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