Yankees 9, Blue Jays 3: Well fine.

You would think this is perspective playing tricks on you but C. C. Sabathia is actually that big relative to Yankee Stadium.

Oddly enough, whenever the Blue Jays have run a truly hideous lineup out there this season, they've played pretty well. And yesterday, this is what they had to offer in support of Brett Cecil:


McCoy SS
Johnson 2B
Bautista RF
Encarnacion 1B
Lawrie 3B
Teahan LF 
Molina DH (I would remind you here that "DH" signifies a player designated to hit)
Arencibia C
Wise CF


Just crazy enough to work? In fact, far, far from it, largely because C. C. Sabathia is kind of awesome. The awesomest? No. But he is reliably at least somewhat awesome, and possess, in the words of our game's greatest poet Roger Angell, "Sunny looks and pavilion-sized pants and weird, white-toed spikes." Exactly. Home runs by Jeter, Rodriguez (anybody want to join me in stopping saying "A-Rod"?), and Swisher bested Jose Bautista's 40th of the season, and that was that. Brett Cecil got pretty mad in the dugout after his day was done, and I understand where he's coming from, but getting swept in Yankee Stadium happens, man. It happens.


KS

Blue Jays 5, Indians 4 (F/10), Blue Jays 7, Indians 1: And Yet I Am Still Bitter About Thursday Night

Having An Average Weekend

Nobody in baseball had a better Saturday than Derek Jeter, whose five-for-five with a home run for his 3000th hit was a suitably ridiculous thing for Completely Obvious Hall-of-Famer Derek Jeter to do. But Jose Bautista had a pretty awesome day, too, belting a home run in the third and another in the tenth to win it. Had Jon Rauch not blown the save and spoiled Brendan Morrow's fine outing, Bautista never would have even had the opportunity, so thanks, Jon Rauch!  I actually enjoyed it more this way. After the drama of Saturday night, Sunday afternoon was a garden-variety drubbing, with Brett Cecil holding it down capably on the mound while the Blue Jays bats rattled off eleven hits. Bautista? A single, a double, a couple of runs knocked in, and half an afternoon off, as John McDonald replaced him in the field in the sixth. 

Much more on the state of the Blue Jays in the first half generally as the All-Star break gets underway, but for now I will merely say that but for that truly wretched walk-off grand slam Thursday night, we'd be looking at a .500 first half right now. Does that matter, particularly? No, but also, of course it does.

KS