05-10-18 SEA vs TOR

Dan Hamilton/USA Today

Line Score - Final

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
SEA	4	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	9	17	0
TOR	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	8	0

Box Score

TOR		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA		SEA		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
LF	Granderson	2	0	0	0	1	1	.276		SS	Segura	6	2	4	0	0	1	.305
LF	Alford	0	0	0	0	1	0	.167		RF	Haniger	6	0	2	1	0	2	.297
3B	Donaldson	4	0	3	0	0	1	.241		2B	Canó	4	1	2	1	0	1	.286
2B	Solarte	4	0	1	0	0	0	.270		DH	Cruz	3	0	0	0	2	0	.240
RF	Hernández, T	4	0	0	0	0	3	.257		1B	Healy, R	4	2	2	1	1	0	.260
1B	Smoak	4	0	1	0	0	2	.254		3B	Seager, K	5	2	2	5	0	0	.241
CF	Pillar	3	1	1	0	0	0	.315		C	Zunino	4	1	2	1	1	1	.194
PH	Pompey	1	0	0	0	0	1	.222		CF	Heredia	4	0	0	0	1	3	.244
C	Martin, R	3	1	1	2	0	1	.151		LF	Romine, An	5	1	3	0	0	1	.174
PH	Ureña, R	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
DH	Morales, K	3	0	0	0	0	0	.143
SS	Gurriel Jr.	3	1	1	0	0	0	.215

TOR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA		SEA	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Happ, J	3.1	10	7	7	2	3	84-52	4.80		Leake	7.0	6	2	2	1	6	101-76	5.72
Petricka	1.2	2	1	1	2	1	37-23	4.15		Rzepczynski	0.0	1	1	1	1	0	7-3	10.13
Loup	2.0	2	0	0	1	3	41-22	4.02		Bradford	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	1-1	2.40
Mayza	2.0	3	1	1	0	2	32-26	4.26		Pazos	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	9-7	1.35
										Díaz	1.0	0	0	0	0	3	19-14	1.86

The offence has cooled off significantly (including the disappearance of Travis, Morales, Martin, and Grichuk), the rotation is one of the very worst in baseball, there are more than a couple of injuries right now, and the team doesn't have a closer. Even so... the Jays entered today's game only 2.0 games back of a playoff spot. This team is going to be fine. It's still very early.

Now to expand on that a little.

The Jays have seven healthy players on the roster with wRC+ marks north of 100. One of those is Donaldson, at 116 (he has averaged ~150 since joining the Jays). Meanwhile, Martin, Morales, Grichuk, and Travis are all at 77 or lower. But each of those guys has averaged at least 100 in recent years and throughout their respective careers. Will they all reach that again this year? It’s unlikely. But it is likely that we will see serious improvement from a couple, and at least marginal improvement from the others. I would bet on Travis, given that he’s the youngest of the bunch and with the best track record among the young guys. Three bad weeks isn’t enough to have me believe that he suddenly can’t hit anymore. Meanwhile, the only two regulars who are seriously over-performing are Pillar and Solarte. Even Smoak isn’t on fire this year. Pearce and Granderson have done what we expected in their platoon roles. All of this to say that the offence has been bad this year, but there’s definitely reason to expect them to improve.

The rotation is among the worst in baseball. The rotation’s ERA is now 5.53. It was 4.42 last year, without Sanchez, and with Bolsinger and co. That’s a huge difference, despite adding Sanchez and Garcia, who should each be huge improvements over last year’s group. As Gregor points out, the rotation could be the very worst by the end of the night.

But again, this is a rotation with Stroman-Sanchez-Happ-Estrada-Garcia. Before the year began, they were thought to be among the top-10 in baseball. Now obviously, they’ve been putrid so far this year. But do you really expect to continue with an ERA of 4.80 this year, or for Stroman to continue with an ERA of 7.71 (remember, Stroman had an ERA of 3.20 in 303.2 innings between July, 2016 and September, 2017)? Garcia might not live up to our low expectations, and Estrada is probably due for a slide this year, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to conclude that the entire rotation has fallen off a cliff all of a sudden. There’s talent in that group.

The bullpen has been over performing. We all know that. They’re overworked, and are now without a closer. They’ll likely take a step back. Brace yourselves.

All told, though, I don’t understand where the attitude of “This is who they really are” has come from. I don’t know why it’s so easy to accept the past month as though it should be the norm going forward for those who are struggling, while discounting their fairly lengthy track records.
So far, this is a team that has had to overcome all kinds of under-performance, and still finds themselves in the thick of a “playoff race” (or whatever you want to call 2.5 games back of the playoffs on May 10). Bear in mind that the competition, the Angels and apparently the Mariners, have had relatively smooth sailing to this point.

It’s still very early. As easy as it is to be needlessly pessimistic and throw in the towel after a poor 10-day stretch, it seems more sensible to me to recognize that the team is due to regress in a positive direction, which should only help their playoff chances moving forward. Remember how good things seemed only 10 days ago? They were 16-12 and everything was fine. That was only 10 days ago.
The realistic goal this year was always the second Wild Card, and the fact that the Jays have withstood so much under-performance to date hasn’t changed my mind that they should still find themselves chasing that spot come September.

04-14-18 TOR vs CLE

Line Score - Final

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
TOR	0	0	0	4	0	0	1	0	3	8	7	0
CLE	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	12	2

Box Score

CLE		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA		TOR		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
SS	Lindor	5	2	3	1	0	1	.241		DH	Granderson	3	0	0	0	0	1	.324
2B	Kipnis	5	0	1	1	0	1	.164		DH	Pearce	2	2	1	2	0	0	.233
3B	Ramírez, J	4	1	1	0	1	2	.160		LF	Hernández, T	5	0	2	2	0	1	.400
1B	Alonso	4	0	1	1	0	2	.191		1B	Smoak	4	1	0	0	1	3	.288
DH	Encarnacion	4	0	1	0	0	1	.146		3B	Solarte	4	1	0	0	1	0	.286
RF	Naquin, T	4	0	2	1	0	0	.280		C	Martin, R	4	0	0	0	0	1	.152
C	Gomes	3	0	1	0	1	2	.194		CF	Pillar	4	1	2	1	0	1	.308
CF	Zimmer	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250		SS	Díaz	4	2	2	3	0	0	.237
LF	Davis, R	4	1	1	0	0	1	.240		RF	Grichuk	3	0	0	0	1	2	.071

CLE	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA		TOR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Clevinger	4.0	3	4	4	2	5	82-48	2.70		Stroman	5.0	9	4	4	2	5	99-62	7.98
Otero	2.0	0	0	0	0	2	27-18	6.00		Barnes, D	1.0	2	0	0	0	2	23-16	1.23
McAllister	0.1	0	1	0	1	0	9-4	6.75		Clippard	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	10-7	2.35
Miller	0.2	1	0	0	0	1	13-10	0.00		Tepera	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	9-6	2.25
Belisle	1.1	3	3	3	0	1	33-21	5.06		Osuna	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	13-10	0.00
Olson	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	6-4	5.40

The Blue Jays were down 4-0, and then scored eight unanswered runs. Aprobado!

No recap tonight. Just some thoughts on Hernandez.

He has shown tremendous upside since coming to the Jays. As you know, he had eight home runs in fewer than 100 plate appearances last year, and posted a wRC+ of 132. He looked great again in spring training this year. Tonight, he hit two doubles in his debut, and picked up a couple of RBIs. It’s been a terrific career with the Blue Jays so far.

But as exciting as he’s been, I think we should still pump the brakes a little. Over the course of his minor league career, Hernandez always struggled with strikeouts. That continued last September, when he struck out 38% of the time. He also showed decent power in the minors, but certainly nothing compared to a .341 ISO. The most homers he ever hit in a season was 17, once in 455 plate appearances, and again in 514. Remember, he hit eight last year in 95.

What does that mean? For me, it means that the September sample shouldn’t carry too much weight. It was such a drastic departure from his career norm, that I find it hard to believe that he will sustain it. Obviously he did tonight, but based on the evidence before us, it’s not likely to continue.
Moreover, he has still shown holes in his game. Do you know who he is very similar to? Randal Grichuk, a player with ~1,500 plate appearances under his belt. The key difference is that Grichuk has shown exceptional power consistently at the MLB level, along with the strikeouts. Grichuk is also a slightly better defender, but that’s not as important to this discussion.

All of this to say that, while Grichuk has struggled so far and Hernandez has looked excellent, both have done so in small samples, and have should be expected to regress in opposite directions. Based on what we’ve seen over their careers, Grichuk should level out to be a slightly above-average player, and Hernandez… we don’t know. Which is why the Jays have stuck with Grichuk, and will continue to moving forward.

Now, having said all of that, this isn’t meant to be a put-down on Hernandez. I don’t dislike him, or “hate him,” as I’ve been accused of. I just think that there are enough red flags throughout his career, and not enough of a positive sample size as yet, for the Jays to hitch their wagon to him. You know what would make the most sense to me? If the Jays could somehow get rid of Morales. That way, they could keep Hernandez in LF, while platooning Granderson and Pearce at DH. Based on the 40-man, that seems to be the optimal lineup at this point.

Hernandez has shown terrific flashes so far in his career. I just want to see him do it for a little longer before I get too excited.

04-04-18 CHW vs TOR

Line Score - Final

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

Box Score

TOR		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA		CWS		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
2B	Travis	4	0	0	0	0	1	.050		2B	Moncada	3	0	1	1	1	1	.200
3B	Donaldson	3	1	1	0	1	0	.250		RF	García, A	3	0	0	1	0	2	.318
1B	Smoak	4	1	2	0	0	1	.385		DH	Abreu	4	1	1	1	0	1	.400
LF	Granderson	2	0	2	0	0	0	.350		1B	Davidson	3	1	1	1	0	1	.263
LF	Pearce	2	1	1	1	0	0	.286		LF	García, L	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
RF	Grichuk	4	0	0	0	0	3	.087		1B	Delmonico	4	0	0	0	0	1	.077
C	Martin, R	4	0	0	1	0	1	.133		C	Castillo	3	1	1	0	1	1	.200
DH	Morales, K	4	0	1	1	0	1	.143		3B	Sánchez	4	1	2	0	0	1	.333
CF	Pillar	4	0	0	0	0	2	.320		SS	Anderson, Ti	4	0	0	0	0	2	.300
SS	Ngoepe	3	0	0	0	0	1	.100		CF	Engel	3	0	1	0	0	1	.250

TOR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA		CWS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Sanchez, Aa	6.0	5	3	3	2	7	98-58	5.40		Fulmer, C	5.0	5	3	3	1	5	73-48	5.40
Oh, S	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	17-13	2.25		Bummer	0.2	2	0	0	0	1	13-7	0.00
Tepera	1.0	1	1	1	0	0	10-6	2.25		Farquhar	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	18-13	5.40
Loup	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	14-11	0.00		Jones, N	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	10-8	0.00

Lots of warning track power tonight.

Sanchez had some good stuff tonight. He wasn’t great, but he was good. His final line reads 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 7 SO, 2 BB. Sanchez located his fastball well, and his off-speed pitches had plenty of movement. I really don’t have a whole lot to say about the start. This was basically the base that you expect Sanchez to build on. He gave up a solo shot to Matt Davidson, and limited the damage after that.

There were some shenanigans in the 5th, though. The inning started off with a walk to Welington Castillo and a single from Yolmer Sanchez. A couple of batters later, Sanchez hit Adam Engel with a pitch to load the bases. Yoan Moncada then drove one to the outfield wall. Watch this for the whole picture of what happened next.

At first, it seemed as though Granderson made a terrific catch, and Castillo made a boneheaded decision on the base paths. As it turned out, the umpires got the decision wrong, and after review, they awarded each runner a base, resulting in a run for the White Sox. I agree with the reasoning, even if it seemed a little strange at first. Basically, once the umpire signalled that Granderson made the catch, the runners couldn’t be expected to advance, because they weren’t forced to. As such, they couldn’t be called out for not advancing, and the umpires had to make the judgment call that it was reasonable to expect that, if the umpires hadn’t made the wrong call, the runners would have advanced one base each. I buy that.

The Jays had a chance to score early tonight, but Grichuk and his strikeout tendencies got in the way. After a Donaldson walk and a Granderson single, they had runners on the corners with two outs, before Grichuk struck out. That was a theme throughout the game. The bats went quiet after that, until Granderson and Smoak hit back-to-back doubles, and Martin scored one in the 4th. Morales struck out to end the inning.

The 6th was more interesting. Donaldson hit a single, and Smoak hit a double to start things off. With a lefty on the mound, Gibbons went to the bench. The switch worked, as Pearce picked up a pinch-hit RBI single. Grichuk then had an opportunity to pile a few runs on. He went up 3-0 in the count, before he swung at two balls below his ankles, and ultimately struck out watching strike three cross near the middle of the zone. Grichuk’s strikeouts were ugly tonight. Martin tried to bring a run in after that, but Smoak was thrown out at home. When it looked as though the Jays might have wasted a golden opportunity, Morales came through with an RBI single.

So Grichuk joined Travis in the doghouse (Travis had another bad night, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout). That doesn’t mean that Teoscar Hernandez should replace him. Not even close. As good as Hernandez looked last September with his eight home runs, he also struck out 38% of the time. That is Randal Grichuk. Grichuk brings lots of power and lots of strikeouts. The difference is that Grichuk has done it at the Major League level for a lot longer than a month, unlike Hernandez. Grichuk also brings noticeably better defence. Yes, Grichuk is off to a slow start, but he isn’t going to lose his job, especially not to someone who is a slightly lesser version of himself.

Back on topic - I didn’t count how many balls the Jays hit deep into the outfield, but it seemed like a lot. They just kept landing in gloves.

Oh worked the 7th inning. He picked up a couple of strikeouts against Moncada and Avisail Garcia, as well as a groundout from Tim Anderson. Engel mixed a single in there as well. Tepera came in for the 8th. He didn’t have a clean inning. Jose Abreu hit a leadoff home run. Tepera then hit Davidson with a pitch. Nicky Delmonico grounded into a double play (the Travis-Ngoepe duo has been smooth). Castillo flied out to end the frame. Loup worked the 9th against three right-handers. He got two strikeouts and a flyout. Loup has looked good so far.

Off-day tomorrow. Weekend series against the Rangers on tap. We have more wins than losses.

04-03-18 CHW vs TOR

Line Score - Final

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
CWS	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	5	9	1
TOR	0	0	3	3	0	1	0	7		14	15	2

Box Score

TOR		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA		CWS		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
LF	Granderson	5	2	2	1	0	0	.278		2B	Moncada	4	0	0	0	1	3	.176
3B	Donaldson	4	2	2	3	1	0	.238		RF	García, A	5	1	2	1	0	1	.316
1B	Smoak	3	2	1	1	1	0	.364		1B	Abreu	4	0	2	0	0	0	.438
2B	Solarte	4	1	2	0	1	0	.250		DH	Davidson	5	0	0	0	0	3	.250
RF	Grichuk	4	0	0	1	0	1	.105		C	Castillo	4	0	0	0	0	1	.176
DH	Morales, K	4	1	1	1	1	2	.100		SS	Anderson, Ti	4	3	3	1	0	1	.375
CF	Pillar	5	2	2	1	0	2	.381		CF	Engel	3	0	0	1	1	0	.231
C	Maile	5	1	2	2	0	1	.375		3B	Saladino	2	0	0	0	0	2	.000
SS	Díaz	3	2	3	3	0	0	.313		3B	Sánchez	2	1	1	1	0	0	.273
SS	Ngoepe	1	1	0	0	1	0	.143		LF	Delmonico	4	0	1	1	0	3	.111

TOR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA		CWS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Happ, J	5.1	7	4	4	1	9	93-60	5.40		González, M	5.0	8	6	5	2	4	89-58	9.00
Barnes, D	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	13-8	3.00		Santiago, H	2.1	3	3	3	1	2	45-26	11.57
Axford	1.0	1	0	0	1	0	21-9	3.86		Infante	0.1	3	5	5	2	0	21-11	33.75
Clippard	1.0	1	1	1	0	2	17-11	4.50		Minaya	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	12-6	18.00
Loup	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	20-13	0.00

I tried to condense tonight’s recap, but the Jays just kept scoring. Here’s a live look at Luke Maile.
J.A. Happ wasn’t particularly sharp tonight. The results were mixed, and the process wasn’t especially convincing. His final line reads 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 9 K, 1 BB. Happ worked himself hard early on. The White Sox had a couple of hits, a couple of walks, and three strikeouts in the 2nd. That forced Happ’s pitch count up to 47. He settled down after that, as he racked up a few more strikeouts and only a few more baserunners. The issue was that two of the hits were home runs - one from Tim Anderson and the other from Avisail Garcia. The strikeouts have been a nice surprise, but between the Ks, Happ has been pitching to lots of contact. It would do the bullpen a world of good if he could pitch a little deeper into his starts (he’s at 10.0 innings now through his first two games).

A quick word on the decision to pull Happ in the 6th. John Gibbons has managed situations like tonight’s basically the exact same way throughout his tenure. Whenever he has a starter who seems to be at the end of the road, Gibbons will send him back out to start an inning, and yank him once the opponent gets a base runner. Like clockwork, Gibbons did the same tonight after Anderson hit a single. I assume the thinking has to be to get as many outs as possible from the starter. I guess it’s just a philosophical difference on my part, because I don’t agree with it. For me, I would rather they go straight to the bullpen to start innings like that, rather than force a reliever to come in with a runner already on. It strikes me a tactic that leads to unnecessarily stressful innings for the bullpen, more often than not (of course, I haven’t actually checked to see how effective it has been at getting an extra innings from the starter). Maybe Gibby’s right.

Runs, runs, runs, runs ,runs, runs, runs.

The offence kept doing good things tonight, and in a change of pace, they got to the White Sox relatively early. Maile led off the 3rd with a double(!), before Diaz hit a two-run homer. A couple of batters later, Smoak walked, Solarte hit a single (and Smoak advanced to 3rd), and Smoak eventually scored on an error by Anderson. They manufactured a run!

The manufacturing continued in the 4th, as Pillar got aboard with a single (we seem to have had lots of leadoff men reach so far, no?), and Diaz hit an RBI double. I’m not sure why he tried to advance to 3rd, but the hit itself was valuable. Those exit velocities are paying off. Diaz was stellar tonight (unfortunately, he left in the 7th due to back spasms). Granderson followed Diaz with a triple, before Donaldson launched a two-run bomb. Donaldson followed that with an RBI single in the 6th. The single had an exit velocity of 115.5 MPH, while the homer was clocked at 94.7 MPH. Baseball’s wild. Donaldson looks healthy.

Also, Ngoepe walked tonight in the 8th! He got on base! That was a sign of things to come. Granderson then hit a double, the White Sox missed the cutoff man, and Ngoepe scored standing up. Donaldson followed with another walk, before Smoak picked up an RBI with a ground rule double. The White Sox gave Solarte an intentional walk to get to Grichuk, who hit a sac fly to score Donaldson. Morales followed that with an RBI single. It was all hands on deck. And it didn’t stop there - Pillar hit an RBI double to make it 12 on the night. Maile followed with [his second double of the night](!!)(https://streamable.com/gk51o), driving in two runs. He’s on fire.

The Jays were criticized in some quarters for being too reliant on home runs through the first five games (a fair critique of a small sample). Tonight, they had a couple of home runs, 10 extra base hits, they threw in some walks, and had some smart baserunning. It was multi-faceted onslaught, and I loved it.

As mentioned above, Barnes came in to clean up the 6th, with one on and one out. Anderson was standing at 1st, and eventually stole his way to 3rd. Adam Engel scored drive him home on a grounder. Barnes got out of the inning by striking out Nicky Delmonico.

In other news, Axford has yet to have a really strong inning as a Blue Jay. The Pride of Port Dover looked shaky again tonight, but still managed to escape the 7th unscathed. He started by walking Yoan Moncada, before Garcia grounded out. Jose Abreu then hit a single, with an asset to Grichuk, who dropped the catch. Moncada advanced to 3rd on the play. The next batter, Matt Davidson, hit a comebacker, and Axford threw Moncada out at the plate. That was the third out at the plate for the Jays in six games. Welington Castillo grounded out to end the frame. It was an eventful inning for Axford, who is still fighting to find the strike zone.

Clippard worked the 8th. Anderson struck out, Engel flied out… and Yolmer Sanchez hit a solo shot. The long ball was a problem tonight for the staff tonight. Clippard bounced back by striking out Delmonico. He has allowed two home runs in 4.0 innings, but has otherwise been fine to start the year. Loup got to pitch the 9th, after the Jays demolished the White Sox in the 8th. Moncada struck out to start the inning. Garcia then reached 2nd on a throwing error by Loup. I’m going to spare you anymore details at this point. Loup finished the game for the Jays.

Sanchez starts tomorrow against Carson Fulmer. That should be fun.

04-02-18 CHW vs TOR

(Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

The Blue Jays have more wins than losses!!!!

Welcome to the Jaime Garcia show. It might not have been pretty, but it was effective. Garcia’s final line reads 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 SO, 4 H, 2 BB. His stuff looked both really good and really bad. When Garcia was in the zone, his off-speed pitches gave the White Sox fits. He was able to induce lots of soft contact from their half-hearted swings. That was set up by his pitches that were missing. Some intentionally missed. Others bounced off the turf on their way to home plate.

More often than not, Garcia’s missed pitches were unintentional, and missed by a lot. That seemed to affect him when he did hit the strike zone, though, as a few borderline calls didn’t go his way. That said, he also had the White Sox chasing some balls in the dirt. It worked both ways. The only damage came via a Welington Castillo solo shot

As long as Garcia can keep the damage down like he did today, I’ll happily sign up for a season of that. He’s probably going to need to locate a bit better in the future, though.

Not much offence for most of the day. A few hits, a few walks… and then THREE MONSTER HOME RUNS. We’re going to ride this power all summer long.

The Jays only had three baserunners through the first 5.0 innings, and two of those came from Grichuk walks. Incredible. They struck out a bunch and hit some lazy fly balls, while they also kept Yolmer Sanchez busy at 3rd, as he had to deal with a few sharp liners. The Jays finally broke through in the 6th, when Donaldson hit his first bomb of the year, to the opposite field. Between that and the video that Sportsnet showed of him throwing today, it seems as though his shoulder should be good to go. Also, Donaldson didn’t care for Daryl Boston’s whistle (and the White Sox didn’t seem to mind, so we’re cool).

Granderson worked a nice walk in the 7th. He took 10 pitches against the left-handed Luis Avilan, fouling off a few. That was a tough position to put him in, and he came through, in what turned out to be one of the most important plate appearances of the game. I like Curtis Granderson. A couple of batters later, Russell Martin launched a two-run shot. I also like Russell Martin. So does Solarte.

The Jays added another run in the 8th, when Diaz sent one flying over the left field wall. Diaz was bound to start hitting at some point. His exit velocities were very encouraging through the first few games, but the balls were just finding gloves. If he continues to hit them like he has, then we can watch out for him to become a bit of a threat at the bottom of the lineup. Later in the inning, with two outs and Smoak up, the White Sox turned to Aaron Bummer. Smoak reached on an error, Solarte reached on a walk. Granderson flied out to end the inning, but I really just wanted to tell you about Aaron Bummer.

In less exciting but still newsworthy news, Travis hasn’t looked good to start the year. I know he’s not alone. I’m just putting that out there. He had another quiet day today, with two strikeouts and not much else. He has now struck out in 47.1% of his at bats this season. The Jays need him to get going. Imagine what this perfectly average offence could be with a productive Travis. Also, Pillar shouldn’t bat leadoff, so stop it.

Seung-hwan Oh worked the 7th. He didn’t look as good as last night. Castillo took him deep for his second homer of the night. Tim Anderson then grounded out. The next two got aboard, as Leury Garcia walked and Sanchez was hit by a pitch. Oh wiggled his way out of that jam, when Adam Engel and Yoan Moncada each popped out to end the inning. Tepera pitched the 8th. Avisail Garcia flied out, Abreu hit a double, and Matt Davidson struck out. That brought Castillo back up to the plate, representing the go-ahead run. And he struck out on a beautiful slider off the plate. Tepera’s good, man.

Osuna was on for the 9th. Anderson flied out, Garcia grounded out, and Sanchez struck out. Eight strikes on eight pitches for Osuna, who has been damn near untouchable so far this season.

There was some fine defence on display tonight. For the second time this season, Solarte made a heads-up play to prevent a runner from scoring on a ground ball in the 3rd. Granderson then showed his range in the 4th, as he kept Jose Abreu to a single on what would have been a double in years past. Granderson made another smooth play in the 6th, when he caught Abreu trying to advance on a flyout. Save for the very first play of the year, Granderson has played well in LF. For his part, Solarte has done everything we could have hoped for at 3B.

Happ gets the ball opposite former shitbird Miguel Gonzalez tomorrow night.

03-31-18 NYY vs TOR

Line Score - Final

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

Box Score

TOR		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA		NYY		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
LF	Pearce	3	1	0	0	0	1	.200		DH	Walker, N	3	0	0	0	1	0	.200
LF	Granderson	1	0	1	0	0	0	.333		CF	Judge	4	0	0	0	0	1	.167
DH	Donaldson	3	1	1	0	1	2	.100		RF	Stanton	3	0	1	0	1	0	.333
1B	Smoak	4	0	3	2	0	0	.364		SS	Gregorius	4	0	1	0	0	0	.300
3B	Solarte	4	1	1	1	0	0	.250		C	Sánchez, G	4	0	0	0	0	0	.077
RF	Grichuk	3	0	1	0	1	1	.200		3B	Drury	3	1	0	0	1	0	.300
CF	Pillar	3	2	1	0	1	0	.333		LF	McKinney	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
SS	Díaz	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000		LF	Gardner, B	3	0	0	0	1	1	.167
C	Maile	3	0	1	1	1	0	.333		1B	Austin	3	2	2	3	0	1	.333
2B	Ngoepe	4	0	0	0	0	3	.000		2B	Wade	3	0	0	0	0	1	.125

TOR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA		NYY	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Estrada	7.0	4	3	3	3	2	91-57	3.86		Sabathia	5.0	5	2	1	2	4	84-54	1.80
Tepera	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	13-5	0.00		Warren	0.2	0	1	1	1	0	7-2	13.50
Osuna	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	10-7	0.00		Holder, J	0.1	1	0	0	0	1	7-5	0.00

BLUE JAYS WIN! BLUE JAYS WIN! BLUE JAYS WIN!

After giving it little thought, I’ve decided that yesterday’s approach was a little too clunky, so you don’t have to click around again. On to the game!

Marco Estrada gave the Jays a little more length than what they had in recent days, and he should be happy with the results. His final line reads 7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 K, 3 BB. It was encouraging to see lots of groundouts and popouts today. It seemed like he leaned a little more on the fastball than changeup, but he wasn’t locating it particularly high in the zone. A bit of a different approach. While the results were mostly good, Estrada also walked too many without really challenging those batters, and allowed his fair share of hard contact. The Yankees hit some deep flies, and Tyler Austin launched two rockets into the stands. I’m not going to link to them.

Basically, that’s what you expect from Estrada, and I’ll take 7.0 innings with three earned runs all summer long.

We saw some offence today! And it came in all forms. The bats got going early. Donaldson, showing no ill effects of a dead arm, launched a double deep to centre field in the 1st. That may have been a homer if his arm had a little more life. Didn’t matter though, because Smoak drove him in to give the Jays their first lead of the season. They added another run in the 5th, when Smoak hit an RBI double. Note that Pearce scored all the way from 1st on that play. Guy’s a burner. Smoak ended up finishing the day with three hits. It was also his bobblehead day. Make more bobbleheads.

The bottom of the order started off pretty poorly, as Diaz, Maile, and Ngoepe were retired on all of five pitches in the 2nd inning. Maile seemed to take that to heart. His next time up, in the 4th, he saw seven pitches. Sure, he didn’t make it on base, but it was progress. Then we saw something remarkable. Pillar walked(!) in the 6th, and MAILE DROVE HIM HOME WITH A SINGLE. To make this even more unbelievable, Maile took a walk in the 8th. Terrific stuff.

The Jays tried to manufacture a run in the 7th. Granderson led off the inning with a single. He was later thrown out trying to steal 2nd. Credit to Gary Sanchez, who made a perfect throw to get the out. It would be nice if Granderson and Grichuk developed into base stealing threats. Remember last year, when I kept saying that Chris Coghlan could hit? That’s how I felt through the first 2.5 games of this season about Yangervis Solarte. He paid me back for that promotion, when he launched a go-ahead home run 455 feet deep in the 8th. This guy can play.

The 8th only got better after that. Pillar got aboard and stole his way to 3rd. Maile followed by stealing 2nd. AND THEN PILLAR STOLE HOME! It was outrageous. As Buck said on the broadcast, that was the first time that a player stole three bases in an inning since 1996, and the first time in Blue Jays’ history.

Pillar has a .400 OBP and three stolen bases on the season, so there’s that.

Tepera came in to pitch the 8th. Neil Walker flied out, and Aaron Judge struck out looking at a strike at the knees. Giancarlo Stanton walked, but it didn’t matter, as Didi Gregorius struck out on the next pitch. Tepera remains a revelation for this team. Osuna pitched the 9th. Sanchez grounded out, Brandon Drury lined out, and Brett Gardner struck out to end it. Osuna looks damn good so far.

Maile deserves some recognition today. He had the RBI, he took a walk, he stole a base, he made a smart defensive play, and he seemed to call a good game throughout (as highlighted when Judge struck out against Tepera). Good job.

We’re playing for .500 tomorrow! Stroman is facing Sonny Grey. That’s favourable.

03-30-18 NYY vs TOR

Line Score - Final

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

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		CF	Gardner, B	4	0	1	0	1	0	.222
DH	Donaldson	4	0	0	0	0	3	.000		RF	Judge	4	0	0	0	0	1	.250
1B	Smoak	4	0	1	0	0	2	.143		DH	Stanton	4	0	0	0	0	2	.333
LF	Granderson	3	0	0	0	0	2	.200		SS	Gregorius	3	2	2	0	1	0	.333
PH	Pearce	1	1	1	0	0	0	.500		C	Sánchez, G	4	1	0	0	0	1	.111
3B	Solarte	4	0	1	1	0	0	.250		1B	Walker, N	3	1	1	0	1	0	.286
RF	Grichuk	4	1	1	1	0	1	.143		LF	McKinney	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250
C	Martin, R	2	0	0	0	1	0	.000		3B	Drury	3	0	2	2	1	0	.429
CF	Pillar	3	0	1	0	0	1	.333		2B	Wade	4	0	1	2	0	1	.200
SS	Díaz	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
PH	Morales, K	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
SS	Ngoepe	0	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
Sanchez, Aa	5.2	8	4	4	4	2	89-48	6.35		Tanaka, M	6.0	3	1	1	0	8	79-61	1.50
Barnes, D	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	6-3	6.75		Kahnle	1.1	0	0	0	1	1	18-10	0.00
Tepera	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	11-9	0.00		Robertson	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	5-3	0.00
Clippard	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	12-9	4.50		Chapman	1.0	2	1	1	0	3	23-18	4.50
Osuna	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	13-9	0.00

For the first time since 1985, the Jays have started the season by scoring fewer than two runs in each of their first two games. And the Jays won the division in 1985! Forget the fact that they have seven hits through two games, which is a new franchise record...

Did Sanchez look better tonight than Happ did last night? I’ve gone back and forth on it. I don’t know. His final line reads 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 K, 4 BB. Sanchez certainly looked promising early on, as he was whipping fastballs across the plate at 97 MPH, with plenty of movement. He stuck with the fastball for most of the night, with his changeup as his main secondary pitch. Not much from the curveball tonight, for better or worse.

The Yankees first got to Sanchez in the 2nd, when Brandon Drury hit an RBI double. Drury picked up another RBI in the 4th.

The game came apart for Sanchez in the 6th. He started the inning by walking Didi Gregorius. He then had an extended battle with Gary Sanchez, during which his command was noticeably wobbly. G. Sanchez eventually popped out. A couple of batters later, Sanchez found himself in a bases loaded situation, with reduced velocity, and some obvious control issues. Gibbons decided to leave him in to face Tyler Wade. I liked the decision. While Sanchez looked to be nearly running on empty, it wasn’t as if he was facing Giancarlo Stanton - Wade seemed a relatively easy out. Besides, Barnes was the alternative in the bullpen, and he has been less than stellar so far this spring. The plan backfired, as Wade hit a two-run double. I was wrong, Gibbons was wrong. I can certainly see the argument for pulling Sanchez before that at-bat, but I just don’t think it was an outrageous decision. That was the end of the line for Sanchez.

Do you really want to talk about the offence? Is my tone really this negative so early in the season?
Grichuk did what he’s supposed to do in the 2nd, when he belted an opposite field shot. I expect him to be an All-Star this year. We’ve seen flashes of his defence already, and his bat could play up at the Rogers Centre. Might as well start working on the Fan Vote now. Elsewhere, Pillar hit a double in the 2nd, before the Yankees retired 16 straight batters. It was ugly. And don’t get too excited about Pillar - he struck out on a ball in the dirt in the 5th. Of course, he has been our most productive batter so far, so it’s not fair to rag on him all that much.

For what it’s worth, the 7th inning was particularly forgettable. Granderson struck out, Solarte popped out, and Grichuk flied out… and Tommy Kahnle threw all of six pitches.

The Jays got on base again in the 8th! Martin walked! Nothing came of it, but still. There was some hope in the 9th. With two outs, Pearce came through with a pinch-hit double. Granderson followed that with an RBI double. That brought Grichuk to the plate, as the tying runner. He struck out looking. It was exciting for a minute there.

I wish Donaldson took more at-bats during spring training. He looks late to everything right now, and I’m not sure that it’s related to his shoulder being dead. It seems more like rust to me. Three strikeouts tonight.

I noticed last night that I spend more time talking about the bullpen than anything else. I’m going to try to shorten this bit down. Barnes cleaned up after Sanchez in the 6th, as he got Brett Gardner to pop out to end the inning. Tepera deserves a little more recognition. He came in for the 7th, and struck out both Aaron Judge and Stanton, before Gregorius grounded out to end the frame. That was a strong showing. Clippard pitched the 8th. He picked up a couple of strikeouts and a flyout, and looked better than last night.

Osuna pitched the 9th. For those keeping score at home, that means the Jays used five relievers last night, and four tonight. It’s not hard to imagine Luis Santos taking Barnes’ spot, at least on a temporary basis, to provide some long relief. Back to Osuna. He had a strong showing, as Drury grounded out, Wade bunted into a groundout (which Osuna fielded well), and Gardner grounded out. Most importantly, Osuna’s fastball was sitting between 95-96 MPH.

A note on the defence: it wasn’t great in the 2nd. The problems started when Gregorius hit a triple that sailed over Pillar’s head. That one was preventable. As he often does, Pillar broke towards home when the ball came off the bat, and then had to readjust and run towards the outfield wall. His misstep left him a couple feet short of making the catch. To his credit, Solarte saved a run after that, as he made a heads up throw to home to get Gregorius. There was one more slight misplay, as Travis allowed Billy McKinney to sneak a grounder past him. That hit really just showed that Travis has slightly limited range, but it wasn’t a big deal, and he has moved pretty well so far. Even so, the defence has been frustrating through the first couple of games.

We may never have a lead again.