Long Ball Stories

So the Jays go into Boston finally having risen above the .500 mark, only to lose the first two of four, as the tight games continue. Now they have to take two in a row at Fenway to escape with a split. Not a great prospect when they’re struggling so at the plate.

A strong performance from Aaron Sanchez is just the antidote they need for their current doldrums. And they get a nice, tidy gem, as he earns his first win after two strong no-decisions, going seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out seven. The only glitch in his outing is that his pitch count, at 105, ran too high for him to come out for the eighth inning. Seven strikeouts and four walks contributed to the high pitch count.

Staying with the pitching, Drew Storen pitched a clean eighth inning in a perfect hold appearance, which boded well for his success in the setup role, throwing eleven pitches with one strikeout. The only fly in the ointment was manager John Gibbons’ once again quixotic decision to let Roberto Osuna mop up in a non-save situation. Oh yes, of course, he needed work, Gibbie said later. But, without the closer adrenalin flowing, Osuna struggles, coughing up a leadoff single to Hanley Ramirez immediately followed by a Travis Shaw homer. He manages to finish the inning, striking out two, and can’t be awarded a save because he’s blown a hold. More importantly, he throws 20 pitches, making him doubtful for Monday’s morning Patriot’s Day game on Monday.

On the other hand, to give the manager his due, the decision to install Michael Saunders in the leadoff spot and drop Kevin Pillar, while it doesn’t pay an immediate reward at the top of the order, Saunders going one for five and leaving four on base, it does wonders for Pillar, who goes three for four, and makes not one, but two, of his patented miracles catches in centre, in the fifth racing in and diving to his left to snare a Hanley Ramirez liner, which would have made Sanchez’ only mildly shaky inning even shakier, and then going back to his right and leaping against the fence to rob David Ortiz of an extra-base hit in the sixth.

Less encouragingly, the middle-of-the-order guys the Jays are depending on continued the troubling trend of failing to deliver a knockout blow with ducks on the pond and two outs, Russell Martin going down swinging in the first, Troy Tulowitzki in the seventh, and Edwin Encarnacion, Tulo, and Martin likewise in the ninth. In the first and seventh they scored a couple, and one in the ninth, but could have done more, and in the end, it was closer than it should have been after Shaw’s homer in the bottom of the ninth.

R.A. Dickey apprentice knuckler Steven Wright was effective if a bit laboured, throwing 107 pitches while giving up two runs on six hits over six, striking out six,and walking none. He did, however, plunk both Chris Colabello, who had finally cashed his first ribbie in the first, and Martin, neither of whom needed to report to the first aid station for repairs.

J.A. Happ tomorrow against Clay Buchholz: should be interesting. It always is when a visiting leftie starts in Boston. Meanwhile, the Jays have eaten up Buchholz in the Fens, strangely, while he’s been pretty effective against them at the Rogers Centre.

Sometimes the crucial plays that determine the outcome of a game come early, and the rest of the game carries an air of inevitability as each side plays out its fate.

In the top of the first, after Kevin Pillar took a called third strike from David Price, Josh Donaldson smashed a ball to Fenway’s Bermuda Triangle in right centre for a triple. Then Jose Bautista rifled the second pitch he saw from Price high off the wall in left, scoring Donaldson, and seeming to just beat the throw from Jackie Bradley Jr. to Travis Shaw at third, for a second consecutive triple. It looked like Price could be on the ropes. But the Sox asked for a review, the call on the field was overturned, and Bautista became the second out of the inning. Edwin Encarnacion went down swinging, and Price was off the hook with minimal damage. He proceeded to set the Jays down in order in the second and third, and the natural order of the universe was restored.

When Marco Estrada breezed through the first and stranded a walk to David Ortiz and a Shaw single in the second, it looked like we were settling in for a good pitching duel, with the Jays in the lead to boot. Then disaster struck in the third, with Estrada coughing up a Xander Bogaerts homer to left, unfortunately after two very lucky (for the Sox) infield hits. Bradley Jr. bounced one off Estrada’s calf (he appeared not to suffer any serious damage, and was able to continue), and then Dustin Pedroia squibbed a grounder to Donaldson’s left which he reached but couldn’t hold. One solid contact, three runs. There were no errors on the hits, but both could have been turned into outs with a good play.

The Jays got one back right away in the fourth, when Encarnacion’s double cashed Bautista’s one-out single, and there it stayed. Estrada went a steady six except for the one inning, and Brett Cecil and Gavin Floyd chipped in one uneventful inning each. Price scatters six hits and strikes out nine over seven innings, then Uehara and Kimbrel finish off as advertised.

Like many tight games, this one relied on good pitching, timely hitting, and a spot of luck, which rolled the right way for the Red Sox, not so much for the Jays.

Let’s start with a tip of the cap to Jackie Robinson, who changed everything, and to Branch Rickey, who made it happen. Somehow, Rickey’s role in the integration of MLB, which stemmed, as we understand it, not so much from a stirring call to social justice, as from a burning desire to make his team the best possible team he could, means more to me for that very distinction. You have to love an old baseball guy who was willing to buck the biggest tide ever in the sport, just because talent matters, and it’s about putting the best players you can on the field.

One more thought on Jackie Robinson Day: In accordance with recently-established tradition, all players and coaches on all teams wore Jackie’s number 42, and it didn’t matter a whit to following the game. I love that baseball players are always identifiable people, and because you do recognize them, you never forget their stories while you’re watching them play.

Okay, on to the game. Or perhaps all of the above is just my way of suggesting that there’s not much to say about the Jays’ loss to the Bosox last night. I mean, leaving aside the very important double breakout of the parrot for the first time this season, what kind of a game is it, in which the most notable feature was Manager John Gibbons raising both arms to call Pat Venditte in from the pen, possibly an MLB first. (Calling all Oakland fans: what was Bob Melvin’s bullpen call for him last year?)

The story of this game is really two ongoing ones: first,the typical early-season shakiness of R.A. Dickey, whose knuckler is equally as hard to control as it is live. He goes four and two thirds, throws 105 pitches, gives up 6 hits, 2 earned runs, and two unearned due to a passed ball strikeout of Hanley Ramirez, who makes first and scores behind David Ortiz on a double by Travis Shaw when the inning should have ended on the strikeout. He also walks four and strikes out three.

The second is the Jays’ continued hitting doldrums. Despite the fact that Rick Porcello was not much more than kind of good at best, he no-hit all the Jays except Edwin, going six and a third, giving up three runs on 2 hits, Encarnacion’s two dingers,with one walk and six Ks on 96 pitches.

Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, and Craig Kimbrel brought it home for the Sox, with Encarnacion’s bloop single off Kimbrel in the ninth the only hit. On the other side, Pat Venditte, Joe Biagini, and Jesse Chavez go three and a third, and give up only one less than spectacular run when Boston gets one legitimate hit and two infield singles, Joe Biagini yielding the second cheapie, allowing an inherited runner from Venditte to score. The mid-game hold pitchers for the Jays, like the starters, and the late inning guys, for the most part, are doing well. A little run support would go a long way to improve the record.

One question about the scoring: in the bottom of seven, Ortiz leads off with a walk. After two strikeouts, on a two-two pitch, Biagini ignores him and he takes second. Neither middle-infielder moves an inch toward the bag. It looked to me like defensive indifference, though of course the defence was not playing with the lead, yet Ortiz was credited with a stolen base. Having read the rule on not crediting a stolen base because of defensive interference, the only justification I can see for giving Ortiz the sb is that, being behind 5-3, “the score of the game” was a factor—the Jays could not have been “indifferent” to Ortiz advancing into scoring position.

I love a neat and tidy game, when the good guys win, the stars do their thing, and all the problems are little ones.

This one starts and ends with the Stroman. What can you say about him that hasn’t already been said? When he came back last September, the big new thing was his sinking repertoire that had turned him into a ground-ball pitcher. So how’s that workin’ out for him now? Well, try this: In the first five innings, 15 outs, he threw 12 ground-ball outs, and notched three strikeouts. All three of the Ks were breaking pitches in the dirt. His final score for 24 outs was 17 ground balls, the three Ks, one popup and three fly balls. Two of the fly balls were in the seventh, and one in the eighth, which would suggest that he was losing a bit of sharpness toward the end, except that the other two outs in the eighth were ground balls again.

Stro had one bad inning, the fourth. What happened then? At the outset, the Yankees had become so desperate to change the channel that Gardner, leading off, tried to bunt his way on. Marcus fielded it cleanly, planted, and threw him out smartly at first, without a thought for last spring’s ACL tear that had happened during pitchers’ fielding practice on exactly the same play. Then he goes 2-2 on ARod, who had grounded meekly to short the first time up, before having a pitch get away and graze ARod’s jersey. He came a bit undone after that—he’s still young, eh? A difficult play that Goins didn’t make contributed to the problems, and a wild pitch by Stroman didn’t help, and the Yankees picked up two, with only one solid hit, a Texeira single. In the fourth his pitch count climbed from 35 to 68 in one gulp.

A lesser kid pitcher might have been done at that point, but from the fifth through the eighth he retired 12 of 13 on one walk, throwing 37 pitches over the four innings.

All else that was needed was for Josh Donaldson to do his MVP encore bit with a three-run homer to take the lead for good in the bottom of five, not coincidentally extending his season-opening hitting streak to a Jays’ record ten games. Tulo rifled a cannon shot to left in the sixth to pick up his drooping spirits and provide an insurance run, and Osuna mopped up like he was playing wall-ball in Sinaloa, no big deal.

So, where are we on the question of Stroman as the new Price? In Price’s last outing for Boston, in which Kimbrel took the loss for the Sox, Price struck out 8 . . . in five innings, throwing 104 pitches, giving up 5 hits, 5 earned runs, and walking two. Just sayin’.

Finally, a 4-run eighth ices the game, in 2015 fashion. Timely hitting, going with the pitch, good baserunning: this is the first time that they’ve put it all together in one inning. And without a dinger.

The palpable sigh of relief out of the way, let’s get down to particulars.

First, starting pitching. I take Sanchez and Happ over Tanaka and Pineda every time. Better command, more confidence, more businesslike, not easily flustered. The numbers for all four starts so far in this series are about equivalent, but there was an awful lot of huffing and puffing and nibbling on the part of the Yankee starters. Eovaldi’s up tonight against Stroman. We know we’ll get the same kind of proficiency from Stroman, but will Eovaldi up the ante on his staffmates?

I for one was sorry to see Happ go after 2014, and glad to see him come back this year. Not for me the indignant rejection of “oh yeah, lose Price and get Happ and Estrada, way to go, guys.” Happ’s a worker and a pro, and was never supposed to supplant Price, for one, but he’s a solid and valuable middle of the rotation guy, and a lefty who throws hard to boot.

Staying with the pitching, Gibbie’s got more nerve than I do for running Cecil out there again in the seventh with a two-run lead, but kudos to him for it. It was an outing Cecil needed, and probably best to come back to back with the Tuesday night flop. Despite Texeira’s homer, Storen looks really strong, and what can I say about Venditte? He’s fascinating, of course, but also damned effective. I love that he has to warm up both sides in the bullpen—of course he does, but who even considered that part of it? Quite a treat for the bullpen catchers, I imagine.

Crisp defence this time, one good double play turned, a gift unassisted double play adroitly handled by Smoak, and some notable good throws from the outfield to take away the extra base.

And now the big story of the night, an offence led—wait for it—by none other than Ryan Goins! Ask me if I’m surprised. Two doubles, a single, two ribbies, and a nervy dash to third on a grounder to short by Pillar, that let him score on a Donaldson double-play ball. Interestingly, Bautista, who is lights out at the plate so far (may it rub off on the rest of the team) matched Goins’ dash in the eighth after his double, moving up on Edwin’s grounder to third. With only one out, this let Tulo relax at the plate and not worry about a base hit, so of course he hit an rbi single to right with the pressure off. With all the thunder in the lineup, it’s funny how little things like taking the extra base can make all the difference.

Final notes: on the basis of these two games, I think ARod is done—slow bat, easily fooled, not pulling the ball. In fact, he looks like he did last September here in the big 3-game series, out of gas. He’s going to be a liability, I think, to the lineup for the Yankees, by being nailed to the DH spot, keeping other good bench guys from getting some swings.

Let’s end with Ryan Goins: If he keeps playing like he has so far, what do the Jays do when Travis is ready? Travis is an every day player, but I don’t see him replacing Goins. Too good to sit on the bench, do they showcase him a bit to add a needed piece for the stretch run? (Don’t get me wrong: I loved the verve Travis showed in his very good start last year, but I think Ryan Goins has developed into a winning ballplayer for this team, a real key to their prospects for the postseason.)

Great anticipation for the pitching tonight, Sanchez versus Tanaka. We’re looking to build on the very positive Estrada/Storen/Osuna shutout of Boston on Sunday with another good outing on the mound for the Jays. We get it, and Sanchez certainly looks better than Tanaka, but we still lose. Two runs on three hits, even supplemented by 6 walks and an hbp that came around to score, aren’t enough support for most good starting efforts. So, not much reason to overanalyze the loss, but there are random observations to make, in no particular order.

God forbid we should see James Hoye’s elastic strike zone behind the plate again anytime soon. First he squeezed, then he expanded, then he squeezed. It affected both pitchers. Tanaka, who has become a bit of a nibbler anyway, couldn’t get a call, while Sanchez couldn’t satisfy Hoye high no matter what he did, and was the recipient of many low gifts at the same time. If MLB is going to be ending games on spurious Utley rule calls made in New York, how long do we have to wait for an electronic strike zone, people?

The Jays’ batting funk continues. Eleven more strikeouts, continuing to lead the league in Ks. Bautista laced a double, Donaldson and Pillar solid singles, and that’s it. Pillar got his second hbp—is he settling in as leadoff? He also made a textbook Utley-legal slide into second that resulted in Castro throwing wild to first, breaking up a double play. Two questions: will pivot men start throwing when they know they should eat the ball, hoping for a call? And will we ever get to the point where we’re not holding our breath every time the bad guys don’t turn two, or will they change/abolish the rule first?

We know about the various hurry-up clocks that are being used now. It occurred to me that when Tanaka’s translator has to come out with the pitching coach, that it takes more time to deliver the message. Do they allow a bit of discretion for that, or are they going to set up a translator exception in the rules? I’d bet on a new rule—seems to be the answer for everything. Different time limits for different languages??

This is the second time Cecil hasn’t picked up Sanchez in a close game and takes the loss. Where are we if he doesn’t get sorted out? With Morales on the DL, he’s the only lefty in the pen. Interesting anomaly aside, I thought they should have kept Venditte on the roster. I know, options and rule 5 players and all, but how much should the business/technical end encroach on the product on the field? Update: Three hours after I wrote this paragraph, the Jays announced that Arnold Leon has been designated for assignment, to make room for the recall from Buffalo of Pat Venditte. In two appearances for Buffalo, he pitched two innings with 5 Ks, no homers, and no walks.

Finally, with all due respect, if Tanaka is the Yankees’ ace, they’re in trouble.

Season opener: Marcus Stroman finally gets his (first) number one starter gig, as the natural heir to David Price. The Rays start Chris Archer, who’s already being hyped as a serious Cy Young contender this year. Stroman is good, really good, and goes eight innings on 91 pitches. Despite giving up a run on a couple of hits and having to pitch over two uncharacteristic errors behind him over the first four innings, he never seems in trouble, and then sets the Rays down in order, from the fifth through the eighth inning; the Jays enter the ninth with a 5-1 lead, extended from 3-1 thanks to Troy Tulowitski’s eighth-inning two-run dinger, the Jays’ first of the season. (more…)