Note from yer humble scribe: I would not blame anyone for assuming that I have stopped chronicling the Jays because they are struggling so badly. Rather than being lost in a miasma of misery, unable to face the grim facts, I have been unable to write because I have developed an obscure skin condition, one of the side effects of which is the (temporary, I hope) loss of feeling in the tips of my fingers. When I dispatch my “D” finger, for example, it may land on “D”, or it may land on any one of the keys around it. There ensues lots of backtracking to fix typos. Nevertheless, like Elizabeth Warren, I have decided to persist. Today’s heroic effort by the pitching staff seems a good place to start.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Jays’ management, determined not to derail Joe Biagini’s career by yo-yoing him between starting and relieving, finally saw their hands forced by circumstances, and slotted him in today to start the rubber game of this weekend’s series in Tampa Bay.
Of course Biagini was brilliant. We all knew he would be. He’s been golden from the moment he first took the mound for Toronto when he made the team out of spring training last year. So why not in his first start?
And really, what were the choices? Two fifths of the rotation on the disabled list. Marcus Stroman inexplicably ineffective and short in his last outing against the Yankees. The earnest and possibly talented Casey Lawrence not quite ready for prime time. Mat Latos giving one solid fill-in start, and then imploding beyond all belief the next time out, followed by his mysterious if not surprising departure from the roster.
So who do ya call when there’s nobody left? Just call Joe. Call they did, and there he was, chest-tapping, belly-billowing jersey wanting to be free, baggy-pantsed (his whole persona is kinda baggy, isn’t it?), off-kilter grin bemusing, the little kid who fell asleep in his trundle bed one night, and woke up the next day on a major league mound throwing to Russell Martin with Corey Dickinson standing in at the plate.
But when Joe Biagini threw the first pitch today he was all business. Oh, my, he was all business, wasn’t he?
Mind you, he wasn’t going to pitch a complete game, not fresh out of the pen. But he gave us four beautiful innings, and allowed a little hope to stir in hearts almost lost to despair.
Here’s what he did in four innings: first inning: Dickinson ground-out, Brad Miller weak opposite-field fly, Evan Longoria fanned, 13 pitches.
Second inning: Logan Morrison ground-out, star to Justin Smoak for handling a tough hop, Steven Souza, in his first appearance against Biagini since he was plunked in Toronto, screwing himself out of his shoes fanning on the Biagini curve ball, Colby Rasmus wisely deciding to admire the same pitch for strike three, so as not to embarrass himself.
Third inning: the fatal cheap run that has done in Toronto so many times this season.
Daniel Robertson grounding out on the first pitch, but Kevin Kiermaier hitting a sharp hopper to second that Devon Travis fumbles, letting Kiermaier reach. Jesus Sucre hits a topper in front of the plate that serves as a bunt. With two outs, Dickerson cashes Kiermaier with the unearned run, on the first hit allowed by Biagini. Miller grounds out to strand Dickerson.
Fourth inning: Longoria weak fly to left. Morrison wicked grounder up the middle but Ryan Goins in the shift makes a great back-handed stop and throws him out from his knees. Souza single to centre (Score: Biagini 1, Souza 1). Rasmus looks for that curve ball, flails at heater for strike three.
The line: 4 innings pitched, one unearned run, 2 hits, no walks, 4 strikeouts, 52 pitches.
Buoyed by his success, Biagini’s mates were almost perfect in his stead.
Aaron Loup, one long and typically Loup-y inning: a hit batter stranded and 27 pitches. (How do you throw 27 pitches to four batters and get three of them out?)
Ryan Tepera, two innings, one walk, four strikeouts, and 32 pitches, and I’m pretty sure Ryan Tepera has seen the last of Buffalo.
Joe Smith, one inning, one strikeout, 9 pitches, and an assist to Zeke Carrera for a nice running catch of a weak Dickerson flare. The side-armer has earned late-inning responsibility, for sure.
Roberto Osuna, a typical save. Longoria pops out on the first pitch. Morrison goes down in three—four pitches, two outs. Starts over-throwing and loses Souza on a 3-2 heater over his head. Two quick strikes to Rasmus and a cheap broke-back single to centre. Blows the rookie Robertson away on a 96 mph heater right down the pike.
So on the day, five Toronto pitchers give up one unearned run, three hits, two walks, and strike out eleven.
But hold on a minute, you rightly say. This was a ball game, not a pitching exhibition. What about the other side of the coin?
Well, Tampa righty Alex Cobb was either brilliant, or the Jays’ bats stunk again. I suspect a bit of both is the truth. Cobb was efficient and effective, if a little wild and wooly. He went eight innings and gave up two runs on four hits, and damn near won the game 1-zip thanks to Travis’ error on Kiermaier.
Let’s pause for a moment on Devon Travis. Likeable as he is, and with as much potential at the plate as he has, am I the only observer who thinks he’s not a major-league second baseman? He makes all of the routine plays, and even some great ones, but he almost never makes the crucial ones. Today is a case in point: the Kiermaier grounder was a tough but routine play, but Kiermaier’s speed was in Travis’ head. Also, twice in the last week he has fielded a sharp grounder with the infield in and played the ball to the plate with an out very possible. Both times his seventy-foot throw pulled the catcher away from the runner, allowing the runner to throw.
Can Travis become a reliable big-league second sacker? I don’t know, but with the team in a slump like this, his .15-something average is hardly justification for continuing his on-the-job training in Toronto. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when Tulo is healthy, Goins has to play second for the Jays to win the close ones.
Back to the game,the top of the Jays’ first set the tone for most of the day. Kevin Pillar, continually brilliant in the midst of all this adversity, smacked Cobb’s first pitch into left for a base hit. Then he cheekily stole the first base so far this year off Jesus Sucre while Jose Bautista took a curve ball for strike three. Then he watched at second while Russell Martin took a curve ball for strike three. Then he trotted in to get his glove after Kendrys Morales flew out to centre.
Justin Smoak hit the first pitch of the second on the screws, but right at Morrison at first. Ryan Goins worked a walk to lead off the third, but Darwin Barney hit into a DP on his first pitch. Three up, three down in the fourth after the Rays took the lead. Pearce was hit by a pitch in the fifth but died at first.
Then, Barney led off the sixth by flying out to centre, but Pillar–god bless him, eh–ripped one off Longoria’s glove at third into the Tampa bullpen for a double. The frustrated Jose Bautista just missed a hanging curve and popped out to Longoria in foul territory. This time Martin didn’t wait around to be rung up on a curve ball. He hit the first pitch he saw from Cobb so hard into left that it bounced in front of Rasmus and deflected off his glove while Pillar scored the tying run.
It hardly mattered that Morales grounded out again: Biagini was off the hook for the loss, and the lowly Jays had a chance.
It took Cobb only six pitches to maneuver the seventh, but the signs were there: both Smoak (yet again) and Pearce hit the ball hard, but they were right-at-ems again.
Then, in the eighth, it happened. After Ryan Goins grounded out to second, Darwin Barney, of all people, punished Cobb for throwing a 1-0 fast ball down and in and smoked it deep into the left field seats for his first homer of the year. Cobb went on to walk Pillar, but retired Bautista and Martin to finish off his day’s work, down 2-1 and on the hook for the loss.
Maybe too bad for Alex Cobb, but how many times has it happened to Toronto pitchers this year?
So, still mired in this horrendous batting slump, our troubled heroes will make their way back to Toronto, ready or not to face the Indians and the lost Edwin for the first time since their loss to Cleveland in last year’s ALCS.
If you’re looking for optimism, Toronto went 3-3 on the tough road trip to New York and Tampa, and if you throw in the previous weekend in Toronto against Tampa, they’re now five for their last nine.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
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