Orioles 12, Blue Jays 4: But What Really Matters Here is that Alex Anthopolous is Still Totally a Ninja

Yikes.

It was unfortunate that the Blue Jays' streak of seven straight wins in games started by Brandon Morrow came to a crashing halt against the lowly Baltimore Orioles last night, but what was really worrying was the 0-2 fastball that drilled Jose Bautista in the head and put him out of the game. Seriously, it sucked, but he was back in the lineup Wednesday night, so in the end, no big deal.


The three-way deal that landed Colby Rasmus in Toronto, however, is totally a big deal. The particulars:

To the Blue Jays: Colby Rasmus, Trevor Miller, Brian Tallet, P. J. Walters, and Mark Teahen.
To the Cardinals: Edwin Jackson, Corey Patterson, Mark Rzepcynski, Octavio "Don't Ask" Dotel, and three players to be named later (or cash)
To the White Sox: Jason Frasor, Zach Stewart 

My first reaction to this trade was "oh man awesome," and I have yet to see anyone suggest that this was anything but an excellent deal for the Blue Jays, another totally solid Alex Anthopolous move. "Worst Trade Ever! Cardinals Send Colby Rasmus to Toronto for Spare Parts," writes Aaron Schafer of the Riverfront Times. Keith Law, to whom I look for guidance in all such times of change, said on the Baseball Today Podcast today that this is a horrible long term move for the Cardinals, sacrificing a potential star player (who is already not exactly bad) for a better rotation this year (he was on the Fan590 today, too). But you can kind of see why that might be: this could very well be their last season of Albert Pujols, so you go all-in to win your not-so-s-hot division and make this a championship year regardless of what this does to your team in the medium-to-long term. Also apparently Tony LaRussa doesn't like Rasmus, who is probably a bit of a jerk with a loudmouth dad who is probably an even bigger jerk, but Law was like, Tony LaRussa isn't exactly a part of the long-term future of the club either, so who cares? As has been pointed out at Drunk Jays Fans, the Blue Jays are clearly not averse to picking up players with lousy reputations: Escobar, Morrow, Lawrie. It's a chance to get potential star players on the cheap, basically. All reports are that Lawrie is no longer a dick; Bautista has by all accounts straightened out Escobar; and I actually didn't know Morrow had a bad reputation until like a minute ago.


What did the Blue Jays give up? Chiefly Zach Stewart, whom Baseball America has rated as Toronto's sixth-best prospect, and whom Keith Law thinks could be a number two or number three big-league starter someday (though he is by his own admission a Zach Stewart optimist). Beyond that, it's Corey Patterson, who is pretty terrible, Rzepcynski and "Don't Ask" Dotel, who are both serviceable bullpen arms (and Scrabble is maybe a fifth starter), and Jason Frasor, who if I'm remembering this right is the longest-serving Blue Jay and a guy who was on the cusp of setting the all-time Blue Jays record for appearances. I am fond of Frasor, but he is another pretty basic bullpen guy, you know? And in return, they get Rasmus, who will be the everyday centre fielder immediately and who has the potential to be at least pretty good for a pretty long time for basically no money; Mark Teahen, who is a Moneyball guy who is a total bust; and a bunch of bullpen arms. I am not going to pretend to know anything about P. J. Walters, but Trevor Miller we've seen before, as we have Brian Tallett, regrettably:

But whatever, man, I will take it. I can't see this as anything other than another good move from Alex Anthopolous, and one that nobody saw coming. This Alex Anthopolous is my kind of guy to the extent that he is making things happen, and those things that he is making happen are awesome.


KS

Rangers 5, Blue Jays 4: This Bullpen is For Shit

You will note that exactly none of the above players is a Toronto Blue Jay 

I totally get that you can't really play day games in Fort Worth in July, but I nevertheless choose to really, really mind that there's no Jays game on the radio in the afternoon when they play Texas. So I come into these games already minding things. Then Rzepcynski and Rauch combine to blow the one-run lead that came out of a three-run sixth on an Arencibia home run (his third in his last two games), an Escobar double, a Thames triple (and we all love triples!), and a Bautista single, and that seriously ups the amount of minding that I do. It is not helping that Corey Patterson can't catch a reasonable proportion of balls that are, you know, totally catchable.


This is brutal.


KS

Phillies 7, Blue Jays 6: This Will Lack Structure

Compared to the rest of these bums J. P. Arencibia is a defensive stalwart

There are all kinds of ways for a team to be bad, and most of them are roughly equally frustrating, except for a staggering inability to catch and throw the ball, which is the most galling thing that can afflict a team that you, in your foolishness, have chosen to attend to. Yesterday it became too much to bear. Aaron Hill has completely lost it, and it's baffling. John McDonald, who only exists to put his glove on balls and then swiftly transfer that ball to his throwing hand and then deliver it to a base at which a force play is in effect -- literally that is the only reason he is there -- is having a terrible time doing that. Rajai Davis refuses to charge hard at anything, which removes the possibility of not just potential fly outs but also plays at bases on balls that drop. Oh, and balls are dropping: it's gotten to the point that Ashby and Howarth were speculating on the radio that maybe Corey Patteron's mild speaking voice is the reason there's so much confusion in the outfield on catchable balls dropping in between outfielders. And Juan Rivera, motherfucking Juan Rivera completely misplayed an entirely catchable, routine fly ball in the ninth inning yesterday, which is exactly the kind of thing that can't happen when Frank "The Closer" Francisco is out there walking the leadoff man in the ninth with a one-run lead. 

A disaster, yesterday, a disaster. Romero was good enough to win, had he any defense behind him, and even without it, he almost did: Jose Bautista launched a two-run shot to put the Blue Jays ahead in the seventh and that should totally have been enough to send 45,512 people home happy on Canada Day.

But no, that wasn't nearly enough, because nobody here can catch the damn ball. If my life wasn't perfect in literally every other respect I couldn't do this anymore. But it is, so I will. But I will register my displeasure on the internet.

KS

Pirates 7, Blue Jays 6: So it has come to this, then.

No doubt intended as good-natured ribbing, I actually agree with the sign.

I know that the Pirates stubborn refusal to drop below the .500 mark is one of the nicer stories in baseball this year, given the extent to which they have awfuled their way through the better part of two decades now, but come on. Much of the blame, sort of, falls at the feet of Jo-Jo, who gave up six runs and didn't get out of the fourth, but as we have discussed previously, there is really no faulting Jo-Jo for anything, as he is only what he is. The bullpen only allowed one run the rest of the way, but that one run, Andrew McCutchen's solo shot in the seventh, ended up being the killer, as the Blue Jays otherwise potentially rad four-home-run comeback fell short. E5 hit a pair,  Corey Patterson had another, and Jose Bautista hit his league-leading/hater-smashing 24th, but in the end it was nothing but a loss. At home. To the Pirates.  


This is not, nor cannot come to good.


KS

Blue Jays 5, Cardinals 0: Ricky Romero Pitched A Four-Hitter and Knocked In A Pair, No Big Deal

No big deal.

Ricky Romero's four-hitter could very well have been a three-hitter had Corey Patterson been even borderline competent in centre field, but no, sometimes he just kind of stops and then the ball falls between him and the fielder just to his right or left. This time it was Juan Rivera who Patterson managed to psyche out by totally misplaying a ball that was obviously his. Rivera pulled up, no doubt thinking well Corey Patterson is the centre fielder and all so we're good but that turned out to be a huge mistake. The dudes on the radio were apoplectic. I have not seen the play on video but I choose to believe Ashby and Howarth when they assured me it was unacceptable. And so I will not accept it. 


But Romero! Remember how after his last start, he kind of mentioned how, outside of Lind and Bautista, the offense had been terrible of late? Maybe that was cool to do; maybe it wasn't. But it was definitely cool that yesterday he drove in a pair on his own with a little hack swing that pushed the ball passed a drawn-in Lance Berkman at first. Berkman had thrown the ball away when he tried to come home with it on a similar Patterson dribbler earlier in the inning, so this was a day on which it kind of sucked to be Lance Berkman, I guess. But a great day to be Ricky Romero. Or me, enjoying the baseball game.  

Anyway, I was just about to complain about how today is an off-day and off-days are the worst, but in fact the Blue Jays and Tigers are making up a rain out today. Excelsior! 


KS

Blue Jays 3, Reds 2: Kind of a Hell of a Game, Actually

Such a might wallop.

What's up, Cincinnati Reds? I have not really thought about you in a serious way since 1990 when you had Chris Sabo and Paul O'Neil and Norm Charlton and Eric Davis and Terry Hatcher and Rob Dibble and Barry Larkin and Jose Rijo, and I'm not saying that's about to change, but I will enjoy watching Joey Votto hit this weekend and I think your ballpark is beautiful, so what it do? 


You know who else is pretty great to watch is that Brandon Phillips! Such plays! A good defensive second basemen is, I think, one of the best things in baseball from an aesthetic perspective. They do cool things like all the time! And Phillips made a couple of great plays last night. He's super quick and has a strong arm. I like him.


But I am getting ahead of myself. For the story of the game begins on the mound, where Mike Leake and dear sweet Jo-Jo Reyes dueled through five-and-a-half scoreless innings before Drew Stubbs (a totally underrated name qua name in my view) lofted one to right-centre that really and truly was Corey Patterson's ball, but, playing out of position (he usually plays left but Rajai needs couple of days to collect himself, basically) it didn't look like he was being particularly decisive, so you've got Jose Bautista drifting over then they both start to put their gloves up, and it seemed like each perceived the other putting their gloves up, and at the same moment decided "oh ok cool he's got it" but no, the ball fell to the ground and rolled to the wall whilst Drew Stubbs (seriously that is a handle) rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run. Guys, guys, guys: Yo la tengo was invented for precisely this reason. You can't where it out. Just go ahead and use it. I think you'll find it totally useful. And fun!

Anyway, given Jo-Jo's baffling, Beckettian existence, I figured that this meant the game was going to end 1-0 with Jo-Jo going the distance and losing on that inside-the-park home run, because of course that is how it would happen. Also the post-game totals would be spoken by Jessica Tandy's mouth illuminated against a black back drop and raised like ten feet off the ground. But no! Patterson and Bautista quickly made amends for their shenanigans as Patterson was grazed by a pitch, stole second, and came home on Bautista's double to the wall in centre. Then Adam Lind, who is absolutely monstrous right now -- seriously, he is as hot as Bautista was to start the year, except this is just happening in the middle of the season so it is easier to miss, despite hitting .431 with 8 HR since coming off the DL -- homered for the fourth consecutive game, which was really and truly awesome of him. And totally necessary, as it turned out, as Scott Rolen, who continues to be extremely tall, hit a solo shot of his own. The Toronto bullpen decided not to be assholes; 3-2 final. Loved it!


Also Alan Ashby has been back on the radio for a little while now and I don't ever want that to change. Alan Ashby forever; Gregg Zaun never. 


KS

Orioles 5, Blue Jays 3 and Blue Jays 7, Orioles 4: OK Then.

Jose Bautista flashes the drinky drinky sign on his way into third.

Ricky Romero wasn't terrible or anything on Saturday, but generally speaking when you give up a grand slam you will lose. I don't have numbers on that though I assume that they both exist and confirm my previous statement. It was kind of galling for Kevin Gregg to get the save on Saturday, but he nearly blew it, so I nearly liked it. Totally liked: Corey Patterson had a home run and two bunt singles in the same game. Isn't that wild? 


This afternoon's 7-4 win was more like the kind of shellacking I had in mind for all three games, but you take it as it comes, I guess. Adam Lind is back off the DL, as you may have noticed, and hit a pair of solo shots to go with Yunel Escobar's three-run home run. And do you know who pitched ably into the seventh and picked up his second straight win? Jo-Jo!  


And so that's two out of three on the weekend in Baltimore, which one can't be mad at. Next up: Kansas City, who everybody assures me will be good in 2013, which, you will note, is totally not this week.


KS

Blue Jays 13, White Sox 4: Laughers: No Laughing Matter

This probably looked way cooler in their heads.

It is a shame that when E5's first home run of the season finally came it turned out to be a solo shot. Oh wait it is totally not a shame because the reason there was nobody on base is that Aaron Hill also just hit his first home run of the season and it was no ordinary home run but instead a grand slam. And sure, it is entirely possible that the italicized smugness I have just subjected you to is not, strictly speaking, warranted, as here we are at the end of May and those are two everyday players who are just now hitting their first home runs, but let me tell you that it felt like smug italics when it happened and I am not about to be dishonest about the way that moment felt because were I do so I would have failed you as a writer.


The Blue Jays scored early and often, and it was awesome. Sox starter John Danks needed fifty-two pitches to get out of the bat-around first inning, which is by any metric an epically shitty outing. Danks stayed fiery, though, and got into it a little bit with Jose Bautista in the fourth. With your permission, I would like to now quote extensively from this article:


Danks was [. . .] forthcoming when asked to discussed his anger toward Toronto slugger Jose Bautista, who slammed his bat after popping up a pitch in the fourth inning with the Jays leading 9-2.

"I told him to run the bases," Danks said. "He was out there acting like a (bleeping) clown. He’s a good player. He’s had a great 1 ½ years. No doubt, he's one of the best hitters in the league. But he’s out there acting like he’s Babe Ruth. That’s horse(bleep), totally. I just told him to run the base and quit acting like a clown.

"He ran haflway down the line and spiked the bat. I get it. He’s mad at himself. I threw him a 3-1 fastball that he missed. Then I threw him another heater. He’s a good hitter. He's had a great couple years, but he’s not that good to act like he needs to hit every ball out of the park.

"That’s just the way I feel. I have pride. I really do. I've had a (lousy) year, but I have pride. I’m not going to let him show me up. I just told him to run the bases and quit acting like a clown."

Bautista told reporters that his base running "should not be (Danks') concern, anyway."

"I was upset at myself for missing a pitch," Bautista said. "If he took it the wrong way, I'm sorry. I'm not here to make him feel good.

"It really doesn't matter to me what he thought. What I'm not going to allow is when I'm running by him, him yelling at me again. So I yelled back at him."  

Feisty! It was silly but kind of fun. It lacked the air of genuine menace that surrounded my favourite shouting match in Blue Jays history -- Carlos Delgado yelling at Orlando Hernandez in Spanish with such venom and volume that I could easily hear it from the upper deck in left field -- but I enjoyed it all the same.


Also enjoyable: seeing Ricky Romero finally get some run support. He had allowed two or fewer runs in something like eight of ten starts this year but came into the game with an almost shabby 4-4 record, so this was, you know, better. Romero is in fact totally good, but it seems like not everybody knows that. My firm belief is that they should, though.


It would be poor form indeed were I not to conclude by saluting Corey Patterson's 4-5 (with a HR) yesterday, giving him nine hits in his last two games. Dave Schoenfield has a nice piece at ESPN.com about the strange arc of Patterson's career, from can't-miss-prospect to journeyman.  Schoenfield notes that before you start feeling too bad about how things went for Patterson for a number of years, he's made about $13 million playing professional baseball, so he'd be alright even if he hadn't managed the nine hits this weekend. What a union, man. What a union. 


KS 

Blue Jays 9, White Sox 8 (F/14): OH YEAH RIGHT COREY PATTERSON

OH. YEAH. RIGHT.

When Juan Rivera, who I am less sure should be cut but still mostly sure, ripped a three-run double off the wall in the seventh to put the Blue Jays ahead 8-6 and wake me up from my slumber in the car (I don't usually sleep in the car with baseball on the radio in the afternoon, but yesterday I did, and let's just leave it there), I was pretty sure we had gone ahead for good. But of course not, because Frank Francisco is still the closer. Consider, if you will, the ERAs of the seven Blue Jays pitchers who yesterday toed the rubber: 2.62, 1.80, 2.74, 5.40, 6.59, 1.64, 3.97. As learned baseball enthusiasts of the information age, we all recognize the imperfections of ERA as a measure of overall pitcher worth independent of defense, and we know that there are certainly better stats to measure the impact of relief pitchers in particular. But what I want to suggest to you here is that even if you didn't know anything about anything, with the game on the line in the ninth inning, you wouldn't put the guy with the 6.59 ERA out there would you? Of course you wouldn't. You would still be better than that.

Francisco's blowery -- and let us be fair: the damage came on a two-out bloop to right, but still -- did however set the stage for Corey Patterson's fourteenth-inning heroics. Patterson, who we apparently have, hit his walk-off home run as part of a 5-7 day with four runs scored, so thank you, Corey Patterson. That is awesome of you. Jose Bautista once again suffered from an outstandular condition that saw him go 3-4 with two walks, a double, a three-run home run, and three runs scored. Let any who still dare to hate reveal themselves now and be laughed at for being dumb and wrong.   

A wild one! Too bad Carlos Villanueva had kind of a rough outing. Today, though, it is Ricky Romero on the hill, and I have every intention of listening to at least some of the game this afternoon while I mow the lawn. It will be summer. 

KS

Blue Jays 4, White Sox 2: . . . And You Shall Know Him by The Trail of Smoke

Juan Pierre: still little after all these years.

I opted for the "Trail of Smoke" headline because the National Post had already taken "Blue Jays Bail Out Drabek's Walkathon." Both are true, in that yes, Kyle Drabek continues to walk a ton of dudes -- five more last night in six-and-two-thirds, including a bases-loaded walk in a forty-two-pitch fifth that could have been way worse than just one run in were it not for the smoke he threw to get out of it. See? 


This game was pretty rad for a couple of other reasons, too, including not one but two triples (Juan Pierre, Rajai Davis) and two pretty snazzy grabs by Corey Patterson in the second, one at the wall and one coming in. The Rajai Davis/Jose Molina (yeah, Jose Molina) double steal was pretty choice, coming as it did only a day after my recent freakout  re: baserunning heroics. Also let it be said for the millionth time that Mark Buerhle works superfast out there, and it is a pleasure, Mark Buerhle, a pleasure. Good game, White Sox, good game! It is really too bad Gordon Beckham got hit in the face with a one-hop throw from the outfield. 


Finally, it has come to my attention that the Boston Red Sox are now in first place in the AL East, and the Yankees are currently atop the AL Wild Card standings. This goes without saying, but I wish nothing but horrible misfortune and the most shameful losses on both.


KS   

White Sox 3, Blue Jays 1: Ugh.

I will post pictures of Juan Rivera provided they are unflattering.

The easy and probably correct way to bemoan last night's 3-1 Blue Jays loss to the White Sox is to talk about John McDonald's throwing error that put Alex(is) Rios on base to start the ninth. It would be an understatement to suggest that McDonald is usually sure handed or something like that. He's usually awesome out there. And he absolutely needs to be: it's the only reason he's in the major leagues. All of his value (as a player; probably not as a man but I do not know him) is in his glove as he is a negative WAAB (Wins Above an Awful Butt) contributor with the bat. When he messes up in the field, everyone seems pretty quick to be like but he's usually so good with the glove out there which is true but not a defense, as being so good with the glove out there is all he brings to the table. All. Every bit. There is nothing else. I like him, but let us be real. 


Less galling, but still really pretty galling, was Juan Rivera's remarkably bad toss to Mark Rzepcynski covering the bag at first as speedy little Juan Pierre booked it down the line. It's not like a good toss would have gotten him, but it would have kept the ball from dribbling away and allowing Rios to score. Two errors in the ninth inning of a tie game at home: yikes.


But what I am actually superminding about last night's game isn't any of that. It's that with Cory Patterson on first and Jose Bautista at the plate in a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the eighth, John Farrell sent the runner. Patterson slid in safely, which is great, except it's awful, because that just meant the Sox quite rightly walked Bautista intentionally with a base open, which is exactly what literally everyone would do in that situation. I know I promised I would stop with the baserunning talk, but this one was nuts. John Farrell is a menace. He was asked about this obviously horrible decision after the game, and said, "The fact that he stole second is not the difference in this game." Well no, because everything fell to shit in pretty spectacular fashion the next inning, but come on John Farrell.  What I am left wondering the most about John Farrell is what does he even think this is.


Anyway. Back at it tonight. 


KS 

Blue Jays 5, Rangers 2: Corey Patterson Dropped an RBI Bunt Single To Win It in The Ninth, No Big Deal

Bautista hit by a fastball from Pedro Strop, hater.

Had Adam Lind not crushed a two-run shot to right, had Brandon Morrow not gone six strong, had the bullpen not shut the door the rest of the way, had Jose Bautista not kept things even with a diving catch down the right field line in the eighth, in fact had but one of these awesome things not happened, Corey Patterson would not have been in a position to bring the go-ahead run across in the top of the ninth with a bunt single on a safety squeeze. But they totally did happen, and so Patterson dropped one down like it was scarcely a thing. If you enjoy such small ballery, you should totally watch the highlights, and, while you're there, why not also have a look at the weirdest play ever?


Here's what happened: bases loaded, two out in the top of the ninth, ground ball to Adrian Beltre at third. Beltre is awesome, so this ought to be it for the inning, right? But the ball kicks off the heel of his glove for his first error of the season, which is in and of itself a strange thing. But it got much stranger a moment later when Jose Bautista, who is so awesome that he can't help but be awesome even when he is mistaken, breaks for third after he apparently (and, again, mistakenly) thinks the base is open. It is not: there is totally a baserunner there. It's Corey Patterson. But Bautista, I guess, was so focused on Beltre's inattention and off-the-bagness that he was like I have such an awesome idea and just took off. He realizes his mistake before he gets to third, but he's way way way off second, so he draws a throw from Beltre, but the throw gets away from second and dribbles into the outfield, allowing Patterson to score. What?


But all of that zaniness has been overshadowed, at least among the Blue Jays blognoscenti, by the post-game demotion of Travis Snider to Triple-A Las Vegas. I am not as perturbed by this as many, because Snider has been not just horribly unproductive thus far (.181/.276/.264) -- he's also been taking awful, off-balance, truly wretched swings over, around, and through breaking balls with alarming regularity. Like, as bad as that slash line is, he's looked worse, if you can believe it. He's only 23, and thus far from a lost cause, but the idea was that this year he'd be given a full season with the big club to figure it out. This is what has angered many of my blogging betters. But I don't really care, because I don't want to watch this guy out there just sucking every day. I really don't. Does this make me short-sighted and wrong? Possibly. But fuck it.


KS 

Blue Jays 6, Rangers 4: Kyle Drabek: Thrower of Smoke

Oh yeah right, Corey Patterson

You might well recall that as recently as yesterday I noted (complained about, almost) the Blue Jays' utter inability to get men on base for Jose Bautista. Over the course of eleven consecutive plate appearances in which, much to the chagrin of haters, Bautista reached base safely, not once did he bat with a man on base. This frustrating trend continued last night, except not really, in that the reason Bautista came to the plate with the bases empty in the fifth was that Corey Patterson had just hit a three-run home run, the first of three the Blue Jays hit that inning. Bautista, naturally, hit the second (a high, majestic drive, as Jerry Howarth was right to point out), and Juan Rivera, of all people, hit an opposite-field shot later in the bat-around inning. This changes everything, in that Rivera looks like he's starting to come out of it, and yet nothing, in that I still hate him.


The other story on the night is of course Kyle Drabek's continued insistence on smoke, and, more specifically, the throwing of it. Three runs over six innings from the rookie starter? Yeah, I will take that literally every time. He's 2-0 with a 3.30 ERA in 30 innings. He is awesome.


KS