2021 Game Seventy-One: Blue Jays 2, Marlins 1

 

Hey nice job

In his first start since being unkind to Joe Panik, Ross Stripling did great (just a run on two hits over six innings); the bullpen held things together ably (no walks and but one mere hit in three innings from Chatwood, Mayza, and Romano); George Springer returned; the Blue Jays pulled ahead late on doubles from Biggio and Gurriel (I think they got the idea for doubles from all the ones Reese McGuire hit Sunday); and McGuire (not even parenthetically this time) made a great throw for a strike-'em-out/throw-'em-out double play (with Romano pitching, even! my man is usually a free base!). All of these things are terrific in and of themselves, as was Vladdy's nice little low-key two-for-four with a run knocked in, but what was really most striking to me about last night's game is that there may have never been a better one-two combo as far as names at the top of the order than the Marlin's Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Starling Marté (who is the guy who McGuire threw out actually [sorry to say {hey Bo Bichette stole one last night though}]). To have access to names of that calibre is of course unusually good fortune in and of itself, but to bat them one after the next? Is Don Mattingly stunting on us? Is that what he is doing? I wonder, sometimes. Sometimes, I wonder.

KS

2021 Game Seventy: Blue Jays 7, Orioles 4

 

I do enjoy a Ryu Day

"Vintage Ryu cruises in series-clinching gem" is the extremely accurate headline of the game summary posted at MLB.com. I have mentioned this previously, but I think I like watching Hyun-Jin Ryu pitch as much as anybody the Blue Jays have ever had. To see him go a bunch of times through the order, fooling hitters so thoroughly that guys who can catch up to 100 if its straight(ish) are way late on pitches that come in around 88MPH. It's just the best. Because of who I grew up watching, the archetypal crafty (indeed, cræftig) lefty is Jimmy Key, and we all loved Jimmy Key, but this is something else entirely. I did not think there would ever be a Blue Jays pitcher I would enjoy more than Roy Halladay -- and being able to watch him pitch in person so many times was incredible to me -- but yeah, Hyun-Jin Ryu, here we are. He didn't get a lot of help from Trent Thornton, it pains me to say, who came on in the eighth, gave up a homer, hit a guy, then gave up another homer. But Chatwood had another nice appearance (he has had a few now!) in the ninth to lock it down. The Blue Jays' big inning on Saturday was a bat-around ninth; on Sunday it was a four-run bat-around fifth that was not quite as headlong as that but pretty exhilarating nevertheless. And no homers today, oddly, but a bunch of doubles, including one for Téo (back from the Paternity List [congratulations!]), two for Lourdes Gurriel, and three -- three! -- from Reese McGuire. A charming moment on commentary occurred when Pat Tabler, with reference I believe to McGuire's second double on the day, referred to the way he was whacking it all over the field, an innocent remark made delicious by how McGuire got arrested for jacking it in his car (perhaps a truck, now that I think more on it) last year in Florida. Anyway, lots of fun on Father's Day! Except for Marcus Semien, the only Blue Jay who failed to reach base -- 0 for 6 with a pair of strikeouts and five left on. With George Springer coming back this week, it looks like, one wonders if Semien stays at the top of the order (where, aside from pretty much every day but today, he has been awesome), or maybe drops down to five? If they don't put Springer at five for a bit as he gets back into things, it's probably gotta be Semien or Bichette they drop down there, right? Lineup order is one of those things that has been demonstrated pretty definitively to not matter all that much beyond the dead-obvious (first half of the lineup or so: one's best hitters; the rest: one's poorer ones), but that makes it no less fun to think about, and indeed, to dream on a little. Miami up next, and it'd be real nice to sweep, as we are back to .500 now, and it is time to climb.  

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Nine: Blue Jays 10, Orioles 7

 

Marcus Semien is a grown-up though

If ever there was a team that needed a bat-around ninth inning in which they score six runs with two outs -- well I guess every team could go for something like that every now and again, probably, but what I mean to suggest here is that these Blue Jays had been in a funk (in the non-excellent sense of the term) and this seemed good. What a wild game! Marcus Semien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each hit home runs in the first inning (Vladdy's 23rd, which sounds about right, but how 17 for Semien now?) but that quickly faded from view given all of the many home runs Orioles would hit a little while after. They hit six! Mullins was good for two, and Mountcastle, of whom I had not previously heard (forgive me), hit three and tipped his cap the Camden Yards crowd. So hopeless did it seem that Jordon Romano came out to work the eighth not because he was needed, exactly, but because the Blue Jays have been on such a bad run that it had been the better part of a week since they had a lead for him to protect, so they figured they should get him out there to get his work in. Brutal! But it was nice to have him out there, given what went down in the top of the ninth: Biggio walked (he remains really very good at that), Panik flied out, the likable utility infielder (is there any other kind?) Santiago Espinal singled, as did our boy Lourdes Gurriel Jr. before Riley Adams struck out for the second out of the inning. Marcus Semien had a couple of really good takes, if I am remembering this right, to work the count full and walk to load the bases, which chased Paul Fry from the game and brought in Tyler Wells, who had, just, like, the worst day: Bo Bichette, who has fouled off more pitches than anyone else in either league this year (what a stat!) hit a bloop single to right, in and out of Anthony Santander's glove, after a nine-pitch at bat, which scored two; Vladdy doubled on the next pitch, and two pitches after that, Randal Grichuk did the same. It was so great! That Cavan Biggio struck out to end the inning he started by walking felt fine, honestly. And so ends the losing streak! Hyun-Jin Ryu up next! He hasn't looked quite as exquisite as usual of late but I doubt he's totally run out of it (exquisiteness) just yet. Plenty of exquisiteness left, I bet. Also cræft.  

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Eight: Orioles 7, Blue Jays 1

 

When did all the baseball players get so cool looking?
I feel like it is maybe from about 2017 onwards.

I guess maybe the Orioles were due? The only AL East team to win last night were the Orioles, who had theretofore lost eight straight. For their grim part, the Blue Jays have now lost five in a row, though it honestly does feel like a little more, I think because of how the two losses in Boston were of a kind that made you overlook the two wins in Boston, a little? But although the bullpen did indeed collapse in this one -- or at least the Murphy/Beasley portion of the bullpen (Thornton was fine!) -- you can't really pin this one on them: just the one run on four hits against poor Orioles pitching feels like more of the story. Like, the bullpen could have given up fifty. Who cares. (I do not mean that nihilistically but instead in a mode of cheerful practicality.) My experience of this game was pleasant enough, honestly, as I had parts of it on in the early evening, and enjoyed the sight of Camden Yards and the sounds of Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez quite a lot; I tuned out for a bit after Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit his home run (hey good job) and addressed myself to other pursuits before checking back in just in time to see the final out. Charlie Montoya is said to have held a meeting with a small group of players (a cadre of fanatics?) after the game to see how the team is feeling, and word is they were like, "well this isn't good but I guess we'll stick with baseball." Me too!

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Seven: Yankees 8, Blue Jays 4

 

A weird rundown from last night,
but not the weirdest rundown from last night

The first inning ended with a triple play (SABR suggests the first 1-3-2-5-6 triple play in Major League history [we did it]), the ninth inning ended in a double play, and though things in between were marginally better than that for a little while, it sure didn't hold. What can you even say about this poor, poor bullpen: the Blue Jays came back to lead after going behind 3-0 early, but poor Anthony Castro just extremely did not have it in relief, charged with four runs (all very much earned) on five hits in a just a third of an inning of work. Imagine, if you dare, being him. Cavan Biggio, who has been legitimately hot (for real this time!) since coming back from the IL with "a neck thing," nearly hit another home run but very tall Aaron Judge made a perfectly timed and really quite lovely leaping catch to snag the ball just as it was leaving the yard (from my perspective, in this instance, the worst possible time). The Blue Jays led each game of this three-game series in the seventh inning, and didn't end up winning any of them. Not one! I am not personally disheartened, because all I am doing is watching or otherwise attending to baseball games, but I have got to think that this is getting a little disheartening for the fellows themselves, maybe? The Blue Jays are now a game under .500 for the first time in what feels like ages (even though this season isn't even very old yet), but they're off to Baltimore for the weekend, and the Orioles have been just brutally, brutally bad, so maybe things are looking up? A quick look ahead reveals to those who would seek such knowledge that fifteen of the Blue Jays' twenty-one remaining games before the All-Star Break are against teams currently under .500, and all but three of those are against teams extremely below .500 (the Orioles, who you know about, but also the Marlins). The other six games will be against the Rays, but hey, that's who we're chasing down.  

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Six: Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2

 

Sadimir

Guerrero

Jr.

A dark night, not in the usual sense of "the bullpen blew it and it was unfun," but instead in that, first, Ross Stripling lost his cool about (Gold Glove winner!) Joe Panik's second error of the night at third, and visibly berated him on-field, frustrated that Panik would rush the play and try to make a bare-handed pick-and-throw rather than take his time, as while Giancarlo Stanton is many things, "a hustler on ground balls" is neither at nor near that top of that fine list; and, second, Vladdy messed up as the tying run at third in the bottom of the ninth and, what's worse, got really sad about it: down 3-2, Vladdy led off with a single, got to third on Téo's double, hung out there for a sec whilst Grichuk went down swinging, and then dangled a little too far off third on Santiago Espinal's little dribbler back to the mound, which got picked off (sort of) on the fielder's choice (hey: it's the fielder's choice). Even if the replays revealed that Vladdy probably should have been called safe on his artful slide back into third, this was a big baserunning mistake from a guy (and indeed a team!) that used to make kind of a lot of those but who has (who have) genuinely improved in that regard. Vladdy blew it, and he knew he blew it. A weird, phantom foul ball call on what was really Gary Sanchez just straight-up missing a pitch ("Gary Sanchez," Buck Martinez noted, "is not a good catcher") cost the Blue Jays the tying run a little later, so just a weird, bad, sad inning all around. Téo, a good friend, could be seen comforting Vladdy after the game, and Ross Stripling, to his credit, says he is "mortified" at his behaviour, and acknowledges that what he did to Joe Panik is the worst thing you can to a teammate on the actual field of play -- he even retweeted video of the sorry episode and added, alongside his apology, "Young ballplayers, be better than this." That's probably about the best he could have done in the aftermath of his poor behaviour -- behaviour that I felt pretty hard, by the way, because there were times as a young pitcher I was not kind to my fielders, as though I was twelve-year-old Dave Stieb or some nonsense, and thirty years later I remain ashamed of every second I acted that way. But man oh man. A rough night, for all that it was actually a really good game. Finally: why doesn't anybody talk about how bad a guy Aroldis Chapman is? Is just fresher in my head because I was listening to so many of FanGraphs Audios? I ask because Aroldis Chapman did some awful stuff, but the consensus seems to be yyyyyeah but he's a lefty who throws super hard. Anyway, it is a drag when he's around.  

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Five: Yankees 6, Blue Jays 5

 

That eighth inning though

The Blue Jays bullpen is largely injured, and the guys that are left have been utterly brutal, trailing every other bullpen in either league in some key measures by a lot ever since the slide started around May 20th, so while it is unfortunate that they could not hold onto the 5-2 lead they were left with after actually a pretty impressive outing by Hyun-Jin Ryu, who allowed just the two runs in six innings despite not having his best stuff (since the crackdown on sticky substances has occurred, nearly 70% of MLB pitchers have seen a decline in their spin rate, so few have their best stuff right now!), it is also not particularly remarkable. What I would choose to draw your attention to, if I may, is that the Blue Jays only got one run out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out bottom of the first, and then had them all loaded up again when trailing by a run in the eighth, but young Bo Bichette flied out to right. Until the bullpen either heals up (which will not happen quickly), or help arrives (I guess that could happen quickly? if Ross Atkins really wanted it to?), the Blue Jays, who are already scoring lots of runs, are just going to have to score way more runs. If they do, it'll be neat!  

KS

2021 Game Sixty-Four: Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 1

 

I think he got that one

That the blameless Rafael Dolis (for we know what he is, and he is, of course, only as God made him) had another brutal 9th inning (not unlike Friday night) to turn what could have been a sweep into a split is immaterial, really; in no sense did it "waste" what happened in the top of the ninth, as seems to have been suggested elsewhere (not here!). That Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took an 0-1 curveball (the first-pitch fastball, called a strike, was a little outside, and Vladdy did this little thing with his head that suggested "okay but that was a little outside") 451 feet, I think they said, over the wall in left to tie it remains rad regardless of what happened after, just as Alek Manoah's excellent start remains just that (excellent). 

May I share with you a series of "Twitter posts" I made the other day? They read as follows:

1. Blue Jays are three games out with like a hundred to go having played the toughest schedule in the league so far (or it was a little while ago; I don't remember where to check that lol) & I do not believe that all three of Boston, Houston, and Cleveland will continue to thrive

2. nobody likes blowing games late but the bullpen was the best in the league for like six weeks before swinging to worst in the league since and I would argue they are actually probably somewhere between those two! still they could get a guy or two, I wouldn't be mad or anything

3. also tbh I am not pining for Springer all that much in that Grichuk (who would be the odd man out) has played well so they aren't missing out on SPRINGER so much as on Springer minus P. Good Grichuk; weirdly it's a little thing that he's out, not a big thing (like a win or so)

4. anyway I think the specific ways the Blue Jays have lost is leading to a lot of doom-and-gloom but it doesn't really matter when the runs come in my dude; these are deceptions & this is why the fictional character Billy Beane of the hit film "Moneyball" does not watch the games

5. through by FAR the roughest part of their schedule the Blue Jays are on pace for . . . 85 wins, and FanGraphs had them projected for 87.7

6. tbh I think a lot of the chatter is Leafs fans turning their attn to the Blue Jays the last couple weeks and not knowing SHIT there I said it

Some recent thoughts -- indeed, feelings -- I wanted to share with you here. Yankees up next! 

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Three: Blue Jays 18, Red Sox 4

 

What a beautifully composed photo
(and obviously I endorse the content)

The entirely lovely duties of a routine Sunday afternoon kept me from following today's game in any way other than checking in on the play-by-play results on the MLB app on my phone, but every time I looked in I found myself resembling the meme-guy whose shirt reads "Sickos" all the more. It was as though I was though I were seeing the results of a best-case-scenario game of Baseball Mogul or, if you must, Out of the Park (I must check to see if they've gotten any further with their mobile offering -- OOTP is not as fun for me as BM but hey, what's on phones is on phones, if you see what I mean). That Robbie Ray struck out ten in six innings is one (very good!) thing, but that the Blue Jays became the first visiting team in the history of Fenway Park (which, for the record, I don't even really find charming anymore, like I feel like as a society we have progressed past the need for Fenway Park) to hit eight home runs. Eight! That's so many! Téo's two (two!) three-run shots take pride of place here, I think, but then there was also Gurriel, Bo, Vladdy, Biggio (two days in a row!), Semien, and lastly Tellez, off of second-baseman Christian Arroyo (hey, get it while it's here, Rowdy). What a weekend it has been! Aside from blowing it Friday night. But even so! Also, regarding yesterday's also very pleasant game, I neglected to mention that Vladdy stole second base so cleanly that there wasn't even a throw (it was on a very slow curveball), and I guess he got so excited that he tried again in the seventh and got thrown out. It felt very human.

Hey has it occurred to you, too, that Vladdy could totally win the triple crown this year, and have like 10 or 11 fWar, and still kind of rightly lose out on the AL MVP because of Shohei Ohtani? And that this is because baseball is just so awesome this year? This is something that occurred to me whilst we roamed a small wood. Another thing I was thinking about is how, for the many losses lost in the most egregious way possible in recent weeks, the Blue Jays are three games out of the playoffs, having played one of the toughest (is it maybe still the toughest?) schedule in the league from a strength-of-competition perspective; it's only going to get better, as far as that goes (come on, Orioles). There's still like a hundred games to go but these are things I would ask you to reflect on.

KS 

2021 Game Sixty-Two: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 2

 

There have been really a lot of photos like this so far

I am told, and have no reason to doubt, that this is the first game in which all three of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio have hit home runs in the same game. I do not mean to be rude in the least when I say it is self-evident which of those three has been the limiting factor in achieving that feat; I myself have not hit a non-softball home run off of live pitching in well-nigh thirty years. But as great as it was to see Vladdy and Bo (and Semien! and Reese McGuire!) having big days, the recently-returned Cavan Biggio's three-for-four with a double and home run really was the most welcome part of the game, not to diminish how Steven Metz pitched very well into the sixth against a good-hitting Red Sox team, or how nearly everybody out of the bullpen kept it clean (ah, Rafael Dolis: what are we even going to do: you seem so neat, but you work so slow, and, lately, so hittedly . . .). Lots of fun! I was going to say "we'll go for the series win tomorrow!" but upon closer examination this is a four-game series concluding Monday (fine; fine; that sounds fine). 

KS

2021 Game Sixty-One: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 5

 

Forget your bullpen woes; reflect instead
upon how Vladdy and Bo are bros 

By the time it happened, I wasn't even upset: after enjoying the sweet fruits of Vladito's three-for-four with a homer (also a walk) earlier in the evening, I stepped away from the game to enjoy a Star Trek: The Next Generation on Netflix (rated PG: sex, fear) as one so often does. That mission concluded, I checked the MLB Gameday app (I think that's what it's called?) and saw that it was now 5-5 headed into the bottom of the ninth, so I was like oh okay they've lost the game then. So when I got the stream going, and was greeted by the image of Rafael Dolis -- for whom I am rooting for but also come on -- there wasn't even any tension. This is not to say that I saw it unfolding at all the way it did: grounder to short, bad throw by Bo Bichette to pull Lourdes Gurriel Jr. off the bag at first (didn't even know he ever played there! pinch runner for Tellez, I guess?), though he applied the tag, though the ball got whacked out of his glove on that tag, and then a double ripped off the wall to win it . . . all of that was in fact quite novel! But through it all, I was at peace. Ross Stripling pitched better than you'd think with four runs in five-and-two-thirds; the bullpen "remains an issue."

KS

2021 Game Sixty: White Sox 5, Blue Jays 2

 

Fie 

It might still be okay, I texted my concerned brother-in-law: Ryu sometimes gets a little roughed-up in the first but then cruises the rest of the way. And, sure enough, the three runs he gave up in the first were the only ones he allowed in six otherwise credible (and indeed creditable) innings. But alas the boys bopped not on this night: when the two big bats in your lineup on the night are Joe Panik and Santiago Espinal, that's not ideal. The White Sox really are a very good team, and it would have been nice to be able to sneak away with the series win after the eighth-inning gift of the night before, but so it goes. This is the roughest stretch of the schedule, with Boston up next. If the Blue Jays can stay even just a few games above .500 by the time things ease off, they could be in good enough shape the rest of the way. I was going to add "especially if George Springer comes back," but I don't even want to push too hard at that right now: the lineup we've got right now is good enough to stick around. Add an arm or two and who knows?  

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Nine: Blue Jays 6, White Sox 2

 

That's how I feel too, guys

How fun was the eighth, I ask you, and yet I do not ask you so much as exclaim! With the Blue Jays down 2-1, Rowdy Tellez led off the inning by, well, by popping out to third, because he continues to just be brutal out there, and it's sad to see. But once that unpleasantness was behind us, consider the many pleasantnesses that soon followed: young Riley Adams took first on a wild pitch of a third strike, Semien and Bo each singled, loading the bases for Vladdy who drew the legitimately thrilling bases-loaded walk (these are so sweet when you get them, and such a drag when you give them up; guess which has happened way more so far this year!). As if that were not enough,  Téo's ridiculously tailor-made double-play grounder to second (on a 3-0 pitch after they just walked a guy with the bases loaded! I was so mad when he swung!) got kicked around and tossed away and two more runs came in. It felt like a miracle. More White Sox fielding-nonsense led to two more in the ninth but it was really that eighth that was a trip. Pretty good start for Manoh!

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Eight: White Sox 6, Blue Jays 1

 

Those hats still look good

A lot of runners, not a lot of runs! This game caused me to reflect on how everyone's impression of their team seems to be that they are terrible with runners in scoring position, regardless of their team's actual performance in that promising yet potentially agonizing circumstance. And then I saw that the Blue Jays are actually like the third best in baseball with runners in scoring position. Well not tonight, they weren't, I thought subsequently. I don't even mind that Thornton and Edwards combined for a truly ragged eighth inning, because the bats just weren't getting it done against Carlos Rodón et al. Bo and Vladdy got on plenty, but Téo and Grichuk were a combined oh-for-eight behind them. Not good! And so Robbie Ray's thirteen strikeouts (thirteen!) amounted to, well, not nothing, as they were pretty cool, but they did not amount to a win, certainly.

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Seven: Astros 6, Blue Jays 3

 

I would describe Luis Garcia's look as "correct"

Gotta be honest with you: a series win would have been real nice. But I've also gotta be honest with you about how I fell asleep with the game on then we went for a big bike ride and then got some barbecue, so my attention to the specifics of today's defeat was, like, radically incomplete. I remained alert enough in the early going to note that Steven Matz was having a rough go of it, but I was way gone before all the defensive shenanigans, which is just as well. Looking over the box score gives me no regrets about the shape of the afternoon over here. Chicago, Boston, and New York to go before things lighten up for a bit, which is to say we get to play the Orioles. Looking forward to it! 

KS 

2021 Game Fifty-Six: Blue Jays 6, Astros 2

 

Not sure what this is but I'm in

Ah, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., all of baseball's large adult son, of whom the weariest never weary . . . this is really is turning out to be something, isn't it? He's first in at least one league, and in many cases both, in pretty much every meaningful offensive statistic whether you favour the new style (Rogers Sportsnet posting fWAR leaderboards is further evidence of the Cistulli-industrial complex) or the old (your triple crown leader: yeah that's Vladdy also). His baserunning has been excellent, in a great-big-dude-flying-around-out-there kind of way. His glovework at first has been, at times, certifiably nifty. And when he's called upon to make a quick throw, he's actually got a heck of an arm, as one might expect of a guy who played that much third base coming up. Saturday, he did all of those neat things he can do, and did them all with the exuberance and joie de Vlad that would make him a delight to watch if he was even half the player he actually is. What a treat! Also Lourdes Gurriel Jr. nailed a dude at home with a throw so tremendous that my man didn't even think to slide on it, like such was the baserunner's conviction that it couldn't even be close, despite his on-deck teammate doing the for the love of God slide arms at him. And Ross Stripling had another good start! Let's go!

KS  

2021 Game Fifty-Five: Astros 13, Blue Jays 1

 

Fully; completely.

You know what, I don't even mind: a pitcher's duel between Hyun-Jin Ryu and Zack Greinke could have been pretty sweet, but that Ryu (and those who followed) got walloped whilst Greinke pitched kind of a gem really freed up the rest of my evening, you know? I am very much of the mind that if you're going to lose, it might as well be by a lot, or at least by so much that the result is clear enough early enough for you to just enjoy the book you have on the go. Get 'em tomorrow. 

KS 

2021 Game Fifty-Four: Blue Jays 6, Marlins 5

There's that triple! And as thrilling as it was (they are of course all thrilling), it was the least thrilling triple of the night, in that Bo Bichette's cleared the bases (consisting, at that later time, of Reese McGuire, or rather Jonathan Davis in his pinch-stead, and AL Player of the Month Marcus Semien) in the bottom of the ninth to tie things up. It was much needed due to the extent to which young Alek Manoah (his exuberant mother very much with him) was not as sharp as he'd been in his Yankee-Stadium début, and, very much to the contrary, kept getting his changeups and sliders smoked. But the bullpen was excellent in his wake, especially Joel Payamps, who pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded sitch that really did feel like "a jam." But everybody else did great, too: I am not even upset about the solo home run Thornton gave up, because hey; hey. To return, finally, to the bottom of the ninth, it was interesting, and I have no doubt correct, that with nobody out and Bo Bichette on third, Don Mattingly chose to walk not only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but also Téo to load the bases, force-outs everywhere, and pitch to Randall Grichuk, even though Grichuk had already homered twice on the night (1.3fWAR so far this season, all to spite Keith Law). Grichuk hit a sharpish grounder, and the throw rightly came home to get Bo, leaving Vladdy on third to trot home with the winning run on Joe Panik's sacrifice fly to a drawn-in Starling Marte (Marte whiffed on the meaningless catch, so an E8, but rightly scored a sacrifice fly and an RBI all the same). What fun! 

KS

2021 Game Fifty-Three: Blue Jays 5, Marlins 1

 

Hush hush, Vladito cautions; voices carry.

Another home opener, kind of! And this one sounded so great, with five thousand or so fans in Buffalo (the first major league game they could take in in 106 years!) feeling like many times that in lovely little Sahlen Field (did the gentle and prolific Travis Sawchik imply it was a sort of model for Camden Yards? could this be?). There was much joy, and much to be joyous about, such as like how Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 4-4 with a home run and a double on seven pitches -- the homer and the double came on the first two pitches he saw! The Vladito Triplewatch was in full effect from that point on, but in all honestly it is always at least a little in effect (it is an enticing prospect). Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a home run as well, which was nice to see after he totally totally blew a route in left field earlier and it cost some bases. I like Lourdes Gurriel, and find him cool guy with arguably the best hair in major league history, but that guy goes on some adventures out there in left. Another fine outing from Robbie Ray, and the Mayza (nice!) to Dolis (phew!) to Romano (eep!) bullpen came through ably. We don't see much of the Marlins, and so I want to be sure to note this time around that Don Mattingly at this point looks more like Tony LaRussa than Tony LaRussa currently does or perhaps ever did, and that Starling Marte is probably my favourite name in all of baseball these days (also not hurting: Jazz Chisholm Jr.). Meanwhile, the Yankees and the Rays are kind of going to town on each other, and the Red Sox are having trouble with that Astros, all of which leads to AL East tightening, which is very much what one likes to see, from the perspective of the really-quite-good-but-<<néanmoins>>-fourth-place Toronto (Buffalo) Blue Jays. Let's. Go.

KS 

2021 Games Fifty-One and Fifty-Two (Doubleheader!): Toronto 4, Cleveland 1 (F/7), Cleveland 5, Toronto 4 (F/7)

 

Do not be fooled by the sense of speed communicated
in this find photograph: this part took forever

Game one of the doubleheader on what looked like a beautiful afternoon in Cleveland was all bloops and bounces (some blorps; some bournces) until Teoscar Hernandez (no surprise) and Rowdy Tellez (seriously!) hit some fairly mighty home runs in the fourth. Ross Stripling, who has made some mechanical adjustments (he says he is feeling more open to them then he had been previously, given that his ERA is like seven! his words not mine!), cruised through five innings, turning it over to Dolis and Romano for what felt like a pretty easy/breezy 4-1 win. If the Blue Jays are going to use Rafael Dolis, I am pleased to have them do so in an afternoon game, where bedtimes are not at stake; in this sense, I applaud Charlie Montoyo's bullpen management on this day. However, Montoyo's choice to leave Tyler Chatwood on the mound for four consecutive walks in the bottom of the seventh inning is not a move, or I suppose non-move, I am able to support as much as I might like to. Anyone even passingly familiar with my in-game Baseball Mogul management skills (that is to say, "me and me alone") can tell you (as I am telling you right now) that I totally get how tough it is to run a bullpen, and so I approach all "IRL" bullpen escapades with (and indeed in) that awareness. But even for me, this seventh inning approach seemed . . . lacking? A series win in Cleveland, coming off the series win in New York, should feel a whole lot better than this, right? I could not help but notice that "Gibby" was trending in Canada on Twitter, as nostalgic Blue Jays fans turned to times of arguably better bullpen management. Ah well: on to Buffalo, where the Blue Jays will host (after a fashion) first Miami, and then Houston, and it remains weird to me that only one of those two series will be interleague, as I am old, and in fact too old to learn. 

KS

2021 Game Fifty: Toronto 11, Cleveland 2 (F/7)

 

Four hits, one dinger, two gun fingerz

Though it rained sideways in Cleveland Friday night, Hyun-Jin Ryu was still striking dudes out with his 68MPH curveball because the man is, quite simply, An Artist. They only got through six and a half innings before the game was called, which was probably more than enough of them (innings, I mean) for the Cleveland pitchers, who were lit up by the bottom-half of the Blue Jays lineup (Vladdy and the boys up top didn't have much of a night, weirdly). One felt especially for Cleveland rookie Eli Morgan, who made his first career start in the worst conditions you're likely to see, and gave up six runs on eight hits and two walks and didn't get out of the third. Morgan is said to rely particularly on his changeup, which is totally fine (consider, for example, Hyun-Jin Ryu), but early on, Buck Martinez, a lovely guy who does not look for problems, was like, "Morgan's changeup looks like it is possibly just too slow, and major league hitters are going to pick it up coming out of his hand, and it's not gonna be good for him." And then they extremely did, just whacking it all over the part for extra bases. Of everyone having a miserable night, Mogan's seemed miserablist. A Saturday rainout followed, so two more seven-inning games later today. A nice break for the bullpen! 

KS 

2021 Game Forty-Nine: Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3 (F/7)

 

I'm honestly not sure which game this one's from

In the first game of the double header, Dan Shulman related that although Bo Bichette says he has not felt good at the plate lately, he does feel good about the way he is battling through the predicament of not feeling good at the plate, so although he is not feeling good, he feels pretty good about it. And then he hit two home runs, the first a solo shot in the day game, the second a three-run high fly ball that barely made it over the fence on a pitch that was such a hilarious hanger that it looked like a cartoon representation of a hanger, or something -- and Bo's immediate reaction was not one of celebration (he is not adverse to admiring his mighty wallops [nor should he be!]) but of seeming frustration at the thought that he maybe got under that juicy pitch and didn't get enough of it to clear the wall. But no worries! It was all pretty delightful. Not Robbie Ray's best outing, though certainly not his worst, but I guess Aaron Judge, who, although not silly, was made to look silly with some of his swings against Manoah earlier in the day, elected to put to rest any rumors of silliness with a nice big home run in the third. The Blue Jays had a couple of entertaining plays in the field, throwing out two Yankees at the plate (including Gary Sanchez by about thirty or forty feet on one of the worst "sends" you'll ever see from a third base coach at any level), but if you're even in a position to be throwing a couple of guys out at the plate in the same seven-inning baseball game, you're probably getting touched up a little out there. And so it went. A sweep in Yankee Stadium would have been an absolutely ideal way to end the losing streak, but taking two out of three in New York really does feel almost as good. And now it's Ryu day!

KS

2021 Game Forty-Eight: Blue Jays 2, Yankees 0 (F/7)

 

A large guy

Rather than cut to commercials (or the MLB.TV absence thereof) once the top of the first had wrapped, Sportsnet showed us young Alek Manoah take the mound and run through all of his warmup pitches, the whole deal. This had the potential to maybe seem a little overdone if his début ended up being poor or even kind of slightly normal, but the way things worked out -- just two hits and two walks over six shut-out innings with seven strikeouts -- it seems to have been a reasonable call. Manoah's cheering section made up a significant portion of the tiny Yankee Stadium crowd for the first half of the double header, and his mother was so emotionally bound up in every moment that Buck Martinez quipped that we needed to keep her on a pitch count (good one, Buck!). This couldn't have gone better, and at a time where the Blue Jays couldn't really have needed it much more, what with all the, you know, starting pitching things. The Blue Jays bats were quiet (just four hits) except when they were loud (back-to-back solo home run from Semien and Bichette), but they didn't need to do a whole lot with Manoah throwing like he was throwing. What fun!

KS

2021 Game Forty-Seven: Blue Jays 6, Yankees 2

 

I'm not even sure what this is
but I am nevertheless "here for it"

My understanding is that, before Steven Matz did it last night, no Blue Jays pitcher had ever struck out ten whilst walking none in Yankees Stadium (old or new), and while any achievement involving strike outs is considerably more likely to be attained now than I guess literally ever, this is quite a feat all the same! You will recall, for instance, that both Dave Steib and Roy Halladay were really good, and yet they had not done this. Matz -- and Chatwood and Romano, who allowed one run between them in relief -- gave the Blue Jays every chance to end their fairly dark losing streak, and end it they did, what with, also, all of the dingers: Grichuk late, Gurriel earlier, and, before either, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s league leading sixteenth of this still-young season (there are like a hundred and fifteen games left!). There is obviously now league-wide talk of Vladdy as an early MVP candidate, especially with Mike Trout hurt, but even if Vladdy's fairly absurd pace continues I see that as almost a long shot so long as Shohei Ohtani stays healthy and at something resembling his present form: even were Ohtani to come up a little short statistically on total value, and even though he plays for a depressingly bad team ("Shohei Ohtani Regrets Not Researching Which Teams Were Good Before Signing With Angels" -- The Onion), what he is doing this year might never happen again, so let's probably recognize it, yeah? But what I am watching with the weathermost of weather-eyes is whether (haha!) or not Vladdy is going to be able to put up the best fWAR season of any Blue Jays first baseman ever. At this point, I would be genuinely surprised if he does not beat both of Fred McGriff's best (1988 and 1989 -- when McGriff was not much older than Vladdy !), all of the Carlos Delgado years except for 2000, and although it still seems a tall order to do better than John Olerud's weirdly slept-on 1993 (8.1 fWAR! that's so many!), it would be foolish to rule it out. At his current pace through forty-four games, he would be at like 11 fWAR over 162, but that can't happen, right? If it did, it would knock Roger Clemens' 1997 (10.7 fWAR, which is still hard to believe) out of the top spot as the best single-season performance in team history. And wouldn't that be neat!

KS  

2021 Game Forty-Six: Rays 14, Blue Jays 8

 

This part was good

Hey. Hey. Nobody, least of all me, wanted to see the first inning today pretty much be the ninth inning from yesterday all over again, with walks and nonsense and a grand slam and a Pete Walker ejection (not all of that stuff happened yesterday but I am unbothered by that aspect of this); nor did the seven runs (seven!) Tampa put up in the top of the eleventh hold much appeal. But what happened in between? Well, a lot of good stuff! I am fond of each of the Blue Jays home runs, for instance, and for those Blue Jays who elected to hit them: Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Marcus Semien, and, twice (including once ridiculously), Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is/has plainly been the best hitter in baseball so far this season. The Blue Jays are back down to .500, but head to New York only five-and-a-half games out of first, which is not so bad when you are currently playing the worst baseball you are likely to manage all year, and the team that is in first has won ten in a row (they are the Rays, and four of those ten were against us just now, but again, big picture hear, folks). If the 2021 Blue Jays are a .500 team, they are setting up to be the most fun .500 team in Blue Jays history, with the most exciting young hitter we have ever had, and I am very content for that to be our summer together. But if they can figure it out and stay in the mix a little while, that'd be fun, too.

KS

KS 

2021 Game Forty-Five: Rays 6, Blue Jays 4

 

The exact opposite of how I feel

Boy, that ninth inning, huh? I continue to have no real problem with either Tyler Chatwood or Travis Bergen, but in candor I've got to say that was way too many bases-loaded walks for my enjoyment. Three of them is a lot! The Rays barely got the ball out of the infield, and scored four runs, spoiling not just a really good outing from Hyun-Jin Ryu, and a lovely day for Téo, but Randall Grichuk's two-run home run in the eighth, which felt like a huge, huge hit at the time. But nope! It sure wasn't! A rough afternoon, to be sure, and a really rough week altogether. One of the wags on twitter.com has suggested that this was the most dispiriting weekend of Blue Jays baseball he can recall, but one of the many gifts of age is that I have seen an awful lot of baseball, and an awful lot of awful baseball, and have watched much, much worse teams do way less interesting things on many a weekend. This is arguably a weird flex on my part, but I flex in this manner (weirdly) only to urge calm, much as Jesse Barfield has been doing, also on twitter.com (there are all manner of "accounts" on it). It's only May, Jesse reminds us. These are all pretty much the same guys who looked amazing two weeks ago, we might add. They were not as good as they looked then (except for Vladdy) and they are not as bad as they look now (Vladdy still looks great).

KS

2021 Game Forty-Four: Rays 3, Blue Jays 1

 

Times have gotten so tough even Marcus Semien
is making errors (well just one [not on this play])

In the midst of a four-game Blue Jays losing streak (unlike the Rays, who have won nine straight!), I have elected to remain positive, and to keep up the chatter: attaboy, Robbie Ray! Seven innings? Five hits? No walks? Seven strikeouts? Like a million grunts? Nice! Also positive: Hyun-Jin Ryu throws today, so there is every reason to think this little slide ends this afternoon. Coming into this brutal ten-game stretch against good teams in the division, I felt like as long as the Blue Jays come through it more or less intact -- I don't need a winning record here, or even five and five; four and six would be fine! -- they are set up for a really nice run as the schedule not only softens up, but like really softens up. And I think this is still within reach! It would be a drag, though, to only win the Ryu games.

KS

2021 Game Forty-Three: Rays 9, Blue Jays 7 (F/12)

An ill wind, I guess you could say

Rather than the twelfth-inning Francisco Mejía grand slam, or even the baffling Charlie Montoyo decisions that played no small part in getting us there (a two-strike bunt from a bad bunter with two on and nobody out? Four intentional walks in extra innings?), I am choosing instead to think about a wonderful moment that occurred hours (weeks?) earlier, in the third inning: the broadcast went to tape (from a day or so before [home whites, rather than the dark blues]) that showed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. make his way slowly but steadily along the Blue Jays dugout, a special handshake or little dance or merry routine for every teammate and coach he encountered. It was utterly delightful, and I can say that with considerable certainty, because of how utterly delighted I got. And then the broadcast cut back to the live game just in time to see Vladdy launch a two-run shot off of no less a guy than Tyler Glasnow. What I am about to say next would be true even if he hadn't hit another two-run home run in the (ultimately futile) bottom of the twelfth inning, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has quite clearly been the best hitter in Major League Baseball so far this season, as you can tell by looking at whichever manner of statistic or metric you prefer (tastes vary, I get it). We're only a quarter of the way through, so who knows how this ends up, but right now, so far, he's been the best, and it has been just enormously fun to watch. It is at the same time likely he will get better than this, in that few hitters reach their peak at age twenty-three, yet also unlikely he will ever get better than this, as hitters don't get much better than this. But I guess we'll just see!  

KS   

2021 Game Forty-Two: Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 7

 

Oh no

I am sad to report that Rafael Dolis and I are on the outs. Honestly, it has nothing to do with Dolis blowing a ninth-inning lead, as this was the first ninth-inning lead well and truly blown not only by Rafael Dolis this year, but indeed by any Blue Jays reliever, which is actually pretty wild, and plainly unsustainable. Nor is it because I think he is not a cool guy, because I think that he is in fact a cool guy, and I like that he pitched for a while in Japan, an inherently interesting thing to have done. But what I have decided is that I can no longer abide Rafael Dolis, or indeed any reliever, pitching with such blatant disregard for bedtimes. If there is an active pitcher (a term I must use loosely in this context!) anywhere in either league who works more slowly than Rafael Dolis, I don't know who that could be, and please do not tell me about him. It's too much. I need to go to bed.

KS

2021 Game Forty-One: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 3

 

Not at all what you want to see.

After Ross Stripling got utterly shelled for five runs in the first, the hope going into the home-half of the inning was that maybe the Blue Jays could put up two or three, and turn it into a wild one, maybe? And sure enough Marcus Semien walks, Bo Bichette doubles, and we're on our way, right? Except Luis Rivera totally blew it at the third base, and put up the "stop" after Semien had already tucked his head and started charging hard around third on a play it looks like he totally could have scored on. Instead, he was completely in no-man's land by the time Rivera's too-late message reached him, and he was picked off trying to get back to third. Semien was quietly but visibly not happy, and he is a super professional dude, so that quiet-yet-visible unhappiness spoke volumes. This is not the first time this year Luis Rivera has drawn attention to his work at third, and I've got to be honest with you, I'm not thrilled about it! What could have been a big inning ended up with a lone run -- Bichette, on Vladdy's subsequent double -- and my hopes were ruined. Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler seemingly found no fault with Rivera's work here, but to me it sure looked faulty, and I just don't see how Marcus Semien, of all people, gets that play that wrong if not for shoddy input from the third base coach. Would any of this have mattered, given the state of the Red Sox bats last night? Almost certainly not! And yet I remained preoccupied with this issue throughout the evening and well into today. Such is the nature of baseball, and -- who could doubt it? -- of baseball feelings. 

KS

2021 Game Forty: Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 0

 

I like Vladdy's mitten

Not the best game of the year as in "hoo boy! what a game!", but the best game of the year as in "oh man, what a team." Everybody hit last night, all the way down to the number nine spot, with Danny Jansen going two-for-three with a walk. Eighteen hits! Vladdy and Téo and Lourdes each three-for-five! Grichuk with a double and a two-run homer, striking blows against Keith Law's seemingly immutable evil! And Hyun-Jin Ryu totally carved up the best run-scoring team in baseball (so far), just four hits (no walks!) over seven complete, striking out seven along the way. Ryu pitched out of a lightly-ticklish fourth inning like it was nothing. Bergen, Chatwood, and a returning Rafael Dolis kept things scoreless the rest of the way for the Blue Jays' third shutout win of the year, and I believe I read that their +44 run differential is the best in baseball. And they still have, objectively, just a tonne of guys hurt. So long as those guys are joined by neither Vladdy or Ryu, this team that is already really good could turn out to be at least somewhat monstrous as we get deeper into things. A win tonight would mean first place! Let's see!

KS

2021 Game Thirty-Nine: Blue Jays 10, Phillies 8

 

Bring it on in, Marcus Semien.

This one was an absolute blast, and I speak not of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s third home run in as many days, which was itself an absolute blast, one estimated at 464 feet (remember to calculate the horizontal and vertical components of a trajectory independently -- that's a tip for all you kids out there taking grade eleven physics right now), though I understand your confusion. After Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette led off with back-to-back home runs, it looked the Blue Jays were really going to have a monster inning until poor Rowdy Tellez grounded into an inning-ending double play. The second was even more fun, with Santiago Espinal's triple (savour every triple, because you do not get to see that many -- that's another one for the kids), then just a whack of doubles and stuff until poor Rowdy Tellez lined into his second consecutive inning-ending double play. Robbie Ray was terrific until he wasn't, and the bullpen didn't exactly lock it down after that, which led to a wild afternoon all around, but striking out a pinch-hitting Bryce Harper (who followed up five-times-on-base Friday by messing up his shoulder on Saturday) to end was pretty neat! It is pleasing to have taken two of three from the Phillies, as the Blue Jays are really in it now: ten straight against the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays. The AL East is shaping up to be a bloodbath, with four teams at twenty-two wins or better right now, at a time when there are other divisions in baseball with just the one. I take some comfort in the weird fact that New York and Boston haven't played each other even once yet, and so that's nearly twenty games of those two teams just kind of beating up on each other coming up, and maybe the Blue Jays can sneak on through with a whole bunch of wins over let's say Baltimore (no diss)? Red Sox up first, though, with the Blue Jays just a game and a half back.

KS

2021 Game Thirty-Eight: Blue Jays 4, Phillies 0

 

I will not be silenced
with regard to liking Vladdy Jr

A few batters and twenty-six pitches in, it looked like it was going to be a long night for Anthony Kay, or rather a short night for Anthony Kay and a long night for me, and yet this did not prove true! Kay gave about as much as one could reasonably have hoped for, with just three baserunners in four innings, plus he struck out six. The bullpen, which had an uncharacteristically bad outing the night before, went Bergen, Cole, Chatwood, Romano, and that was that, just the second shut-out for the Blue Jays so far this year. Vladdy hit another home run (his tenth!) and, just as cheeringly, Biggio and Gurriel had a pair of hits each. If those guys really get going, that'd be, like, seven guys who are currently really going, which is a couple more than you even need, honestly. But it would definitely be worth trying it just to see.

KS

2021 Game Thirty-Seven: Phillies 5, Blue Jays 1

 

He's . . . in there?

First of all, I don't even feel like it is fair to say that a bullpen "blew" a game by not holding onto a 1-0 game; that is simply not how I feel about that situation (guys, guys, guys: one run? why is Vladdy Jr. the only guy hitting bombs tonight? why would we even pluralize it given the paucity of bombs?). But even if we were to say that the bullpen blew this one, it would be indefensible to be upset by our league-best bullpen having one night which did not go as well as hoped, such that there were all of these walks and then several doubles. And so I am sanguine, in no small part because Matz had a good start. I do worry a little, though, about how all of the remaining games in Dunedin (before the Blue Jays "shuffle off to Buffalo," haha!) are against good teams. The Blue Jays schedule has been unusually tough to this point, but that can only mean lots of Baltimore and Detroit soon, and, one hopes, indefinitely. 

KS 

2021: Game Thirty-Six: Toronto 8, Atlanta 4

 

9 K's!

Until the Blue Jays blew it open with a four-run ninth, this was a wonderful, back-and-forth game on what looked like a lovely getaway-day afternoon in Atlanta. I hadn't even realized that the game had started when my old friend Adrian sent me a picture of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. taken from Adrian's seat down the first-base line. It was Adrian's first game of the year, and he picked a good one! Until, like I say, that ninth inning, which of course I enjoyed a great deal, but which I suspect was not as much fun in the park. Pretty much every Blue Jay had a passable day at the plate, by the end of it, but I am particularly cheered by Cavan Biggio's two-for-three with a double and two walks, and Téo's two-for-four with a walk (Bo Bichette can knock in three runs on a couple of hits and it just feels like a regular thing for your twenty-three-year-old shortstop to do at this point). Ross Stripling had a did some classic "settling in after early jitters," a phenomenon which took on a different hue when I finally (and only recently!) encountered data that indicated quite clearly that run expectancy was demonstrably higher in the first inning than in any other, which makes sense, because of how that is when the best hitters are definitely going to be up (makes sense, right?). Mayza struggled in relief, but Payamps, Bergen, and Romano combined to allow but a single baserunner between them in three innings of work. The Blue Jays swept not just the series but indeed the season series over Atlanta with the win, and now sit at 20-16 on the year, a mere game out of first place in the AL East -- and I'm stoked! Also stoked: the internet, over Vladimir Guerrero's light-hearted mimicry of Jordan Romano's quirky delivery. Perhaps you would enjoy to see it?  

KS

2021 Game Thirty-Five: Toronto 4, Atlanta 1

 

It truly was a Ryu day

I liked Marcus Semien driving Cavan Biggio in with a double to tie it in the sixth; I liked Teoscar Hernandez's home run in the seventh to pull ahead; and I especially like Téo's two-run shot in the ninth (Bo Bichette aboard!) to seal the deal. But what I not-just-liked but full-on-loved was watching Hyun-Jin Ryu out there pitching, just out there pitching, as the craftiest lefty of the age, and by a lot. Did you know that since 2018, only likely-Hall-of-Famer Jacob De Grom has a better ERA in all of baseball? I didn't! Although you knew that Ryu is hard to run against, did you know that he has allowed only seven stolen bases in his career (that's like one a year!), and that there have only been something like thirteen attempts against him? I didn't! But Dan and Buck were full of all kinds of interesting stuff last night, and they were obviously having a heck of a time watching Ryu pitch. It's just such a pleasure. Last night, he soft-tossed his way through seven innings of five-hit, one-run baseball, and it was just perfectly lovely to see.

KS

2021 Game Thirty-Four: Toronto 5, Atlanta 3

 

I think that one's going

A really, really impressive "settling in after some early jitters" from Robbie Ray in this one, as the twenty-six-pitch first inning left me resigned to a long, slow night of no fun, but Ray really kept it together, and the Thornton/Chatwood/Romano bullpen, once handed off to, continued to look (somehow) like the best bullpen in all of baseball (somehow). Téo's little chopper between first and second (with nobody covering first!) to plate a key run was a lovely little moment of baseball, and Marcus Semien continues to be the Blue Jays hottest hitter of late, but the real thrill of this game was the head-to-head feel of Ronald Acuña Jr., who homered, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who very much did likewise. Vladdy tied the game twice, the second time on a single to the left that probably would have scored two if it hadn't been hit 116.3 MPH, an unreasonable and actually unhelpful speed. Vladdy's little mini-slump seems to be behind him? Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez, who were great last night in the parts of the game I had on, noted that it was probably not fair to expect Vladdy to hit like .380 all season, but maybe it isn't actually? It becomes increasingly hard to say. Hyun-Jin Ryu on the mound tonight! 

KS