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| clicking his heels on the way out of town |
Kevin Gausman made it clear that nothing felt easy for him on Sunday, and that he really had to work through what did not seem to him to be his best stuff, but I think he should go easier on himself, in that he struck out eleven batters and walked none in seven shutout innings of three-hit baseball in Yankee Stadium. That's just all really good to do, man. And oh yeah also Vladdy got another one, going back-to-back with Daulton Varsho in the sixth. That's two out of three, then, against the Yankees in New York, and the Saturday loss came after both Yimi and Romano got touched up, which is not the kind of thing that's going to happen all that often. I feel really good about all of it! I think I feel best about how, for all five Blue Jays starters, their most recent starts were not just good but great, and all the guys you want to be hitting are hitting, with the lone notable exception of George Springer, who is struggling mightily, and honestly I would rather he not be at the top of the order until it comes together for him a little, because as much as all enjoy the guy, he is an out right now: through these first ninety-nine plate appearances, he's hitting .198 with an OBP of .263. That's just brutal. An essential SABRmetric principle, back when we all called it SABRmetrics and even spelled it that way (it's okay that we do neither anymore), is that pretty much anybody can do pretty much anything over one-hundred plate appearances, and I am not being rash and writing off Springer's season or anything like that, but remember how they bumped Bo down from the two/three spot to number five or so until he got it together and became pretty much the best hitter in baseball (hey guess who has the most hits in the AL right now hey it is Bo and then also it is Vladdy)? Could we do something similar with Springer, maybe, for a bit? I would honestly take Merrifield at the top of the order or even Kiermaier for a little while until we get things straightened out.
But this is all relatively minor stuff as we head back home with a nice, tidy 13-9 record (not showing off, but still very much on pace for an excellent ninety-six wins). Have you noticed, though, that the AL East continues to be bananas? After that little hiccup, dropping a series in Toronto, the Rays are back at it, and have rattled off five straight wins and sit at 19-3, for some reason, and then the Orioles, who as we noted fairly early last season are not a bad young team at all, are 14-7 at present (and while nobody thinks that is sustainable for them, they are not a bad young team at all). The Blue Jays and Yankees are both 13-9, and then even the Red Sox, who nobody expects to do anything this year, are a game over .500. Ridiculous! Will all three Wild Card teams come from the AL East this season? Wouldn't hurt my (baseball) feelings one bit!
Next up, the White Sox, with whom my problem has never been. Bassitt, Berríos, and Kikuchi lined up against Lynn, Clevinger, and Kopech looks pretty good to me, especially since Lance Lynn, a hothead whom we all admired for how he just throws like a zillion fastballs and does great, is having a brutal start to the season. I hope it all works out for him, starting in like a week or so, haha!
KS
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