Blue Jays 4, Royals 3: I Guess This Is Happening?

 

Vladdy and Big Oak at the corners

All it took against Kansas City on a sweltering Saturday night (thirty-six degrees at first pitch!) was Max Scherzer to be good, the bullpen to be great, Kazuma Okamoto to put up four hits, Nathan Lukes to add three more, and just like that, the Toronto Blue Jays have won seven of their last eight to tuckle right in to that final playoff spot (we hold the tiebreaker over the Guards) with a record of seventy-one-and-seventy, which, I am sure you have already noted, puts the Blue Jays above .500 for the first time since they were four-and-three back in early, early April (it also brings the team's all-time record from 1977 to present to an even-steven 3927-3927, though I recognize not everyone will be as interested in that aspect of things [personally I feel like taking the long view]). Chief amongst this game's many delights, to me, was Vladdy's first inning, indeed both halves of it: in the top, after having singled tidily to right, Vladdy scored from first on an Alejandro Kirk infield single (we have spoken about those so many times) and a Josh Rojas throwing error that afforded just enough time (not an instant more!) for Vladdy to chug all the way around and evade Carter Jensen's swiping tag at the plate with the niftiest little hook slide; and in the bottom half, Vladdy scooped up a ground ball at first and fired a laser to third to hang up the stutter-stepping Joe Caglianone dangling of third, tagged out by Okamoto to help Scherzer get out of a tough inning (is Vladdy the best-throwing first baseman you have ever seen? I ask because he is the best-throwing first baseman I have ever seen [I think they should still play Vladdy at third a few innings a season just for fun and also for the glory that may be won]). Even in just about the worst season you could imagine for Vladdy, he remains a truly delightful guy.

Do we dare dream of a series sweep with "Big Spaghetti" Spencer Arrighetti on the mound Sunday afternoon? He will not be working behind an opener, I have read, but is rather just going out there and starting. It's a bold plan, unconventional in its conventiality, and I am keen to see how it plays out. 

KS