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