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