Further Thoughts on The Cutting of Juan Rivera

Don't cry for him; he's already cut.

The lowest form of sportswriting is that which conflates athletic performance and personal character. It is distressingly common (in the "ay, madam, it is . . . common" Hamlet double meaning way), always stupid, and often racist. Hustling, undersized scrappy white player really shows you how this game ought to be played. And he's a hell of a guy, too! You can tell by the way he hustles scrappily! Athletic but troubled black player, on the other hand, is not the kind of player or man you want your kids looking up to. And don't get me started on naturally gifted but lackadaisical Latino! If only he could get his head on straight, hustle scrappily, and get whiter, you'd really have something you could jerk off to, wouldn't you, boomer sportswriter? 


But let's put the not-that-subtle racism of mainstream sports journalism to one side for a minute and just focus on the extent to which the equation of performance and character is the dumbest thing imaginable. First of all, it just is, right? This is utterly obvious, and yet missed by a staggering percentage of people who write about or broadcast sports. In no other line of work is on-the-job excellence so naively read as illustrative of a person's worth as a human being. Do we expect there to be a correlation between someone's ability to perform heart surgery or drive a bus or bag your groceries and their likelihood to be, I don't know, an emotionally available parent, or a neighbour who will occasionally mow a little over into your yard to save you like five minutes the next time you do it? Of course not. Of course not. But if you play baseball a certain way, you're not just a good baseball player; you're a quality person, and maybe even a leader.


The dumbest instance of this in my life as baseball fan relates, naturally, to the Blue Jays, and specifically to a strange period in which Carlos Delgado was publicly criticized for not being the kind of leader and character guy that Raul Mondesi clearly was. I am not making this up; this was in the papers. Richard Griffin is usually the source of the worst nonsense concerning Toronto baseball, and there is of course no exception to this rule to be found here. But he wasn't alone. How could the writers tell Mondesi was a character guy? He went hard out there. He dove headlong into any and every base. He gunned the ball in from right field, even when there was no play to be made anywhere. He'd take a huge turn around first on any single to the outfield, just to show you how eager he was to try to stretch it into a double. In short, he played the game right way, as the writers saw it; this revealed his character, and his ability to lead. Why didn't Carlos Delgado do any of these things? Why couldn't he be a leader, someone for the young players to look up to and admire, like Raul Mondesi? I am not kidding you; these are things that were written about, and taken up in the sports talk of the day.  It all reads as just incredibly ridiculous now, because Carlos Delgado is Carlos Delgado, and Raul Mondesi was revealed in the fullness of time to be clubhouse cancer whose hard-living lifestyle nearly sunk not only himself but the career of young Felipe Lopez, too, who has said that without the trade out of Toronto he never would have gotten his head straight. Also, Mondesi was caught stealing electricty.


Anyway, all of this is by way of saying that when I say Juan Rivera is an asshole and I'm glad he got cut, I am not trying to suggest that I have been able to deduce anything about his character off the field, his value as a human being by the way he plays baseball. I don't think that just because Juan Rivera looked like a lazy and incompetent asshole of a baseball player that he is any way a bad person. Juan Rivera, for all I know, is a loving husband, a proud father, a dutiful son, a caring brother, and the kind of cousin you actually keep in touch with. But on the field he was an asshole. Maybe he's an awesome guy. But he played baseball like an asshole. And I am glad that asshole got cut.


KS

Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 2: Look, He Was Safe.

Come on.

I have no special love for E5, though I do have a kind of sympathy for his plight, generally (a man who simply cannot throw who is sometimes asked to throw). I have an active dislike of John Farrell's insistence that the Blue Jays run run run at every opportunity and try to take every extra base possible, and thus get picked off, caught stealing, and run into outs at a maddening pace. But let's be real here: when Encarnacion tried to score from second on John McDonald's single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth -- in a game they shouldn't even really have been in, except for Jose Bautista's two-run shot that same inning -- he made it. He was in there. There's just no question. It was a very nice throw by Darnell McDonald. But Veritek missed the tag by about a foot as Encarnacion's right foot touched home. I appreciate how difficult it is to umpire, and I know it all happened pretty quickly, but Brian Knight missed the call. Watch it here and see for yourself. It is horseshit.


In the end it is whatevs, because there's every reason to think the bullpen would have blown it eventually. But Encarnacion was safe. There's no question.


The other reason I am not going to let that blown call take the spring out of my step is that the Blue Jays have finally heeded my persistent calls to cut Juan Rivera! I have, like, an extra good summery feeling because of that. 


KS

Phillies 7, Blue Jays 6: This Will Lack Structure

Compared to the rest of these bums J. P. Arencibia is a defensive stalwart

There are all kinds of ways for a team to be bad, and most of them are roughly equally frustrating, except for a staggering inability to catch and throw the ball, which is the most galling thing that can afflict a team that you, in your foolishness, have chosen to attend to. Yesterday it became too much to bear. Aaron Hill has completely lost it, and it's baffling. John McDonald, who only exists to put his glove on balls and then swiftly transfer that ball to his throwing hand and then deliver it to a base at which a force play is in effect -- literally that is the only reason he is there -- is having a terrible time doing that. Rajai Davis refuses to charge hard at anything, which removes the possibility of not just potential fly outs but also plays at bases on balls that drop. Oh, and balls are dropping: it's gotten to the point that Ashby and Howarth were speculating on the radio that maybe Corey Patteron's mild speaking voice is the reason there's so much confusion in the outfield on catchable balls dropping in between outfielders. And Juan Rivera, motherfucking Juan Rivera completely misplayed an entirely catchable, routine fly ball in the ninth inning yesterday, which is exactly the kind of thing that can't happen when Frank "The Closer" Francisco is out there walking the leadoff man in the ninth with a one-run lead. 

A disaster, yesterday, a disaster. Romero was good enough to win, had he any defense behind him, and even without it, he almost did: Jose Bautista launched a two-run shot to put the Blue Jays ahead in the seventh and that should totally have been enough to send 45,512 people home happy on Canada Day.

But no, that wasn't nearly enough, because nobody here can catch the damn ball. If my life wasn't perfect in literally every other respect I couldn't do this anymore. But it is, so I will. But I will register my displeasure on the internet.

KS

Blue Jays 6, Cardinals 3: One-Hit, Five-Run Innings Are Rad

The yet-to-be-cut Juan Rivera

Carlos Villanueva had another totally solid start, Rauch and Rzepcynski combined for a couple perfectly acceptable innings, and Frank Francisco allowed but a single run in the ninth (which I will take at this point). These were all good and necessary things. But it was the five-run third inning that I would like to draw your attention to, because it was excellent and strange.

Villanueva himself drew a lead-off walk, which was both hilarious and, as it turned out, useful. Escobar walked too, you see, before Hill moved the runners over with a groundout to the right side. The Cards then elected to walk Jose Bautista with first base open, which is probably not a bad call, except that after an Adam Lind sac fly, and a throwing error charged to third baseman Daniel Descalso that was really a blown call at first (yes, the throw pulled Berkman off the bag, but everybody except first base umpire D. J. Reyburn saw Berkman get back in time), Juan Rivera hit a three-run shot to left. 

So that's five runs in -- and only one earned -- on one hit. 

Which is outstanding.

KS

Blue Jays 4, Reds 0 and Reds 2, Blue Jays 1: And Yet . . .

I'm with you, Carlos Villanueva.

Saturday's 4-0 Blue Jays win over the Reds was perfectly excellent. Jose Molina, who is fatter than ever, hit a massive home run and a double, which, surprisingly, is only like the fifth time in his entire career that he has had two extra base hits in the same game. Isn't that crazy? Not that he is noted for his unstoppable power or anything, but that's kind of remarkable all the same. Also, in case I have not  mentioned this mere sentences ago, you would not believe how fat he is right now. It's awesome. Three things, and only three things, are way more awesome when they are fat: cats, babies, and baseball players. I am aware that it would be best for members of all three groups that they never grow fat, and I do not wish fatness on anyone or anything because there is obviously huge downside, but with cats, babies, and baseball players, the upside of being fat is that they are hilarious. Also Brandon Morrow pitched a hell of a game, which he kind of hasn't been doing this year, so add in some solid work from the pen and the fact that (have I mentioned?) Jose Molina is really fat, and I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday's contest.


Sunday, though, was the worst, and here's why: Carlos Villanueva, who has been way better than anyone could have reasonably expected this year, pitched a heck yes a heck of a game, allowing only two runs through his seven innings. Bronson Arroyo was totally getting it done for the Reds, too, until the fifth, when Aaron Hill led off the inning with a home run. Rivera and Arencibia followed with a pair of singles, so we are talking runners on first and third with nobody out, the makings of a big inning, right? Except John Farrell continues to get in his own (and everybody's, although chiefly my) way with his insistence on making things happen out there and so it was time for yet another god damn squeeze play. John McDonald lined the bunt foul to Joey Votto, who fired it over to Miguel Cairo to double Juan Rivera off third. Unbelievable nonsense.  Unbelievable. Nonsense. 


KS

Blue Jays 9, White Sox 8 (F/14): OH YEAH RIGHT COREY PATTERSON

OH. YEAH. RIGHT.

When Juan Rivera, who I am less sure should be cut but still mostly sure, ripped a three-run double off the wall in the seventh to put the Blue Jays ahead 8-6 and wake me up from my slumber in the car (I don't usually sleep in the car with baseball on the radio in the afternoon, but yesterday I did, and let's just leave it there), I was pretty sure we had gone ahead for good. But of course not, because Frank Francisco is still the closer. Consider, if you will, the ERAs of the seven Blue Jays pitchers who yesterday toed the rubber: 2.62, 1.80, 2.74, 5.40, 6.59, 1.64, 3.97. As learned baseball enthusiasts of the information age, we all recognize the imperfections of ERA as a measure of overall pitcher worth independent of defense, and we know that there are certainly better stats to measure the impact of relief pitchers in particular. But what I want to suggest to you here is that even if you didn't know anything about anything, with the game on the line in the ninth inning, you wouldn't put the guy with the 6.59 ERA out there would you? Of course you wouldn't. You would still be better than that.

Francisco's blowery -- and let us be fair: the damage came on a two-out bloop to right, but still -- did however set the stage for Corey Patterson's fourteenth-inning heroics. Patterson, who we apparently have, hit his walk-off home run as part of a 5-7 day with four runs scored, so thank you, Corey Patterson. That is awesome of you. Jose Bautista once again suffered from an outstandular condition that saw him go 3-4 with two walks, a double, a three-run home run, and three runs scored. Let any who still dare to hate reveal themselves now and be laughed at for being dumb and wrong.   

A wild one! Too bad Carlos Villanueva had kind of a rough outing. Today, though, it is Ricky Romero on the hill, and I have every intention of listening to at least some of the game this afternoon while I mow the lawn. It will be summer. 

KS

White Sox 3, Blue Jays 1: Ugh.

I will post pictures of Juan Rivera provided they are unflattering.

The easy and probably correct way to bemoan last night's 3-1 Blue Jays loss to the White Sox is to talk about John McDonald's throwing error that put Alex(is) Rios on base to start the ninth. It would be an understatement to suggest that McDonald is usually sure handed or something like that. He's usually awesome out there. And he absolutely needs to be: it's the only reason he's in the major leagues. All of his value (as a player; probably not as a man but I do not know him) is in his glove as he is a negative WAAB (Wins Above an Awful Butt) contributor with the bat. When he messes up in the field, everyone seems pretty quick to be like but he's usually so good with the glove out there which is true but not a defense, as being so good with the glove out there is all he brings to the table. All. Every bit. There is nothing else. I like him, but let us be real. 


Less galling, but still really pretty galling, was Juan Rivera's remarkably bad toss to Mark Rzepcynski covering the bag at first as speedy little Juan Pierre booked it down the line. It's not like a good toss would have gotten him, but it would have kept the ball from dribbling away and allowing Rios to score. Two errors in the ninth inning of a tie game at home: yikes.


But what I am actually superminding about last night's game isn't any of that. It's that with Cory Patterson on first and Jose Bautista at the plate in a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the eighth, John Farrell sent the runner. Patterson slid in safely, which is great, except it's awful, because that just meant the Sox quite rightly walked Bautista intentionally with a base open, which is exactly what literally everyone would do in that situation. I know I promised I would stop with the baserunning talk, but this one was nuts. John Farrell is a menace. He was asked about this obviously horrible decision after the game, and said, "The fact that he stole second is not the difference in this game." Well no, because everything fell to shit in pretty spectacular fashion the next inning, but come on John Farrell.  What I am left wondering the most about John Farrell is what does he even think this is.


Anyway. Back at it tonight. 


KS 

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4: Baseball is The Worst and I Hate It

GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

In truth it isn't, and I don't, but that ninth inning cut me deep. Ricky Romero had gone seven innings in Yankee Stadium, pitching his way around seven hits and three walks to allow only one run (Jeter grounding into a 5-3 double play in the seventh did not not hurt one bit). An improbably bat-around fourth had the Blue Jays up 4-1, and were it not for C. C. Sabathia's continued dominance over Jose Bautista, who knows what might have been? But here's what was: Frank Francisco fucking blew it.


If you were going to be charitable about it, you could say that this was only Francisco's second blown save of the year. But if you were of the opinion that the save stat is itself super dumb, and has poisoned yes poisoned bullpen usage for more than a generation now, you would instead point out that Francisco is just plain awful: a 6.23 ERA in his thirteen innings pitched, with twelve hits and eight walks allowed. And that's not the half of it. Well, it's definitely the half of it, and maybe more, but here is totally another thing: you can seriously run on this guy, as much or more than you can run on any other guy in the American League right now. Am I right, Curtis Granderson who is currently do it all?

Yes, you can run on this guy. And I AM currently doing it all, thank you.

 If you don't believe me, believe Curtis Granderson, who has earned that much.


None of this has been a secret. Everyone who is trying to be diplomatic about it has been saying things like, "The bullpen has been excellent this year, with the exception of Francisco, who is an adventure out there," which is the nice way of saying this guy is junk but we keep running him out there despite everybody knowing he's junk. But he's the closer so you can't just, you know, replace him with somebody who is any good, like any of a number of guys, until you decide that that new guy is fit to be deemed the closer. 


That this meltdown happened against the Yankees obviously makes it that much more galling, but if I take three deep breaths I am afforded enough perspective to realize that all this means is that the Blue Jays now sit 2.5 games behind New York for the AL East lead rather than a game behind Boston, and in the big picture -- and not even the actual big picture, but the big picture of a season of professional baseball, which, I mean, come on -- nothing is really any worse right now than it was yesterday. But when the closer everyone knows to be junk blows a save as the ball kicks off the glove of the loathsome Juan Rivera at first, it is hard not to at least entertain the thought that maybe I hate baseball, and maybe the reason I hate it is that it is the worst.


KS

Blue Jays 11, Twins 3: First things first, Jose Bautista will eat your brains.

Gossip, gossip, haters just stop it.

It has been clear for some time now that were one to describe Jose Bautista's season through analogy to a single selection from the Kanye West oeuvre, it would be "Monster," in that everyone knows that he is one. However, this five home run weekend against the Twins -- three of them coming in yesterday's blowout -- specifically situates Bautista in the Nicki Minaj verse, because it, like Jose Bautista right now, is totally the most monstrous. Pink wig; thick ass; give 'em whiplash. This is what is happening. This is what is going on. I cannot believe it.


Bautista's first home run of the day was a legitimately towering blast off Brian Duensing in the third that landed just shy of the upper deck. His liner to the corner off Slowey in the next inning was comparatively modest, but the ridiculous opposite-field shot that came when Slowey pretty sensibly tried to go down and away in the sixth made up for that. The whole thing was beyond bananas. It was . . . one time I was in the sometimes alarmingly awesome Suspect Video on Markham St. and I asked the fairly icy girl behind the counter which particular noise rock band we were all listening to at an uncomfortable volume that day and she said all quietly "unsane" and I was like "sorry what was that?" because the music was way to loud and so to be properly heard above the din she leans forward a little bit and goes "UNSANE." Jose Bautista right now is UNSANE.


Other, less amazing things happened yesterday, too: Brandon Morrow struck out five his first time through the order, but then fizzled a little and ended the day allowing three runs, all of them earned, in five innings of work. The guy throws a ton of pitches, and he just doesn't go that deep into games. Such stuff, though; such stuff. Also, and this is not important and maybe not even interesting, but I could not help but notice that every Blue Jay in the starting lineup got a hit yesterday except for Rivera and E5, who combined to go 0-10. One of those players I continue to hate; the other I blame for nothing. 


Anyway, the Twins are surprisingly awful, and unlike the last time the Blue Jays played a truly awful team (what's up, Seattle?), they actually managed to, you know, win some of the games, which was totally a plus from this fan's perspective. With this five-game winning streak, the Blue Jays are now back to .500 at 20W-20L, three games back of the AL East-leading Rays (boy that just kind of happened, didn't it?). The three games back part of things, that doesn't matter so much; that cannot and will not hold. But I'm really hoping the .500 part of it sticks around. It's really all I ask in this, another non-contending year: just be around .500, preferably a couple of games to the good, and everything is lovely. Because while I know it's all about the future, all about 2012 and 2013, I've still got to watch the games, and there is only so much I can take. Just be .500, with Jose Bautista running away with the AL MVP. Surely that is not too much to ask?  


A couple more things. First, longtime Blue Jays radio man Jerry Howarth gave a great interview on CBC Radio 1's Sunday Edition with Michael Enright yesterday, and you can listen to that here if you are so inclined. Note that Michael Enright looks like this. Secondly, and almost finally, whenever a three home run game happens, I can't help but think about how Carlos Delgado totally hit four, and that I was there when he did. That and related Carlos feelings are, of course, compiled here. He is my favourite player and he had just retired so things get pretty badly out of hand there.


In closing I would ask Neil to ready himself for the smoke that is about to be thrown upon him as the Blue Jays open up in Detroit tonight and Kyle Drabek takes the hill. You should steel yourself, probably.


KS

Blue Jays 3, Rays 2: When Brandon Morrow Touches 98 MPH on The Gun, Something Touches The Front of My Pants (From The Inside)

Joe Maddon: gone, but not alone in goneness.

Kind of a weird one! John Farrell got tossed after mildly objecting to the location of a close pitch in the seventh, Joe Maddon got ejected before he could even really get heated up over a call at first that got reversed in the same inning (all coming off a truly miserable throw from E5, by the way), and B. J. Upton . . . well, he totally got his money's worth: tossed, but only after flipping out at home-plate umpire Chad Fairchild about some truly funny looking strikes. It did not take much of a lipreader to figure out Upton's grievance: "That was horseshit. That was horseshit, and you know it was horseshit." That could well be, but I still think he'll get suspended. 


But for all those shenanigans, let us not lose sight of what is truly important here: Adam Lind continues to rake (4-4 with a HR), Brandon Morrow pitched into the seventh and only allowed one run (5H, 4BB, 7K), and Juan Rivera -- Juan Rivera -- made a great play on a ball that got stuck in the base of the wall in left, gunning it into Escobar, who in turn threw a nice little one-hopper that Molina handled beautifully, blocking the plate to get the always-awesome Johnny Damon at the dish. Note that I still hate Juan Rivera, but also note that that was tight.   


Kyle Drabek goes tomorrow, and if he can keep from walking everybody, I like our chances.


KS

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4: It is Wrong of Me to Always Expect Kyle Drabek to Throw Smoke

Rajai Davis, a guy who just got picked off.

Kyle Drabek didn't have it at all yesterday, and didn't even make it out of third inning. Against all odds, however, this game ended up being kind of a honey anyway. Drabek's five runs in two-and-a-third is actually kind of a miracle, in that he gave up seven hits and four walks (league leader, baby!) and just looked awful. It could have been much worse. Some close calls went against him, but that's the way it goes when you're a rookie starter and you're facing a team of rad veterans. This is unjust, but it is also fine. The bullpen, once again, was great: Frasor (in the third? how the relatively mighty have fallen a little), Camp, Rzepczynski, and Francisco combined to allow no hits and only two base runners the rest of the way, which put the Blue Jays in a position to beg, borrow and steal their way back into it. 


On the stealing, actually: stop it. This is crazy. Dudes are getting picked off constantly, and if I see another inning end on a strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out at third base I am going to keep on making frustrated noises at the radio and, later, highlights on my computer. And you don't want that.


To the bats, then: things started well enough on the day with Rajai Davis' lead-off triple, which is actually way better than a lead-off home run from an aesthetic perspective. In the second, Juan Rivera extended his hitting streak to nine but I hate him anyway. Bautista, also an object of hate but not from me, ripped a double and stole third, which owned. Then, and most notably, I think, Mike McCoy (who is only as God made him) decided to get all awesome, hitting his first career home run in the fifth, and making a ludicrous catch in the seventh to start an inning-ending double play. But his newfound awesomeness failed him in the top of the ninth, alas, as Mariano Rivera compelled him to fly out weakly to Nick Swisher, leaving the potential game-tying run at second (Jose Molina doubled after an eight-pitch at bat -- what the H?).


In closing I would like to mention that I accidentally turned the game on to the Spanish feed, and you would not believe how excited the play-by-play guy was. I thought something truly astonishing must have happened, so I quickly switched things over to find out, and it turned out Bautista had made a nice throw to the plate to hold a runner at third. That's it. But you'd have thought he'd thrown three guys out and delivered a baby. It was wild.


KS 

Blue Jays 6, Rangers 4: Kyle Drabek: Thrower of Smoke

Oh yeah right, Corey Patterson

You might well recall that as recently as yesterday I noted (complained about, almost) the Blue Jays' utter inability to get men on base for Jose Bautista. Over the course of eleven consecutive plate appearances in which, much to the chagrin of haters, Bautista reached base safely, not once did he bat with a man on base. This frustrating trend continued last night, except not really, in that the reason Bautista came to the plate with the bases empty in the fifth was that Corey Patterson had just hit a three-run home run, the first of three the Blue Jays hit that inning. Bautista, naturally, hit the second (a high, majestic drive, as Jerry Howarth was right to point out), and Juan Rivera, of all people, hit an opposite-field shot later in the bat-around inning. This changes everything, in that Rivera looks like he's starting to come out of it, and yet nothing, in that I still hate him.


The other story on the night is of course Kyle Drabek's continued insistence on smoke, and, more specifically, the throwing of it. Three runs over six innings from the rookie starter? Yeah, I will take that literally every time. He's 2-0 with a 3.30 ERA in 30 innings. He is awesome.


KS 

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 1: I used to be like, "Cut Juan Rivera some slack," but now I am like, "Cut Juan Rivera."

Don't let this awesome picture fool you: Juan Rivera is not awesome.

I am pretty much fine with the Blue Jays getting pounded 8-1 yesterday. Jon Lester was really good, and Jesse Litsch got touched up early and often. OK, fine. The lone Blue Jays run came on a pretty cool play, at least: with Juan Rivera on first and Aaron Hill on third with two outs, Rivera broke for second with the pitch, and on the throw to second Hill broke for home and scored while the Sox trapped Rivera in a rundown to end the inning. Strategically, it was almost like a sac fly with two outs, and kind of neat. There wasn't anything else to cheer about yesterday, but that's alright: Ricky Romero takes the mound today, and the Blue Jays can still salvage the series with a win today to get the split. But there is nothing Juan Rivera can do to salvage not being an asshole.


It has nothing to do with his part in the play I have described above. That was solid. But remember in the Seattle series, when Rivera grounded to short and just kind of ambled out of the box, only to see a moment later that the shortstop was having serious trouble with it, so Rivera picked up the pace, but was still thrown out by a step anyway, because he sucks? Yesterday, the fielding equivalent of that shit show occurred in the bottom of the second, when Jed Lowrie flared one into left that Rivera, using his incredible baseball sense and instincts, was pretty sure was going to land foul, so he just sort of jogged towards the general area just so you couldn't say he didn't. Then it fell fair for a hit, and Jesse Litsch had this oh COME ON look about him, and rightly so, because that was nonsense in the first degree.


I want Juan Rivera gone. Because I hate him.


KS