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| looking fairly lanky out there but I've seen lankier (lanken up, Gausman) |
What should have been a true pitcher's duel -- Shane Beiber! Kevin Gausman! -- ended up with Trent Thornton pitching the ninth, which, a fact taken entirely on its own, offers solid evidence that, one way or another, something very much other than a true pitcher's duel had emerged. A tough day for Gausman, but it's really the bats that were the issue all weekend, putting up just four runs against an admittedly strong Cleveland staff, but even so, guys; I mean, four runs; golly. I really would have preferred a series win after that rough road trip (I am sure the Blue Jays feel similarly), but as far as the standings go, the Blue Jays finish the weekend pretty much as they started it: with the third best record in the American League (behind Houston and New York), and holding the top Wild Card spot (half a game ahead of Seattle, a full game ahead of Tampa Bay). There has been a significant clustering or "bunching up" behind Tampa, though, and what we're looking at now is six teams all within three games of each other with just under fifty left to play. USA Today's much-maligned Bob Nightengale (in that when he reports that a deal is about to happen, everyone replies by posting like "[the opposite deal] confirmed") noted the following yesterday:
The American League contenders since the All-Star break:
Houston Astros:16-9
Cleveland Guardians: 15-9
Baltimore Orioles: 13-9
Chicago White Sox: 13-10
Toronto Blue Jays: 11-9
Seattle Mariners: 11-12
TB Rays: 9-12
Minnesota Twins: 8-11
Boston Red Sox: 8-14
NY Yankees: 8-14
Pretty wild, right? A drag, then, that the next team we see are the still-reasonably-hot Baltimore Orioles, though they did drop two out of three to the Rays over the weekend . . . I see here that they have Kyle Bradish throwing tonight, which could mean a breakout night for the Blue Jays bats? For our part, we've got Yusei Kikuchi on the mound, and you know what, I have decided that he is due, and that's all there is to it: Yusei Kikuchi is due.
KS
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