JUNE 24TH, WHITE SOX 3, JAYS 2: TABERNAC! (PARDON MY FRENCH)
Today is St. Jean Baptiste Day, la fête nationale du Quebec. While it's possible that Montreal native Russell Martin ordered poutine for the Jays' post-game snack, if he had ordered the flooding of the clubhouse for a little celebratory log-rolling, that would have been cancelled after another dispiriting one-run loss to the Chicago White Sox.…
JUNE 22ND, JAYS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 2: DOIN’ THE ED-WING
There were more parrots at the ball park this afternoon than you would see at a dozen Jimmy Buffett concerts .It was Ed-Wing t-shirt day today, and the fans of the Jays' humble and lovable designated hitter were out in full force, over 46,000 of them, all told. There were parrots everywhere. Parrot hats. Stuffed…
JUNE 21ST: DIAMONDBACKS 4, JAYS 2: THE BASEBALL GODS MUST BE CRAZY
In 1893 the pitching distance was set at the magical distance of sixty feet, six inches. Like the distance of ninety feet between the bases, it seems a perfect distance for its purpose, which suggests, if you didn't already believe it, that the game of baseball was invented by the gods. But the gods, as…
JUNE 19TH: ORIOLES 11, JAYS 6: ARE WE NEARING THE NUCLEAR OPTION FOR MARCUS STROMAN?
Last Tuesday, Marcus Stroman had his best outing in recent weeks against the Phillies, earning the win with 7 innings of work during which he gave up 6 hits and 2 earned runs. This performance allayed the fears of many Toronto fans concerning the trajectory of Stroman's 2016 season. Today's outing against the Orioles put…
JUNE THIRTEENTH, PHILLIES 7, JAYS 0:
WHO LET THE AIR OUT?
Okay, let's just get all the cliches out of our system right at the start. Can't win every game. It's a long season. Sometimes you just run into a hot pitcher. We were due for a letdown. The Phillies had nothing to lose. They're playing loosey-goosey, we're in a hammer-and-tongs divisional fight. All of the…
JUNE TWELFTH, JAYS 10, ORIOLES 9:
THIS IS SO-O-O 2015!
Call me a Pollyanna if you will, but I sense something building here. Today's finale between the Blue Jays and the Orioles, this slugfest-turned-squeaker that gave the Jays the series win, contained so many of the elements of August through October of last year that it's feeling like 2015 all over again. A boffo start,…
JUNE ELEVENTH, JAYS 11, ORIOLES 6:
GOOD PITCHING BEATS GOOD HITTING
(EVEN WHEN YOU SCORE ELEVEN)
With 64 games in the book as of today's stirring 11-6 Blue Jays' victory over the Baltimore Orioles, there are still 98 games left on the schedule for the home town heroes. Borrowing a term from the TV news desk people, I believe we have enough results in now to make a projection about the…
JUNE TENTH, JAYS 4, ORIOLES 3, 10 INNINGS:
WALK-OFF (ED)WIN!
As I was saying, it's not like it's do-or-die time for the whole season yet, but it sure feels like it. I guess it's how the schedule has been overloaded so far with games against divisional rivals. Add to that the fact that we have had so many close games already this season, and we…
JUNE NINTH, ORIOLES 6, JAYS 5:
“OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?”
I had a bad feeling about tonight's game against the league-leading Orioles right from the first at bat. After having been cuffed around by seriously hard contact in three of his last four outings, those of us on the Blue Jays Watch have been wondering when the real Marcus Stroman would return to the rotation.…
JUNE 8TH, JAYS 7, TIGERS 2: KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
One time, when we picked up my then-three-year-old grand-daughter to take her for a visit, she had it fixed in her head for some reason that was only clear to her that she had an urgent need for her own box of bandages. She announced this as soon as she got in the car, and…