Blue Jays 11, Guardians 0: Let's Go, Vladdy

 

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Well, it finally happened, and whether or not it happens again in any of the twenty-two games that constitute the remainder of this strange season, for one night, at least, Vladdy was fully Vladdy: three-for-five with a ringing double off the wall, a towering no-doubter of a home run to left, and an opposite-field liner that was just smoked (this one seemed to please him most of all), amounting to five runs batted in along with the run he himself scored (runs trotted in?). That it happened in Cleveland, rather than Toronto, is unideal, I suppose, except for how there were an awful lot of Vladdy-chanting Blue Jays fans in attendance at still-lovely Jacobs Field (I know that it has been Progressive Field for a good while, and we all like Fran, but I really liked calling it "The Jake," and have decided to persist in this), and also on account of how holy moly do we ever need to win some of these games in Cleveland, right? And so we did! And Vladdy was amazing. And I loved it. "We're all human beings," Vladdy said through his interpreter this week (his approach now seems to be to address the crowd in English, but when speaking to a gaggle of reporters, it is interpreter time [I get it]). "There's ups and downs, obviously. This year hasn't been my year, or the year I wanted. But I talk, always good communication with the coaching staff and players. Basically just tell them 'hey, it's not going my way right now, but stay with me. Stay with me. I'm going to continue to keep working hard, and, at the end, I'll be there for you guys.'" Thanks, Vladdy. 

KS