Game Twenty-Nine: Blue Jays 3, Dodgers 1

 

first of the year!

Gausman largely dealing through seven, a pair of manufactured runs, Varsho snagging one against the wall off the bat of Shohei Ohtani early and another off the bat of Max Muncy late (to get Yimi and Mayza out of an exceedingly ticklish eighth), an opposite-field solo shot from the struggling but beloved Alejandro Kirk (three-for-three! struggling no more!), a remarkable diving George Springer catch in right (his best since the diving centre-field catch in Detroit that time?) to help Romano through the ninth . . . what more do you need for a pleasant Sunday afternoon of Blue Jays baseball? The roof open, I suppose (it is so sunny outside here that I feel like it should be in Toronto, as well, a view that I understand has no basis), but let us not make the perfect the enemy of the rad.  

Hey also: you may have noticed that one of the songs Sportsnet plays as it goes to breaks is, not infrequently, Sloan's "Money City Maniacs," for sure their best-known song, but actually a fairly poor one compared to their songs that are, like, good (or indeed excellent). I would like to propose that they stick with a Sloan song, but opt for a deeper cut, and while really just about anything would do, I think it should probably be "Junior Panthers" at least to start. Thank you.

KS

Game Twenty-Eight: Dodgers 4, Blue Jays 2

 

I had honestly forgotten they'd traded for Glasnow

A two-run game in which the home team brings the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth was objectively a close game, but the way the Blue Jays have been hitting this week—more like not hitting this week! I mean, come on! (we are taking your calls live on air through the top of the hour)—this one felt finished when the Dodgers went up by four in the fourth. It's a bad way to feel, man, and that's just if you're me: imagine poor Yusei Kikuchi! Four runs through six complete is certainly on the low end of what he's done this year, but it's not like a disqualifyingly bad start. It is if nobody's scoring any runs, though! That's five straight losses, turning a totally fine 13-10 into a worrying (to meeeeee) last-place 13-15. 

KS

Game Twenty-Seven: Dodgers 12, Blue Jays 2

 

well that didn't take long

Hey have you noticed how the top of the Dodgers order this year—Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman—consists entirely and exclusively of sure-thing future Hall of Famers? And that all of them are going to be around for kind of a while yet? This is pretty bad news for the National League—the West, especially!—and generally not all that big a deal to AL teams, but it looks like it could be a major problem for the Blue Jays this weekend, if Friday night's endless drubbing is any indication. Chris Bassitt, who would be the first to tell you he has had a lousy month, gave up seven runs on nine hits and three walks and didn't even get out of the third. If we were going to lose this one anyone—and we sure were!—I don't at all mind that an Ohtani home run was part of it, because I just think those are neat. 

KS  

2024 Game Twenty-Six: Royals 2, Blue Jays 1 (F/5)

 

guys it is too rainy to play catch right now

A genuine debacle of a rain delay: three-hours and thirty-eight minutes! And then they didn't even resume play! Just call it! Before any of that! Really, it's amazing they got the four-and-a-half innings they needed to make the game official, dumping all kinds of extra dirt all over the infield to try to dry the pools of standing water that had much of the infield, like, lagooned-up. It had that optimistic but doomed "it'll probably be fine once we rake it" minor baseball/softball energy. A fitting anticlimax to an uninspiring trip to Kansas City. I should note that Dan Schulman and Buck Martinez feel that Kauffman Stadium has the best soft pretzels in the league; I hope this is information that you have a chance to make use of someday, dear reader. 

KS

2024 Game Twenty-Five: Royals 3, Blue Jays 2

 

Vladdy dropped it

In fairness to Vladdy, who just straight-up dropped the ball that Isiah Kiner-Falefa had thrown to him adequately after a nice play at third, he (Vladdy) offered no excuse or even explanation for the error that led to three unearned runs (Kevin Gausman was pitching so much better, too!). He was just like hey what can I say; I dropped the ball and I don't feel great about it. Brutal! It wouldn't have been that big a deal, necessarily, had the boys been boppin', but there has been so little of that lately (Vladdy, himself, for instance, was oh-for-four with 2Ks on the day) that it was pretty much the game. The top of the order—Springer, Vladdy, and Bo—have been less productive so far this year than you would ever expect, and actually all three have been far less effective by OPS+ (what a useful tool that is, by the way! I am still jazzed about it because it still feels new! because I am old!) that the aforementioned and largely faultless Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Baseball: is pretty weird! 

KS 

2024 Game Twenty-Four: Royals 3, Blue Jays 2

 

Bobby Witt Jr. you are somewhat killing me

It would never not seem like a lot, but four stolen bases allowed in a game you lose by a run kind of makes you feel like it made a difference, and perhaps even the difference? I cannot claim to have experienced the full measure of this low-key torment, engaged as I was throughout most of the game in the exquisite art of university rec club Kōdōkan Jūdō; there was only a little baseball left for me on the radio after. I will say that the radio broadcast this year is pretty much fine, but not really any better than that. It's a new crew, and a young one, and I am sure they will grow into it, but so far I feel like it has been serviceable rather than enjoyable. It's only April, though.

KS

2024 Game Twenty-Three: Blue Jays 5, Royals 3

 

Bo: flows?

A three-run triple! That's easily the best kind! I would argue, too, I think, that the single-run difference between the bases-clearing, three-run triple and the grand slam is more than made up for by the æsthetic gains; unless you end up losing by a run, I feel like you've gotta take the three-run triple if you could choose, right? Maybe we should ask Bo? Perhaps I am alone in this, which would be fine, as it is probably not a very good observation or idea. Add in a Varsho homer (another one! what a guy!) and a more-or-less ideal day on the mound (Kikuchi, Swanson, YIMI, Romano), and we are having a lovely time in a lovely ballpark. 

KS

2024 Game Twenty-Two: Padres 6, Blue Jays 3

 

good job, Fernando Tatis Jr.

It felt like a million things happened in this one, with way more traffic on the basepaths than you might expect from a regular-score kind of game. Home runs from roommates (like actual roommates!) Davis Schneider and Ernie Clement were a treat; Chris Bassitt's ultimately somewhat shaky start "less so." He really hasn't been bad so far, Chris Bassitt, but he hasn't quite been himself, either, and he's visibly disgusted with himself about in a way that feels pretty dark, and borders on uncomfortable. But hey! Despite again missing out on the series sweep, the Blue Jays are winners of six of their last eight as they head off to Kansas City to play the defensively exquisite Royals, who have been way better so far than I am all that pleased about, given that they are to be our foes (in broader terms, I have no issue with the Royals [despite 2015 [and 1985]). 

KS

2024 Game Twenty-One: Blue Jays 5, Padres 2

 

what a guy

It seems slightly ludicrous to point this out in April, but the Blue Jays came into this one in a Wild Card playoff position for the first time this year (so far as I recall [and there isn't that much to recall yet!]), so really all we've got to do is maintain for the next hundred and forty games or so, and we'll be sitting pretty! Already sitting pretty: José Berrios, whose ERA thus far is a tidy-beyond-tidy 0.85 to go along with his four-and-oh record (pitcher win/loss records are of course misleading-bordering-on-useless unless they say that your guys are good). Daulton Varsho's three-run shot did most of the damage in this one. Word has gotten out that he is more or less the best defensive outfielder in the game, which is probably pretty nice for him to hear about. 

KS

2024 Game Twenty: Blue Jays 5, Padres 1

you wait until it stops rolling, and then you go pick it up

 A great deal to admire here: a big, lively crowd in one of the loveliest ballparks in either league, the uncommonly beautiful Padres "city connect" jerseys, and as if that wasn't enough (æsthetically, I mean), a knuckleballer on the mound! Matt Waldron! He wasn't great Friday night, either, which ruled (for us): a Justin Turner home run in the first, and two runs each off the bats of Kiermaier and Vladdy in the second, and that was more than enough, with Yariel Rodriguez looking good once more, and—credit where it's due!—some good work by Bowden Francis. That Yimi was once again nails probably goes without saying, but here I am saying it all the same. A fun one!

KS 

2024 Game Nineteen: Yankees 6, Blue Jays 4

 

in some ways this Yankees outfield could be a problem for us

I think the thing I mind the most about Aaron Judge is that I don't even mind Aaron Judge, not even a little. He's a great player, in some interesting ways, and he seems pretty nice! What am I supposed to do with that? His two-out, full-count, bases-loaded two-run single in the bottom of the ninth was, if I am not mistaken, his first hit of the series (perhaps he was due), and a total drag. This was the Blue Jays' first true bullpen meltdown of the season, with the enigmatic Genesis Cabrera yielding an eighth-inning solo home run to Juan Soto (you can't be mad about that one, really), Erik Swanson getting cooked for three runs in just a third of an inning, and Tim Mayza giving up the big hit that sealed the deal. Why leave the lefty Mayza in to face Aaron Judge, of all people, you might well ask? Well, Yimi had pitched two days in a row, Romano was just a day removed from his first inning of the season, and Chad Green, the obvious candidate here, was unavailable with a sore shoulder. So in the end, it came down to either Mayza, the lefty, or the right-handed Bowden Francis, what with Nate Pearson having been sent down a few days ago (purely an "options" thing; he has pitched well), and I can't say I especially disagree John Schneider's call to give Mayza a crack at it, given the options. It's remarkable, though, how sour this ninth inning made the whole series feel, even though we won it! And the series before! A four-and-two homestand against the Mariners and Yankees is really good! And yet here I am, feeling like "ah, phooey" about the whole thing, which I recognize as wholly inappropriate.  

KS

2024 Game Eighteen: Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4

 

The "N" is for romaNo

Jordan Romano's first inning of the season didn't go all that smoothly, but it didn't really have to, given all of the excellent pitching that preceded him (Kikuchi, Richards, and of course our the absolute lad Yimi Garcia). Romano has been simply excellent as a closer for us for several seasons now, and I have every expectation that that will continue, but I really do not care for his first innings of the season to be ticklish ninth innings! It just doesn't make that much sense to me! But whatever; it's obviously fine. Also fine: the Vladdy is still hitting a lot of grounders, so long as every now and then one of them is a two-run single right up the middle. That's the kind of grounder we like to see, Vladdy; let's keep it up!

KS

2024 Game Seventeen: Blue Jays 3, Yankees 1

 

I am a Yimi ultra

Scratch out a couple early runs, ride a great Chris Bassitt start for six-and-a-third, and watch Tim Mayza, Chad Green, and especially Yimi Garcia slice up the Yankees out of the pen? Folks, it's just that easy! And Yimi handled Soto, Judge, and Rizzo in the ninth, too! I am just stoked beyond stoked at how well Yimi has pitched so far, and, although I know this is unrealistic, I would like to see him pitch the ninth (or, more broadly, in the highest-leverage situations) even with Jordan Romano returning. This is how I would Baseball Mogul it (or indeed Out of the Park It), but I appreciate that there are actual people being managed here, rather than spreadsheets. It's a relationship business. 

KS 

2024 Game Sixteen: Blue Jays 5, Rockies 0

 

no you, José Berrios; no you

Imagine not throwing seven scoreless on just two hits and two walks, striking out seven: couldn't be José Berrios; it literally could not be him. Has he been the best starter in all of baseball so far this season? I suppose I could check FanGraphs real quick: ok no. However! He has been really very good! I will take a 3-0 record with a 1.05 ERA, regardless of peripherals (his are also good). On the subject of super deep statistical dives, though, I should mention that I super deeply compared Isaiah Kiner-Falefa's season thus far to Matt Chapman's (in that I looked up both guys fWAR real quick), and found that IKF has been nearly twice as productive as Chapman so far. I wish Matt Chapman well, of course, and have no problem with the San Francisco Giants (they are quite simply not my concern), but that does seem like a comparison worth making, and subsequently noting. Also of note: Justin Turner is getting on base at the rate of late-career Barry Bonds, for some reason, which even Turner's most ardent supporter would probably have to admit is at least a little surprising, and, perhaps most importantly of all, the Blue Jays are now back at .500 for the first time in a little while (I understand that the season is only two-and-a-half weeks old), which feels great! The 12-4 Yankees are in next, and maybe due to regress? To the mean? A little? I "mean" it when I say that I really hope they do.

KS  

2024 Game Fifteen: Blue Jays 5, Rockies 3

 

he caught it, too (great job George!)

Another Daulton Varsho homer! And this time a first-inning grand slam, really all the Blue Jays would need behind a nearly ideal first start from Yariel Rodriguez, who is still being stretched out, and the able support of the non-Bowden Francis portion of the bullpen. Francis wasn't especially good Saturday (two runs in two-and-a-third), but Tim Mayza was strong (what a "relief"), Chad Green was even better, and Yimi Garcia has now become, like, the nails beyond nails; this is a new level of Yimi. Glory to Yimi, is how I feel about this stint as the closer in the soon-to-end absence of Jordan Romano; glory to Yimi. 

KS 

2024 Game Fourteen: Rockies 12, Blue Jays 4

 

I like it but I would rather not have seen it honestly

I will say this for these unexpectedly dire Kevin Gausman starts where he just gets totally cooked: at least it has been happening early, and you can move on with your evening fairly secure in the knowledge that you are not missing anything you would really ever care to see. Not a lot of bright spots in this one! That Varsho homered, I suppose? More of that could be good? I felt bad for thirty-seven-year-old junk-baller Paulo Espino, who came in for mop-up, but got mopped up (four runs in two-and-two-thirds) and sent down to Buffalo immediately therafter. He was probably going to be the guy to go down to make room for Yariel Rodriguez either way, but it did not seem like a fun time for him (or me).

KS

2024 Game Thirteen: Mariners 6, Blue Jays 1 (F/10)

 

this image is not representative of the game in its totality but
it is representative of the only part I really liked

When Vladdy came up in the seventh with the Blue Jays down 1-0, talk on the couch quickly turned to how great it would be if Vladdy got a hold of one. And then he did! And what a one, and how a hold: four-hundred-fifty feet or so to the second deck in left field to tie it. Neat! But the Blue Jays got the go-ahead run to second base in the eighth, and the winning run to third base in the ninth, only to leave those guys very much where they stood as those innings ended (poorly). It is regrettable that the struggling Tim Mayza allowed a home run on the first pitch he through in the tenth, and that things unraveled from there, wasting another really good Yusei Kikuchi start (I love how they play a Lisa Loeb "You say . . ." drop after strikeouts!). The series win was pleasant, certainly, but one could not help but yearn for the deeper pleasantness of a sweep. The Rockies are in for the weekend, and it seems they have not been great, possibly? So maybe this time? 

KS 

2024 Game Twelve: Blue Jays 5, Mariners 3

 

if it's fair it's gone (and it's fair)

Some uncharacteristically iffy work out of the pen from Trevor Richards aside, the Blue Jays largely cruised in this one, with a fine Chris Bassitt start and a mighty wallop from Bo Bichette, who I am inclined to say has the most interesting right-handed swing in Blue Jays history, maybe? It's his whirling follow-through, as much as anything, I suppose, but it is just enormously compelling, and deeply æsthetic. Not that he's at all little (listed at six feet even [I do find that a little questionable] and one-ninety [looks about right to me]), but the coiling and uncoiling of his swing makes you wonder if there is any way you could even theoretically get any more out of a body that size swinging a bat, and then simply conclude "I would guess no." I am not at A Swing Guy—in the sense of someone who understands any more than the absolute fundamentals—in the least, but I am for sure A Swing Enjoyer, and I enjoy Bo's as much as any swing we have ever had around (and we had John Olerud, obviously).     

KS

2024 Game Eleven: Blue Jays 5, Mariners 2

 

. . . hey man oh hi hey guy let's go what's up hey man . . .

Home opener! And the renovations look great! The subtly more distant shot from the centre field camera will take a little getting used to (it's still very good), as will the slightly different seats for both Geddy Lee and the Home Plate Lady (they're still very good), but on the whole this is all super impressive. The roof was closed, as it pretty much always is in April—and perhaps it was extra important on this day to keep people from looking directly at the eclipse (what's the worst that could happen?)—but I am eager to see how everything will look with the roof open on a nice sunny day. I bet nice! As to the game itself, the Blue Jays scratched out a few runs early, and then just settled in behind another excellent start from José Berrios, who looks absolutely locked in to start the year. Huge crowd, great fun! We should have had hot dogs; total oversight on my part.

KS 

2024 Game Ten: Yankees 8, Blue Jays 3

oh come on man

I really thought Bowden Francis was doing pretty well until the grand slam! But those five-run third innings, they can be tough to bounce back from (they really kind of tank the ol' ERA, too). And so an inglorious end to a series that started so promisingly. It would have been really nice to head home after a ten-game, season-opening road-trip to three tough cities (Tampa, Houston, New York) at .500, but it must be said that the Blue Jays four-and-six record stands a full game better than the three-and-seven I had emotionally prepared for. So I will "low-key" take it.

KS 

2024 Game Eight: Yankees 9, Blue Jays 8

can't fault the effort

After Kevin Gausman, who could not get anything together on this cold night, had been truly shredded—six runs (five earned) on four hits (two homers) and two walks in just an inning-and-a-third—I decided to pursue other interests with my evening, and thus largely missed what I later learned to be a fairly spirited Blue Jays comeback that fell just short. Notably, Vladdy got one, and was booed so hard, as he is truly despised in Yankee Stadium, and in a way he has deliberately brought upon himself by loudly proclaiming that he would never play for New York. This is all of course in the fine tradition of Ken Griffey Jr. ("If the Yankees were the last team . . . if they were the only team that gave me a contract, I'd retire. You don't believe me? You don't know me") and absolutely must be respected as such, but it does keep you from feeling too bad about any of it.   

KS

2024 Game Eight: Blue Jays 3, Yankees 0

 

I do miss the yellow glove
(that looked like bananas)

Of Yusei Kikuchi's seven strikeouts Friday (each of which made the Yankees home opener appreciably [one might say deliciously] worse for them), my favourite was for sure the one that ended the fifth, as it was immediately followed by Inspectah Deck's opening verse from "Triumph" as the Sportsnet broadcast faded to commercials (they run ads for awfully scary movies on some of these afternoon games, which is inconsiderate, as I frighten easily). This seemed to me fitting, in that it was indeed a triumph! And also because of how neither Socrates' philosophies nor hypotheses could define the extent to which Yusei Kikuchi was dropping these mockeries, maybe! Aside from the stellar pitching (Yimi, the enigmatic Genesis Cabrera, Trevor Richards, and Chad Green took it the rest of the way), and Ernie Clement's extremely welcome solo home run in the seventh, this one was kind of a gift, as Yankees reliever Nick Burdi hucked no fewer than three wild pitches whilst walking two in his two-thirds-of-an-inning of work, which pretty much sealed the deal . . . to our advantage. 

KS

2024 Game Seven: Astros 8, Blue Jays 0

 

same

I have read that no team—aside from your 2024 Toronto Blue Jays!—has been on the wrong end of both a no-hitter (Monday) and a one-hitter (Wednesday) in the first seven games of any season ever; and yes, that sure does like an unusually bad thing to happen. And yet! I think if I was Astros fan, trying to reconcile the fact that Houston outscored the Blue Jays nineteen to two (and outhit them thirty-five to nine!) but somehow only took two of the three games in the series to stand now at just two-and-five through the first seven, despite consistently excellent starting pitching, I think that would be worse? For them? The Blue Jays, for all of this early-season weirdness, are now three-and-four as they approach the back-end of this perfectly brutal ten-game, season-opening road trip (Tampa, Houston, and finally New York), which actually seems pretty good? A series sweep in Yankee Stadium (it could happen! it could happen!) would make the whole trip a success; a series win would be really very good; and even dropping two of three wouldn't be so bad. So long as we are not swept, we will have surpassed the three-and-seven road-trip that I had emotionally prepared myself for since the (pocket) schedule(s) first came out. Let's go! Somewhat! 

KS 

2024 Game Six: Blue Jays 2, Astros 1

 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy

A ninth-inning, two-out, pinch-hit Davis Schneider home run! Off of Josh Hader! And it went like a mile! In fact there is reason to believe it is the farthest anyone has ever hit a Josh Hader slider! It was quite a feeling! Let us not lose sight of the Justin Turner walk that made it possible, or the Yimi/Mazya/Green bullpen that picked up José Berrios, who somehow allowed just one through six despite not having his best stuff and just battled (Berrios is such a dude; like such a dude). It is was a strange game, too, with Altuvé called out on a ground ball that just straight up hit him as he ran from second to third (he never made it), and Kirk throwing out a runner dangling off third after he allowed him to take second on a foul-ball pop-out just before in that selfsame inning . . . just a really weird one. And yet a delight! 

KS 

2024 Game Five: Astros 10, Blue Jays 0

 

boost me up

Nobody ever wants to be on the wrong end of a no-hitter, certainly, but if you're going to be, it might as well be on a night where your starter got creamed and creamed early (tough night for Bowden Francis!), and you were never really in it anyway. It's also some measure of consolation to have been no-hit in a nice-story kind of way, in that thirty-year-old Ronel Blanco was making only his eighth career start, and is only part of the Astros' pitching staff because of utter starting-rotation injury devastation. So it was more or less fine? To me? I guess?

KS

2024 Game Four: Blue Jays 9, Rays 2

 

JT

And we're back! After an emotionally difficult two-day stretch in which we did not appear to be an offensive juggernaut, our juggernaut status has been reconfirmed in sick fashion to secure a split in the legitimately cursed Trop, and that is a result that you will take literally every time (if you are me). Kevin Gausman was on a lightly restricted pitch count but looked fantastic (splitters splitting everywhere [I guess down, mostly]), Justin Turner went three-for-four with a home run (welcome aboard, JT), and Davis Schneider (remember him?) clobbered one down the line, too. Feeling fine! Off to Houston, where I worry the Astros may be "due," having dropped all four to Yankees (who have Juan Soto now; you may have heard of this) to open their year. I have concerns!

KS  

2024 Game Three: Rays 5, Blue Jays 1

 

Yusei Kikuchi, I say pitch
(in homage to Maureen, wherever she may be)

It's certainly true that Yusei Kikuchi's first start of the 2024 season, coming off his career-best 2023, went somewhat poorly, with three runs allowed in just four-and-a-third, but it is also fairly immaterial, in that you're not going to win a whole lot of games in which you score but a lone run despite having had, like, plenty of guys on base. Colleagues stranding colleagues! 

KS

2024 Game Two: Rays 8, Blue Jays 2

 

I guess you just get out there and you hound

Chris Bassitt opened the game (indeed his season!) by striking out the side, and then, somewhat perplexingly, had a super intense conversation with Alejandro Kirk in the dugout between innings. He struck out two more in the second, but still seemed super dissatisfied, despite only really truly missing with one pitch (he flew out of his usual delivery and yanked one glove-side). I guess something felt off? Sure enough, some imperfect defense and a bit of a meatball an inning later, I wonder if Bassitt experienced the grand slam as some kind of grim relief that he hadn't just been imaging things: see, I told you I was horseshit today. The only real bright spot in this one was Springer's second dinger in as many days. Let's keep that going!

KS