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| Honestly not sure if this is the first one or the second |
Although the Blue Jays' run differential -- winning, as they are, all these one-run games -- is really quite meagre (standing as it does presently at "zero"), their fun differential is anything but, right baseball fans? The Blue Jays only managed six hits against the burly and compelling Luis Garcia, whose rock-a-bye-baby windup is legitimately soothing in its cadence, but two of them were George Springer home runs, and that's all that we needed, as it happened, because José Berríos (and Tim Mayza, and Adam Cimber, and Jordan Romano) pitched awesome. Vladdy had a tough day at the plate, an oh-for-four with some really tough (and frankly incorrect) calls on breaking balls off the plate away, and it was understandable that he lost his temper about it late in the game -- he did not lose it so thoroughly that he got tossed, but just enough so that Charlie Montoyo rightly perceived that in order to save Vladdy from a tossing, he himself would have to go out and get tossed as concisely and efficiently as possible; Charlie Montoyo, it must be said, "understood the assignment." It was nice to see Bo Bichette get two hits (and a stolen base, too) after what had to be a disappointing oh-for-five on his own "Bo Flow" Bobblehead day ("real" hair and an uncanny likeness; honestly one of the best bobbleheads I have ever seen). Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had the only other Blue Jays hits, I am noticing only now as I scan the box score. Also I am reminded that the useful Bradley Zimmer made one really nice grab in centre (Springer was DHing), and came very close to another, though the ball was knocked lose from his glove from the tremendous impact of his cool dive. So it goes.
April ends, then, with the Blue Jays at a lovely 14-8, for a winning percentage (perthousandth I guess) of .636, which would, over a full 162 games, come out to a 103-win season, the best in team history by kind of a lot. I say let's go for it! An on-screen graphic (is there any other kind?) the other day showed that the Blue Jays' start this season is tied for the third-best in team history, behind only the hot starts of 1992 and 2009. Pat Tabler spoke for us all when he was like, "1992, that was a great team that got out to a great start and just kept rolling all the way to the World Series; I'm not sure I remember 2009." Which is instructive! Because starts are fleeting. Nevertheless, one cannot help but be buoyed and cheered by how things have gone so far in the aggregate (hey look at all these awesome one-run wins!) if not in every last particular (it sure would be great for Bo to start ripping those fastballs into the seats again! and I would like for Teoscar Hernandez to play! also I am worried about Hyun-Jin Ryu's viability!). The Blue Jays, who have yet to lose two games in a row, and have also yet to lose a series, have Kevin Gausman on the mound today, so our chances to keep rolling in both of those respects seems pretty good (so long as the splitter splits; so long; as; it splits . . .).
Let's go,
KS
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