off to Baltimore for the weekend, and the Orioles have been just brutally, brutally bad, so maybe things are looking up? A quick look ahead reveals to those who would seek such knowledge that fifteen of the Blue Jays' twenty-one remaining games before the All-Star Break are against teams currently under .500, and all but three of those are against teams extremely below .500 (the Orioles, who you know about, but also the Marlins). The other six games will be against the Rays, but hey, that's who we're chasing down.  

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Six: Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2

 

Sadimir

Guerrero

Jr.

A dark night, not in the usual sense of "the bullpen blew it and it was unfun," but instead in that, first, Ross Stripling lost his cool about (Gold Glove winner!) Joe Panik's second error of the night at third, and visibly berated him on-field, frustrated that Panik would rush the play and try to make a bare-handed pick-and-throw rather than take his time, as while Giancarlo Stanton is many things, "a hustler on ground balls" is neither at nor near that top of that fine list; and, second, Vladdy messed up as the tying run at third in the bottom of the ninth and, what's worse, got really sad about it: down 3-2, Vladdy led off with a single, got to third on Téo's double, hung out there for a sec whilst Grichuk went down swinging, and then dangled a little too far off third on Santiago Espinal's little dribbler back to the mound, which got picked off (sort of) on the fielder's choice (hey: it's the fielder's choice). Even if the replays revealed that Vladdy probably should have been called safe on his artful slide back into third, this was a big baserunning mistake from a guy (and indeed a team!) that used to make kind of a lot of those but who has (who have) genuinely improved in that regard. Vladdy blew it, and he knew he blew it. A weird, phantom foul ball call on what was really Gary Sanchez just straight-up missing a pitch ("Gary Sanchez," Buck Martinez noted, "is not a good catcher") cost the Blue Jays the tying run a little later, so just a weird, bad, sad inning all around. Téo, a good friend, could be seen comforting Vladdy after the game, and Ross Stripling, to his credit, says he is "mortified" at his behaviour, and acknowledges that what he did to Joe Panik is the worst thing you can to a teammate on the actual field of play -- he even retweeted video of the sorry episode and added, alongside his apology, "Young ballplayers, be better than this." That's probably about the best he could have done in the aftermath of his poor behaviour -- behaviour that I felt pretty hard, by the way, because there were times as a young pitcher I was not kind to my fielders, as though I was twelve-year-old Dave Stieb or some nonsense, and thirty years later I remain ashamed of every second I acted that way. But man oh man. A rough night, for all that it was actually a really good game. Finally: why doesn't anybody talk about how bad a guy Aroldis Chapman is? Is just fresher in my head because I was listening to so many of FanGraphs Audios? I ask because Aroldis Chapman did some awful stuff, but the consensus seems to be yyyyyeah but he's a lefty who throws super hard. Anyway, it is a drag when he's around.  

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Five: Yankees 6, Blue Jays 5

 

That eighth inning though

The Blue Jays bullpen is largely injured, and the guys that are left have been utterly brutal, trailing every other bullpen in either league in some key measures by a lot ever since the slide started around May 20th, so while it is unfortunate that they could not hold onto the 5-2 lead they were left with after actually a pretty impressive outing by Hyun-Jin Ryu, who allowed just the two runs in six innings despite not having his best stuff (since the crackdown on sticky substances has occurred, nearly 70% of MLB pitchers have seen a decline in their spin rate, so few have their best stuff right now!), it is also not particularly remarkable. What I would choose to draw your attention to, if I may, is that the Blue Jays only got one run out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out bottom of the first, and then had them all loaded up again when trailing by a run in the eighth, but young Bo Bichette flied out to right. Until the bullpen either heals up (which will not happen quickly), or help arrives (I guess that could happen quickly? if Ross Atkins really wanted it to?), the Blue Jays, who are already scoring lots of runs, are just going to have to score way more runs. If they do, it'll be neat!  

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Four: Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 1

 

I think he got that one

That the blameless Rafael Dolis (for we know what he is, and he is, of course, only as God made him) had another brutal 9th inning (not unlike Friday night) to turn what could have been a sweep into a split is immaterial, really; in no sense did it "waste" what happened in the top of the ninth, as seems to have been suggested elsewhere (not here!). That Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took an 0-1 curveball (the first-pitch fastball, called a strike, was a little outside, and Vladdy did this little thing with his head that suggested "okay but that was a little outside") 451 feet, I think they said, over the wall in left to tie it remains rad regardless of what happened after, just as Alek Manoah's excellent start remains just that (excellent). 

May I share with you a series of "Twitter posts" I made the other day? They read as follows:

1. Blue Jays are three games out with like a hundred to go having played the toughest schedule in the league so far (or it was a little while ago; I don't remember where to check that lol) & I do not believe that all three of Boston, Houston, and Cleveland will continue to thrive

2. nobody likes blowing games late but the bullpen was the best in the league for like six weeks before swinging to worst in the league since and I would argue they are actually probably somewhere between those two! still they could get a guy or two, I wouldn't be mad or anything

3. also tbh I am not pining for Springer all that much in that Grichuk (who would be the odd man out) has played well so they aren't missing out on SPRINGER so much as on Springer minus P. Good Grichuk; weirdly it's a little thing that he's out, not a big thing (like a win or so)

4. anyway I think the specific ways the Blue Jays have lost is leading to a lot of doom-and-gloom but it doesn't really matter when the runs come in my dude; these are deceptions & this is why the fictional character Billy Beane of the hit film "Moneyball" does not watch the games

5. through by FAR the roughest part of their schedule the Blue Jays are on pace for . . . 85 wins, and FanGraphs had them projected for 87.7

6. tbh I think a lot of the chatter is Leafs fans turning their attn to the Blue Jays the last couple weeks and not knowing SHIT there I said it

Some recent thoughts -- indeed, feelings -- I wanted to share with you here. Yankees up next! 

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Three: Blue Jays 18, Red Sox 4

 

What a beautifully composed photo
(and obviously I endorse the content)

The entirely lovely duties of a routine Sunday afternoon kept me from following today's game in any way other than checking in on the play-by-play results on the MLB app on my phone, but every time I looked in I found myself resembling the meme-guy whose shirt reads "Sickos" all the more. It was as though I was though I were seeing the results of a best-case-scenario game of Baseball Mogul or, if you must, Out of the Park (I must check to see if they've gotten any further with their mobile offering -- OOTP is not as fun for me as BM but hey, what's on phones is on phones, if you see what I mean). That Robbie Ray struck out ten in six innings is one (very good!) thing, but that the Blue Jays became the first visiting team in the history of Fenway Park (which, for the record, I don't even really find charming anymore, like I feel like as a society we have progressed past the need for Fenway Park) to hit eight home runs. Eight! That's so many! Téo's two (two!) three-run shots take pride of place here, I think, but then there was also Gurriel, Bo, Vladdy, Biggio (two days in a row!), Semien, and lastly Tellez, off of second-baseman Christian Arroyo (hey, get it while it's here, Rowdy). What a weekend it has been! Aside from blowing it Friday night. But even so! Also, regarding yesterday's also very pleasant game, I neglected to mention that Vladdy stole second base so cleanly that there wasn't even a throw (it was on a very slow curveball), and I guess he got so excited that he tried again in the seventh and got thrown out. It felt very human.

Hey has it occurred to you, too, that Vladdy could totally win the triple crown this year, and have like 10 or 11 fWar, and still kind of rightly lose out on the AL MVP because of Shohei Ohtani? And that this is because baseball is just so awesome this year? This is something that occurred to me whilst we roamed a small wood. Another thing I was thinking about is how, for the many losses lost in the most egregious way possible in recent weeks, the Blue Jays are three games out of the playoffs, having played one of the toughest (is it maybe still the toughest?) schedule in the league from a strength-of-competition perspective; it's only going to get better, as far as that goes (come on, Orioles). There's still like a hundred games to go but these are things I would ask you to reflect on.

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Two: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 2

 

There have been really a lot of photos like this so far

I am told, and have no reason to doubt, that this is the first game in which all three of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio have hit home runs in the same game. I do not mean to be rude in the least when I say it is self-evident which of those three has been the limiting factor in achieving that feat; I myself have not hit a non-softball home run off of live pitching in well-nigh thirty years. But as great as it was to see Vladdy and Bo (and Semien! and Reese McGuire!) having big days, the recently-returned Cavan Biggio's three-for-four with a double and home run really was the most welcome part of the game, not to diminish how Steven Metz pitched very well into the sixth against a good-hitting Red Sox team, or how nearly everybody out of the bullpen kept it clean (ah, Rafael Dolis: what are we even going to do: you seem so neat, but you work so slow, and, lately, so hittedly . . .). Lots of fun! I was going to say "we'll go for the series win tomorrow!" but upon closer examination this is a four-game series concluding Monday (fine; fine; that sounds fine). 

KS

2021 Game Sixty-One: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 5

 

Forget your bullpen woes; reflect instead
upon how Vladdy and Bo are bros 

By the time it happened, I wasn't even upset: after enjoying the sweet fruits of Vladito's three-for-four with a homer (also a walk) earlier in the evening, I stepped away from the game to enjoy a Star Trek: The Next Generation on Netflix (rated PG: sex, fear) as one so often does. That mission concluded, I checked the MLB Gameday app (I think that's what it's called?) and saw that it was now 5-5 headed into the bottom of the ninth, so I was like oh okay they've lost the game then. So when I got the stream going, and was greeted by the image of Rafael Dolis -- for whom I am rooting for but also come on -- there wasn't even any tension. This is not to say that I saw it unfolding at all the way it did: grounder to short, bad throw by Bo Bichette to pull Lourdes Gurriel Jr. off the bag at first (didn't even know he ever played there! pinch runner for Tellez, I guess?), though he applied the tag, though the ball got whacked out of his glove on that tag, and then a double ripped off the wall to win it . . . all of that was in fact quite novel! But through it all, I was at peace. Ross Stripling pitched better than you'd think with four runs in five-and-two-thirds; the bullpen "remains an issue."

KS

2021 Game Sixty: White Sox 5, Blue Jays 2

 

Fie 

It might still be okay, I texted my concerned brother-in-law: Ryu sometimes gets a little roughed-up in the first but then cruises the rest of the way. And, sure enough, the three runs he gave up in the first were the only ones he allowed in six otherwise credible (and indeed creditable) innings. But alas the boys bopped not on this night: when the two big bats in your lineup on the night are Joe Panik and Santiago Espinal, that's not ideal. The White Sox really are a very good team, and it would have been nice to be able to sneak away with the series win after the eighth-inning gift of the night before, but so it goes. This is the roughest stretch of the schedule, with Boston up next. If the Blue Jays can stay even just a few games above .500 by the time things ease off, they could be in good enough shape the rest of the way. I was going to add "especially if George Springer comes back," but I don't even want to push too hard at that right now: the lineup we've got right now is good enough to stick around. Add an arm or two and who knows?  

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Nine: Blue Jays 6, White Sox 2

 

That's how I feel too, guys

How fun was the eighth, I ask you, and yet I do not ask you so much as exclaim! With the Blue Jays down 2-1, Rowdy Tellez led off the inning by, well, by popping out to third, because he continues to just be brutal out there, and it's sad to see. But once that unpleasantness was behind us, consider the many pleasantnesses that soon followed: young Riley Adams took first on a wild pitch of a third strike, Semien and Bo each singled, loading the bases for Vladdy who drew the legitimately thrilling bases-loaded walk (these are so sweet when you get them, and such a drag when you give them up; guess which has happened way more so far this year!). As if that were not enough,  Téo's ridiculously tailor-made double-play grounder to second (on a 3-0 pitch after they just walked a guy with the bases loaded! I was so mad when he swung!) got kicked around and tossed away and two more runs came in. It felt like a miracle. More White Sox fielding-nonsense led to two more in the ninth but it was really that eighth that was a trip. Pretty good start for Manoh!

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Eight: White Sox 6, Blue Jays 1

 

Those hats still look good

A lot of runners, not a lot of runs! This game caused me to reflect on how everyone's impression of their team seems to be that they are terrible with runners in scoring position, regardless of their team's actual performance in that promising yet potentially agonizing circumstance. And then I saw that the Blue Jays are actually like the third best in baseball with runners in scoring position. Well not tonight, they weren't, I thought subsequently. I don't even mind that Thornton and Edwards combined for a truly ragged eighth inning, because the bats just weren't getting it done against Carlos Rodón et al. Bo and Vladdy got on plenty, but Téo and Grichuk were a combined oh-for-eight behind them. Not good! And so Robbie Ray's thirteen strikeouts (thirteen!) amounted to, well, not nothing, as they were pretty cool, but they did not amount to a win, certainly.

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Seven: Astros 6, Blue Jays 3

 

I would describe Luis Garcia's look as "correct"

Gotta be honest with you: a series win would have been real nice. But I've also gotta be honest with you about how I fell asleep with the game on then we went for a big bike ride and then got some barbecue, so my attention to the specifics of today's defeat was, like, radically incomplete. I remained alert enough in the early going to note that Steven Matz was having a rough go of it, but I was way gone before all the defensive shenanigans, which is just as well. Looking over the box score gives me no regrets about the shape of the afternoon over here. Chicago, Boston, and New York to go before things lighten up for a bit, which is to say we get to play the Orioles. Looking forward to it! 

KS 

2021 Game Fifty-Six: Blue Jays 6, Astros 2

 

Not sure what this is but I'm in

Ah, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., all of baseball's large adult son, of whom the weariest never weary . . . this is really is turning out to be something, isn't it? He's first in at least one league, and in many cases both, in pretty much every meaningful offensive statistic whether you favour the new style (Rogers Sportsnet posting fWAR leaderboards is further evidence of the Cistulli-industrial complex) or the old (your triple crown leader: yeah that's Vladdy also). His baserunning has been excellent, in a great-big-dude-flying-around-out-there kind of way. His glovework at first has been, at times, certifiably nifty. And when he's called upon to make a quick throw, he's actually got a heck of an arm, as one might expect of a guy who played that much third base coming up. Saturday, he did all of those neat things he can do, and did them all with the exuberance and joie de Vlad that would make him a delight to watch if he was even half the player he actually is. What a treat! Also Lourdes Gurriel Jr. nailed a dude at home with a throw so tremendous that my man didn't even think to slide on it, like such was the baserunner's conviction that it couldn't even be close, despite his on-deck teammate doing the for the love of God slide arms at him. And Ross Stripling had another good start! Let's go!

KS  

2021 Game Fifty-Five: Astros 13, Blue Jays 1

 

Fully; completely.

You know what, I don't even mind: a pitcher's duel between Hyun-Jin Ryu and Zack Greinke could have been pretty sweet, but that Ryu (and those who followed) got walloped whilst Greinke pitched kind of a gem really freed up the rest of my evening, you know? I am very much of the mind that if you're going to lose, it might as well be by a lot, or at least by so much that the result is clear enough early enough for you to just enjoy the book you have on the go. Get 'em tomorrow. 

KS 

2021 Game Fifty-Four: Blue Jays 6, Marlins 5

There's that triple! And as thrilling as it was (they are of course all thrilling), it was the least thrilling triple of the night, in that Bo Bichette's cleared the bases (consisting, at that later time, of Reese McGuire, or rather Jonathan Davis in his pinch-stead, and AL Player of the Month Marcus Semien) in the bottom of the ninth to tie things up. It was much needed due to the extent to which young Alek Manoah (his exuberant mother very much with him) was not as sharp as he'd been in his Yankee-Stadium début, and, very much to the contrary, kept getting his changeups and sliders smoked. But the bullpen was excellent in his wake, especially Joel Payamps, who pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded sitch that really did feel like "a jam." But everybody else did great, too: I am not even upset about the solo home run Thornton gave up, because hey; hey. To return, finally, to the bottom of the ninth, it was interesting, and I have no doubt correct, that with nobody out and Bo Bichette on third, Don Mattingly chose to walk not only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but also Téo to load the bases, force-outs everywhere, and pitch to Randall Grichuk, even though Grichuk had already homered twice on the night (1.3fWAR so far this season, all to spite Keith Law). Grichuk hit a sharpish grounder, and the throw rightly came home to get Bo, leaving Vladdy on third to trot home with the winning run on Joe Panik's sacrifice fly to a drawn-in Starling Marte (Marte whiffed on the meaningless catch, so an E8, but rightly scored a sacrifice fly and an RBI all the same). What fun! 

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Three: Blue Jays 5, Marlins 1

 

Hush hush, Vladito cautions; voices carry.

Another home opener, kind of! And this one sounded so great, with five thousand or so fans in Buffalo (the first major league game they could take in in 106 years!) feeling like many times that in lovely little Sahlen Field (did the gentle and prolific Travis Sawchik imply it was a sort of model for Camden Yards? could this be?). There was much joy, and much to be joyous about, such as like how Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 4-4 with a home run and a double on seven pitches -- the homer and the double came on the first two pitches he saw! The Vladito Triplewatch was in full effect from that point on, but in all honestly it is always at least a little in effect (it is an enticing prospect). Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a home run as well, which was nice to see after he totally totally blew a route in left field earlier and it cost some bases. I like Lourdes Gurriel, and find him cool guy with arguably the best hair in major league history, but that guy goes on some adventures out there in left. Another fine outing from Robbie Ray, and the Mayza (nice!) to Dolis (phew!) to Romano (eep!) bullpen came through ably. We don't see much of the Marlins, and so I want to be sure to note this time around that Don Mattingly at this point looks more like Tony LaRussa than Tony LaRussa currently does or perhaps ever did, and that Starling Marte is probably my favourite name in all of baseball these days (also not hurting: Jazz Chisholm Jr.). Meanwhile, the Yankees and the Rays are kind of going to town on each other, and the Red Sox are having trouble with that Astros, all of which leads to AL East tightening, which is very much what one likes to see, from the perspective of the really-quite-good-but-<<néanmoins>>-fourth-place Toronto (Buffalo) Blue Jays. Let's. Go.

KS