2021 Game One-Twenty-Nine: Blue Jays 2, Tigers 1

 

look at the launch angle Bo gets on Gurriel here

Do you suppose it to be coincidence, mere happenstance, that only a day after the completion of the U11 girls baseball season, that the Blue Jays player favoured by a plurality of those very same U11 girls, Bo Bichette -- whose number is 11, I will remind you -- goes three-for-four with two singles, a walk, and an opposite-field dinger? In a game in which Jose Berrios finds his form and holds the Tigers to but a lone run on six hits, no walks, and 11 strikeouts? You are welcome to believe what you will, I suppose, but I know what I saw. Something else I saw: Saturday night, Detroit Tigers' reliever Michael Fulmer pitched with the thumb lacing on his glove (the big extra thick one, you know the one, the thumb loop one) completely untied -- like not down to a single pass-through, which happens to us all, but totally untied -- and it was absolutely killing me. I mentioned it on the couch, and even via the medium of SMS-text, but none who heard me seemed as distressed as I was. I don't know if this is just an HD revelation, but I don't feel like I'd ever seen someone play with their thumb lacing just totally unattended like that? It was unbelievable! And then today, Jose Berrios pitched the whole game with his glove exactly like this. Where am I? Is this a dream? Later as I walked to the basement to do laundry, I saw my own daughter's glove untied in the same way. "They gonna ask me how I'm doing," the poet writes, "I'm upset." To settle myself, I spent some time with this image of Vladdy playing with some dirt Saturday night, an image snagged by "No Context Blue Jays" and which I have saved to the "Odds and Ends" folder on my desktop as "vladirto.jpg":

So where do we stand after this taking these slightly freaky two-of-three from the Tigers? Sort of to my surprise, back down to 5.5 games back, as Boston truly blew it in Cleveland this afternoon (early evening?): up 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, they lose 7-5. Go Guardians! The Blue Jays have three at home against the Orioles whilst the Red Sox are in Tampa for four -- if this gap is to close, this would be the time of its closing, probably, right? Maybe pick up a couple this week? It's Oakland after that, which sounds bad, but they've hit a rough patch, right? So maybe?

KS

2021 Game One-Twenty-Eight: Blue Jays 3, Tigers 2 (F/10)

 

Manoah described striking out Miguel Cabrera (more than once!) as "surreal"
which is actually how it feels when I do it on the computer or PS3, too

An extra-innings Blue Jays win! We really haven't had a lot of those! This one was great fun, though. Alek Manoah continued to pitch very much in the manner of a Yung Ace, doing just a lovely job into the seventh, and while Richards slightly blew the save (it really was only slightly), Soria pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jordan Romano gave up just the one hit going two innings (good! he's good! let's keep him out there for as long as he is willing!) for the win. Our king, Alejandro Kirk, homered from the cleanup spot in the sixth, Bo Bichette knocked in Grichuk in the seventh, and Vladdy slid home with utter recklessness on a tidy Corey Dickerson (look at the way he chokes up on the bat with two strikes, U11 girls out there; look at that that) single to left, chugging home so hard he stumbled around third in such a way that suggested he'd be out by ten feet when they got the ball in -- but he wasn't! Go, Vladdy; *go* Vladdy. Tonnes of fun, this one, though we must note with sadness that Bo Bichette's dream (or perhaps it was our dream for him) of a season without a single "caught stealing" is now dead: after successfully stealing second base in the first inning, and getting beaned in the ribs by the catcher's throw as he slid in, Bo tried to steal third on the very next pitch, perhaps thinking there is no way they would suspect a guy who just got beaned in the ribs at second to take off on the very next pitch, right? My working theory, though, is that the catcher deliberately beaned him in the ribs with the throw to second to lure him into trying for third. Anyway, they got him, or so the third-base umpire claims. I am convinced that they should have challenged the call at third base, though I am also convinced that video replay is a needless drag on the pace of the game (it's baseball, he's either safe or he's out or whatever, let's keep it rolling, it's not that important), so "whatevs." But that's it, twenty straight stolen bases before he was caught on his twenty-first attempt. Pretty neat! 

KS

2021 Game: One-Twenty-Seven: Tigers 3, Blue Jays 2 (F/10)

 

alas but he is safe

I relish every Blue Jays game in Detroit, now that they come so rarely, in part because I remember fondly the AL East Detroit Tigers of my earliest days, but in no small measure because of just how lovely their new park is ("new" in that it is very nearly, though not quite, of our present century). The great genius of it, I think, is that it makes no real effort at mimicking what made Tiger Stadium special, which I don't think is actually the obvious choice: if they ever built a ballpark to replace Fenway (which opened in 1929, just like old Tiger Stadium), can you imagine them not putting up a big silly wall in left? I can't! Aside from the loveliness of the downtown view it affords (I have always been soft on Detroit), the predominant vibe of the new park is Outfield Spaciousness, which very much came into play in Josh Palacios' CF-début Friday night, as he failed to run down a Jeimer Candelario double in the fourth, and dove somewhat recklessly after what should have been a Victor Reyes single in the ninth but which, after skipping on by and rattling around out there in all that space, was very much an inside-the-park home run (always neat to see, to be fair), and that was that, 2-1 Detroit despite a fine start from Steven Matz and no real help from the bats (Vladdy doubled in Bo, as in brighter days). Earlier Friday, the Blue Jays made what is to me an utterly thrilling waiver-wire pick-up in Jarrod Dyson, he of a great glove in centre and an absolute burner on the basepaths despite his thirty-seven years, but he did not make it to Detroit in time to help. Nor did Santiago Espinal's contact lenses: he left them in Toronto, and was seen taking ground balls before the game in his glasses. When he came up to pinch-hit for Palacios (oh now you pull him!) in the ninth, though, no glasses -- did Santiago Espinal pinch-hit in the ninth with uncorrected vision? Why aren't more people asking about this? He struck out on three pitches. It wasn't great.

Rough night!

KS

2021 Game One-Twenty-Six: White Sox 10, Blue Jays 7

 

okay yeah that one's gone

Between the rarely-seen rain in the SkyDome (close it close it close it), the two dudes who ran out onto the field and got tackled by security, and all of the slugging, I think we are forced to declare this to have been "a wild one." It's a shame about Ryu, as he's had some rough outings more or less since the All-Star break I guess: one certainly expects him to get farther than the fourth inning trailing by a tonne, and I bet Hyun-Jin Ryu feels that even more acutely than we do. It was nice to see the Blue Jays' bats get going for the first time in a while and put up a five-run inning; and Marcus Semien's 3-5 with two home runs was pretty sweet too; and a split against a team this good is a totally fine thing; but it's nevertheless a little disappointing not to have won this series with Ryu on the mound. Ah well! On to Detroit, with the Blue Jays now (let us check) okay yeah five-and-a-half back, the Red Sox must have beaten the Twins again (oh man, 12-2). And it looks like they play Cleveland next. None of this is any good. However! Maybe think of it this way: to win 92 (that ought to be enough, right?) the Blue Jays need to go 26-10 the rest of the way. That still sounds reasonable, right? Three against Detroit, three against Baltimore (who are now weirdly red hot coming off of their nineteen-game losing streak), and then a series against the A's that we all hope will be super important. It could still be! Possibly!

KS 

2021 Game One-Twenty-Five: Blue Jays 3, White Sox 1

 

not pictured: all the grunting

Of Robbie Ray's fourteen strikeouts on the night (that's so many!), my favourite, and seemingly Robbie Ray's favourite, too, was the last one: Tim Anderson to end the top of the seventh with runners on. Ray got super fired up about it, though it is worth noting that his yelling of yeeaarrrrggghhhhh or whatever it was, exactly, was directed towards the dugout and not at Tim Anderson specifically (celebration is "I did this!"; taunting is "I did this to you," as Dave Cameron once helpfully noted on a FanGraphs audio from like six years ago). Nevertheless, Tim Anderson took note of this yeeaarrrrggghhhhhing, and took it in smiley good cheer whilst saying, it would seem, "Chill out. Chill out. Peace" (I am no Jomboy, certainly, but there seems to be consensus on this). It was all quite merry! As was Alejandro Kirk knocking in the winning run in a big two-out rally in the bottom of the eighth. 

KS

2021 Game One-Twenty-Four: White Sox 5, Blue Jays 2

 

Sans Sous-Cease

Before I even had the game on, I saw on my computerphone that it was already 4-0 White Sox an inning in, so I elected to go for a bike ride. Never the wrong choice (although I do regret seeing a rare Pete Walker-ejection in real time)! What I found upon my return was actually an enormously pleasant ballgame, about as enjoyable a 5-2 loss as you're going to find, honestly. Partly it was the outfield assists from all three Blue Jays outfielders (you don't see that very often! has there ever been a more baffling defensive outfielder with a better arm than Lourdes Gurriel Jr? an honest question!), but mostly I couldn't get enough of White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease, who was totally new to me: his slider looked to be breaking about as much as you would expect of a curveball, his curve broke like this was a cartoon, and his seemingly effortless fastball was 98MPH like an afterthought. Rightly or wrongly, I felt like Dylan Cease was illustrating just how much harder Major League pitching is to hit than it was even, say, twenty years ago (a long time, I grant you, but not a long time), even in the absence of the sticky stuff that had been making it even tougher than it needed to be. Aside from our hero Alejandro Kirk, who doubled, the only other Blue Jay with an extra-base hit was Corey Dickerson, who turned on an inside 98MPH fastball and parked it in the stands in right. The Blue Jays actually got it close-ish with runners on in the both the eighth and the ninth (should Grichuk have been up hitting for young Palacious? maybe, though he hasn't done much since June), but that actually didn't make the game any more enjoyable (possibly less, as it introduced a certain tension?). I just had an improbably lovely time lolling around with the game on.

Robbie Ray and Hyun-Jin Ryu are still to come this series, so who knows -- maybe take three out of four? We'll need to, it looks like, as the Blue Jays fell a game off the pace last night. Five-and-a-half back. The playoff odds grow ever longer with each passing day, but regardless of how things end up, it would be fun to keep it close until the last week, if we could.

KS

2021 Game One-Twenty-Three: Blue Jays 2, White Sox 1

 

a tiny glove on an enormous man

Alek Manoah returned from the bereavement list (our condolences once more) in form so fine: a run on five hits through six? Against these mighty White Sox, who look like they will be trouble for everybody in the postseason? Absolutely! Charlie Montoyo rightly elected not to mess around in the slightest as concerned bullpen deployment, opting for the Cimber, Mayza, and Romano to take it the rest of the way, which they, in fact, totally did. The only Blue Jay with more than a lone hit on the day was Reese McGuire (who has had some really great at bats of late), lifted for pinch-runner Breyvic Valera in the eighth. Velera boldly scampered (you can scamper boldly, I think) home with a nifty slide for the winning run on a Craig Kimbrel wild pitch. Quite a game! The other notable moment for me was grumpy DUI-collector Tony La Russa getting all heated up at his catcher Seby Zavala over the location of a 3-0 pitch that Vladdy took to right field for his 90th RBI of the season. Rather than notice how far outside Zavala had set up, and the extent to which Lance Lynn uncharacteristically missed his spot, La Russa just full-on berated the guy about something he himself was wrong about before Zavala was even all the way down the dugout steps. There has been a good deal of "he's still got that fire!" nonsense in response to this moment from I guess awful fathers and childless awful-fathers-in-spirit but as you can perhaps already tell from the way I am characterizing that response, I reject it entirely. The White Sox are such an enjoyable team this year, and it is a shame that they are saddled with this toxic doof.  

KS 

2021 Game One-Twenty-Two: Detroit 5, Blue Jays 3

 

500 up

Word on "the boards" (by which I mean Twitter) is largely that this particularly crushing loss is the most crushing loss the Blue Jays have managed this year, but despite Marcus Semien's one-in-a-million throwing error (well maybe not one in a million) on a totally routine ground ball to second with two outs in the ninth opening the door for this loss that I do indeed admit to be crushing (simply not the most crushing), I would argue that there was enough to like about this one that I am still standing firmly behind the Friday night game being worse. For starters, we got to see the great Miguel Cabrera's five-hundredth career home run, and although I probably would have enjoyed it all the more had he not hit it off Steven Matz to tie it up in the sixth (hey great game Matz, by the way), it was still quite a thing to see, and the ovation Cabrera received from the Toronto crowd was both meet and right. Also, Bo Bichette went three-for-six on the same day he was stung by a bee. How many fellas can say that? Not many, I'd bet! A brutal loss, no question, but even at its worst -- the Semien throw, for sure -- it involved teachable moment for all the U11-baseball-playing girls out there (if you've time to set your feet, girls, set you feet, please). And everybody who we need to lose either lost, or did not play, so I'm honestly not particularly upset, and not even in an actually this is funny to me sort of way. Four-and-a-half back of the A's and Red Sox now, which is not that bad, but with the White Sox coming into town next, which is not that good. A tough week here could put things out of reach, but a good or even decent week could definitely "keep things interesting" (although to be honest I will be interested regardless).

KS

2021 Game One-Twenty-One: Blue Jays 3, Tigers 0

 

Still Ryu-day

Okay! As great as Robbie Ray was Friday night, Hyun-Jin Ryu was even better (arguably!) in a low(er)-key way Saturday, spreading five hits and a walk over seven shutout innings, striking out just five but getting a lot of soft contact. And Montoyo took no chances with the bullpen: Tim Mayza worked the eighth, and Jordon Romano pitched the ninth for the second day in a row. Home runs early from Grichuk and late from Semien were all that we needed. With the A's in tough against the Giants all weekend, there is hay to be made! Possibly!

KS 

2021 Game One-Twenty: Tigers 4, Blue Jays 1 (F/10)

 

Harold Castro: not even the problem

Vladdy's solo home run stood up an awful long time, and Robbie Ray pitched a true beauty (8IP, 1ER, 5H, 11K), so much so that it didn't even seem like necessarily all that big of a deal when the Tigers finally scratched out a run in the top of the eighth. The bottom of the ninth ended up being super dark, and we will for sure get to that, but the bottom of the eighth was a huge drag, too: with Espinal and Bichette on and nobody out, Marcus Semien struck out, and Vladdy grounded into an inning-ending double play. That's tough, because those are the exact guys you want up in that situation, and we didn't get a thing out of it. But no worries! Jordan Romano will pitch the ninth and leaves a double stranded at second! Bottom of the ninth, let's walk it off! And yet; Hernandez and Gurriel both walk, to give us another fairly glorious two-on-nobody out situation. This time, though, a greater indignity than a Semien strikeout and Vladdy rolling over a grounder: rather than have Alejandro Kirk face the lefty Gregory Soto, Charlie Montoyo sent Breyic Valera up to bunt. To my thinking, the point of having Alejandro Kirk around is that he can swing the bat, especially, one would hope, against lefties, and yet there was Valera, bunting it very much to the Jonathon Schoop at first base -- who was playing in closer than I think I have ever seen -- who fired it to third to get the lead runner. Oh no. The Randall Grichuk double play that ended the inning a few pitches later felt at least as inevitable as the bullpen trouble that followed in extra innings.

The worst Blue Jays loss this year? I can't think of one that felt as dire and discouraging, even in the worst of the full-on "bullpen woes" portion of the season. But there's still time, one might well say, and one might well mean it a couple of ways.

KS  

2021 Game One-Nineteen: Nationals 8, Blue Jays 5

 

"Josiah Gray" is a fantastic baseball name

Jose Berrios was pretty good, actually: three runs in five innings is not ideal, but when all three of them came on one swing from Juan Soto, it's hard to find all that much fault, right? Berrios settled in just fine from there, as the Blue Jays made there way back with home runs from Téo (another!), Cory Dickerson, and a pair from Marcus Semien. And so it was 5-4 Blue Jays late when Brad Hand came in and picked up both the blown save and the loss pretty quick. Hand was definitely worth a shot at the deadline (he came over from these very same Nationals, as well you know), but it has not worked out, and I do not think I am alone in suggesting that it would be unwise to continue to use him in high-leverage situations, probably. You only get so many of those! The Blue Jays "bullpen woes" (a phrase that gets tossed around a lot, and perhaps too freely, but these are well and truly woes) are incompletely but provocatively illustrated by the strange fact that the Blue Jays (63-56) have only as many one-run wins this season (just eight!) as the Baltimore Orioles (38-81). Yikes! And yet for all this, and despite a truly disappointing road-trip following the loveliest homestand ever, the Blue Jays are not in especially bad shape as they head home for three against the Tigers (yes!) and then four against the White Sox (oh no): they continue to sit four games behind the final Wild Card spot (Oakland), five behind the first (New York). The AL East title, which did not seem an impossibility when the Blue Jays went on their 9-2 run, seems about as done as done gets, with Tampa ten games ahead now. But that's ok! The Blue Jays have thirteen games between now and what looks to be a crucial Labour-Day-Weekend series against the A's: four against the White Sox, yes, but six against Detroit, and three against Baltimore. I guess the hope is to win enough of those thirteen (and it's gonna need to be a bunch) to make those three games against Oakland really important? This still feels quite possible, though I am for sure given to folly.

KS

2021 Game One-Eighteen: Nationals 12, Blue Jays 6

 

I'm not clapping though

Alek Manoah got more than a little squeezed by the rightly notorious Angel Hernandez in a third-inning Juan Soto at bat -- and there is arguably no player in either league who needs less help than Juan Soto -- and things fell apart pretty spectacularly from there. After the game, Manoah was placed on the bereavement list (we offer our condolences), so who knows what he was going through while he tried to work Tuesday night. The Blue Jays, at one point down 8-1, got as far back as 8-6 before Saucedo and Dolis got together for a grim four-run bottom of the eighth to put things extremely out of reach. This turns out to have been the last chance, I guess, for Rafael Dolis, without whom the Blue Jays may very well have not nabbed that final weird playoff spot in 2020 (you will recall him clinching a key game against the Yankees, perhaps, as part of his very strong season) but this year he was out of the zone a tonne, and when he threw strikes, he got smoked. And you can run on him. And he works as slowly as any active pitcher, I think. And he was hurt for a bit. Just a tough year all around for young Rafael Dolis, who I think is neat, and for whom we wish all the best in his future endeavours. 

KS 

2021 Game One-Seventeen: Blue Jays 8, Mariners 3

 

show 'em where you hit that last one, Téo

As relieved as I am that the Blue Jays have ended their clumsy little three-game slide, I am mostly just happy that they got the game in before bedtime. Even when we lived in Toronto, these west-coast road-trips were too much, but on Atlantic time? Unworkable! A weird start for Steven Matz, whose run-on-three-hits-over-five is obviously great, and you would take it every time, but he struggled mightily with his command at times (consider the first inning, which saw two wild pitches and passed ball help a single come around to score), and ended up throwing kind of a lot of pitches, right? But, again, a run through five, you will take every single time, forever. Homeruns for Téo (who is raking these days), Grichuk, Dickerson (I really liked this one!), and Semien, and a nice three-for-four for Santiago Espinal, who also stole second despite a pitch out (a weird one though: the catcher set up farther outside than I have ever seen; it looked so weird that it bordered on creepy, somehow). Oh! Another neat baserunning happening saw Hernandez leading way too far off second, only for the catcher to throw it behind him to the shortstop, but it was a poor throw that skittered into centre field, and so Téo skittered on home. Loved it! A nice teachable moment for any U11 players that may have been passing through the room as it happened, too. I would have liked to see Cimber put up a cleaner eighth than he did (a two-run home run lacks cleanliness) but on the whole let us be grateful that we leave the west coast having gone three-and-four despite playing, at times, really quite poorly. Off to Washington, who have been somewhat bad since they traded their guys, and so I am hopeful.

So where do we stand, after this less-than-great west-coast swing on the heels of the loveliest home stand possibly ever? Better than you might think, actually: while the Rays are still a somewhat distant sight atop the AL East (7.5 games ahead), the Blue Jays sit 4.5 back of both Oakland and Boston for the Wild Card spots, with only the Yankees in between. This is really not that bad! Fourteen games left this month: two against Washington (sure), six against Detroit (okay), two against Baltimore (yes please), and four against the White Sox but hey maybe we can eek out a split? And then it's on to September, which is all games against i) the Orioles and ii) all the teams the Blue Jays need to catch. Please believe me when I tell you I am stoked for this.    

KS

2021 Game One-Sixteen: Mariners 9, Blue Jays 3

 

oh no

Here's another one where all the really bad stuff happened after I was in bed, so I cannot really even claim to have minded it, and yet: a seventh-inning bullpen implosion that also saw George Springer leave the game with a sprained ankle is really not good! The early word is that it isn't all that bad of a sprain, and that Springer won't be out all that long, but he's been latterly hitting at just about peak-Vladdy levels, so even a few games of not having that in the lineup makes a difference. We do, though, enjoy a surfeit of serviceable outfielders these days. Nice to see Téo go three for four with a homer, and Vladdy picked up three hits, too, but this one was trouble. Just trouble. I should note though that I greatly enjoyed Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez getting in memories of the 2001 Seattle Mariners for a half-inning of so there. I was going to say something about how it is hard to believe that that's twenty years ago, but upon even the smallest amount of reflection it is perfectly understandable that that was twenty years ago. And it's fine. But what a team that was!

KS

2021 Game One-Fifteen: Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2

 

well that can't be good

"Tough [redacted] luck," is how Charlie Montoyo characterized his team's sad plight in this one. The worst of it happened after I was in bed, truth be told, and so I missed the umpires overturning the call that first had Breyvic Valera safe at home on a nimble slide after a hustling tag-up off of an awkward foul out to first, though I did catch a replay that included the utterly astonished Mariners' broadcast's reaction: "Amazing!" I was no less in bed when Adam Cimber struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth, only to walk the next two, give up an eensy weensy infield single off his glove to load the bases, and then had Brad Hand come in and walk a like .173 hitter on four pitches to end the game. Yikes. The tough [ahem] luck that I witnessed in real time Friday night came in the fourth inning, in which Marcus Semien led off with what was initially ruled a double but which ended up not being so when replay revealed that Semien, during his slide, had come off the bag in that in-between, split-second way that nobody ever used to call on the field but which gets called an out on replay with frustrating regularity now. I do not feel that replay has been a net benefit to baseball -- it's just baseball, call it on the field and let's keep moving, none of this is all that important -- but for whatever reason it is these calls on these slides that I like the least out of the whole deal. Nobody honestly thinks that's what an out looks like, do they? And yet I can see how the video review umpires can't help but make that call when asked to do so. It was still a good inning for the Blue Jays -- a couple runs on a Vladdy walk, a Bo Bichette double, and Gurriel single -- but it stuck in my craw a little! The other notable fourth-inning happening was that when Téo was called out on a close pitch that was in fact off the plate (not by a tonne; I am not a minder of such calls), he actually protested slightly, which is very out of character, but by the time Dan Shulman was done noting that Teoscar pretty much never says anything by way of complaint regarding balls and strikes ever, he was already giving the home plate umpire a little hug. I like that guy!

A shame to waste another really solid Robbie Ray start, but so it goes. The bullpen has been better, but I would hesitate to call it a strength, you know?

KS

2021 Game One-Fourteen: Angels 6, Blue Jays 3

 

baseball is pretty fun these days!

Well, he got us: Shohei Ohtani led off the bottom of the first with a double, allowed two runs on just three hits in six innings pitched, and although he was later struck out by league-leading name-haver Kirby Snead, the night was very much Shohei's. It is strange that there were stories that framed this series as a "showdown" between the two contenders for AL MVP -- I totally get that people whose terrible job it is to file stories about baseball every day have to come up with some kind of hook, and I sympathize, but also come on: it has been clear as can be for several months now that, barring an injury that keeps him out for pretty much the rest of the season, there is no case to be made against Shohei Ohtani for MVP. If I think about all of the AL MVP's from my lifetime -- and I will remind you that I am very old -- there isn't a single one I could vote for (were I so asked) ahead of 2021 Shohei Ohtani (over in the NL, I grant that there are some Barry Bonds years you'd sure have to think about). That Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been the next best guy is fairly clear (although bWAR still has Semien ahead of him for the year!), but there's just an enormous gulf that separates what Vladdy is doing (having a truly great year at the plate as a charismatic twenty-two year old who seems like he could not be more ready to be one of the real stars of baseball for a good long time) from what Shohei Ohtani is doing (all the first-time-in-a-century stuff to which we are becoming accustomed, all of a sudden). I say this, of course, as a clear Guerrero partisan, and this is a partisanship that of course extends back in time to encompass his father, a player I found so wonderful to watch that it always made me a little sad to behold him (try and figure that one out without recourse to the lyrical Romantics! go ahead, try!). But it's Ohtani. It's for sure Ohtani.

A shame Jorge Berrios had a bit of a rough start but the split in Anaheim will do just fine, really, as most of the teams we needed to lose lost last night. There was a brief window between the moment Tim Anderson walked the Yankees off and the final out against the Angels wherein the Blue Jays had moved into third place in the AL east, .001 ahead of New York in the standings. It was real; I saw it. 

On to Seattle! The Mariners are our expansion cousins! And I have always thought them neat, in no small part, I guess, because of how Ken Griffey Jr. started playing there when I was ten (he stood out).

KS  

2021 Game One-Thirteen: Blue Jays 10, Angels 2

 

Call me old-fashioned
but I like the way Téo looks in a jacket

Alek Manoah has to get some pretty serious consideration for AL Rookie of the Year at this point, right? It's a weird award, and does not necessarily auger all that well -- consider the Blue Jays' 2002 AL ROTY Eric Hinske, who to his credit stuck around for like a dozen major league seasons, but who put up nearly half of his whole career's value in that first year -- but it's still neat! Manoah, who has recently escalated his friendship with Hyun-Jin Ryu to the point that they watch K-dramas together at Ryu's apartment (imagine it), struck out another eleven last night to go with five hits and a couple of walks pitching well into the seventh. The only runs he gave up actually came on a two-run shot by Shohei Ohtani, and those shouldn't even really be counted on anyone's ERA at this point (it does not seem fair to), but even allowing for them, it's a 2.59 on the year. It's funny, because his fielding independent numbers, while still very good, aren't as excellent as his unadjusted numbers, even though you wouldn't necessarily characterize the Blue Jays as a defensive juggernaut, necessarily? But a lot goes into it, I get it. In terms of the boys, and their boppings, Vladdy is still a little off and went 0-4, and Bo Bichette's shin is still all beaten up from those foul balls the other day, so it fell to George Springer (two-time AL Player of the Week in back-to-back fashion) to hit a pair, Gurriel to add another, and for Téo to hit a grand slam right after Vladdy popped one up (no big deal Vladdy, Téo's up next). Saucedo and Hand were faultless in relief, and there you have it: Blue Jays 2.5 behind the second WC, 3.5 behind the first one, and now 6.5 behind the Rays for the AL East lead (the Rays lost to Boston 20-8, and I think saw that it was actually 20-2 at one point, so good hustle down by eighteen, honestly). The Blue Jays have reached a point where they don't even need to stay as hot as they have been lately (the best team in either league for these last few weeks) to hit ninety wins on the season; if they can win at roughly the rate they've been winning all season long (this is obviously a much lower rate), they'll hit ninety. And so one's thoughts cannot help but turn towards ninety-five wins, and what that could be like to do, and to be. That it has not happened since 1993 (a very fine year, you may recall) should in no way bind our imaginings.

KS

2021 Games One-Eleven and One-Twelve: Angels 6, Blue Jays 3 (F/7); Blue Jays 4, Angels 0 (F/7) (Doubleheader!)

 

Let's play two

Sunday afternoon, George Springer hit a three-run eighth-inning home run to bring the Blue Jays all the way back against the Red Sox, and wrap a thoroughly triumphant 9-2 homestand trip with a 9-8 win that felt enormously special. Tuesday afternoon (evening, here!), George Springer was just a guy grounding into double plays throughout a close ballgame until it wasn't super close anymore and there were no more double plays to be grounded into. Baseball is weird! Just ask Vladdy, too, who lost a routine pop-up in the sun while two runs came around to score. Or Breyvic Valera, who probably felt pretty pleased about his little scooch-up in the box as as sinker-baller came to the plate -- like a scooch whilst things were under way, to make contact before the sinker could sink, absolutely delighting Buck Martinez in the process -- only to later turn what looked like a double-play ball at third into two-on, nobody out, both throws coming in just the tiniest bit late. Rough stuff! Steven Matz pitched pretty well, as did the recently recalled Trent Thornton in relief, though Dolis sure didn't (Saucedo did after). I was surprised Montoyo went with Thornton down by one, but he would have gotten out of everything totally clean had Vladdy not lost that one in the sun, and I was surprised when he called in Dolis, too, but I suppose on a doubleheader day, you can't run through your better relievers in a game you're losing, can you? Because you would feel awfully silly if you needed them in the second game should you be ahead in it, right?

And so to game two, where those relievers were extremely needed, because Ross Stripling left with "left abdominal discomfort" (we've all been there) in only the second inning, so we very, very much had use for every good pitch Richards, Cimber, and Romano could muster. And muster they did! The Angels didn't really get much going at all in between Shohei Ohtani's first-inning triple (man that guy can fly) and the seventh-inning rally that brought Ohtani to the plate trailing by four with the bases loaded. Romano striking out Ohtani to end the game actually felt like less of a big deal than Cimber striking out Ohtani on three sliders in his previous at bat, but both were great; don't make me choose. Cimber, who is all arms and legs and a strange angles and a truly lovely light-blue glove, got through two innings on just seventeen pitches, eleven of them strikes. He's been great! A relatively quiet day for Ohtani, who, in addition to the triple, only managed to steal second by a mile in the first game after an intentional walk, and cruise on home on a sharp single to left right after. He also somehow made a totally routine ground ball to third into a bang-bang play at first; in addition to everything else he does (which is, of course, literally everything else), I'm still not sure we talk about his speed enough. He just runs so fast. He pitches Thursday.

Blue Jays two-and-a-half out!

KS 

2021 Game One-Hundred-Ten: Blue Jays 9, Red Sox 8

 

Hazel Mae is such a pro, I don't think
her questions got even slightly wet 

With the Blue Jays down 7-2 through four innings after an uncharacteristically bad start from Hyun-Jin Ryu -- who would have guessed the Blue Jays absurd run of quality starts would end on a Ryu Day? not me! -- I had both resigned myself to and contented myself with a split of the big series with the Red Sox. Playing even against the good teams, and really laying into the bad teams will get you awfully far, especially given the makeup of the Blue Jays remaining schedule this season. It's all they need to do! But it is definitely even better to do what they actually did, which is to have Vladdy get out in front of a breaking ball to sneak a two-run homer over the left-field fence to make it 7-4 (hey that sounds like a ballgame all of a sudden), pick up two more on a Semien sac fly and a Téo single a couple innings later (an inning in which Vladdy stole second, by the way [he made a beautiful diving catch on a bunt earlier, I should add), and then have George Springer hit a three-run shot to the moon (as the very sad Red Sox radio call had it) in the bottom of the eighth, right after Reese McGuire worked a walk in a nine-pitch at-bat Springer would call the key to the whole game. Springer also said that the approach he took into the eighth-inning at-bat was just to get on for Vladdy, which really is a faultless approach, but this worked out great, too. 

What a weekend! This all continues to be the absolute best. I think we need the off-day today, honestly. It give us an opportunity to assess, if nothing else: 60-50 is a nifty little record 110 games into the season -- very much in the hunt, and yet not showing off about it. The big development, as far as the Wild Card race goes, is that while the Blue Jays remain three games behind Oakland for one such spot, they are now also three games behind Boston for the other. The Mariners and Angels, both of whom the Blue Jays play this week, seem to have fallen off the pace, meaning it's maybe down to just the Blue Jays and the Yankees (half a game ahead of Toronto) chasing Oakland and Boston, and while the A's continue to hum along, the Red Sox have just two wins in their last ten. The Rays have won four in a row, and seem to have settled into the AL East lead, so that's not great. But the rest of it is! Amazing what a 9-2 homestand can do. FanGraphs playoff odds are up to 47%, I have just now learned, and been pleased by. Off to the west coast for a week of games I will only catch like three innings of!

KS 

2021 Game One-Hundred-Nine: Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 1 (F/8)

 

that's *right* off the shin

This was a tough one, to come up short with Berríos pitching like he did through six innings of a seven-inning game. It wouldn't have taken much! And yet the bats were silenced, for the most part, which, I mean, it happens. Something else that happened, but that, unlike those other happenings, pleased me greatly, was when Reese McGuire totally took over the seventh inning. Trevor Richards walked Marwin Gonzalez to open the inning, and then a Christian Vazquez single made it two-on, nobody out. Franchy Cordero (a lot of good names in this story!) dropped what looked like a pretty good bunt down the third base line, so good that if it rolled fair, everybody would have been be safe all aroumnd, so McGuire dove at it -- like totally stretched out -- to touch it in foul territory. It was quite an effort! Later in that same at-bat, McGuire picked Gonzalez off second as Bo Bichette snuck behind him after his secondary lead got a little out of hand. Still in Cordero's at bat, full count this time, Vazquez took off for third, and we had a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play (one of the best kinds) to end the inning. It was a bright moment in a somewhat disappointing game. And yet we have already taken two out of these three so far from a team we are chasing, so what's my problem? 

KS

2021 Game One-Hundred-Eight: Blue Jays 1, Red Sox 0 (F/7)

 

they're charged up

Walk-off home run Marcus Semien! Number twenty-six on the year! And on the first pitch from All-Star closer Matt Barnes! What! I am absolutely certain that in all my enthusiasm for Vladito and Bo Bichette I do not write often enough or effusively enough on the subject of Marcus Semien; I am also certain that this is a failing that is not mine alone. I would guess that many baseball enthusiasts familiar with the metrics broadly speaking would be unaware that Semien is, according to bWAR, having an even better season than the fWAR-leading (if one excludes Ohtani's pitching, though of course why would one do that) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. You just don't see that much about him! I will note though that in addition to his many attainments, Marcus Semien's batting stance is absolutely ideal for illustrating to the U11 all-girls baseball team in one's charge the idea of keeping your back elbow up nice and high (for leg-kick talk, Bo Bichette is nice [see there I am with Bo Bichette again {why not Marcus Semien's leg-kick}]). They mentioned on the broadcast that this was the first walk-off of Marcus Semien's whole career. It must have been quite a thrill for him.

A true pitcher's duel, this one, with only two hits on the board for either side through the seven innings that comprise the first half of the Saturday double-header (gonna miss these seven-inning double-headers when they go; it's a good amount). Robbie Ray was dealing! And Jordon Romano continues to be A Most Welcome Guy to see in the late innings. The series split has been assured, and all that remains is to now totally win it.

KS

2021 Game One-Hundred-Seven: Blue Jays 12, Red Sox 4

 

me too yeah same

Even when the Blue Jays took three of four from Cleveland right after the Royals left town, I felt pretty sure that whatever happened/happens the rest of the way this year, it would be awfully tough to top the elation of those first three games back in Toronto, that first weekend home. But just a few days later, here we are: the Blue Jays nine-run fifth inning against the Red Sox Friday night was about as much fun as one is likely to have watching Blue Jays baseball (I speak from admittedly incomplete yet considerable experience). The small crowd was unreal, as you might expect for an inning that unfolded thus: Kirk 2B, Grichuk 2B, Valera 2B, Springer F8, Guerrero IBB, Bichette 1B, Hernandez 2B, Gurriel HR, MOUND VISIT/PITCHING CHANGE, Kirk 1B, Grichuk HBP, "On-field Delay" cuz Hansel Robles was being aggressive and ridiculous and as such got aggressively ridiculed, Valera 1B, Springer 2B, Guerrero 5-3. Alek Manoah had come of the mound in the top of the fifth trailing 2-0, and was told that was it for the day, so imagine his surprise, I bet, on extremely getting the win! Ryan Borucki brought the mood down a little by giving up a two-run shot to Hunter Renfroe right after all that happened, but Dolis, Hand, and Saucedo took it the rest of the way ably enough. I do not think this series is quite as big of a deal as it is perhaps being made out to be in some quarters, in that even were the Blue Jays to sweep or to be swept, they would be neither totally in or totally out of anything, and the path before them would be pretty much the same either way, but nevertheless, just in terms of "the vibe," this is huge, and I love it. 

KS  

2021 Game One-Hundred-Six: Toronto 3, Cleveland 0

 

He's slinging, it's true

"Stripling Slings, Makes Case For Starting Slot" reads the headline to Keegan Matheson's MLB.com game story, as though to openly antagonize me after my previous assertion that it should be Steven Matz who takes the final spot in the rotation, sending Stripling to the pen. But fair enough! Without checking, I am just going to go ahead and suggest that that three hits and a walk over six scoreless innings is the best we have seen Ross Stripling, and I will note also that three innings from Richards, Mayza, and a fired-up Adam Cimber (I love the enthusiasm! let's go!) in which all that was allowed betwixt them was a lone walk, is also just super. The bats were uncharacteristically quiet, except for how Bo Bichette parked a two-run shot into the second deck just under where it says "Tony Fernandez" (number one in our programs, number one in our hearts), and then singled in Marcus Semien his next time up. Semien had quite an at bat, and lanky young righty Triston McKenzie really thought he had him with a really close pitch just before the double. McKenzie, who I have learned is good friends with Bo Bichette from Florida, is twenty-four but looks even younger than that, in an acutely heart-rending way. I have also just now learned that he is 6'5" and only 165lbs, furthering the rending of the heart. I wish him well! He pitched a really good game: three runs on five hits and no walks against the team with the highest OPS in either league (and also the youngest team, joining the 1970 Reds and 1990 Blue Jays in combining those two nice things)? Good for young Triston! I wish him a long and fruitful career, if that is what would please him.

And so the Blue Jays are six-and-one on this, their first proper homestand of the season, with Boston coming in for four (double-header Saturday!). Boston has hit a rough patch lately, and it is possible we are playing them at the right time: "If the Red Sox play like this against the Blue Jays," Matthew Kory (formerly of FanGraphs, amongst other places) wrote yesterday, "they're going to get swept and it's going to be by absolutely brutal scores." Hey maybe so! It has definitely been a while since I have looked at how our starters line up for a four game series -- Manoah, Ray, Berrier, Ryu -- and felt any better about it; that's for sure. My scoreboard-watching remains intense, and my standings-watch has shifted from mere interest in how far the Blue Jays trail the final Wild Card spot (2.5 games at present) to a more-than-passing-glance at not only the first Wild Card (5 games), and even -- dare I even utter the words? -- the AL East (6.5). If we make up a game a week for the rest of the season we'll win it going away! That doesn't even sound that hard! 

KS

2021 Game One-Hundred-Five: Toronto 8, Blue Jays 6

 

He is shooting his shot

There aren't too many games where your bullpen gives up six runs (your closer two of them!) and you still win, but it definitely helps for the bats to put up eight runs in the first three innings and your starter to strike out eight over six scoreless. Steven Matz was so good! I know there has been talk about which of the Blue Jays starters (of which there is now surfeit) should go the pen, whether it should be Ross Stripling or Steven Matz, and it's actually "a toughie," in that Steven Matz has for sure had the better season, but post-arm-re-angling, Pete-Walker-to-the-rescue Ross Stripling has been a very different pitcher than the one whose ERA exceeded seven (which rendered him suddenly very coachable [to his credit]). I'm fine either way, I guess, but I am pretty sure I would keep Matz in the rotation and send Stripling to the pen were this my Baseball Mogul game (I understand, on some level, that it is not). Trevor Richards was good, we really like Adam Cimber (tremendous sidearm delivery, lovely glove-hue), and I guess if Saucedo and even Romano are going to have rough innings, this was the night to do it, right? George Springer, who has of course missed a lot of time this season, and so will not put up big "counting stats," currently has the Vladdy-esque OPS of 1.021 after his four-for-five with another lead-off homer, and our new friend Corey Dickerson is a welcome left-handed bat from the fourth outfielder. Also from the new friend files: I sure had no idea who (utility infielder? is that what he is?) Breyvic Valera was at all but I welcome him based on that cool name alone. Look, I just feel great about things right now. We're rolling! We are rolling. 

KS

2021 Game One-Hundred-Four: Toronto 7, Cleveland 2

 

Got baby blue wearin' / starting pitchers not carin'

Ryu-day! And a Ryu-day of uncommon moment, in that this was actually Hyun-Jin Ryu's first start in Toronto since signing what seems like really kind of a long time ago now. Ryu has been very good all year, but great recently (a sub-two ERA in his last five starts or so, I am pretty sure I saw), and this was more of the same: two runs over seven innings, over which he struck out eight and walked none (that there were seven hits does not concern me). George Springer and Téo both homered in the first, which is delightful, but arguably even more delightful was Reese McGuire's bunt double with a man on in the sixth. Take that, the shift! It's only the second bunt double we know about in Blue Jays history, and perhaps unsurprisingly the other one is recent, too: Cavan Biggio in 2019 in what you'd have to think was another shift situation (shiftuation). A very cheering game, in which the Blue Jays managed to score seven even though Vladdy went 0 for 5 (he wasn't striking out or anything -- just one of those fluky things). And I woke up this morning to the news that Oakland had lost (against San Diego; no shame) along with Boston and Tampa Bay, which means not only are the Blue Jays just three games back of the second Wild Card, they're now six back of the other Wild Card and seven out of the division. I am not yet willing to rule out the AL East! Even though I already ruled it out early this season when they were ten-and-a-half back or so! But Boston has lost five in a row, and the Rays aren't looking quite so hot, so who knows? Could it be the Blue Jays and the Yankees trading off the AL East lead down the stretch, with the Red Sox and the Rays mixing it up with the A's for the final Wild Card? Almost certainly not! And yet here I am, headed over to FanGraphs to check in on the updated playoff odds . . . 38.1% to make the playoffs! 30.6% to win the Wild Card! And just 7.6% to win the division, as maybe I am getting a little ahead of things here. Or maybe I have simply seen the signs of what is to come; and know to read them.

KS   

2021 Game One-Hundred-Three: Cleveland 5, Toronto 2 (F/10)

 

Go Guards?

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s two-run homer to tie it in the sixth was great fun in and of itself, but it also spared us an appearance by Rafael Dolis who, as we have discussed previously in these electronic pages, simply takes too long to pitch. Dolis, who had been up, sat down, and in his stead we saw The New Guys: Cimber and Soria, who were great, and then, after Romano (who was great, but who is not new), Brad Hand, who gave up three runs in the tenth. Oops! It is a drag to have wasted a Robbie Ray start Of Quality, but the teams ahead of the Blue Jays in both the AL East and Wild Card standings either lost of didn't play, for the most part, so very little real harm done. 

KS

2021 Game One-Hundred-Two: Blue Jays 5, Royals 1

 

Welcome aboard, José Berríos

I was very pleased to welcome young José Berríos, two-time All-Star who has yet to miss a scheduled start in his MLB career, at the trade-deadline cost of two well-regarded prospects in Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson, in no small part because prospects, while certainly vital and I get it, are nevertheless also kind of a fake idea, if you see what I'm saying (it is perfectly, perfectly reasonable for you to not -- generally, of course, but in this particular instance especially). But I must admit that I was not familiar with his work in any way that I could distinctly remember. And so imagine my delight today, to see him work his way out of some tricky spots with his various curveballs that just disappear, man, they just "fall off the table" as Joe Morgan famously explained (about how they can do that sometimes). It was great! His cutter got him into a few of those sticky situations, as it ran in on dudes to such an extent that it began to run in to dudes, and hit no fewer than three of them. But aside from that, no runs five hits and a walk in six complete! I will absolutely take it! Trevor Richards was great in relief, and Tim Mayza was too aside from an Oliveres rocket (a largely insignificant rocket, coming when it did, and yet very much one all the same) with two outs in the ninth for the Royals lone run on the day (I respect the Kansas City Royals, and feel for them when they are having off years). As to the bats: we saw home runs (and indeed the silly home run jacket [which I support; it seems fun]) from Marcus Semien, which is never unexpected, and young Santiago Espinal, which is always unexpected, by which I mean it has been unexpected both times it has ever happened. What a likeable utility infielder he is! (That is predominant type, now that I think about it, but I really do like Espinal.) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had his first true day off of either this season or last, and he busied himself in any number of delightful ways -- positioning Bo Bichette from the dugout and doing the wave with Alek Manoah were my personal favourites -- before (and after, actually) being taped to the bench by I believe Teoscar Hernandez among others. It was all great fun! As was the whole weekend: it would have been wonderful to have the Blue Jays properly back in Toronto however the games went, I bet, but they really couldn't have gone any better. 

The way I'm looking at things now, with our record at 54-48 with sixty games to go, we don't even necessarily need more of these sweeps; we just have to keep on going two-and-one, two-and-one over and over again to go 40-20 the rest of way and win 94 games. And that'd be enough, right? Almost certainly? Probably? Let's try it, at least, and see. 

KS

2021 Game One-Hundred-One: Blue Jays 4, Royals 0

 

Let us bash; let us monster bash
(hit a tater out the stadier [for monster cash])

With the Blue Jays a hundred games in, and four-and-a-half out (if you follow), my brother-in-law and I took to the medium of "SMS Texting" and figured through some fairly rigorous analytics that if it looks as though it's going to take around ninety wins to be in the postseason conversation this year (Buck Martinez says that if you can just win fifteen every month, you win ninety! yet it is actually super hard to do!), the Blue Jays would (and indeed will) need to go something like thirty-eight and twenty-four in their remaining sixty-two, which is a tall order, but consider, please, that Saturday's starting pitcher Alek Manoah is in fact really tall: "a behemoth" is how pleasant and descriptive radio play-by-playist Ben Wagner describes our six-six, two-sixty rookie who thinks Hyun-Jin Ryu is just the neatest guy (he's not wrong [Manoah {but also Wagner}). In the afternoon, we got caught in a long detour through a newer suburb I do not at all know well, and which required the successful navigation of three roundabouts to reach the highway, and this would have been way less fun if we didn't have Ben on the radio telling us about George Springer's home runs. This first proper homestand of the season is the first time this year the Blue Jays have had a dedicated radio broadcast, and while I did not at all mind the television/radio simulcast (as you literally cannot do better than having Dan Shulman tell you about a baseball game, and I have a great deal of affection for both Buck Martinez and, yes, Pat Tabler), Ben Wagner working the whole game without Mike Wilner -- or indeed anybody else at all, which must be a tough go in the booth -- is just great, and I hope Wagner settles into this role for many years to come. Ben Wagner solo is the most I have enjoyed non-Dan-Shulman Blue-Jays-on-the-radio since the heady days of Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby. Anyway: Manoah continues to be more or less unreal, this time scattering just two hits and a walk over seven innings, leaving not a whole lot for either Borucki or Cimber to do (though they did well!). And although the Blue Jays had but five hits, each one was really good, and here's how: 1) George Springer's home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning is an inherently awesome outcome; 2) we here at Baseball Feelings support any and every success by the æsthetically vital Alejandro Kirk; 3) Springer's second home run came just after we managed to actually get on the high way, and so felt doubly welcome because of that; 4) Vladdy legged-out an infield single that required video replay to confirm and man, there is something about Speed Vladdy that just gets the people going, and in this instance it was super valuable rather than just disproportionately compelling because it meant he came around to score on 5) Marcus Semien's triple. 

And all of this in a mere two hours and nineteen minutes! What a Saturday afternoon of baseball at the Dome, is how I feel about it.

KS

2021 Game One Hundred: Blue Jays 6, Royals 4

 

Safe at home

After the genuinely affecting pregame ceremony to mark the Blue Jays' return to Toronto (for their first game at the SkyDome in six-hundred-and-seventy days) that saw players and coaches working hard to hold off tears; after Home Plate Lady, rather than throwing the first pitch to which she was entitled, slowly walked the ball to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and gave him a a big hug; and after Vladdy walked to the plate for his first at-bat to loud chants of "M.V.P." as he leaned into Kansas City Royals All-Star, Gold-Glove catcher Salvador Pérez (perhaps my favourite current non-Blue Jay), there was still a game to be played, and it was awesome: Ross Stripling (a weird "Opening Day" starter for sure!) pitched well into the sixth, and both Téo and Bo Bichette homered (Bo stole his sixteenth, too [he has yet to be caught]), and the Mayza/Hand/Romano bullpen fared well enough that all it took to seal the deal was a pretty absurd bare-handed grab by Santiago Espinal to close out the ninth. This was all very lovely to me, and legitimately emotional, but please note that I am very, very softhearted. Welcome back, Blue Jays. 

KS