GAME 58, JUNE FIFTH:
ATHLETICS 5, JAYS 3:
TIME FOR BATTING PRACTICE, GUYS:
MAN ON SECOND, NOBODY OUT,
GROUND BALL RIGHT SIDE!
Here are three situations that mattered, a lot, to the outcome of tonight's opener of the Jays' three-game series in the Oakland Coliseum, the playing surface of which has now been re-christened, as spiffy new signage announces, “Rickey Henderson Field”: Oakland starter Sean Manaea walked Kevin Pillar leading off the first inning. Josh Donaldson promptly…
GAME 57, JUNE FOURTH:
JAYS 3, YANKEES 2:
LATE LIGHTNING EARNS JAYS’ SPLIT
Funny how much difference a winter makes. Here we were this afternoon, Jays playing for a series split, the Yankees for a win. On the hill for Toronto was the effervescent (to Toronto fans), obnoxious (to everyone else) Marcus Stroman. Going for the Yankees was Luis Severino, he of the Great Beanball Battle of 2016.…
GAME 56, JUNE THIRD:
YANKEES 7, JAYS 0:
NO BURGERS TONIGHT:
THE GRILLMASTER’S AS COLD AS THE BATS
It was a battle of the young guys today, Jason Montgomery, 24, versus Joe Biagini, 27, but going on 15, because who's younger at heart than Joe Biagini? For Biagini, tonight was the night, the biggest night of his transition to starter. The limits would be off, the pitch count forgotten, at least up to…
GAME 55, JUNE SECOND:
JAYS 7, YANKEES 5:
HOW DE-LIRIANO TO SNAG A WIN!
Oh, the pressure was terrible. The Yankees had scored a wipeout win in game one of the series and we had to get that game back. Michael Pineda was pitching for New York and he's had a good year so far, but usually struggles at the TV Dome. And tonight marked the return of Francisco…
GAME 54, JUNE FIRST:
YANKEES 12, JAYS 2:
OH MARCO, PLEASE COME BACK!
A question we never asked: what if Marco Estrada came out to pitch and forgot to bring his good changeup? Today, we found out. All pitchers will have a bad outing from time to time. The difference between a power pitcher and a finesse pitcher is that when a power pitcher has a bad day,…
GAME 53, MAY THIRTY-FIRST:
JAYS 5, REDS 4:
OH, FOR THE LIFE OF A VAGABOND:
NICE JOB, BOLSIE! SEE YA LATER!
The life of a pitcher on the bubble in major league baseball is not an easy one. Consider the situation of Mike Bolsinger as John Gibbons gave him the ball for today's start against the Cincinnati Reds. A veteran major leaguer with limited service yet out of options, Bolsinger has to stay with Toronto on…
GAME 52, MAY THIRTIETH:
JAYS 6, REDS 4:
FOUR JACKS BEAT THREE JACKS EVERY TIME
The big news of the day, of course, is the return of Jay Happ to the hill for the Blue Jays after his stint on the disabled list. The bigger news regarding Happ is that he really was a good deal better than he looked, as of three batters into the game. After Billy Hamilton…
GAME 51, MAY TWENTY-NINTH:
JAYS 17, REDS 2:
AND THEY PARTED THEM THE CLOUDS,
AND THEY SMOTE THEM,
WITH LIGHTNING AND THUNDERBOLTS
Whatever were they thinking? Hmm, I thought to myself. It was a happy little “hmm”. Kind of like when Winnie the Pooh is stung by a bee and thinks, “Ouch! Hmm, honey bee. Mmm, honey!” I had just checked out the record of tonight's starting pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds for game one of this…
GAME 50, MAY TWENTY-EIGHTH:
RANGERS 3, JAYS 1:
BIAGINI GOES LONG, JAYS LOSE,
AND BTW, IS IT TIME TO TRADE TULO??
One of the great old hippie sayings of the late sixties that ended up on the walls of many first apartments in one form of artistic presentation or another was “Life is What Happens when You're Doing Other Things”. Well, sometimes baseball happens when you're doing other things. Like today, for example. This is a…
GAME 49, MAY TWENTY-SEVENTH:
JAYS 3, RANGERS 1:
GOINS’ GLOVE, JOEY’S BAT
HELP ESTRADA BEST DARVISH
It was a really close call. Gobbie's reputation as a baseball savant almost sailed over the fence with the gopher ball that Marco Estrada served up to Shin-Soo Choo on the first pitch of today's game. Saturdays we have our grand-daughter all day. She's almost ten, in grade four. It's universally accepted by elementary school…