AUGUST TENTH, JAYS 7, RAYS 0:
RAYS OF SUNSHINE:
HAPP, TULO KEY BOUNCE-BACK
It's a good thing that the dome was open tonight, because it helped dissipate the stench of Tuesday night's clunker of a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. So when Jay Happ raised his mighty left arm to smite the pesky Rays, and Troy Tulowitzki brandished his mighty sword to strike them a fatal blow,…
AUGUST NINTH, RAYS 9, JAYS 2:
A STINKER A MONTH
Even the best of teams is allowed one stinker of an outing a month. The Jays' stinker for August came tonight, and it's only the ninth, so they'll have to be on top of their game for the remaining eighteen starts in August. So far this month Toronto has won five games by a total…
AUGUST EIGHTH, JAYS 7, RAYS 5:
PICKIN’ UP DICKEY
R.A. Dickey is a consummate team player. He takes pride in his profession. Not just in the pitching, but in all the little things that make up a complete ball player. With his National League background he can handle a bat and run the bases, even as a pinch-runner. He fields his position superbly. On…
AUGUST SEVENTH, ROYALS 7, JAYS 1:
YOUR GUT’S NOT ALWAYS RIGHT!
The Blue Jays' hitting woes continued today, and that's why we lost, plain and simple. Let's face it, they weren't going to keep winning at a good pace with the offensive production they've gotten during this road trip. They'd managed to win four out of six, which is the pace they need to win everything,…
AUGUST SIXTH, ROYALS 4, JAYS 2:
THE KC WAY:
BUNTS, BLEEDERS, AND BLOOPERS
It's more than a little ironic that in Aaron Sanchez' first start since his place in the rotation (for the time being, that is) was reconfirmed, he lost his first decision since back in April. It's more than a little painful that the Royals didn't so much beat him as nibble him to death like…
AUGUST FIFTH, JAYS 4, ROYALS 3:
TRAVIS BOOKENDS THE ROYALS
The last time the Blue Jays stood on the field at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, they were standing around bereft, forlornly watching the Royals celebrate their second straight American League pennant. So it had to be with mixed feelings that the buoyant Jays, riding the crest of a mid-season wave of fine play that…
AUGUST FOURTH, JAYS 4, ASTROS 1:
DOES IT GET BETTER THAN THIS?
After tonight's efficient four to one win over the Astros in Houston, at the end of a day that was dominated by big news off the field, the answer to the question posed by my title is “Umm, yep.” Jay Happ failed tonight, in only lasting six innings, to extend the Blue Jays' starting rotation's…
AUGUST THIRD, JAYS 3, ASTROS 1:
MARCO ESTRADA: WHAT PRICE SUCCESS?
I love word play. Maybe sometimes too much, but even so. For example, the question stated in today's title can be read in two completely different ways. First, as a rather biblical-sounding phrasing of the common thought that one has to consider carefully what one should sacrifice in order to succeed, or in the self-help…
AUGUST SECOND, JAYS 2, ASTROS 1:
OLD MASTERS AND HUMBLE DISCIPLES
In some ways the community of professional baseball pitchers resembles a confraternity of monks. Like monks, they preserve arcane knowledge about their craft and share it among their confreres. Like monks, they pass it on to younger adherents who are deemed worthy of receiving the knowledge, that is to say, they've made the pitching staff…
AUGUST FIRST, ASTROS 2, JAYS 1:
NO TEARS, NO REGRETS
(WELL, MAYBE A FEW)
Now that was a pitchers' duel! Tonight's game (actually, last night's when you're writing after midnight) in Houston between the Astros and the Blue Jays went fourteen innings, and was absolutely dominated by the pitching. We had a pretty good matchup on Sunday afternoon between Chris Tillman and Aaron Sanchez, but this, this my friends,…