03-29-18 NYY vs TOR (Opening Day)

(Photo via @HMeegs)

Line Score - Final

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
NYY	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	1	6	11	1
TOR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	2

Box Score

TOR		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA		NYY		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
2B	Travis	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000		LF	Gardner, B	5	2	1	1	0	0	.200
3B	Donaldson	3	0	0	0	1	0	.000		RF	Judge	4	1	2	0	1	2	.500
1B	Smoak	3	0	0	0	1	2	.000		DH	Stanton	5	3	3	4	0	1	.600
LF	Granderson	2	0	1	0	1	1	.500		C	Sánchez, G	5	0	1	1	0	1	.200
PH	Pearce	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000		CF	Hicks	4	0	2	0	0	2	.500
DH	Morales, K	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000		SS	Gregorius	3	0	0	0	1	0	.000
RF	Grichuk	3	0	0	0	0	1	.000		3B	Drury	4	0	1	0	0	2	.250
C	Martin, R	3	0	0	0	0	1	.000		1B	Walker, N	4	0	1	0	0	0	.250
CF	Pillar	3	1	1	1	0	2	.333		1B	Austin	3	0	0	0	0	1	.000
SS	Díaz	3	0	0	0	0	0	.000		2B	Wade	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000

TOR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA		NYY	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Happ, J	4.2	4	3	2	1	5	96-58	3.86		Severino, L	5.2	1	0	0	3	7	91-60	0.00
Axford	0.1	2	1	1	0	1	14-9	27.00		Green, C	1.1	0	0	0	0	3	22-14	0.00
Loup	1.0	1	0	0	1	0	11-6	0.00		Betances	1.0	1	1	1	0	0	13-8	9.00
Barnes, D	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	18-13	9.00		Chapman	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	10-8	0.00
Oh, S	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	12-10	0.00
Clippard	1.0	1	1	1	0	1	21-11	9.00

Yeah, yeah. I know. The Jays will never reach .500. If they keep playing like they did today, then you’re probably right. But enough of that negativity for a second. Baseball is back!

It was a fine outing for J.A. Happ. Nothing spectacular. His final line reads 4.2 IP, 2 ER/3R, 3 H, 5 K, 1 BB. Happ started off shaky, no thanks to his defence. Brett Gardner was the first batter of the game, and he reached 1st when Granderson lost a line drive in the lights. That’s not a good way to make new fans. A couple of batters later, Giancarlo Stanton made his presence known with a two-run shot. Happ settled down after that, as he retired seven in a row. Happ’s only other earned run came when he was already out of the game, as he left Aaron Judge at 1st in the 5th, and he was later driven home. One concern for Happ was his pitch count, as he reached 96 pitches in only 4.2 innings. That was reminiscent of his first stint with the Jays. Still, considering it was his first start of the year, and that it was against the Yankees, it was fine.

Hoo boy, the offence:

"The ceremony for Roy Halladay was so touching that everyone decided that was good enough for the day and decided to go home."

Two hits (a new Blue Jays Opening Day record). One run. Three walks. 12 strikeouts. The ball didn’t leave the infield after the 2nd inning. On the good side, Granderson had a hit and a walk. And credit where it’s due - Pillar took Dellin Betances deep on the first pitch he saw. On the bad side, everything else. I know it’s only game one, so I won’t dare question why Brook Jacoby is still involved, but I also won’t not question it.

The bullpen didn’t have the best day. Axford made his Blue Jays debut in the 5th, with a runner on and two outs. As I said earlier, he allowed the runner to reach home, as Stanton ripped an RBI double. Next up, Gary Sanchez did the same. Axford eventually struck out Aaron Hicks to end the inning. For what it’s worth, Axford’s fastball had good velocity with plenty of movement, but it didn’t spend much time around the plate.

Loup came in to work the 6th. He gave up a leadoff walk to Didi Gregorius, but quickly erased that when Brandon Drury grounded into a double play. Neil Walker then hit a round rule double. Walker just about scored after that, as Tyler Austin hit what should have been a run-scoring error charged to Donaldson, but the umpire judged him to be out at 1st to end the inning. More on Donaldson later.

Barnes pitched in the 7th. He kind of stunk. He gave up a leadoff homer to Gardner and a single to Judge, before he got Stanton to strikeout and Gary Sanchez to ground into a double play. The home run effectively put the game out of reach.

We saw another debut in the 8th, as Seung-hwan Oh took the mound. At that point, I really wished we had a long man, and wondered why - already down 5-0 - they didn’t get Barnes to work two innings. Oh gave up a leadoff single, as Hicks hit a grounder that pulled Smoak off the bag, and Oh hesitated before running to cover 1st. Didi Gregorius then hit a deep flyout and Drury struck out. Walker should have grounded out to end the inning, when he hit a weak dribbler back to the mound, but Oh fielded it bare-handed and dropped it. Ugly stuff. The inning ended on the next pitch, as Tyler Wade grounded out.

And… another debut in the 9th. Tyler Clippard came in. Can someone explain why we used five relievers to cover five innings? I’m befuddled. Gardner flied out and Judge struck out to start the inning. Then Stanton hit another home run because of course he did and oh god we have to see him so much now. Sanchez popped out to end the onslaught for today.

I’m worried about Donaldson. Early in spring training, we heard that his shoulder was “hanging.” Still, he came back, and was thought to be healthy-ish today. Turns out, that was less than true. I counted four different throws that Donaldson made to 1st which were suspicious at best. Whether it was the throw being weak or off-target, his shoulder clearly wasn’t up to the task. I really don’t understand why he stayed in the game following the 5th inning, when it was apparent that he wasn’t fit to play. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

In better defensive news, Smoak looked sharp today, as he speared a couple of sharp liners from Gardner and did his best to handle Donaldson’s errant throws. With Eric Hosmer in San Diego, Smoak will win the Gold Glove this season.

The road to .500 continues tomorrow.