As We Had Anticipated, The Blue Jays Have Won Eleven In A Row

ride the lightning, Jose Reyes; you *ride* it

As I got in the car after judo, and put the game on the radio, as is my wont in such circumstances, Jose Reyes was just bringing to a close a six-run, bat-around fourth inning against the (admittedly pretty lowly) Boston Red Sox, and Mike Wilner, relieving an ailing Jerry Howarth (don't worry, it's not serious) on commentary, kind of couldn't believe it. Nor should he have: because, I mean, what is even happening? A team-best (don't say "franchise," just listen to yourself when you say things like that) eleven straight wins, including some pretty choicely massive rallies and walk-offs, to vault the Blue Jays all the way from the AL East basement to . . . ok just to third but still this is really something would you not agree that it is something. Imagine if this had happened once the hockey playoffs had ended! All kinds of extra people would have noticed! And actually the Blackhawks could end it tonight, and Jose Bautista has homered off the Mets' Noah Snydergaard (remember him?), so if these trends continue this could prove to be one HECK of a summer of Blue Jays baseball, friends. 

(Again please note the Blue Jays are only at third still.)

KS

The Toronto Blue Jays Have Gone 7-13 Since I Declared Them To Be "just as .500 as it gets" So Definitely Keep Listening To Things I Think And Say

look how sad Ezequiel Carrera looks here even though he has just scored; it is because he has been blessed/cursed with the second sight and knows the bullpen will fail him

Were I inclined to optimism regarding this 2015 Toronto Blue Jays baseball season, which I extremely am not, I would be sure to point out that although the Blue Jays are bad, so too is the rest of the once-not-even-a-little-bad American League East: see, for example, the division leading Yankees and Rays, who, both at 26-25, are not exactly tearing it up. The Orioles are, like the Blue Jays, below .500, too, and the Red Sox are even worse. So, one could totally be like "it's all still winnable! and they're only like 3.5 out of the wild card!" and that would be mathematically true, but it would not reflect the lived emotional reality of putting games on the radio and knowing nothing but misery and blight. It is remarkable that Jerry Howarth is able to keep his spirits up as much as he does. Or maybe not: I heard Jerry Howarth be a little bit cutting one time, years ago, in an interview on the Sunday morning CBC radio show with Micheal Enright, when he spoke about J.P. Ricciardi (who should probably never be forgiven), but other than that I am not sure he has given voice to a dark thought in decades, at least not publicly. And that certainly continues this season, but rather than be buoyed by his joy, I have felt instead that it only reveals my own utter lack of it (as it relates to baseball, please don't worry, I am very well); indeed, it draws an ever-starker contrast between our baseball Weltanschauungs, which have perhaps never been so far apart. 

Anyway, the Washington Nationals are up next (hey Raven), which should be about enjoying Bryce Harper, but will instead, for me, be about how there aren't Expos and haven't been for years and so while this should be about presence it will inevitably be about absence, as I am baseball forlorn a little bit.  

KS 

White Sox 4, Blue Jays 2; White Sox 2, Blue Jays 0; Blue Jays 11, White Sox 9: Stumbling Towards The Break

yeah he's in there I guess

After the offense failed to support solid starts from both Aaron Laffey and Ricky Romero in the first two games of a weekend series against the apparently still active Chicago White Sox, the bats were out in force Sunday afternoon as the Blue Jays hung on to win the kind of four-hour shitshow that only ever seems to happen when it's crazy hot out. In truth the game came up a little short of four hours, but it had a languid pace that had Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby nervous about their 8:40 flights home. Brett Cecil was terrible, and made a hash of a couple of pretty hefty leads he had been staked to, but whatever. That he gets anybody out with that junk he's been tossing ever since he lost all that velocity is a miracle, and so thank you for your service, Brett Cecil. 


And so here we sit at the All-Star Break: 43-43, tied in the AL East basement, 9.5 games behind a pretty impressive Yankees squad, but only 2.5 games out the Wild Card; our starting rotation basically does not exist; who knows what is up with Romero; but we can swing the bats a little; and Jose Bautista is going to hit fifty home runs. I don't know what to make of it, man. I feel so much more out of it than 2.5 games, but there's a lot of baseball left to play, and as I have proven many times over, I don't know anything about any of this.


Anybody watching the All-Star Game?


KS

Angels 9, Blue Jays 7: The Angels Are Sort of Good Now, The Blue Jays Less So

pretty much yeah

No, Brett Cecil did not pitch well, and yes, Jose Bautista dinged his twenty-sixth dinger of the year last night, but what I would like to talk to you about here however briefly is how there was totally this little pigeon that made its way from the first baseline to the third baseline in the fifth inning, and as it approached the pitcher's mound and time had to be called, the crowd went nuts for it, and Jerry Howarth called it all like it was the most exciting thing to have happened during a baseball game in weeks, which maybe it was. Baseball is awesome.


KS

Blue Jays 2, Mets 0: Brandon Morrow, Metsecutioner

lol so not a tag man so not a tag

So it turns out the Rays officially appealed a recent official scoring decision of official scorer Dave Perkins, an officially middling Toronto Star sportswriter who took a package a couple of years back, the one that called the ball ripped off a diving Adam Lind (before his demotion made him . . . Sadam Lind) an error and so made like five runs unearned. The Rays won their appeal, and the play was ultimately ruled a hit, which is fine, but it totally inflated Brandon Morrow's earned run average heading into today's game. And so, in response, Morrow threw a complete game, three-hit shutout. No big deal. The Blue Jays got a big assist from a totally blown call in the ninth: the Mets by all rights should have had runners on second and third, one out, in a two run game, but because the umpire was in no position to see the play at second as Mike Baxter slid in under Yunel Escobar's tag on a throw from Jose Bautista that beat him by a mile, but again, no tag, they totally did not. 

Also of note today: at one point Alan Ashby spilled a cup of water all over his scorecard and Jerry Howarth good naturedly rode him about it way longer than you would think and it was charming. 


KS 

Blue Jays 7, Pirates 2: A BASEBALL GAME

Yusssssssssss

I had known for some time that Grapefruit League action, such as it is, was scheduled to begin for these Toronto Blue Jays on this the third day of the third month in the year of our lord 2012, but somehow this managed to sneak up on me all the same. Fortunately, the thoughtful folks at MLB.com went ahead and signed me up for another year of GameDay Audio without me even having to ask! Can you believe it? So I am all set! As is my favourite douchebag in all the world Brett Lawrie, who hit two two-run doubles today, so he remains on pace to be literally the greatest hitter in the history of professional baseball (I will overlook today's error). Nine pitchers took the hill for the Blue Jays, which only ever happens in the first week of spring training games or I guess in the All-Star Game, too, sometimes, and the not-as-fat-as-previously Brett Cecil got the start but not the all-important win, which instead went to Kyle Drabek, who pitched a scoreless inning and struck a guy out so it's like :) SMOKE but also he walked a guy so it is also like :( and so on the whole is like :/ which is the probably the best case scenario for Kyle Drabek this season.


I would also like to call your attention to Eric Thames, who homered today, and who I fully support in the battle for the everyday spot in left field because he not only reads but totally gets Beowulf and also sketches out plans for his facial hair but most importantly he is not Travis Snider. If one is a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays one is supposed to be of the opinion that Snider has been jerked around between the majors and triple-A to such an extent that his confidence lies in ruins and he is a broken man and probably this is mostly Cito's fault, or something, but on the whole he is a dude who has looked less like a dude than a butt, if I may be frank, and I am sure we all agree that the proper place for butts is on the bench. Anyway, go Eric Thames: you are skilled, maybe, and I exhort you. 

moustaches for all imo

I'm listening to the replay of the radio broadcast right now man and Alan Ashby and Jerry Howarth are cold killin' it on day one like I mean killin' it and I just heard a couple of little girls singsong something about raffle tickets and I don't care that it is the grossest day ever outside as the wind howls around my creaky old house because baseball is here and not in the abstract way where there are dudes who sometimes play baseball jogging in uniforms and stretching somewhere but in the very real sense that games are being played and I am listening to them which at the end of the day is what this is all about is it not my friends? 


KS

Blue Jays 1, Athletics 0: Yussssssssss

Goodness me it is another dinger

Although I loathe Gregg Zaun as an analyst/commentator/smug bro, I shared his pre-game reservations about Luis Perez getting the start in the Blue Jays' series finale against the A's yesterday. Perez had been that rarest of birds: a Blue Jay who was reliable out of the bullpen. We don't have guys like that. Let's just . . . let's just go with that. Why push it? Obviously anybody who can be a starter should be, as there is vastly more value there, and I totally get that, but I, like Gregg Zaun, was like oh man this could be rough today. It was, however, not! Perez allowed but a lone hit, and worked out of a bases-loaded jam, and Casey Janssen, who should pretty clearly be the closer, didn't allow a hit in his three innings of relief. Blue Jays bats didn't do a whole heck of a lot better through the first six, though, with only two hits and no runs to show for them, but in the top of the seventh Jose Bautista hit is MLB-leading 36th home run of the season, no big deal. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Bautisa tripled, too, which was immaterial in the outcome of the game and so can only be read as a direct response to the continued, senseless hateration on the part of the haters, in my view.

What it do, Butters. What. It do. 

This is his "OH-it-is-another-dinger" face

The men of the hour . . . too sweet to be sour? Yes. Exactly that sweet.

That is how you end your west-coast swing, friends. On to Kansas City, where Romero and Morrow and maybe even Cecil will cut a swathe through that "lineup." (I hope.) 


Finally, I would like to note the extent to which Jerry Howarth had no time for Gregg Zaun's inanity  yesterday, and cut him dead in the middle innings. Here is what happened (quoted from memory, and you know how that goes, but still):


JH: Jammed on that pitch.
GZ: You know what I say, Jerry. It must have been jam, because jelly don't break no bats.
JH: I have heard you say that before, yes.
GZ: (chuckling) And does it make any more sense to you now?
JH: In Milwaukee today . . .


Jerry Howarth is a cool, cool killer. His pleasantness and good-natured love of the game of baseball can make you loose sight of that sometimes. And then he murders you, live on air. Yes sir. Let's admire this one. 


KS

Blue Jays 11, Twins 3: First things first, Jose Bautista will eat your brains.

Gossip, gossip, haters just stop it.

It has been clear for some time now that were one to describe Jose Bautista's season through analogy to a single selection from the Kanye West oeuvre, it would be "Monster," in that everyone knows that he is one. However, this five home run weekend against the Twins -- three of them coming in yesterday's blowout -- specifically situates Bautista in the Nicki Minaj verse, because it, like Jose Bautista right now, is totally the most monstrous. Pink wig; thick ass; give 'em whiplash. This is what is happening. This is what is going on. I cannot believe it.


Bautista's first home run of the day was a legitimately towering blast off Brian Duensing in the third that landed just shy of the upper deck. His liner to the corner off Slowey in the next inning was comparatively modest, but the ridiculous opposite-field shot that came when Slowey pretty sensibly tried to go down and away in the sixth made up for that. The whole thing was beyond bananas. It was . . . one time I was in the sometimes alarmingly awesome Suspect Video on Markham St. and I asked the fairly icy girl behind the counter which particular noise rock band we were all listening to at an uncomfortable volume that day and she said all quietly "unsane" and I was like "sorry what was that?" because the music was way to loud and so to be properly heard above the din she leans forward a little bit and goes "UNSANE." Jose Bautista right now is UNSANE.


Other, less amazing things happened yesterday, too: Brandon Morrow struck out five his first time through the order, but then fizzled a little and ended the day allowing three runs, all of them earned, in five innings of work. The guy throws a ton of pitches, and he just doesn't go that deep into games. Such stuff, though; such stuff. Also, and this is not important and maybe not even interesting, but I could not help but notice that every Blue Jay in the starting lineup got a hit yesterday except for Rivera and E5, who combined to go 0-10. One of those players I continue to hate; the other I blame for nothing. 


Anyway, the Twins are surprisingly awful, and unlike the last time the Blue Jays played a truly awful team (what's up, Seattle?), they actually managed to, you know, win some of the games, which was totally a plus from this fan's perspective. With this five-game winning streak, the Blue Jays are now back to .500 at 20W-20L, three games back of the AL East-leading Rays (boy that just kind of happened, didn't it?). The three games back part of things, that doesn't matter so much; that cannot and will not hold. But I'm really hoping the .500 part of it sticks around. It's really all I ask in this, another non-contending year: just be around .500, preferably a couple of games to the good, and everything is lovely. Because while I know it's all about the future, all about 2012 and 2013, I've still got to watch the games, and there is only so much I can take. Just be .500, with Jose Bautista running away with the AL MVP. Surely that is not too much to ask?  


A couple more things. First, longtime Blue Jays radio man Jerry Howarth gave a great interview on CBC Radio 1's Sunday Edition with Michael Enright yesterday, and you can listen to that here if you are so inclined. Note that Michael Enright looks like this. Secondly, and almost finally, whenever a three home run game happens, I can't help but think about how Carlos Delgado totally hit four, and that I was there when he did. That and related Carlos feelings are, of course, compiled here. He is my favourite player and he had just retired so things get pretty badly out of hand there.


In closing I would ask Neil to ready himself for the smoke that is about to be thrown upon him as the Blue Jays open up in Detroit tonight and Kyle Drabek takes the hill. You should steel yourself, probably.


KS

Blue Jays 5, Athletics 3, and the 2011 Toronto Blue Jays are probably the greatest collection of athletes ever assembled for anything (ever)

The price you pay for playing "ski" near a triple word score.

Jesse Litsch struck out seven over six-and-a-third, Snider blasted a three-run shot to put the Blue Jays out front for good, Scrabble pitched two strong in his new role, and Rauch sealed the deal. Aaron Hill even made an awesome play on a ball deflected off of Adam Lind's glove and got it over to Litsch just in time. This game owned, friends, it owned. If it wasn't for Escobar ending a three-for-three day by probably concussing himself sliding headfirst on a triple, I would be a man utterly without cares right now. As it stands, I must admit to some cares, but I am also thinking quite a lot about how the Blue Jays will now share top spot with the Baltimore Orioles atop the AL East should Neil's Tigers hold on tonight, and with the Rays and Red Sox continuing to lose at a nice clip, I don't think I'm being premature in speculating that the Blue Jays will hold at least a share of the AL East lead every day for the next six months. 


KS  


edited to add: OH YEAH, after E5 hit a grounder to Pennington at short in the home half of the fourth. It was recorded as an infield single, but really it could and perhaps should have been an inning-ending double play ball, and Jerry Howarth talked about how things like that won't show up in the box score, but those are the kind of plays that really inflate a pitcher's ERA through no fault of his own. Just as he was finishing his point, Snider ripped it over the wall in right. If I were Jerry Howarth, I'd have been feeling pretty smug right then, but because he is Jerry Howarth, he was filled with nothing but a good-natured love of the game of baseball.