JULY NINETEENTH, JAYS 5, D-BACKS 1:
“OH WON’T YOU STAY, JUST A LITTLE BIT LONGER?”
From the moment I first conceived of this project of following the Blue Jays through the season by way of a long-form story reporting on each game as it is played, I determined that my focus was to be “the game on the field”, and not all of the other peripheral issues that occupy the…
JULY SEVENTEENTH, JAYS 5, A’s 3:
HURLERS IN THE CROSS HAIRS
Although we don't have the comparative “metrics” from past seasons or previous eras, so we can't actually make comparisons, my general impression is that today's hitters in baseball, being generally bigger and stronger, generate more bat speed and power. It seems undeniable that balls are going farther and faster off the bat than ever before.…
JULY SIXTEENTH, A’s 5, JAYS 4:
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STUNG LIKE A BEE
Question: Why don't Toronto baseball fans go to Canada's Wonderland? Answer: Why would we pay to ride roller coasters when we can have the same experience for free following the Blue Jays? Yes, it's a long season, and yes, you have to keep everything in perspective, and look to the next game to sort everything…
JULY FIFTEENTH, A’s 8, JAYS 7:
THE GODS MAY NOT BE CRAZY,
BUT THEY SURE ARE FICKLE!
Let's get this out of the way right from the beginning. I don't want to make this story about Marcus Stroman again. I really don't. I'd rather write a thousand-plus words about the Oakland A's bizarre mascot Stomper, an ugly elephant with a pot belly, than start another column with the trials and tribulations of…
JULY TENTH, JAYS 6, TIGERS 1:
DICKEY’S GIFT FROM THE GODS
It turns out that “TBA” is, with apologies to Dennis Lee, the Secret Tiger Name of Anibal Sanchez. By the way, does anyone read Lizzie's Lion to their three- or four-year-olds any more? It's a violent, bloody story of just retribution, probably far too gruesome and gory for today's gentle parenting style. It's delightful. I…
JULY NINTH, TIGERS 3, JAYS 2:
TIGERS “BOYD” UP BY MATT AGAIN
In the midst of the turmoil in the front office of the Blue Jays last off-season, there was a story circulating that one of the first things that Mark Schapiro did after he arrived in Toronto was to castigate Alex Anthopoulos for stripping the cupboard bare of pitching prospects to fuel the team's 2015 pennant…
JULY EIGHTH, JAYS 6, TIGERS 0:
“DON’T WORRY, BE HAPP-Y!”
Baseball is a funny game. Oh, sorry, that line's already taken, isn't it? For the younger set out there, it's the title of Joe Garagiola's humourous, review of some of the funnier moments in his baseball career—to hear him tell it, they must have been jolly old times in the National League when he was…
JULY SEVENTH, JAYS 5, TIGERS 4:
LATE-INNING HEROICS: RALLY ROYALE
Okay, so the Royals have left town, their purple robes trailing sadly in the mud behind them, yet they still seem to offer a starting point for our deliberations on tonight's exciting, old-timey-baseball type Blue Jays' five-four comeback win over the visiting Detroit Tigers. This was a game which turned on the Jays' ability to…
JULY SIXTH, JAYS 4, ROYALS 2:
SWEEP OUT THE OLD!
He's ba-a-a-a-ck! Marcus Stroman strode to the mound tonight, reached into his back pocket, and pulled out his Stro-mojo, demonstrating to the whole baseball world that he still had it, and it was as potent as ever. All talk of skipping a turn in the rotation, being sent to the bullpen, going down to Buffalo…
JULY FIFTH, JAYS 8, ROYALS 3:
DICKEY AND THE JACKS
Come October, assuming the Blue Jays make the playoffs, and these words might come back to bite me big time, the Kansas City Royals will be nowhere in sight, unless they open the banks of prospects and bucks and buy three or four major pieces at the trade deadline. There is no better testimony to…