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Fair enough, I guess: much like Joey Votto's (probable) last game in Toronto culminated in a game-winning home run, this time it was Albert Pujols' (definite) last game in Toronto, and a three-run shot launched into the centre-field second deck, right where the restaurant used to be. Fine; it's fine. A fitting end, I suppose, to my own personal experience of Albert Pujols, as realistically it is pretty unlikely I will watch any other Cardinals games this season. I was actually a little surprised to hear that Pujols was forty-two, but it all adds up, as his first year in the majors was also my first year of attending the majors. And upon reflection, 2001 was an unusually good year for Rookies of the Year, wasn't it: AL Ichiro, NL Pujols (things fell off a little in 2002: AL Eric Hinske, NL Jason Jennings). You may recall that a big topic of discussion in Albert Pujols' earliest seasons was whether or not he was actually as young as was claimed, a discussion that kept going for much longer than it was in any way relevant (if his age 21 through age 24 seasons were actually his age 23 through 26 seasons, who cares? they were still historically great). Anyway! Great job, Albert Pujols, everybody likes you and thinks you're great! We got the full Albert Pujols show Wednesday night, too, as we saw him get such an incredible jump at first base (Kevin Gausman was understandably paying absolutely no attention to him over there) that he would almost certainly have stolen second despite his quite literally minimal speed had the batter not swung and fouled it off; we also saw Pujols thrown out at home by Téo on an unforgivable send by third base coach Ron “Pop” Warner (not to be confused with first base coach and low-key Canadian baseball legend Richard Keith "Stubby" Clapp). Let us note also that Vladdy had his first stolen base of the year, getting the "send" on a 3-2 pitch to Alejandro Kirk that Kirk, in a super rare occurrence, struck out on. But that's about as much as the Blue Jays got going against forty-year-old Adam Wainwright, for whom a reasonable Hall of Fame case might tentatively be made? Sort of? A little? If he pitches one more season (and why wouldn't he) he'll get to two hundred wins -- a deeply flawed measure, for the many reasons we all know, but one that will sort of "call the question."
And so ends the Blue Jays seven-game winning streak, their second streak of that length this season, if I am remembering this correctly, as I believe I saw somewhere that the 2022 Blue Jays are now the only team to have had two seven-game winning streaks in the same season under two different managers. You certainly cannot argue with the last few weeks of results, but I still feel bad about Charlie! And I'm not going to stop! Even after this loss, the Blue Jays sit atop the AL Wild Card standings with the fairly lowly Detroit Tigers coming in for four (of which you'd like to think we would win three?). We've got Yusei Kikuchi going tonight for the first time in a few weeks, and I would like to remind everyone that what Yusei Kikuchi needs more than anything right now is our support. Thank you.
KS
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