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| they call him "Max" Scherzer because he Scherzers the most that anyone can |
Frankly, guys, I'm a little surprised! There really wasn't any reason to think it would go quite this well, was there? Max Scherzer's five-and-two-thirds of two runs on three hits (four walks, five strikeouts) probably exceeded everyone's expectations besides Scherzer's own famously unreasonable ones (he is not necessarily a first-ballot "reasonable guy"). Much attention has understandably been paid to the comical intensity with which he assured John Schneider that no, he did not in fact need to be relieved; that, on the contrary, he was good; and finally, let's go (it made Ernie Clements of us all [the exchange has already been Jomboy'd, but there really wasn't much for him to add in this instance]). To me, a neater, though less remarked upon aspect of Scherzer's start (probably because it was noted on the Rogers Sportsnet Canadian broadcast, but not, I am told, the American Fox one) came in the first, when, with two runners on, Vladdy yells to get Scherzer's attention, reminding him to better conceal his grips, as the amiable Julio Rodriguez, leading off first, was in fact all over them already, and could no doubt both see the changeup grip and relay that information to the batter, which is a problem Scherzer had in New York about a month ago (as a direct consequence, he got utterly shredded in that start). Scherzer adjusted at once, got out of the early jam with a double play ball almost immediately, and away we went. Ludicrous! A ludicrous outing! And the bats, my goodness the bats: Gimenez again, somehow, not just with the two-run homer but with four runs knocked in by the end of it; Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, newly in the lineup after Santander's reaggravated injury ended his season and caused a reshuffling (Barger to right, rather than third, where he immediately made two huge catches and crucially threw Naylor out at third to cut short an inning that easily could have gotten away from us), got on and scored twice (IKF, I mean); and Vladdy homered again as part of one of the best postseason runs any player has ever had in the history of Major League Baseball, no big deal. Between being historically great at the plate, that tip to Scherzer in the first, and the concrete, specific advice you could see him offer Barger in the dugout after Barger was caught looking to strikeout in a big spot, only for for Barger to rip a double in his next plate appearance, Vladdy is far outperforming every expectation anyone has ever had of Vladimir Guerrero Jr, which is a wild, wild thing to consider (you may recall that his FanGraphs "Prospects TLDR" begins "Guerrero has a messianic bat," and that he recently signed an extension to play with the Blue Jays until 2040). But in our entirely justified Vladthusiasm (Jr.), let us not overlook the achievements of the bullpen last night, from Fluharty to finish the sixth, to an inning each from Varland, Hoffman, and Dominguez. And wasn't it interesting that Schneider went with Hoffman with a six-run lead in the eighth, rather than the ninth, so that he might deal with the top of the order; that's the kind of thing I absolutely love to see, honestly (high-leverage reliever deployment irregularities? yes please). By the end of the game, given all that had occurred—and, crucially, the heightened context of its occurrence—I found myself not only thinking to myself, but even texting to pals, that this was as satisfying as any Blue Jays' win I can recall in my forty years of attending to this sort of thing. And I guess why wouldn't it be? This is all tremendously, outrageously big. Kevin Gausman is on the mound tonight (in just a couple hours, really), with a chance to head back to Toronto with two shots to wrap this up, if things go as they very well might (the Mariner's Bryce Miller is, of course, certainly no joke). Should Gausman falter, worst-case scenario is indeed a worst-case Ontario, in that we're still headed back to [the] SkyDome for a game six at home. But maybe tonight we can slide all nimbly into a series lead, in a manner analogous to that exhibited by the sly Myles Straw below:
It's a best of three series now, and I feel like we could probably win one of those, right? Either way, this much is certain: it is a hot-dogs-and-root-beers, Friday-early-evening start-time, perhaps the last one of the year, and we are going to savour it as such.
KS
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