 |
| "blue are you *serious*, blue?" or, "I said 'that slipped'" |
With the non-Vladito Blue Jays bats ice cold today -- Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette added singles to Vladdy's single and double, but that was it -- it doesn't even especially matter that Julien Merryweather had a dicey inning as "the opener" (a bullpen-usage concept I welcome as an avid Baseball Mogulist and occasional OOTPist as well [in my experience it is easier to win at OOTP but is less enjoyable! but more on that in the off-season, perhaps]), or that Ross Stripling got utterly ripped in his brief appearance that followed. I am not to the first to note, certainly, that Stripling does not seem to have the diversity of offerings that make him a suitable starter for a good team, nor does he he have the kind of outrageous velocity that seemingly everybody who comes out of a bullpen flashes these days, so he's kind of in a no-man's-land out there, and his real value (and I am talking "upside") would seem as a low-leverage innings-eater, maybe? Honestly, I am not that inclined to regard him favourably after that nonsense with Joe Panik earlier this season. "A marginal big-league pitcher, Ross yelled at teammate Joe Panik on [insert date here]" it could easily read on the back of his baseball card, and that would be about the size of it as far as I'm concerned.
It was not a great day for anybody, really, except for maybe Ryan Borucki, who seemed pretty into how he threw at Kevin Kiermaier, by which I mean that I think Borucki was only to pleased to be the one to do it. It led to a heated Pete Walker ejection, too, and I enjoy those a good deal, because of their rarity as much as anything else, I suppose. There is a constant chorus of Charlie Montoyo criticism on Twitter, and much of it consists of how he is not fiery enough, and doesn't make a big stink and get tossed from games, but that is just not his energy; he has different gifts; everybody should just relax (just like Charlie Montoyo, honestly). As is tradition, Borucki said after the the game that he was just trying to throw inside and the ball slipped, but this is not how the umpires saw the issue, and certainly was not the way the Rays felt about it either. Kiermaier, of course, proved himself not the kind of guy to return a lost wallet when he picked up the scouting card that fell out of Alejandro Kirk's pocket on a play at the plate the night before (Kiermaier was out by a mile, you may recall [go Téo]), and then low-key passed it along to Kevin Cash in the dugout like he was handling "the stuff" in exchange for "the money" (I have seen movies). Kevin Cash offered his apologies for the whole thing afterwards, which was nice to do I guess, but I don't see how Cash is at all to blame for how his <<voltigeur>> is a thief, though I suppose Cash is in some broad sense responsible for his charge's comportment, or whatever. Anyway, Kermaier had one coming, and it came, and his comments to the media afterwards were like, "You know what, I hope we do end up playing the Blue Jays in October, ha bloo bloo bloo" or words to that effect. I have decided he is not a cool guy, unlike the off-brand Mr. Peanut who was literally known as "Mr. Gool Guy" and who would swing a bat (all wrists) in low-grade computer graphics on the Jumbotron several decades previous. Now there was a cool guy.
This Blue Jays loss combined with a big Yankees come back win over the lowly Texas Rangers puts the Blue Jays a half-game out of the second Wild Card spot, and two-and-a-half back of Boston with ten to play. The Blue Jays head to Minnesota, and a ballpark I love to behold (though I miss the wavy pines in the batter's eye [I get why they had to go, though {too wavy}]), for four games, with the rotation lining up like this: Matz, Berrios, Ray, Manoah. That looks pretty good! And what's even better is that, starting Friday, the Yankees and Red Sox play a three-game set, as one says, and so each Blue Jays win this weekend means gaining a game on one of the two teams they at present pursue. I don't know if it is actually the case that this weekend is even more important than the three games head-to-head against the Yankees next week, but I think it might be? Like, if the Blue Jays can really go a number on the Twins this weekend, they will gain no fewer than two games on one of either the Red Sox or Yankees, right? And then so long as they are not swept by the Yankees in Toronto next week, things should set up pretty well for the final weekend against Baltimore? I remember looking at this final stretch of the season weeks and weeks and weeks ago, thinking, man, even if everything goes perfectly, it's probably still going to come down to those last three against Baltimore, and yeah, so it would seem; so it would extremely seem.
Ten to go! I am hopeful!
KS
No comments:
Post a Comment