2023 Game One-Hundred-Thirty-One: Guardians 10, Blue Jays 7 (F/11)

 

this photo suggests Jansen was even more out than I perceived in real time
(and honestly he seemed pretty out even then [not his fault])

A legitimately crushing loss! This is true of pretty much all extra-inning ones, I suppose, but this one really did feel especially bad. After Yusei Kikuchi battled through a tough start to keep the Blue Jays within striking distance, as Buck Martinez noted, they struck: Davis Schneider homered again, but after the enigmatic Genesis Cabrera and Jordon Hicks held the line through the seventh, Tim Mazya could not in the eighth, yielding a pair of runs. No worry! Schneider will double in the bottom half, Varsho will drive in the run, and after Jordan Romano gets five huge outs, we'll win it in the bottom of the ninth after Danny Jansen hits a ringing lead-off double to get things started! Ah, but no: Biggio's bunt will bounce towards first, rather than third, and Jansen, who had not been pinch-run for (had they used the whole bench already, maybe? with Bichette and Chapman both leaving the game, maybe so . . .), will be tagged out on a nice play from Calhoun to the great José Ramirez. And the tenth won't be a whole lot of fun either, despite Yimi Garcia coming through huge again: Belt, Vladdy, and Springer will each, in their turn, leave Santiago Espinal very much stranded on second base, where he began. In the end, Jay Jackson will give up four in the eleventh, but it was the bats that lost this one, first (and most egregiously) in the ninth, and then (less egregiously but it was still pretty bad) in the tenth. Dreadful, awful stuff.

So where does this leave us? As I noted in a textual message to my pal Jordan, two-and-a-half games back is not an insurmountable situation with thirty-one games to play, especially not with Houston still not looking like the team they were last year, and with the Rangers having recently dropped eight straight (of the Mariners, winners of ten of their last eleven, we shall not speak). The Blue Jays' next twelve games are against teams well under .500, and then they play the Rangers, a scuffling team that they're chasing, for four at home (including a Loonie Dogs night). When you look at it somewhat dispassionately, this all remains entirely possible, and not much has to even go all that exceptionally well in order to put us very much where we would like to be (I will not say "need" to be, as this is a very clear besoins vs désires situation). But just in terms of vibes—on the level of vibes alone—this one felt like we're through. My sincere hope, of course, is that I am just totally mistaken with regard to the vibes, but even the most optimistic among us (which could very well be me!) must have been given pause be the true debacle of these supper-hour Sunday innings. 

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Thirty: Blue Jays 8, Guardians 3

 

our guy, svelte and dealin'

Here we go! Davis Schneider, back in the lineup (why had he been out?), three-for-three with a homer, a double, a single and a walk, and Hyun-Jin Ryu getting it done, and getting bailed out of just a brutal defensive inning (I am sorry to say that I am beginning to believe what the numbers have been telling us about Matt Chapman for a while now) by Yimi Garcia, who once again proved to be (you guessed it) utterly nails. More romps please! Romps just like this!

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Nine: Guardian 5, Blue Jays 2

 

hey look it is future Hall-of-Famer José Ramirez, rightly beloved by all

I will sure take home runs from Springer (a rough year for him, aside from the seventeen stolen bases [honestly he must be so proud of them]) and Vladdy (his first in three weeks [which is not great!]), but not only were we outscored 5-2 two by the Cleveland Guardians, what is perhaps even more alarming is that we were out-homered by the Cleveland Guardians, a team that is largely unsluggered. It's just not the type of guy they have! And yet here we are. And yet here. We are. 

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Eight: Orioles 5, Blue Jays 3

fair play to him

All five of these runs belonged to José Berrios, but he is still cool and strong and my friend. Old man Kyle Gibson (note that he is nearly ten years younger than me and yet this is still the epithet that best suits him), for his part, went eight full innings before giving way to the flame-throwing Felix Bautista, who is just a truly enormous human, and an excellent closer. And that's a wrap on the season series with Baltimore, I think! I'm not sure how many we lost, but it was sure most of them! I am not even going to take another look at the schedule to be sure that we don't actually have any further games against the Orioles this season, because if it turns out I am mistaken and there are more to play, I'm gonna lose it!

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Seven: Orioles 7, Blue Jays 0

 

even in a down year, that Cedric Mullins is a hell of a player

Do I mind that Trevor Richards got cooked for five runs in the eighth, and thus made a fine hash of Kevin Gausman's strong start? Nope, not one bit! And I'll tell you why! It's because how how we scored no runs on five hits! So who cares! Might has well have allowed five more in the eighth, Trevor Richards! Wouldn't have mattered a bit! I am trying to stay positive (how am I doing?).  

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Six: Blue Jays 6, Orioles 3 (F/10)

 

he does throw pretty hard

Yusei Kikuchi wasn't thrilled to be pulled in the fifth inning (hey you know what? good for him), but John Schneider seemed to be managing the first game of this big series (big fun?) in Baltimore almost as though it were the playoffs themselves rather than the grim march towards them. No messing around! It was Yimi time! From there it went Richards, Hicks, Swanson, Mayza (the whole gang!), and ultimately Romano to close it out after Brandon Belt's two-run home run in the top of the tenth (plus Vladdy sliding home on a wild pitch in that same inning). But the play of the game, and maybe the play of the season thus far in terms of not just its æsthetic merits but of its import in the moment, was Bo Bichette's bottom-of-the-ninth sliding stab at a ball hit sharply to his right and a beautiful arcing throw that hit Vladdy right in the chest for a crucial out (it kept them from pitching to Mountcastle, which is as crucial as it gest). Just a true honey of a play from the Blue Jays' best player by kind of a lot. 

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Five: Blue Jays 10, Reds 3

 

in his 1.89 ERA era

Home runs from Kiermaier, Springer, Bo, and Brandon Belt (two!) turned this one into a much-needed laugher after a pair of tight, taut, and indeed fraught games that had the high-leverage bullpen arms busy. But the biggest laughs to be heard Sunday (not really, but I am trying a thing) were the mirthful ones enjoyed by enjoyers of Hyun-Jin Ryu's super enjoyable curveball, which floated in at speeds as low as 65MPH, and struck out dudes of no less distinction than the great Joey Votto (lefty on lefty, but even so!). After the game, Ryu was asked to grade his curveball on the day, and he said he would give it a ten out of ten. Me too! What an absolute delight.

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Four: Blue Jays 5, Reds 4

 

attaboy attaboy attaboy attaboy attaboy attaboy attaboy attaboy

Another one-run game, but one much more to my tastes! Excellent work from the bullpen (Richards, Mayza, Hicks, Romano) kept Davis Schneider's fifth-inning home the difference the rest of the way. Hey guys great job! 

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Three: Reds 1, Blue Jays 0

 

checks out 

When you're playing on the road, you're losing until you're winning, if you see what I am saying (perhaps inelegantly): a tie game isn't really a tie game when you're not batting last, right? This one carried an air of inevitability about it as we entered the late innings, and yep, sure enough, Christian Encarnacion-Strand (great name!) belted a walk-off home run off of Jordan Hicks, and that was that, 1-0. Fine.  

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-Two: Phillies 9, Blue Jays 4

I believe Vladdy speaks for the group

Kevin Gausman is probably not not in the AL Cy Young conversation after getting walloped for seven runs in five-and-a-third against the Phillies, but it sure isn't going to help! Santiago Espinal's error at third base in the fifth felt like the turning point in this one, but maybe the real turning point was when Matt Chapman squished his finger with a dumbbell a few days ago, and so has had to sit a couple out? The Mariners, meanwhile, are lurking with renewed vigour, and sit just a half-game out as the Blue Jays head off to Cincinnati for three. Joey Votto! Always great to check in with him! Would also be good to pick up a couple wins, too! Things are getting pretty ticklish! 

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty-One: Blue Jays 2, Phillies 1

George Springer is merry; I'll give him that, certainly

Yusei Kikuchi, the best pitcher in the American League since the All-Star Break, was great again against a still-tough Phillies lineup, and the bullpen behind him (Yimi, Hicks, and Romano) was spotless. All of that is delightful! And so too the first-pitch slider that skipped into Cavan Biggio's foot with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth to plate the winning run. This one definitely had a playoff feel throughout, and especially late, which is to say it was at times really quite miserable. But not right at the end! (So important.)

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twenty: Blue Jays 11, Cubs 4

 

there are a million baseball photos exactly like this
and I love every one of them

Nice work by Hyun-Jin Ryu (so happy to have you back, bro), and five RBI off the bat of Daulton Varsho (a career best!) helped stave off the series sweep but man, overall, this was a rough weekend at a time when it really would be cool to not have those, given the wild card realities at present, which, though not yet dire, are not trending in ways that I would necessarily prefer?

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Nineteen: Cubs 5, Blue Jays 4

 

Joey Bats et al

Guys, guys, guys: don't battle back from an early 4-1 deficit and tie it up only to lose it in the ninth when the Cubs push one across against Jordan Hicks; not in front of José Bautista, in town to be recognized on the Level of Excellence in a fine pre-game ceremony lessened only by how they always do those with the roof closed now to give them darkness for all the video stuff but which hurts the overall feel by surrounding everything in that weird light instead of the brilliant sunshine of, let's say, Tony Fernandez Day in the fall of 2001. Don't do that, guys; not today, of all days. 

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Eighteen: Cubs 6, Blue Jays 2

ah hamburgers

In fairness, José Berrios has to be allowed to have a poor start every now and then, but selfishly, I would have much preferred it not been Friday night, against a Cubs team that I recognize has put together a nice little season so far, but of whom I remain somewhat suspicious. But all six runs in this one came against Berrios, and came pretty early. A drag!

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Seventeen: Guardians 4, Blue Jays 3

 

plus he got kicked out

The Blue Jays brought two across in the seventh, and for sure needed a couple more, but left the bases loaded (again). Our RISP woes continue! I believe it is this very specific kind of woe that's making things feel a whole lot worse than they actually are right now. This was a five-and-two road trip, which you would take every time, and the Blue Jays are actually like sixteen-and-five in their last twenty-one on the road, which is obviously fantastic, but the overall emotional situation (which aligns with the material situation) is one of colleagues stranding colleagues. It's been brutal! It doesn't help that the Mariners have won seven straight, and continue to lurk hardly. And so we sit, a game-and-a-half ahead of the Mariners, a game-and-a-half behind the Astros. At least the Mariners have to deal with Baltimore this weekend! That's something!

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Sixteen: Blue Jays 1, Guardians 0

 

a splitter, mere moments before it split

Here we go! Back-to-back 1-0 games is a rarity for sure, and how pleasing to have won this one. We turned the game on a few minutes late, and the first image that greeted us at that time was George Springer in the late stages of his first-inning home-run trot. All there really was to watch the rest of the way was Kevin Gausman carving up the light-hitting Cleveland lineup. They've sure got young pitching, these Guardians, but aside from the great José Ramirez, it's otherwise a little thin over there.  

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Fifteen: Guardians 1, Blue Jays 0

 

and yet . . .

Losing 1-0 is perhaps the most frustrating of all ways (really? no runs? on nine hits?), and yet I found myself feeling weirdly good for Yusei Kikuchi, who is finally pitching well enough that he is in a position to lose this kind of game, and be disappointed in this very specific way. He was probably heartbroken! And yet he spent all of last year, and much of the season before, heartbroken for any number of other reasons, all of them worse. I think I saw that Kikuchi has the lowest ERA in either league since the All-Star break, a 1.34 or 1.54 or something similarly ludicrous. Good for him! And, indeed, for us. 

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Fourteen: Blue Jays 3, Guardians 1

Keith Law in shambles

As if his two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning had been insufficiently rad—it was not! its radness was totally sufficient!—Cavan Biggio soon thereafter completed an unassisted double play of an exceedingly rare sort for a second baseman in which he himself stepped on first to end the bottom half of that same eighth. I believe it was the first such one in five years or something! Honestly, I couldn't get it out of my head. It made for a cheerful end to a game that had been less cheerful a mere handful of innings before, when Hyun-Jin Ryu's no-hitter ended not with a base hit so much as with a liner ripped right off the inside of his knee. Maybe he'll be fine? He sure pitched great!

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Thirteen: Blue Jays 13, Red Sox 1

 

what like that's hard

The legend of Davis Schneider grows! Playing an able second base with a battered Mizuno glove he snagged from the lost-and-found where he coaches in the off-season—a glove mysteriously marked with the initials VUK (Whit Merrifield, who brought all of this to Hazel Mae's attention, assures us that is 100% what they are calling him now)—Davis Schneider pretty much had the best début series of any major league baseball player ever, collecting nine hits (joining fellow Buffalo Bison [seventy-five years previous] Coaker Triplett in so doing), two home runs among them (no one else, it seems, has ever done this) in his first three games. Even without any of that, this one would have been a merry romp. I took particular pleasure in the solo radio broadcast of Ben Wagner as I did what I think was an especially good job trimming the hedge on what can only be described as a classic August afternoon. So where do we stand after this three-game sweep of a divisional rival? Well, still seven-and-a-half back of the Orioles, so that's more or less that for the the AL East, probably, and four-and-a-half behind the Rays for the first Wild Card spot, which is also kind of a lot. However! The Astros are only game ahead of us for the second Wild Card! That's good! It is pleasing to the see both the Red Sox (now five games behind us) and Yankees (now four-and-a-half) fading, but I am lightly distressed to see the Mariners, winners of five straight, straight-up lurking (just two-and-a-half back). I would like to say four games in Cleveland against the sub-five-hundred Guardians should be just the ticket, but looking at the pitching probables, I am unthrilled with how the pitching lines up for the first three. But that's probably a question of disposition and temperament more than anything.   

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Twelve: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 4

 

La Makina

Although we are all of us grateful for Reese McGuire's game-ending TOOTBLAN (dude it's really not a homer, you should go back), I am sure Santiago Espinal appreciated it a little extra, as it took the heat off of his own regrettable TOOTBLAN from the inning previous (dude Kirk isn't tagging up at all, you should go back). What a weird game! Although the Blue Jays went up by three early enough, the whole thing felt fraught as, and it took strong work from the enigmatic Génesis Cabrera, the steadfast Yimi Garcia, the redoubtable Tim Mayza, and also Erik Swanson, who didn't exactly have it, but whomst got through it. Hey guess who went four for four? George Springer! And guess who went three for three? Davis Schneider, in his second game ever! As Brandon Belt noted after the game, at once joshingly and totally for real, it's all going to be downhill for Davis Schneider from here (in the negative sense [people say it both ways]).   

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Eleven: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 3

 

oh it's quite a thrill

Twenty-eighth-round draft pick Davis Schneider's home run over the green monster in his first major-league at-bat, though objectively a super neat occurrence, wasn't even my favourite Blue Jays home run on the night! I honestly preferred both Whit Merrifield's, on the first pitch of the ballgame, and Vladdy's, on the fourth. I would place Schneider's homer ahead of both Varsho's and Chapman's, though, in my Friday Night Blue Jays Home Run Power Rankings. Let not these dingers distract us from another encouraging Alek Manoah performance: three runs on six hits over six-and-two-thirds is perfectly fine! He didn't leave much for Mayza and Hicks, but they seemed content.

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Ten: Orioles 6, Blue Jays 1

 

idk it was pretty close

Kevin Gausman didn't have his best stuff, which meant the Orioles kept fouling off two-strike pitches instead of whiffing right through them (in the case of the splitter that would be "over" them), and so the pitch count became untenable fairly quickly, and the overall outcome was not, in the end, as Gausmanesque as we have come to expect, but of course who cares, because the bats managed but one run on five hits. So that's that! A split against the division-leading Orioles would have felt a whole lot better than dropping three out of four, but it is hard to say that any of this is unexpected. Off to Boston for three! And we're just two games ahead of them for the third and final wild card spot, a wild card spot that will still be ours should we manage to win even one of these three games in Fenway. I don't see why we wouldn't! 

KS   

2023 Game One-Hundred-Nine: Blue Jays 4, Orioles 1

 

readying himself to kikuch to the fullest

One might characterize this win as a gift (the only Blue Jays runs came on a George Springer bloop single [his first in forever] and a total sixth-inning Shintaro Fujinami meltdown), but the greatest gift of all, surely, was another truly solid outing from Yusei Kikuchi, who is now 9-3 with a 3.67 ERA, good for 1.1fWAR thus far. He's well on his way to his best major league season! I do miss his great big yellow glove that looked like a clutch of strong bananas, but in every other respect, 2023 has been a bold step in the right direction. 

KS 

2023 Game One-Hundred-Eight: Orioles 13, Blue Jays 3

 

still nice to have him back

The returning Hyun-Jin Ryu (I have missed him! he is my favourite to watch! at pitching!) got lightly toasted for four runs in five innings, but I hope to see much more of him the rest of the way; Nate Pearson, utterly cooked for four runs in but a single inning (walk, walk, walk, grand slam, like a dang cartoon), I would hope we have seen for the last time in 2023. I remain optimistic that Pearson, who throws super hard, will turn out to be a useful major league pitcher in the fullness of time, but maybe we should try to figure out where he fits in next spring? And until then let him hang out in Buffalo? 

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Seven: Orioles 4, Blue Jays 2

 

oh no

Bo Bichette's spot in the order came up with two on, two out, down by two in the bottom of the ninth, but, alas, he was no longer therein (it), having taken himself out of the game after rounding first on his second single of the game in the third (the Blue Jays' only two hits to that point were both Bo's). This looks bad! I understand the team will offer an update midday today but you'd have to think the best-case scenario is a knee sprain, worst-case scenario (aka worst-case Ontario) an ACL issue? Clearly I know nothing, but he reacted in a way that felt familiar to me from seeing meniscus issues arise in the context of the exquisite art of 講道館柔道 Kōdōkan Jūdō, which would split the difference between a sprain and a horrible tear but still be more than enough to tank Bo's excellent season, and quite possibly the Blue Jays' as well. Would we stick with Santiago Espinal as our shortstop? Attempt a deadline deal for Tim Anderson, who has had an utterly miserable season, but who has been hot since the All-Star break? Call up Addison Barger or Orelvis Martinez? This is just no good. One assumes that we were going to try to add another bat before the deadline anyway (Tommy Pham? Téo?), but now it seems completely essential if we're going to stick around. What a drag! I wish the only thing there was to be sad about was Austin Hays' career-best diving catch on Merrifield's sinking liner that could have tied it in the ninth had it gotten past him, but no; no, things are much worse than that.

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Six: Angels 3, Blue Jays 2 (F/10)

 

blue would be a nice colour for him 

Yimi Garcia got some important outs for the Blue Jays both Friday night and Saturday afternoon, but found himself badly Hunter Renfroe'd in the tenth Sunday. So it goes! Vladdy knocked in Bo in the bottom half, but things petered out a little after that. A sweep would have been great, obviously, but those are tough to get. This one just felt like a baseball game that we lost; nothing seemed doomed or fated or to auger of horrible things to come. The news that Jordan Romano has been placed on the fifteen-day IL is bad, but the news that the Blue Jays had traded for flamethrowing Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks is quite good! Plus Hyun-Jin Ryu is coming back, and potentially-rad bullpen arm Chad Green should follow soon thereafter, so we are pretty much set for the stretch, probably, right? It would be great to add an outfield bat before the Tuesday trading deadline, but word is there are not that many to be had? Maybe Tommy Pham?

Anyway, on the whole, a pretty good weekend of Blue Jays baseball, aided (abetted?) by several of our rivals playing each other, leading to a solid "let the fools destroy themselves" phenomenon. And so we remain tied with the Astros for the second/third Wild Card spot, four games back of Tampa Bay, two-and-a-half ahead of the Red Sox. Perhaps most interestingly, we begin our four-game series against the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles (they're obviously good but their run differential does not support their win-loss record! maybe they will regress! to the mean! a little!) five-and-a-half games back. A split feels important, I think, and taking three of four would be a like a wildly encouraging outcome at this point. The pitching matches up pretty well!    

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Five: Blue Jays 6, Angels 1

 

hustling out of the bo(x)

Two home runs from Alejandro Kirk! That's nearly as unlikely as any home runs at all from Santiago Espinal! And yet both of these occurrences occurred, right alongside a fairly strong outing from Alek Manoah—an outing, though that ended with a deeply unfortunate and upsetting pitch that sailed up and in and struck Taylor Ward in the face. The word is that Ward suffered no damage to his vision, which is a relief, but his season is understandably over after what are said to be "multiple facial fractures." Awful stuff.

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Four: Blue Jays 4, Angels 1

 

hey fair enough

That Shohei Ohtani homered (Matt Chapman lightly discussed this outcome with John Schneider soon thereafter) and yet the Blue Jays won a tenser-than-it-might-sound 4-1 game to open a pretty big series is probably the ideal outcome here? Less ideal, of course, is that Jordan Romano's back is weird again, and Yimi had to come in to get the Blue Jays out of a ninth-inning jam (he did it! Yimi came through!). Homers from Chapman and Jansen and another strong start from Kevin Gausman had me feeling like it might be neat to sweep all three and knock the Angels out of the Wild Card race a day after they added pitching (this suggests I am mean).

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-Three: Blue Jays 8, Dodgers 1

 

Two-Hit Whit

The dueling "Let's Go Blue Jays"/"Let's Go Dodgers" chants that took off after Whit Merrifield's three-run home run in the fifth to put the Blue Jays up 5-0 in a game where the bats didn't actually need to do anywhere near as much as they did given that Yusei Kikuchi struck out eight whilst cruising through six innings of one-run baseball? To me? Those were great! It is weird to feel like a series win against the Dodgers (on the road, too!) is in any sense a disappointment, but that Tuesday night meltdown does make this feel like something of a missed opportunity for a sweep at a time when the Blue Jays could really use every single win (this is never not the case, but one feels it more acutely as the playoff races tighten and the trade deadline nears). Back home for the Angels! Who will have Shohei Ohtani I guess unless he is traded before then! Which probably won't happen! But what if it did. 

KS  

2023 Game One-Hundred-Two: Dodgers 8, Blue Jays 7 (F/10)

 

same

I was so deeply in bed by the time the worst happened—a defensively questionable four-run bottom of the ninth off Erik Swanson, laying waste to the 7-3 lead Danny Jansen's bases-clearing double offered us in the top of that same, ultimately doomed inning—that I can't even really complain about any of it, except for in the broadest, most generalized come on guys! sort of way. But this is objectively pretty bad!

KS

2023 Game One-Hundred-One: Blue Jays 6, Dodgers 3 (F/11)

 

of all the guys!

I went to bed with the game tied at two through seven, as this extremely west coast road trip rolls on, and so missed the home runs from Matt Chapman and Max Muncy (that funky Muncy) in the eighth, and, most crucially of all, Daulton Varsho's three-run double in the eleventh to win it. Hey let's hear it not just for José Berrios and his fine start, but for what turned out to be six full innings of very nearly scoreless relief from the bullpen, two of them from Jay Jackson, who has really done great!  

KS 

2023 Game One Hundred: Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3

 

yay

Given recent events, I would not say that I had perfect faith that the Blue Jays one-run lead—Santiago Espinal's seventh-inning squeaker through the left side having built upon the earlier boppings of both Brandon Belt and Vladdy—would necessarily hold up; I did not believe it with my whole entire being. And yet! After an uncharacteristically rough couple of days, the bullpen returned to being kind of great, and ably closed out what I think we would probably all agree to have been a pretty encouraging start from Alek Manoah (better than the last one, not as good as the first one?). And so the Blue Jays salvage a win to wrap this super-tense series of one-run games that felt every bit like playoff baseball, which is to say that I sorted of hated every inning of it? And yet could not look away? Even a little?

Although it is obviously not ideal to have dropped the first two series coming out of the All-Star break, I really feel very good about the Blue Jays' 55-45 record through the first one hundred games of the season (only sixty-two to go!). This is the same record through one hundred that they managed last year, and, to my surprise, there have only been six seasons where the Blue Jays have fared better (the 2016 and 1993 teams won 56; 1991 won 57; 1992 won 59; and perhaps unsurprisingly the 1985 Blue Jays are at the top of list with 63 [which is so many]). We currently sit in a playoff spot, and, barring something weird happening out west, will hold one the rest of the way should we be able to play slightly better than both the Yankees and Red Sox, which, though not a sure thing, certainly seems like a possible thing. I'm all for it! Let's really try!  

KS

2023 Game Ninety-Nine: Mariners 9, Blue Jays 8

 

Téo, you're killing me, buddy

This game was bananas! Two three-home run innings? The Mariners hitting home runs on the back-to-back pitches, and then the Blue Jays doing exactly the same? A five-run Mariners seventh (that spelled the end of Nate Pearson's run on the big league roster)? Guess which one of those occurrences was an enormous drag to me and to my enjoyment! It is nearly ludicrous that it was Téo once more who dealt the final blow, but here we are, happy for Téo but also fairly miffed about this one more broadly.

KS

2023 Game Ninety-Eight: Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2

 

how it started . . .

. . . and how, alas, it is going

Good for Téo, is I guess the best I can say about this one? When I went to bed midway through the seventh (the game started just after eleven here—just after eleven), I would not say that the game seemed well in hand, but it did seem, well, in hand. But not so much! Much has been made of bringing in Kirk to pinch hit in a spot where a double play would have been a killer (as indeed it ended up being!) but I don't think you can approach a pinch hitting situation in any other spirit than "who do I think is likeliest to get a hit?" (as I have no doubt mentioned previously, managerial second-guessing is just not my favourite anyway). That Téo, whose last game as a Blue Jay saw him hit two home runs in what I was so sure we were going to end up thinking of forever as The Téo Game, ended up walking this one off with a ringing double over George Springer's head and off the wall in right, is an objectively neat thing to have happened, not unlike Marcus Semien walking off the A's at the SkyDome in what I suppose must have been late 2021, as the thoughtful Tony Kemp stood out there in left field for a little while to take it all in, and just be with it all for a moment or too extra. Blessings of the universe, I suppose. 

KS

2023 Game Ninety-Seven: Blue Jays 4, Padres 0

 

I love it when Vladdy gets "fielding psyched"

Late home runs from both Vladdy (he's heating up!) and Alejandro Kirk (maybe him too! 3-3 on the day!) paired just wonderfully with another excellent home start by Chris Bassitt, and a combined three nifty innings from Mayza, Swanson, and Romano. It was a pleasure to see the Padres, who we have not seen often, and all their cool young stars in their excellent team colours. Would I have preferred a series win? Sure I would have. But a regular season "series" is kind of a fake idea, isn't it? And yet how else are we to organize our thoughts throughout the one-hundred-and-sixty-two gameness of the season? How indeed. How; indeed. 

KS

2023 Game Ninety-Six: Padres 2, Blue Jays 0

 

Yu Darvish: a longer guy than I had previously appreciated

A tough one, to be sure, as the only runs came in the fifth after José Berrios seemed to have the runner hung up between second and third to end the inning. But Bo's throw from second (he'd snuck in behind the runner) to Chapman at third, while not a disaster, was not what it needed to be (I wonder if Bo himself has had any self-recriminations about it at all?). Either way, obviously, there was nothing doing here for the Blue Jays bats, so a tough one, like I say. One looks at this Padres lineup and wonders why they're not like ten games or so better than they have been so far? We have dropped the series to them now, though, so we're doing our part. 

KS 

2023 Game Ninety-Five: Padres 9, Blue Jays 1

 

you know what, fair enough

It really didn't matter who was pitching, or how poorly, because for the first time in a week or so the boys truly did not bop, but it is hard not to be discouraged that Alek Manoah's second start since he's come back up was such a mess. Ninety-two pitches to get through three? A forty-one pitch first? Five walks against no strikeouts? It is true that he was getting low-key squeezed in the first, but you can't expect to get a lot of close calls when you are basically not throwing strikes. Maybe Manoah gets another start or two, but with Ryu quite possibly coming back in as little as a week, that might be about it? I do take some consolation in the fact that all five AL East teams lost on this night (for only the second time this year!), so the Blue Jays gave up no ground, but what a drag. Coming into this one, the Blue Jays had won eight of their previous nine (everything but the no-hitter), and yet there I was, exchanging dire texts with my two pals with whom I text about the Blue Jays, as early as the second inning. We did not do a good job of keeping things in perspective.  

KS

2023 Game Ninety-Four: Blue Jays 7, Diamonbacks 5

 

this is exactly how you do it

With his fist-pumping sac fly in the fifth, the sixth-inning pickoff play where he snuck in behind the runner just in time for Danny Jansen's slick throw, and the eighth-inning double wherein he started his slide what felt like several body-lengths too early, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. seems to have maybe had his most fun day ever? Danny Jansen—he of the slick throw in the sixth—cleared the bases with a double in the eighth (that same eighth of Vladdy's truly baffling and wonderful slide) to put this one away, and really, he's been hitting so well that it hasn't been that big a deal that Alejandro Kirk has struggled (he'll come around, maybe?). Kikuchi pitched a good one, just as Berrios and Bassitt before him this series, and there you have it: a three-game sweep against a good team to start the second half as well as you could hope. The Blue Jays have closed the gap on both the Orioles atop the Wild Card standings and the Rays atop the actual AL East to such an extent that all things feel possible, if not quite likely. This is a good place to be.

KS

2023 Game Ninety-Three: Blue Jays 5, Diamondbacks 2

 

touch 'em all, Bo

A two-run, eighth-inning homer Bo Bichette home run gave the Blue Jays a little room to breathe in this one, which is good, because Jordan Romano is still experiencing a little lower back tightness, and so the ninth fell to Yimi, who is largely back on track, to my great relief (slight pun), as I am as ride-or-die as regards Yimi Garcia as I have ever been about any Blue Jays reliever ever, for reasons that remain enigmatic even to me. And yet here we extremely are.

KS

2023 Game Ninety-Two: Blue Jays 7, Diamondbacks 2

 

what like that's hard?

After winning the All-Star Home Run Derby in sikk fashion (tended to throughout by the friendful caretaking of Bo Bichette, and aided by a crucial late video chat with Teoscar Hernandez [Téo!]), Vladdy elected to homer in his first at bat of the second half. I am told that this is the first time that anyone has done just that (homered in their first AB after winning the derby), which is surprising, given how cool of a thing it seems to do? It was just one of several excellent Blue Jays ideas on this night. The Diamondbacks are a surprisingly good and fun team this season, and it was nice to see the returning Lourdes Gurriel Jr. receive such a warm welcome (I don't even mind that Gabriel Moreno threw a guy out and homered [and he never homers]). Lots of fun all around!

KS  

2023 Game Ninety-One: Blue Jays 4, Tigers 3

 

Daulton Varsho, just as merry as you please!

In the end—this is to say, after Danny Jansen's two-run homer tied the game in the ninth, Daulton Varsho's scurrying scurry home on a surprising (even to him!) Nathan Lukes double (George Springer is on paternity leave [congratulations!]) brought the Blue jays first lead of hte game in the tenth, and Jordan Romano's high-wire act closed it out in the bottom half—this felt like the best possible way to head into the All-Star break. At the end of the eighth, though, I was pretty miserable! I felt like we were really blowing it! Everything in baseball happens to so slowly and then it happens all at once, though (as has been observed).

So where does this leave us, then, at the break? Honestly in a pretty good spot, all things considered: the Blue Jays are tied with the Astros for the second wild card spot, five games behind the Orioles for WC1, but only seven (that's really not that many more!) behind the AL East-leading Rays, who have of late struggled for the first time all season (I don't feel bad about it). It would certainly take quite a run to pass either Baltimore or Tampa, but neither seems nearly the obstacle they did a month ago, and the teams lurking just outside the playoff seedings—the Aaron Judgeless Yankees; the Red Sox, who play mediocre baseball against seemingly everyone but the Blue Jays—do not seem especially menacing right now? Ah, I see that the Red Sox have in fact won their last five, which is no mean feat, so maybe I should feel at least a little menaced. But I honestly don't! Ninety-one games into the season, I still feel like the Blue Jays should probably have about ninety wins at the end of it all, and that should probably get them in? To the playoffs I don't really enjoy watching? Fingers crossed!

KS

2023 Game Ninety: Tigers 2, Blue Jays 0

 

in which Kevin Gausman's run-support
issues officially bottom out

I choose not to be bummed out by the Blue Jays falling victim to only the twentieth combined no-hitter in MLB history, and instead have chosen to welcome the Blue Jays being blessed with only the twentieth combined no-hitter in MLB history. We're going to lose like what, seventy games this year if everything goes really well? And none of them will be any more interesting than this, right? I thought it was kind of neat. 

KS

2023 Game Eight-Nine: Blue Jays 12, Tigers 2

 

welcome back, Big Puma

Definitely to my surprise, and also slightly to my concern, Alek Manoah returns! And yet my concern is demonstrably misplaced: a run on eight hits, no walks, and strikeouts in six complete? Even against the somewhat slight lineup like the Tigers are fielding this year, that is super encouraging. And he didn't even need to be all that good, given the extent to which the boys elected to bop: Merrifield's third homerun in two days! a Springer dinger! three more hits for Bo! What a lovely ballpark, too. Just a really good and nice game of Blue Jays baseball start to finish. If Manoah is even fifth-starter-good the rest of the way, it will be a huge boost in the second half, and if he's anything more than that, we could really "make some noise" in the rapidly tightening AL East (the Rays are losing sort of often now). 

KS

2023 Games Eighty-Seven and Eighty-Eight: Blue Jays 6, White Sox 2 (F/11), Blue Jays 5, White Sox 4 (let's play two!)

 

it's like anything else: you get low, and you dig

Not a whole lot of 6-2 games go scoreless through ten, I bet! I can't think of any that I've seen, for example, and I have seen a bunch of baseball games; like a bunch. José Berrios was about as good as he gets, and Lance Lynn, who has really had quite a career but who had fallen on Manoah-level hard times so far this season, all of a sudden was amazing again? And when the Blue Jays finally scored, it wasn't like they were pounding the ball off the White Sox relievers: it was ground ball, ground ball, ground ball . . . just pitiless, relentless BABIP stuff. Sounds good to me! The evening game had Kikuchi giving what seems like the median Kikuchi performance (emotionally, perhaps not statistically): four runs over five innings, which is obviously less than stellar, but just enough to keep you in it, so long as "Two Hit" Whit Merrifield's two hits are both home runs, and Bo goes four-for-five like it was normal to keep doing that. We're gaining! Things are looking up! 

KS

2023 Game Eighty-Six: Blue Jays 4, White Sox 3

 

attaboy (attaboy [attaboy])

The Blue Jays winning on a two-run Vladdy homer in the eighth after a nice start from Chris Bassitt and a scoreless three innings of Pearson, Swanson, and Romano in relief was honestly exactly what I wanted out of this one. So imagine my delight! The other Blue Jays runs came on a two-run double from Whit Merrifield, who, true to his excellent "Two Hit Whit" nickname, singled, too. Only six Blue Jays hits all night, but they were unusually well timed.

KS

2023 Game Eighty-Five: Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 4

 

hooooooooooo boy

At this point, why wouldn't Jordan Romano give up a go-ahead solo home run in the top of the ninth in a game made close only by the two runs Eric Swanson allowed on three hits and a walk in the seventh? Seems about right! Brandon Belt homered twice, and Kevin Gausman was good again (no surprise there) but only went five, leaving a decent amount of work for the bullpen. Yimi proved nails in bailing out Tim Mayza, and Trevor Richards (everybody's favourite guy now) struck out three, but Swanson, after being fantastic his first twenty or so appearances, has struggled in the twenty or so since, and it has been a genuine drag to behold. The Blue Jays have now lost all six games they've played against the Red Sox this season after going I believe 16-3 against them last year, and the Red Sox are now 12-1 against the Blue Jays and Yankees, but ten or eleven games below .500 against everybody else. This is all pretty weird! A quick glance at the standings reveals that things are not nearly as bad as they could be after getting swept at home on Canada Day weekend, as none of the other teams in or around the wild card scene were able to string any wins together.  A-game-and-a-half out of the last two spots, and five-and-a-half out of the top spot is by no means insurmountable, unlike the division, which has felt a done deal since about the third week of the season (Tampa was very reluctant to lose any games!). Six games on the road against the AL Central (three in Chicago, three in Detroit) gives us a chance to pull into the All-Star break in decent shape, and I'd like to think that's how it'll go! 

KS 

2023 Game Eighty-Four: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 6

 

it was significantly less close than this photograph implies

I was pretty sure Cavan Biggio's eight-inning liner that landed foul by about a foot and would have scored two more runs in the Blue Jays' seemingly endless two-out rally was going to be the thing that haunted me (and indeed us all) about this one, but no, it was actually Bo Bichette thrown out at home to end the game just after Vladdy delivered a sharp single to right with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, down by two. Bo was out by kind of a lot, which is generally speaking not the runner's fault but the third-base coach's, and Rivera, to my eye, really didn't offer Bo a whole lot of help here: Springer, scoring ahead of him, was urging Bo to follow, and Rivera changed his go go go sign to a woah there far too late for Bo to have actually held up (this is, to me, the worst kind of counsel a third-base coach can offer), and the result was a kind of halting half-step about twenty feet or so from the plate, which isn't going to help anybody or anything. It was kind of a mess! And yet I don't really mind that he went for it. Sending Bo—or Bo going, however you want to think about it—forces the right fielder to make a good throw, and the catcher to field it well, and you see mistakes on either end of that all the time. I don't think it was a bad decision, so much as bad execution, but really, had Rivera not been weird about it, Bo probably would have been out anyway, because the Red Sox did everything right. Sometimes you play aggressively to put pressure on the other team's defense, and sometimes the other team's defense proves up to the challenge, and that's that; that's just one of the ways baseball can go. I'm really not upset about it, just lightly haunted. 

KS