2024 Games One-Hundred-Fifteen through One-Hundred-Seventeen: Blue Jays 4, Angels 2; Blue Jays 6, Angels 1; Blue Jays 9, Angels 2

 

bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro bro

I can only understand this three-game sweep against the Angels as a further attempt to troll me with a belated charge at the .500 mark, and honestly, I'm not thrilled about it. Nor was George Spriger thrilled, one might transition seamlessly, about a hit-by-pitch call that did not occur the other night, and which became the subject of a pretty good Jomboy breakdown here. The only thing Jomboy misses by talking over the in-game audio is George Springer's delightfully high-pitched "What?" of pure disbelief just before he totally lost it. Even when he is lightly misbehaving, as he certainly is here, I nevertheless find George Springer a likeable guy, and I hope he is able to continue with his recent work of not being the league's worst hitter (it's more fun for me when he isn't). 

KS

2024 Games One-Hundred-Twelve through One-Hundred-Fourteen: Blue Jays 3, Athletics 1; Athletics 1, Blue Jays 0; Athletics 8, Blue Jays 4

I think they should just believe Vladdy in these situations

A drag, certainly, to drop two of three to an Oakland team that, while way better than it probably should be, is nevertheless not at all good, but the most notable thing to occur this weekend was the end of Vladdy's twenty-two game hit streak, only six shy of the team record. Want to see the list? I bet you do! 

28 Shawn Green (1999)

26 John Olerud (1993)

26 Shannon Stewart (1999)

26 Edwin Encarnacion (2015)

25 Scott Rolen (2009)

22 Vladimir Guerrero (2024)

22 Vladimir Guerrero (2022)

22 Carlos Delgado (2000)

22 George Bell (1989)

Some surprises there for sure! Is Shawn Green the best Blue Jay I usually forget ever even played for us? I think he might be!

KS

2024 Games One-Hundred-Nine through One-Hundred-Eleven: Blue Jays 5, Orioles 2; Orioles 7, Blue Jays 3; Blue Jays 7, Orioles 6

 

go Vladdy go

Well alright! Well okay! Two out of three from the first-place Orioles! That's all we need! Do that like eight more times and we're right back at .500! And still probably in last place in the AL East, but there is a quiet dignity to every .500 season, in my view, and it remains my genuine although distant hope that we get there. I will note, though, that one problem we seem likely to come up against in that regard is that, between the deadline deals and some regrettably persistent injuries, the bullpen is looking a little thin, quite frankly; things are a little lean out there. A little lean. Out there.   

KS

2024 Games One-Hundred-Six through One-Hundred-Eight: Blue Jays 8, Yankees 5; Yankees 8, Blue Jays 3; Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3 (F/10)

reality has reached the point that it often looks
almost as good as MLB 10: The Show

One of the more cheering things that can happen in the course of a baseball season is for an underperforming roster understandably abandoned by its front office after a poor showing in the first half somehow finds within itself whatever it was that had been missing and goes on a spirited and unlikely run no one thought they had in them. Let me be very clear that that is not in any way what seems to be happening here. However! The Blue Jays played pretty well in Yankee Stadium this weekend! Friday was a convincing performance; Saturday admittedly got away from them a little; but Sunday was an extra-innings affair that could easily have gone either way. Have the seemingly-still-playoff-bound Yankees been in something of a tailspin for kind of a while now? Sure! But this was still good! Good job, Blue Jays! I really will try to learn the names of the new guys as soon as the Olympics are behind us and you have my undivided sporting attention once more (for now it's just too much).

KS

2024 Games One-Hundred-Two through One-Hundred-Five: Orioles 11, Blue Jays 5; Blue Jays 8, Orioles 4; Orioles 6, Blue Jays 2; Orioles 10, Blue Jays 4

 

curse that handsome devil

"Blue Jays Hoard Prospects in Eight Deadline Deals" is probably pretty far from the kind of headline any of us had expected headed into this season, but with a seeming lock on last place in the AL East one hundred games into this lightly dismal summer, it's the thing to do, right? To identify prospects? And then to hoard them? Notably, the Blue Jays did not trade anyone to whom their contract commitments extended beyond this present year, but only those who would be leaving in a couple months anyway: Yimi, Nate Pearson, and Danny Jansen, as we'd mentioned previously, followed by Justin Turner, Kevin Keirmaier, Trevor Richards (whose changeup will be missed! by me!), IKF, and, completely unsurprisingly, Yusei Kikuchi, in a deal that had Astros fans bemoaning how much they were giving up for really-not-that-many Yusei Kikuchi starts. To those Astros fans I would say firstly that Yusei Kikuchi is a special guy (just you wait and see), and secondly thank you very much haha. I am insufficiently "up on things" to really know how the Blue Jays made out on all these trades, but the consensus from the wags seems to be that they made out really quite well, given the circumstances? With the expanded Wild Card playoffs keeping more teams in the running later into the season, and so (in the sense of "thus") fewer teams truly selling, guy-yields (how much you for your guys) are now significantly higher than we're used too. A silver lining!

And here's another: Vladdy went seven-for-ten with three doubles, two homers, and five RBIs in Monday's doubleheader against the much, much better Baltimore Orioles, and is on as hot a run as he's had at the dish as at any point since his monstrous, MVPesque 2021 season (a troubled time for us all, but less so for Vladdy [though perhaps I presume too much]). For the rest of the way, I will mostly just be on VladdyWatch, I think, though I will try to keep my heart open to the possibility of other neat things happening as well. 

KS