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| well rounded, Bo; well rounded |
I was unable to follow the earliest innings of this one except via play-by-play data, as I was tied up at a roller disco (for real), and there was no way the radio would have been discernible above all of the, you know, roller disco funk. Nevertheless: the returning (in several senses) George Springer opened the game with a home run, which is the best way to do it, and Alek Manoah took to the mound in super high socks, which, as the broadcast noted (I picked this part up only on the vital Blue Jays in Thirty broadcast the next day) was a style shared by all nine non-Manoahs in the starting lineup yesterday. They seemed to be doing it in support of him, or to low-key troll him joshingly, or something? In any event it was a sharp look and I would like to see more of it. Manoah, whose first-inning two-run home-run-allowed (Jim Bregman) did not seem to trouble greatly, continues to be the best young starter in Blue Jays history, as measured both by the sort of numbers that are entirely within his control and also according to the more wholistic measure of how often the Blue Jays win when he pitches. This is a pretty remarkable thing to be happening, and I do not think it is going totally unnoticed, but I do think it has received less attention than it might have were he not surrounded by the most exciting young team the Blue Jays have had since 1984 or thereabouts. This is all to say I get it but I did want to note this once more! Lourdes Gurriel drew us even with a little looper of a sacrifice fly that got the middle infielders all tied up (scurrying home with your tying run: a seemingly-getting-it-together-a-little-at-the-plate Bo Bichette) in the sixth, and Santiago Espinal hit what proved to be the game-winning home run (his second in as many days, no big deal) in the seventh. The bullpen (Phelps, Borucki for just one out but in a huge spot, and Garcia) was again excellent, and with Jordan Romano pitching just about every day, it seems, and needing a break it fell to Adam Cimber (whose sidearm style may be corrupting the youth; I have limited but real backyard-baseball evidence that this is occurring) to protect the one-run lead in the ninth. With one on and one out, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. caught a liner ripped right at him, one of those catches that is as much an act of self-defense as a display of defensive acumen, and stepped on the bag for the game-ending double play. He was smiling so big before he even got over there!
And so, regardless of how things go tomorrow (though one hopes well), the league-leading Blue Jays have taken both of this week's road-series, first in Boston, now in Houston, and, at ten-and-five, have won two-thirds of their games to end this, the first half of their toughest thirty-game stretch of the season -- all this despite some injury trouble (it would have been nice to have had Téo and Jansen, certainly) and some serious underperformances at the plate (Gurriel has yet to homer, Bichette has struggled mightily). But the starting pitching has been very good, the bullpen has been even better, and the boys have made some huge plays in the field (if you hear any noise, it is the sound of them . . . gloving?). There is still plenty of time left in this opening stretch for things to go quite badly (the Red Sox come in for four this week, then the Astros for another series before more Yankees games), but if they can even play it .500 for the next couple weeks, this will all set up nicely for that crucial, make-or-break late-May push (it is possible I am attending to closely to the schedule right now).
Yusei Kikuchi on the mound Sunday! Guaranteed to be interesting!
KS
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