Long Ball Stories

One of my favourite baseball cartoons is a very old Peanuts strip. In the first panel, Charlie Brown is shown tossing his battered baseball glove into a closet as he says “Good-bye, old friend. I’ll see you next spring.” In the middle panel you see the closed closet door, with a thought bubble saying “Sigh . . .” emanating from it. In the third panel, still looking at the closed door, a second thought bubble says “I’ll probably wake up in February and not be able to get back to sleep.” Such is the hold that baseball has on our imaginations.

The last time the Blue Jays saw the Kansas City Royals they were dancing on the field at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, in celebration of their completing a 4-2 American League Championship Series win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Royals were on their way to the World Series to face, and ultimately demolish, the New York Mets in the 2015 MLB World Series. The Blue Jays were on their way home to Toronto to clear out their lockers, disperse to their homes, and spend a few months licking their wounds and pondering what might have been.

Tonight was the first game of the season between the Royals and the Blue Jays, and besides the fact that much has changed about both teams, the other clear message that emerged from the game is that 2015 is so over.

This is not by any means the same Kansas City Royals team that beat the Blue Jays in the playoffs last year. Third baseman Mike Moustakas is gone for the year after knee surgery. Right fielder Alex Rios is gone to free agency. Second baseman Ben Zobrist is gone to free agency. In the short term, for this series, centre fielder Lorenzo Cain and ace closer Wade Davis are both on the disabled list.

And pitching? Wow, what a difference. First off, Yordano Ventura is day-to-day with an ankle sprain—whom did he kick?—so we won’t see him in this series and the Toronto cops can leave their riot gear at home when they draw game assignments. Johnny Cueto is gone to free agency. Edinson Volquez, tonight’s starter, has been mediocre, Chris Young, whom we’ll see tomorrow night, has been less than mediocre, and Ian Kennedy, who has the start Wednesday night, has done little so far to justify the big bucks the Royals put out to sign him. In fact, I don’t see much in Kennedy’s record with the Padres, admittedly a poor team, to justify their offering those big bucks to him. The upshot of all this is that the Royals’ vaunted bullpen, weakened now by the loss of Davis, has had little to do, because the starters don’t create closing situations for them.

Of the players in the every day lineup, Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez continue to shine, as does the re-signed Alex Gordon, especially in the field, but paradoxically Manager Ned Yost has moved all-round pest and pot-stirrer Alcides Escobar from leadoff to the number eight position in the lineup to install Gordon at the top. The Jays will appreciate that change, after the chaos Escobar caused them in the playoffs last year.

Since we’re past the half-way point in games, almost to the All-Star break, and marking this first visit of the Royals to Toronto, maybe it’s time to consider what this 2016 Blue Jays’ team is all about. One of the most significant changes for the team was on display tonight against Kansas City, as Aaron Sanchez mowed down the formerly intimidating Royals, so let’s take stock before moving on to the game.

It’s a very different Blue Jays’ team from last year. The most obvious change is the improvement in the starting rotation. David Price is gone. Jay Happ is proving to be an incredible bargain replacing him as the left-handed starter. In fact, his numbers have been significantly better than Price’s all year, save for strikeouts. Marco Estrada, despite some nagging injuries and a lack of run support, has picked up exactly where he left off last year, and continues to lead all major league pitchers with the lowest opponents’ batting average against him. R.A. Dickey’s early summer surge started in mid-spring this year, and he is beginning to dominate in his starts in a way that he only occasionally did last year. Marcus Stroman has had his problems, as the Child of Destiny seemed for a while to have lost the road map to the All-Star Game. But what team wouldn’t love to have his stats for their fourth or even third starter: 7-4, 4.89 ERA, 116 innings, and 83 strikeouts?

And then there’s tonight’s starter, Aaron Sanchez. Last year the Royals saw him as a very effective setup man for Roberto Osuna, basically throwing only two pitches. He had been starting to round into shape as a starter earlier in the year before going on the DL, but the Royals never saw him then. Now, after winning the “competition”–was there ever any doubt?–for the “fifth starter” spot in the spring, what a first half he has had, going into tonight’s game with a record of 8-1 and an ERA of 3.08. No one would think of calling him the fifth starter now. Without Sanchez, the Jays’ rotation is clearly the best in the AL East. With him, it’s the best in the whole league, hands down.

There’s always a concern about the possibility of a starter being taken down by injury, but the Jays have Jesse Chavez pitching effectively in longer outings out of the bullpen, and Drew Hutchison throwing very well in Buffalo, and contributing two solid spot starts to the big team. Nobody is talking about what’s wrong with Drew Hutchison any more.

As for the everday lineup, like the Royals, there a lot of changes to note, but for the most part they mark an improvement. Against all expectations, Michael Saunders has come back from his year lost to injury to prove himself a consistent .300 hitter with power against both right- and left-handed pitching. He is a below-average fielder, but of all the players used in left by the Jays last year, save for Kevin Pillar before he moved to centre, Ben Revere was the best one, and that’s not saying much, so we can live with Saunders in left, especially since there are late inning options for defensive purposes when the team is protecting a lead. Kevin Pillar continues to do what he does. Jose Bautista has had a sub-par year; leaving aside two stints on the DL, his offensive numbers have been good except for his average, but his defense has clearly deteriorated. On the bright side, Ezequiel Carrera has gotten most of the innings lost by Bautista, and been a real surprise, hitting , fielding, and running well above what his career record would suggest. The way he’s playing at present, a lot of teams would be happy with him as an every-day player.

The shocking loss of Chris Colabello to a PED suspension has eased the logjam at first and DH, with Justin Smoak and Edwin Encarnacion sharing both positions, though Smoak will sit if Manager John Gibbons wants to rest someone else by using them at DH. Some thought is being given, I expect, to adding Bautista to that mix once he returns from the DL. Edwin’s having a great free-agent year, whereas Smoak has not hit as well as last year, but still serves as a potent bat off the bench and has hit some crucial homers for the Jays. He also caddies for Encarnacion defensively to protect a lead. Josh Donaldson is still Josh Donaldson. Nothing to see here, just move on.

The middle infield corps has been fluid but always effective both at the plate and in the field. The long rehab of Devon Travis, and the lengthy stint on the DL by Troy Tulowitzki have given Darwin Barney and Ryan Goins ample playing time. The defence doesn’t suffer a bit, no matter who’s in there, or where. Goins has struggled at the plate, but also shown his versatility, playing three infield positions, left field, and even an effective inning on the mound, which led to his current status on the DL. He’s also added a trapper to his glove bag, and taken some balls at first, just in case. Barney fits in wherever you put him, and he’s a consistent, gritty .290 hitter who knows how to make contact in the clutch. Tulo had continued to struggle at the plate ever since arriving from Colorada last year, but after his latest stint on the DL he’s been making considerably better contact, and driven in some significant runs. His defensive skills continue to amaze. Devon Travis adds punch and excitement to the lineup, though there may be some unresolved injury issues keeping Manager John Gibbons from handing him the job on a full-time basis.

The catching is not quite as strong as it was last season. Russell Martin has struggled considerably at the plate until just recently, and been less than thrilling as a defensive catcher, for the first time in his career. His ability to contribute key hits is increasing with his batting average. Josh Thole is here to give up the body to Dickey’s knuckle balls, and save Martin from extra punishment. It’s what he does, he’s good at it, and anything else he contributes will count as a big bonus to the team. But so far, not much. It was always awkward for the Jays to be carrying three catchers, but Dioner Navarro is definitely missed, though his fabled role as Marco Estrada’s éminence grise appears to have been somewhat over-rated, since Estrada’s effectiveness hasn’t missed a beat.

So this is the Toronto Blue Jays’ team that took the field tonight against the reigning world champs. Confident and optimistic, especially about the fact that their fearsome offensive might has begun to show itself again even without Bautista in the lineup, they had to be eagerly anticipating the only appearance of K.C. in T.O. this year.

As I suggested, the single biggest improvement in the Jays’ arsenal this year is the emergence of Aaron Sanchez as a marquee young power pitcher, and he gave Kansas City a good dose of the new and improved Aaron Sanchez, starting pitcher esq., tonight, right from the top of the first, when he got Alex Gordon on a grounder to short, and struck out Whit Merrifield and the fearsome Kendrys Morales.

Edinson Volquez, a familiar figure to the Jays from the playoffs last year, got the start for the Royals. Volquez has been meandering along with a 7-7 won/loss record, and a 4.08 ERA, neither here nor there. Tonight he struggled with his control and walked the first two batters, Zeke Carrera and Josh Donaldson, and two subsequent well-placed ground balls moved Carrera to third, then home, without benefit of a hit.

The score would stay that way until the seventh inning. For their part, Kansas City simply never mounted a threat. Through six innings the Royals had two baserunners, a walk to the free-swinging Alcides Escobar, of all people, in the third, and a two-out single to Cheslor Cuthbert (I told you it wasn’t the same Royals’ team) in the fifth. Through six innings Sanchez had only thrown 73 pitches.

Meanwhile, Volquez settled down immediately after the two walks in the first, retiring the side while giving up the run, and retiring the side in order in four of the five succeeding innings. The only inning in which the Jays threatened was the fourth, and the Royals managed to keep the Jays’ lead at one run thanks to some great defence behind Volquez. Edwin Encarnacion led off the inning with a single, but Ian Kinsler made a diving grab at second of a liner by Michael Saunders. Then Volquez fanned Russell Martin for the second out, but Troy Tulowitzki singled Encarnacion to second, and then Kevin Pillar ripped a base hit to left. With two outs Encarnacion was off with the hit, but he was cut down at the plate on a perfect throw and tag play, Alex Gordon to Salvator Perez.

In the top of the seventh, Sanchez made his only real mistake of the game. Unfortunately, he made it to the wrong Royal, and Kendrys Morales, leading off, hit the 3-2 pitch over the fence in right centre to tie the game. The young pitcher immediately returned to form and retired the next three hitters on ground balls.

With the game now tied, and Volquez having given up only 3 hits and thrown 88 pitches, Manager Ned Yost felt comfortable sending his starter out for one more kick at the can, but unfortunately, he missed it. Volquez’ control abandoned him for the second time in the game and after three hitters he was gone, leaving the bases loaded on a walk to Russell Martin and a single by Troy Tulowitzki, following which he nicked Kevin Pillar. That was it for Yost, who summoned right-hander Luke Hochevar to face Devon Travis. Hochevar walked Travis to force in the lead run, the first of Hochevar’s three inherited runners to score. In quick succession the bottom of the Blue Jays’ order tidied up the messy bases, finished Volquez’ record, and gave Sanchez a tidy cushion to carry into the eighth inning.

As he so often does, Darwin Barney followed Travis with a base hit up the middle to score Tulowitzki and Pillar. Zeke Carrera laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Travis and Barney to second and third, and Josh Donaldson drove them in with a single to right. Hochevar then retired Encarnacion and Saunders to end the inning, although he allowed Donaldson to move up to second on a wild pitch. So Hochevar played the kindly gatekeeper for the Jays, ushering home his starter’s three runners left behind, and allowing two more of his own to score, just for good measure.

Sanchez needed some assistance from the high-priced help behind him to finish off his outing without further damage. With one out, Barney threw out Escobar from third after making a sparkling grab, and then, after Jarod Dyson singled to centre, Alex Gordon hit a sinking liner into right centre that Kevin Pillar caught sliding on his knees, just another ordinary putout by Super K. Happy to leave it in the hands of the bullpen for the ninth inning, Sanchez’ line read: 8 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 1 bb, 3 k, 96 pitches.

Peter Moylan took over from Hochevar and set the Jays down in order on 12 pitches in the bottom of the eighth, and Manager Gibbons called on Brett Cecil to finish things off for the Jays, which he did, with one little lapse, allowing a two-out solo homer to left to Eric Hosmer before fanning Salvador Perez to end the game, a 6-2 win for the home team.

Sometimes this game’s pretty easy: send out a young stud to shut down the other team, bunch your hits in one inning, make some outstanding plays in the field, and, Bob’s yer uncle, you’ve got one in the win column. These world champions aren’t so tough: let’s play ’em again tomorrow night!

Before we get all tangled up in following the consequences of Terry Francona’s decision to raid his rotation on Friday to win the 19-inning game, let’s just get one thing clear: the operative number in the score of today’s game is the “one” next to the Indians’ name. The Jays didn’t win this game primarily because they chased Indians’ ace Cory Kluber early, or because they beat up on an exhausted Tribe bullpen, or because they forced Francona to use a catcher to pitch the last two innings. They won it because Jay Happ pitched a brilliant seven innings, and Drew Storen and Aaron Loup completely closed the door in the eighth and ninth with the pressure off. Whether the score ended up two to one or seventeen to one, this game was won by Jays’ pitching.
After Happ stranded a one-out Jason Kipnis double in the top of the first, one of only five hits he would give up in his seven innings, Russell Martin followed a Josh Donaldson single and a Michael Saunders double with a two-out, three-run homer, giving the Jays a 3-0 lead. It was basically over at that point, barring any breakdown on Happ’s part, and they could have mailed in the results right away, and saved a lot of wear and tear not only on the baseball supply, but also on the egos of Kluber, Tom Gorzelanny, Tommy Hunter, and Chris Gimenez.
There wasn’t going to be any breakdown on Happ’s part today. He gave up one run on five hits in his seven innings, walked none, and struck out eleven. Besides Kipnis in the first, the only baserunners he allowed were a double by Carlos Santana, whom he stranded at third in the fifth, and the three consecutive singles in the seventh that produced the Indians’ only run, driven in by former Jay Yan Gomes. Even in the seventh, in what was to be his last inning, he caught Abraham Almonte looking for the third out, with Jose Ramirez at third and Gomes at first, to go out with flair. Neither Drew Storen, with one strikeout, nor Aaron Loup, with two, allowed a baserunner on mop-up duty.
In keeping with my contention that the Jays’ starting pitching is their strong point, regardless of how well the offence does, I thought I’d start looking at each series they play, to make the simple comparison of how many innings are thrown by the Jays’ starters and their opponents. In this series, for example, Happ today and R.A. Dickey went seven innings each, and Marcus Stroman pitched in (sorry about that) 6.2 innings. Marco Estrada, struggling with his back issue, had the shortest outing, at five innings. For those of you who aren’t keeping score at home, that’s 25 and two thirds innings worked by Jays’ starters in the four games. Carlos Corrasco went 7.1 innings on Thursday night in his gem of a start. Josh Tomlin went six on Friday, but Cory Kluber went only 3.1 today, and let’s give manager Terry Francona the benefit of the doubt, and count the 3.2 innings contributed by Shawn Morimando as a start—after all, he was the guy who was designated to eat the innings for the Tribe on Saturday. So, ka-ching, ka-ching, that’s a grand total of 20 and a third innings for Cleveland’s starters in the four-game series. The salient point to be drawn from this little exercise is that, on top of putting in the innings you would expect them to, the Indians’ relievers had to log five and a third more innings of work than the Jays’ bullpen.

Watch this space for future comparisons of starting-pitcher workloads. It’s pretty clear that if they carry on as they have over the first half of the season, the accumulation of “extra” innings by the starters will contribute to a lessening of the workload on the Jays’ relievers, which in turn might help to mask any perceived deficiencies in the Toronto relief corps.
After the Martin home run in the first, Kluber, the putative ace of the Cleveland staff, found himself surrounded by Jays in the second following an error, a walk, a neat sacrifice bunt by Zeke Carrera, and an intentional walk to Josh Donaldson. However, he braced up and fanned Michael Saunders and Edwin Encarnacion to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the third, he gave up a single and a walk but again escaped. Even if he held the Jays in check from this point on, his rising pitch count would guarantee a short day for him.
There was no improvement in the fourth inning, and after four batters he was gone, down 4-0, having given up seven hits and walked four, and thrown 95 pitches over his three and a third innings of work. Zeke Carrera led off the inning with a walk. Josh Donaldson singled him to third. Edwin Encarnacion plated Carrera with a sacrifice fly, the only out Kluber would record in the inning, and Michael Saunders doubled Josh to third. Kluber exited, still responsible for the runners at second and third. Joba Chamberlain came in, and intentionally walked Russell Martin to load the bases (good idea, Terry Francona?), but allowed the sacrifice fly off the bat of Troy Tulowitzki to mark the fifth and final run against Kluber’s ledger for today.
Kluber ended the day’s work with a record of 8-8, and an ERA of 3.79. I notice that his name has come up amidst the swirling speculation about which starting pitchers might make the All-Star team, and I have to wonder, you know? I know Cleveland has played well so far, and compiled a terrific record on the year, but if Cory Kluber is their best starter, I don’t see the Indians as serious post-season threats.
As I warned you, I’m going to return just once more to Terry Francona’s quixoitc decision to use Trevor Bauer in relief in Friday’s baseball-a-thon. Today, Chamberlain gave up an inherited runner in the fourth before finishing off the Jays, and then laboured painfully through the fifth, giving up two walks and seeing Darwin Barney reach on a throwing error by Jason Kipnis, but keeping the Jays from scoring again, while throwing 33 pitches in total over his inning and two thirds.
Obviously, Francona had to go to the pen again for the sixth, and it wasn’t so much that he picked Tom Gorzelanny to come in and try to hold the Jays—remember, the score at this point was 5-0, not insurmountable if Happ should start to struggle, especially for a team that was 49 and 31 going into today’s game. Rather, it was the fact that Gorzelanny, who had only pitched once in the series, throwing six pitches for one out on Friday, was the second last man standing in the Indians’ bullpen. With three innings to go, and four if the Tribe mounted a comeback, Gorzelanny and Tommy Hunter would have to make do between them. But all they managed was the sixth, Francona was out of pitchers, and the Jays’ baserunners were out of breath from circling the bases.
Gorzelanny started by walking Saunders and Martin, and then gave up a three-run homer to Troy Tulowitzky. 8-0. Justin Smoak grounded out to Francisco Lindor, the highlight of Gorzelanny’s day, the only out he would record. Then he walked Junior Lake, and gave up a single to Darwin Barney, the first of three consecutive base hits. Carrera knocked in Lake. Donaldson knocked in Barney. 10-0. It was time to save Gorzelanny from further damage, and Tommy Hunter, the Lonesome Cowboy of Cleveland, came to the rescue. Sort of. Encarnacion doubled in Carrera. 11-0. Saunders singled in Donaldson. 12-0. Martin singled in Encarnacion. 13-0. Seven straight hits, encouragingly, only one of which, the first, left the yard. Mercifully, Tulowitzki popped out and Smoak struck out. The Jays’ lead had grown by eight, the Indians’ bullpen was flat out, and catcher-utility infielder Chris Gimenez, who had been inserted at third at the beginning of the Jays’ sixth, was trotting down to the Cleveland bullpen to start warming up, Goins and Barney redux.
Now, I’ve described these events entirely from the perspective of the Indians’ search for an effective pitcher, any pitcher at all, today, but we should give a nod to the Jays’ hitters as well. This is the first time this season that we’ve seen the line drives to all parts of the park, the passing on of the baton, the stirring of the pot, to use last year’s meme. Gorzellany paid the price for walking the first two batters he faced, but the rest of the Jays’ lineup took matters into their own hands after that. Also encouraging is the continued revitalization of both Tulowitzky and Martin, and the surprisingly strong season-long performance of Saunders at the plate. Looking a good ways down the road, seeing how the deck is stacked for us even with Jose Bautista on the DL, it’s not too hard imagining a future where a solid Jays’ offence has been made secure for the next few years by letting Bautista go, and plowing the money saved into re-signing Encarnacion and Saunders. I have profound respect for Jose Bautista as a consummate professional, and I’ve always been a great supporter of him, but there it is: the Jays actually can live without him.
As we did with Goins and Barney a few days back, we must end with a tip of the cap to Chris Gimenez, who took the mound for the sake of the team, consequences be damned. He had a good seventh inning, in fact, getting three hitters in a row to put the ball in the air for outs. But in the eighth the Jays caught up with him, as an Encarnacion double scored Donaldson from second after he led off with a double. Martin eventually scored Encarnacion with a base hit, and then rode home on Justin Smoak’s ninth homer of the season. Gimenez finally secured the third out, getting Junior Lake to ground out to second, and left the mound with only one consolation: Despite an ERA that read 18.00, he had not been saddled with the loss, so take that, Darwin Barney, with your fancy 9.00 ERA!
So the Indians settle for a split after running their win streak to 14, and the Jays happily take a split after losing the first two of the series. Cleveland goes home licking their wounds, but also licking their chops in anticipation of hosting their division rival Tigers, who haven’t beaten them yet this year. The Jays await the first and only appearance in Toronto this year of the 2015 American League and World Series Champion Kansas City Royals. Pay back time!

I never thought I’d be an enthusiast for the video appeal system that MLB has adopted, but after today, when I saw it get the play right, and the play decided the game, I’m all for it, as long as it’s not abused. When the initial call was “out” on Zeke Carrera’s scintillating slide into home with the lead run in the bottom of the eighth, and the review unequivocally turned the call around, it was the best thing that happened in the game.

Before we go on to the details of this tight, exciting game, though, we have a bit of unfinished business from yesterday to deal with.

There probably isn’t a person under the age of sixty who hasn’t at least once in his teen years stood sheepishly and heard that “decisions have consequences”. As could have been foreseen, the pitching decisions made by both managers yesterday have rebounded on them with powerful effect.

Jays’ Manager John Gibbons on the surface would appear to have made the better decision in terms of the long run by using position players at the end of the game, rather than disrupting his rotation. Yet, problems emerged from the decisions he made. The last pitcher left in his bullpen, Bo Schulz, threw two and two thirds innings, 48 pitches in total. Until recently Schultz had spent the entire season, including spring training, on the disabled list while recovering from hip surgery during the off-season. Toward the end of his appearance yesterday he seemed to be favouring his hip, but gamely soldiered on, knowing that there wasn’t a pitcher behind him in the bullpen. Today, it was announced that he had been optioned back to Buffalo. While this might seem to be a cruel reward for his efforts, it makes sense. Though the injury doesn’t appear to warrant a stint on the DL, it’s clear that he needs a few days to recover, and with the innings that the Jays’ bullpen have put in lately, they can’t afford to have someone occupying a spot who can’t pitch. Better he should recuperate in Buffalo. With the grit he showed yesterday, he’ll be back soon enough, no doubt.

Somewhat more troubling is that we now have the answer to why Ryan Goins was replaced by Darwin Barney on the hill for the nineteenth inning, when the plan had been to have him go another inning. It turns out that after his first inning he reported some forearm tightness, and they knew that they had to shut him down. The immediate consequence of this was Barney going to the hill with almost no warmup, contributing probably to the fact that he surrendered the winning homer to Carlos Santana, the first batter he faced. Once loose, as we recall, he set the side down in order, but the damage was done. Longer term, the consequence of Goins pitching is that this morning he was placed on the DL for fifteen days in order to sort out his forearm issues.

There’s no doubt that the adrenalin rush experienced by a position player suddenly dispatched to the mound might lead him to try things that otherwise he might not consider. In Goins’ case, recalling his experiences pitching in college ball, he could not resist trotting out the arsenal of breakng pitches he had once utilized. It’s no wonder that someone would develop an arm problem after trying to execute pitches he had not thrown in years.

Pitching stats geeks Nick Dika and Mike Sonne were so inspired by the appearance of a number of position players on the mound in the past week, that they decided to apply the various criteria they use to rank the effectiveness of real pitchers to see how the stand-in position players ranked. Their results, published on the Baseball Prospectus Toronto web site, primarily used change in velocity and spin rate to rank the 71 players they looked at since 2007. Ryan Goins ranked third out of 71 on the list, primarily because of his spin rates. Dika and Sonne singled out a curve ball he threw that dropped an incredible 21.2 inches in comparison with his fast ball, which was in the low 90s. Is there any wonder he’s on the DL today?

As for Terry Francona, his task was to find someone, anyone, anywhere in their system, who could come in take the start for which Trevor Bauer, who pitched five innings in relief yesterday, had been scheduled. They chose a big, raw left-handed pitcher from their double-A team in Akron, Shawn Marimondo, to call up for his big debut. However, Marimondo didn’t quite make it to Toronto in time for a proper warm-up, so Francona had to cover two innings while Marimondo got ready.

He had no choice but to go back to the same cast that had pitched the day before. Zach McAllister was chosen to start. He would pitch the first inning after throwing 27 pitches in one full inning on Friday. Jeff Manship would follow, after 16 pitches over one and a third innings on Friday. Manship did fine in the second, allowing a walk and throwing 16 pitches. But the Indians were already down 3-0, because McAllister was rocked by Edwin Encarnacion after failing to locate. He hit Zeke Carrera leading off, struck out Devon Travis on a foul tip, and walked Josh Donaldson on a 3-2 count. Encarnacion then hit a blast to centre, the first ball hit in fair territory off McAllister, and it was 3-1. He then walked Michael Saunders before retiring Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki, taking 31 pitches to get through the inning.

By then the rookie callup Morimondo was ready for his prime time debut. All told, he didn’t do badly, while giving the Indians’ bullpen some needed innings of respite. He pitched three and two thirds, and gave up two runs on six hits, walking one and striking out four, on 75 pitches. When he departed in the sixth, with two outs and nobody on, so that righty Dan Otero could face Devon Travis, the only damage against him had been a two-run Troy Tulowitzki homer in the fifth.

Morimando left the Indians only one-run down, so to this point in the game it would seem that Francona’s use of Bauer the day before had been neutralized. On the other hand, the jury was still out on John Gibbon’s decision to preserve his rotation It wouldn’t have impacted today’s game in any case, since Marco Estrada was questionable to start even on full rest because of his back. As it was, though, Estrada nearly added to his amazing, MLB all-time-record streak of 12 straight games giving up five or fewer hits while pitching six or more innings, and only missed it by one inning. But he was not fully himself today. Because he pitches to contact, and pitches up in the zone much of the time, Estrada is of course vulnerable to the home run. Still, it was a bit of a shock to see Rajai Davis take him out of the park on the first Indian at-bat of the game. Estrada gave up additional solo runs in the third, when Davis tripled—remember that—home a Tyler Naquin single, and the fourth, on a solo homer by Carlos Santana.

So it was by virtue of Tulowitzki’s two-run shot off Morimando in the bottom of the fifth that Estrada departed the game with no chance of losing, but one inning short of extending his record, and in line for the win. Considering that he had taken treatment between each inning, the only thing wrong with his line of 3 runs, 5 hits, seven strikeouts over five innings was that it took him 96 pitches to accomplish it.

For the Jays, the game was now in the hands of the bullpen, not to mention the hitters, who weren’t quite through yet, and it would remain to be seen whose bullpen better survived the endurance contest of the day before. Of course, in this regard we should point out, in case it’s been forgotten, that Francona was already two deep into his relievers, by virtue of their deployment at the start of the game.

Joe Biagini came in first for the Jays to pitch the sixth, and by virtue of his own lack of control the Indians creeped even closer, narrowing the score to five-four when Biagini hit Jason Kipnis with a pitch with the bases loaded by way of a single, a walk, and a wild-pitch third strike. Aaron Loup, added to the roster after the marathon yesterday, came in to secure the third out for Biagini.

In the seventh Drew Hutchison made his first relief appearance since his most recent recall from Buffalo, and was touched up for two runs by the Indians, who bookended a Jose Ramirez single with doubles by Rajai Davis—remember that—and Mike Napoli, putting the Tribe into the lead for the first time in the game. In the bottom of the inning, Otero, who had gone one and a third the day before, keep in mind, dished one up to Josh Donaldson, who promptly joshed it out of the park, though surely it was no joke to Otero, and the game was tied again, at six. Despite having to strand Michael Saunders, who singled, and Troy Tulowitzki, who reached on an error by the third baseman, Otero managed to finish the inning.

Jason Grilli fired up the crowd again by retiring the side with two strikeouts in the top of the eighth. Remarkably, he pitched one clean inning in the marathon and struck out two on 13 pitches, and today he did the same, except he needed three more pitches, so it wasn’t quite such a great day for him at the office. Nevertheless, it seems like the Jays have found their igniter: Grilli comes in, all enthusiasm and fist-pumps, does his pitching thing, and leaves behind elevated pulse rates all around. Since Francona’s use of two tired relievers to start the game hadn’t resulted in a total disaster, you could point to the bottom of the eighth as the next point of reference to Francona’s pitching management over the last two games. Perhaps feeling he had little choice, he sent Otero, who had already blown the lead in the seventh, out to start the eighth, which would see him put the winning run on base and ultimately take the loss for the Indians.

Let’s take another run at why I think it was such a mistake for Francona to use Bauer yesterday: by doing so, he gave up the chance of having a proper starter eat some valuable innings today to give the bullpen a rest, as Estrada did for the Jays. He used Bauer to secure the win, to be sure, but condemned himself to going back to a tired pen too often today.

Otero faced two batters in his final inning. He caught Darwin Barney looking, but then walked Zeke Carrera. This would be the end of the line for him, but not the end of his pitching line, unfortunately for him. Francona brought in Tommy Hunter, another veteran of the Friday afternoon wars, who had gone two innings and twenty-five pitches, to try to keep the Jays off the board. Didn’t work. Too tired? Who knows, but this is what transpired.

Devon Travis singled to centre, Carrera stopping at second. Josh Donaldson singled to centre, and Carrera turned for the plate with the lead run. Lonnie Chisenhall rifled the ball to the plate on a hop, catcher Chris Gimenez turned and dove to swipe the tag by Carrera, who made a sweeping, swooping slide in foul territory, trying to evade it, and swiped his hand across the plate. But, alas, Gimenez got him, and he was out. Or was he?

Carrera immediately pointed to the plate, and gestured to the dugout. He later told reporters (through an interpreter) that he knew that he hadn’t been tagged. Of course Manager John Gibbons requested a video review. As we sat and watched angle after angle, view after view, the two umps stood by the dugout with their headsets on. And stood. And stood. And stood. With apologies to Tom Boswell, if time begins on opening day, it stops during video replay. As we watched the endless loop of views, we knew, for a certainty, that the tag had not been made. Gimenez’ glove never bumped or wavered in its sweep, so no contact. Carrera’s pantleg didn’t twitch, so no contact. Isn’t that air we can see between the glove and the leg? Obviously, no contact. In our heart of hearts, we knew what the video actualy showed: Zeke Carrera was safe, and the Jays had the lead.

Bill Klem was the most renowned umpire in Major League Baseball, in a career that crossed several decades at the beginning of the twentieth century. Universally known as “the Old Arbiter”, he set a record that has never been equalled of serving as an umpire in eighteen World Series. One of the defining stories about Bill Klem, who was well known to turn an apt phrase, was about a close play at the plate during which the runner slid in in a cloud of dust, and upended the catcher. There was a long delay, during which both the runner and the catcher waited to find out the call. Finally, the runner could contain himself no longer. “Well, sir,” he said, “is it safe, or is it out?” In his stentorian voice (umps always had stentorian voices, in the old days), Bill Klem bellowed, “Son, it ain’t nothing until I call it.”

We may all have known that Carrera was safe, but it would not become fact and part of the record until the umps delivered their verdict. The longer they take, the more worried you become: “what aren’t they seeing that’s so obvious to me?” And this one took a very long time indeed. Finally, they reached up, slo-o-o-o-wly removed their headsets, and the crew chief, John Hirschbeck, swept his arms out flat, in the age-old signal. Carrera was safe, and pandemonium broke loose, in the stands, and in the dugout.

I have always thought that the most fraught moment in all of sport is when the pitcher stands on the rubber, ready to deliver, score tied, bases loaded, full count. The moment before he rocks into his motion is a moment in which no true fan could die, because no fan would allow himself to be carried away without knowing the outcome of the pitch. Now, with the video review, mechanical though it may be, there is a rival to the pitcher’s moment of truth: it’s the moment just as the umps are removing their headsets. Today, it was a good moment.

As you can see from the score, the Jays added two more runs in the inning, to give Roberto Osuna a little cushion to buck him up. But because it was Carrera who scored the lead run, and who had reached base on a leadoff walk by Dan Otero, Otero was saddled with the loss. The extra runs came courtesy of another interesting decision by Terry Francona, who decided not to issue an intentional pass to Michael Saunders with runners on second and third and two out. The Carrera play at the plate had left Travis on second and Donaldson on first. While Edwin Encarnacion was striking out, they crossed up the Royals, everyone else, to be sure, by pulling off a double steal. At this point, Francona chose not to put Saunders on to set up the force. I guess he wasn’t up on the story of the guy who was about to win the fan “final vote” spot in the All-Star Game. In typical Saunders fashion, he stroked the ball the other way, driving in both runners with a double to left.

Roberto Osuna finished the Indians off for the save, working around a one-out single and stolen base by Rajai Davis. Remember him? Remember I told you to take note of his hits today? Well, this single was the last hit Davis needed to complete a reverse-order natural cycle. Well done, Rajai. Glad to know you still feel at home in the TV Dome!

So, did Francona make the right decision to use Trevor Bauer ahead of schedule in the long Friday game? Well, baseball is played on a continuum, and one game affects the next throughout the season, so we’ll just have to wait and see about that one, but there were some interesting short-term implications today.

Tomorrow it’s Jay Happ against Indians’ ace Cory Kluber, the Jays playing for the split and the Indians for the win.

This may sound a bit ridiculous, but once my heart rate and blood pressure stabilized after the end of today’s 19-inning Canada Day celebration of baseball, and I started thinking about how I could possibly do justice to this day on “paper”, a certain song from The Sound of Music started running through my head. The answer to the question in the title, borrowed with thanks from Rodgers and Hammerstein, is, of course, that you can’t.

Though in the end I desperately wanted the Jays to be rewarded with a W after the investment of six hours and thirteen minutes of their time, when you think back on it, it doesn’t really matter—much—who won the game. If in the outcome the Jays, in particular their pitching staff, had to have their hearts broken, it’s equally the case that if we had won the game, the Indians and their pitchers would just as unfairly have have been let down.

The events of today in a closed TV Dome—imagine how hot and how muggy, and how eternal it must have felt to be in attendance—referenced virtually every scenario, every man-to-man confrontation, every challenge to the courage of an athlete, that you can possibly imagine. It also summoned for us every cliché, every meme, every philosophical reflection on the nature of baseball that comes to mind. Let’s just stick with one, for simplicity’s sake.

You have to start, as always,, with Yogi Berra. That’s right: “it ain’t over ’til it’s over”. This one could have been over in the top of the first, if Marcus Stroman hadn’t immediately shown that, on this day, anyway, he had his mojo back. It certainly could have been over in the bottom of the first, when the incomprehensible strike zone of the incompetent Vic Carapazza led to the even more incomprehensible ejection of the Jays’ own Mr. Teddy Bear, Edwin Encarnacion. Without wanting to disparage Devon Travis, he did go one for seven and left five runners on base when pressed into service as the replacement DH for Edwin. At what point might the game have ended before the nineteenth inning if the potent and streaky-hot bat of Encarnacion had remained in the lineup? I refuse to give Carapazza the dignity of ever referring to this incident again. If you want to wallow in the injustice of it all, look up Gregg Zaun’s comments. Normally I just find him annoyingly cranky, but on the topic of the accountability of MLB’s umpires I think he’s spot on.

There also was a gathering sense of it being over when the Indians took an early lead in the third inning. They combined two of their five hits against Stroman, a leadoff double by Carlos Santana and an RBI single by Jason Kipnis, to produce the only run in the game until Justin Smoak tied it in the sixth with a solo homer. The problem was that, as effective as Stroman was, Indians’ starter Josh Tomlin was equally effective, as their remarkably comparative pitching lines show. Stroman went six and two thirds innings, giving up one run on five hits, one walk, and six strikeouts. Compared to his recent outings, the return to effectiveness was remarkable. But there was nothing to choose from between him and Josh Tomlin, a veteran righty with five years of sometimes limited service with Cleveland. But this year, Tomlin’s record has surged right alongside the Indians’, standing at 9-1 with a 3.32 ERA going into today’s game. So how did he perform today? Six innings, one run on seven hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts. Stroman threw 96 pitches, Tomlin 99. So, until Smoak smoked one in the sixth off Tomlin, it was looking like another one of those games for the Jays’ hitters.

I’m sorry, you’re right. I just have to stop using that corny Smoak joke. (See? Can’t help myself!)

While Indians’ manager Terry Francona allowed Tomlin the good grace to slip away quietly at the end of six with the game tied, Jays’ Acting Manager DeMarlo Hale (oh, did I mention that John Gibbons was pitched by Carapazza about four seconds after Encarnacion in the first inning?) elected to send Stroman back out for the seventh. Though he did get two additional outs, he also loaded the bases for himself on a single, a rare fielding error by Justin Smoak, and a walk, and left the mound in serious danger of having overstayed his welcome and equally in danger of being collared for the loss. Fortunately, Brett Cecil came in to a lefty-lefty leverage situation for the first time since his return to the acive roster, after pitching an inning the night before in the loss to Carrasco and the Indians. Cecil threw three pitches in the zone, Jason Kipnis lofted the third one to centre field, and the threat was over, but the game wasn’t, because it ain’t over . . .

By the end of the regulation nine it looked like we were settling in for a fairly long afternoon in front of the sea of red that filled the entire stadium. It didn’t seem quite right to play the Canada Day game under the dome, but it had been raining earlier in the day, so there wasn’t much choice. As things progressed, of course, it became obvious that you don’t need sunlight and fresh air to keep you glued to your seats in a game like this. After the starters left and Cecil had done his little thing, the Indians’ trio of Dan Otero, Tom Gorzelanny, and Jeff Manship sailed to the end of nine for the Tribe. Hale, however, chose to follow the pattern that Gibbie has used lately (who was that guy he was talking to on the dugout phone, anyway?), gambling that his most recent setup man, Jason Grilli, and his closer, Roberto Osuna, could be profitably used to shut the opponents down while we scratched out the win at home. Well, Grilli and Osuna did their jobs, complete with the now-familiar Grilli fist-pump after the concluding strikeout, and Osuna’s fervent thanksgivings. But the Jays’ hitters didn’t hold up their end of the deal, and off to the tenth inning we went. No problem, we’re the home team, we’ve got the hammer, right? How long’s it gonna take to put one across?

Turns out, too long, in fact, never. As you know, “never” is a long, long time. Especially today.

But that doesn’t mean that the last ten innings didn’t have their moments. I love the stylish French term for orgasm, petit mort. Well, let me tell you, there were tons of petits morts yet to come for the fans, but not too many were thinking about sex, I can assure you, except for the fifteen-year-old boys in the crowd who never think about anything else.

This game was now totally in the hands of the pitchers, and then some, in the case of the Jays. Let’s run through the performances on both sides. Such heroism deserves recognition.

The Indians used Bryan Shaw and Zach McAllister for one inning each, Tommy Hunter for two, and Joba Chamberlain for one, before Terry Francona made the momentous decision to put Trevor Bauer, his scheduled starter for Saturday, into the game. I’ll address this move in a moment, but first let’s look at the work of his predecessors. Shaw whipped through the tenth in six pitches. McAllister escaped from a jam of his own making by getting Justin Smoak to pop up in foul territory to Jose Ramirez at third. He stranded Devon Travis and Troy Tulowitzki, who had both walked, Travis having stolen second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Hunter retired six of seven he faced over two, only Josh Donaldson reaching on a hit batsman. It was Hunter who got the sardonic pleasure, I suppose, of watching Russell Martin get tossed by Carapazza after he objected too vociferously, supposedly, for being rung up on a disputed checked swing call. Martin, who had watched his teammates get jobbed at the plate all day, and also watched his own pitchers get equally jobbed, went bat-poop crazy when he was thrown out while walking away from the umpire. Thus ended Hunter’s two innings of work, and Francona then turned to the last man standing in the Indians’ bullpen, Chamberlain. It’s pretty desperate when you have to call on the former rock star of the Yankees, now reduced to a rock-digger for the Indians, to keep you in a long, extra-inning affair.

Chamberlain did not disappoint, at least from the Jays’ perspective. The only thing he didn’t do for them was unlock the turnstile to the plate so what was left of the crowd could go watch fireworks. After he had loaded the bases on Tulowitzki’s single, a short, sharp double to left by Darwin Barney on which Kevin Pillar was held at third, and a walk to Ezequiel Carrera, mixed in with a couple of fielder’s choices to second that swapped out one runner for the next, it all came down to this: Josh Donaldson at the plate with a two-two count, and Pillar leading off third with the winning run. Excruciatingly, Donaldson grounded out to Mike Napoli at first to end the inning. This let Mr. Chamberlain escape to the dugout with his skin, and the tie, intact.

Now we come to the point where the two managerial paths diverged in the wood, and Terry Francona took the one less travelled by, and that made some difference, anyway, even if what he chose to do might be as significant to the last two games of the series as it was to this one. In a decision perhaps hinging largely on the fact that the Indians were trying to preserve a winning streak that had reached thirteen games, Francona decided to raid the rotation and bring Trevor Bauer, scheduled to start on Saturday, into the game, since his bullpen well had run dry.

In terms of the game in front of him, you have to say that this was a bold but ultimately successful decision. Bauer gave them five full innings, and held on to be the beneficiary of Carlos Santana’s nineteenth-inning homer that won the game. Oh, you didn’t know that? Sorry. Thought everybody knew how it turned out by now. He actually pitched pretty well, as befits a starter who came out of this game with a record of 7-2 and an ERA of 3.02. Only in the sixteenth was he in any trouble, when he induced Darwin Barney to pop out and struck out Ezequiel Carrera with runners on first and third after giving up base hits. Geez, you’d think a guy would bounce one to the backstop once in a while with a runner on third in extra innings!

Not having any more arms in his bullpen than Francona, DeMarlo Hale actually faced exactly the same decision, but his options were considerably more limited, as we shall see. Before we get to that point in the game, though, let’s look at some of the thrills and chills delivered by our relievers from the tenth inning to the seventeenth, when Hale’s well finally ran dry and he came to the same divergence on the path.

Okay, enough with the Robert Frost here, not to mention mixed metaphors. Let’s get to the performance of the Jays’ relievers, real pitchers or otherwise, from the tenth inning on.

Joe Biagini took the ball in the tenth, and skated on thin ice, hitting Jason Kipnis and giving up a single to Mike Napoli before Kevin Pillar saved his prosciutto with one of his patented catches diving to the left.

Jesse Chavez came in for the eleventh and was brilliant for three innings, setting the Indians down in order and striking out two. More often than not, Chavez’ appearances look like serious auditions for a spot in the starting rotation. After all, his resume shows two years of full participation in the Oakland rotation before coming here. His presence in the Toronto bullpen is primarily because all the starting spots are well spoken for. If somebody falters, though, it’s an open question as to whether the callup for the rotation would go to Chavez or the more obvious candidate, Drew Hutchison, now that Gavin Floyd’s stay on the DL looks to be pretty lengthy.

Drew Storen and then Bo Schultz took over from Chavez. Lonnie Chisenhall led off the fourteenth with a base hit, then advanced to second and third on ground balls, but died there as Storen chalked up a third straight ground ball out. Hale sent him back out for the fifteenth, and he got Carlos Santana on a fly ball to left before faltering. He walked Jason Kipnis, and gave up a single to Francisco Lindor that moved Kipnis around to third with one out. Hale went back to the pen and pulled out Schulz, who was basically the last man standing out there. Schultz quickly ended the uprising by getting Mike Napoli to ground into an around-the-horn double play.

That earned Schultz a return to the mound in the sixteenth. Apparently thinking he pitches better under pressure, he gave up singles to the first two hitters, just so he could feel comfy out there, Jose Ramirez going first-to-third on the single by Lonnie Chisenhall. The dark clouds gathered again for the Blue Jays, but dissipated with the advent of a brilliant sun as Schultz teased a popup, a strikeout, and a line out from the Indians to leave Ramirez gathering artificial daisies from the artificial turf around third. It’s a measure of the grit of Schultz, recently returned to the active roster after undergoing hip surgery earlier in the year, that he started to show obvious signs of discomfort in the hip area while on the mound, yet soldiered on, successfully as it turned out, because there was no one left in the bullpen. Except Ryan Goins. As they say on the internet, “Wha-a-a-a-a-t??”

You will recall that DeMarlo Hale faced the same unpalatable choice as Terry Francona, but with less flexibility. Generally, the problem Hale faced was created by the success of the rotation so far this year. Every starter is coming off an outing of 90 pitches, so the five-day rest is a real need. R.A. Dickey had thrown 92 pitches the night before. Marco Estrada is now questionable from start to start with his recurring back problems. Jay Happ was scheduled for his hard bullpen work the following day, and nobody is going to mess with Aaron Sanchez’ arm.

The TV audience probably knew about the plan to use Goins before the fans in the stands did. The bullpen camera picked him up, and his starting to throw was remarked upon by Buck and Pat. In truth, I had already thought something was odd, because I had checked the available bench listing on the on-line box score, and noticed that it showed the Jays’ bench as stripped, whereas Goins hadn’t been used yet. My first thought was that he was sick or something, and had been pulled from the lineup card. But there he was, up and throwing in the pen. It makes perfect sense when you think about it, though. If you’re going to use a position player to pitch, who better than a guy who knows all the other positions anyway, and has the strongest infield arm on the team, to boot?

So Goins took the ball in the top of the eighteenth, and, by golly, he looked good, showing poise on the mound and displaying an arsenal of interesting if sometimes dinky pitches. But earnestness and a good front don’t cut it much against major league hitters. He immediately gave up a single to Jose Ramirez, and another to Chisenhall, which sent Ramirez around to third. With the infield in, Michael Martinez hit a grounder to short, and Barney went to the plate as Chisenhall didn’t get a good jump. A rundown ensued, and Goins nominated himself fifth infielder to put the tag on the runner. Meanwhile, Ramirez and Martinez came around to second and third. Goins then issued an intentional pass to Tyler Naquin, and then made the strategy pay off by getting catcher Chris Gimenez to ground into a double play to end the inning.

The Jays had no else warming up in the bullpen, so it looked like Goins would get another inning if the Jays didn’t score against Bauer in the bottom of the eighteenth. But when they took the field for the nineteenth, low and behold, there was Darwin Barney on the mound, and Devon Travis, who had been serving as the DH in Encarnacion’s absence, at second base. The Jays thereby lost their DH, but it hardly mattered, since their pitcher’s spot would now be occupied by a position player from this point on.

Following the idea that a baseball game can theoretically go on forever, the Jays were now in the position of having no one else left on the bench or in the pen except starting pitchers, and you could imagine the game carrying on inning after inning, with the pitching chores being handed round to all the players in their turn. But, alas, it was not to be. For all of the marvellous skills he deploys from day to day on the diamond, even Darwin Barney can’t come in and pitch effectively without a warmup session in the bullpen. Of course he couldn’t warm up. He had been playing second the previous inning, and was due to hit fourth in the bottom of the eighteenth, so he had just too darn much to do to take the time to get his arm loose enough to pitch.

Sadly, perhaps inevitably, after going to three and two on leadoff hitter Carlos Santana, he served up one that was a little too juicy, and Santana juiced it back, over the fence in right centre, for the lead run that would win the marathon for the Indians. By now Barney was loose enough to retire the side in order, ending on a high note by fanning slugger Mike Napoli on a one-two count with, according to Pitch Tracker, a 78 MPH slider down and away.

Barney threw 16 pitches in his inning of work, and Goins had thrown fifteen. The results, when you compare them with most other instances when position players have been called on to pitch, were really quite good. In fact, both of them seem to have studied at the Marco Estrada school of precision and sang froid. There’s no doubt that the Jays’ manager would not hesitate to call on either of them if the need should arise again. But the question remains: why didn’t Ryan Goins, who is a gamer to the core, not answer the bell for the nineteenth inning?

With all the wind sucked out of the dome by Santana’s blast, the Jays went meekly and mildly in the bottom of the inning. Trevor Bauer only needed nine pitches to secure the win. Darwin Barney would go into the books as the loser in this one, but in another, more important book, the book of the heart, he, Ryan Goins, and Bo Schultz, jouneymen ballplayers all, are recorded as the true heroes of this wonderful and entertaining game.

The Indians have taken the first two games of the series, and their winning streak now stands at fourteen, but where does Terry Francona go from here? He decided to raid the Tribe’s starting rotation because this game was so important to his team, but what consequence will there be for making that call?

Marco Estrada is scheduled to start for Toronto tomorrow. The Cleveland starter is “to be announced”.

The incredibly long grind of 162 games that makes up the regular season of major league baseball can be a source of joy but also great frustration for both the fan and the player. Every one of the 162 games offers the opportunity for either the joy that comes with a win, or the sadness and reflection that comes with a loss.

The goal of a team that hopes to make the playoffs, where anything can happen, is to win around 100 games in the regular season. More would be great, of course, but 100 wins will guarantee a spot in the playoffs, and pretty much assure a division title, so that the team doesn’t have to play in the dreaded sudden-death wild card game.

But winning 100 games, for those of us, including me, who are math-challenged, also means losing 62, or thereabouts. That’s a lot of losses, and a lot of ways to lose, from blow-outs to nail-biters, from pitching duels to slugfests, from wire-to-wire affairs to excruciating comebacks, from sloppy hot messes to crisp clean baseball. But still, 62 losses. Which means that it’s best to be philosophical about an individual loss, at least to the point in the season where they start to pile up and threaten the possibility of achieving the end goal. The fan, as I’m sure do the players, must resist the temptation to go into “but . . ., but . . .,” mode, because there are more cases of losses that were destined to be than losses which could have been wins.

Tonight’s opener of the four-game Jays-Indians series at the TV Dome on Canada Day weekend was one of those losses where the response has to be “oh well, let’s move on”.

Both teams came into the series with a head of steam, though the Indians’ was several hat sizes larger than the Jays, who were returning from a tough six-game road trip during which they had salvaged a split by taking two of three from the Colorado Rockies in the tough environs of the Beer Barrel. With a day’s rest and the exciting Canada Day festivities, which always draw big, enthusiastic crowds, ahead of them, the home team had much to be optimistic about.

How much more upbeat, though, should the Indians have been coming in? After all, they arrived leading the American League Central Division by six full games over the World Series champs, the Kansas City Royals, their record of 47-30 was tied for second best in the American League with the Baltimore Orioles, behind only the very hot Texas Rangers, and they were riding the crest of a twelve-game winning streak.

The pitching matchup contributed to the sense of modest optimism for the Jays versus serious swagger for the Indians. R. A. Dickey, whose numbers have improved dramatically since his usual slow April start, would take the hill for the Jays, who would be expecting him, as always, to yield a couple of homers but all in all provide a quality start, which would normally be enough for a Jays team that is clearly starting to right its early-season offensive dithers. On the other hand, Cleveland would start Carlos Carrasco, who, after a stint on the DL in May, had come back strong, with his record standing at 3-2, with an ERA of 2.73, going into tonight’s game. What’s more, he was coming off a complete-game, four-hit shutout on the road in Detroit, in his last outing.

Today’s game closely followed the script that could have been written for it. Dickey was effective again, walking only one and striking out four, while throwing no wild pitches and not contributing to Josh Thole’s entirely understandable but very high passed ball total. It was absolutely a quality start, as he exited after seven innings, having given up three runs on eight hits. In typical Dickey fashion, two of the three runs scored against him came on solo homers, from Rajai Davis in the second, and Jason Kipnis in the third. The third came in when Jose Ramirez’ base hit to centre cashed a Mike Napoli double leading off the sixth. After the third run, Dickey quickly regained command and retired the last six batters he faced.

Dickey’s season stats, of course, are deceiving. His ERA of 4.23 coming in derives from the terrible April record, and shows every prospect of ending the season in the mid to high threes if he stays healthy. His won-loss record of 5-8 before tonight’s game is to be to totally disregarded, because of the Jays’ well-known tragic propensity not to score runs for him.

And this was the last night that we might have hoped for some runs being put on the board behind the knuckle baller. Carlos Carrasco was mesmerizing and dominant, and the three runs given up by Dickey were one more than he needed. Aided by a double play in the first that erased Devon Travis, who had reached on a base hit, Carrasco had faced the minimum number of hitters until Josh Donaldson took him deep to centre with two out in the fourth for the Jays’ only run. He exited in the eighth after the third hit by the Jays, a ground rule double to right by Darwin Barney, and left with this sparkling line: seven and a third innings, one run, three hits, one walk, and fourteen strikeouts.

Cleveland relievers Brian Shaw and Cody Allen added three more strikeouts to the total for the Jays, who fanned 17 times on the night. It hardly mattered that Carrasco was out of the game; he had put the home team bats down to sleep for the night, and they never even woke up for a late-night cookie-and-milk after he left.

So Carlos Carrasco pitched a terrific game, the Indians dented Dickey enough to give him a lead, and he and the Tribe’s bullpen were good enough to breeze home. Oh well, let’s move on.

A word about the title of today’s piece: I know the game really wasn’t a fiasco either from the perspective of Carrasco or of the Jays, but I just kind of liked the way “Carrasco Fiasco” sounded, okay?

Another word about the word “fiasco”: I’m often amazed by the inappropriate names that are often chosen by the proprietors of businesses, particularly restaurants. There was once a restaurant in Bloor West Village called Fiasco. It wasn’t, really, having an okay run of a couple or three years or so, more or less typical of restaurants in Toronto, but I always wondered about the name. What were they thinking?

Today’s deciding game of the Jays-Rockies interleague series at Denver’s Beer Barrel Park offered a number of interesting story lines. Would the two teams, both built to take advantage of cozy dimensions in their home parks, continue to put up the big numbers they had in the first two games, in which they scored a combined 37 runs? Would the Jays find a way to put a leash on Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado’s version of the Bash Brothers? Would Edwin Encarnacion keep mashing baseballs into pulp? Finally, could Aaron Sanchez master the Rockies in their home park as he has most of the teams he’s faced this year?

So as not to keep you in suspense, here are the answers provided by the events of today: no, the run production didn’t keep up. The two teams totalled eight runs, as opposed to over 18 a game in the first two games . The biggest bashers on both sides were more or less quiet, both Arenado and Gonzalez getting one base hit and neither producing a run, while Edwin went two for three with a double and an RBI, but failed to hit one out of the park, so it was a relatively modest day for him at the plate. Maybe it made sense for the starting pitching to be the best part of today’s game, since today’s starters would have been the least affected by the lateness of last night’s game and the short twelve-hour turnaround for today’s 1:00 local start. As for whether Sanchez could continue his series of solid starts today against the Rockies in Denver, the answer is most decidedly yes.

If I had to say what kind of mold Aaron Sanchez seems to be fitting into as this first full season of his starting career unfolds, I think I’d put him in the category of a Jack Morris. Compared to the big power pitchers in the Naional League, like Stephen Strasburg and Noah Syndergard, he’s not dominating or intimidating, despite his obvious size and strength. You kind of expect, when you look at him, that he’s going to blow batters away big time, with high strikeout totals. But that’s not what he does. If you wanted another Blue Jay analogy, it might be that he’s more Dave Stieb than Roy Halladay. But without the attitude. Of either of them.

Today, for example, he went eight full innings, and not for the first time this year. He allowed one run and six hits, walked two, and struck out three. It’s not like he’ll go long stretches of, say, 12, or 15 outs in a row. Teams get their runners on base against him, like in four of the eight innings he pitched today, but he has the highly valued ability to bear down and get the outs he needs after yielding baserunners.

One of the criticisms I would consistently make about Jays’ Manager John Gibbons’ handling of his starting pitchers is his tendency to assume the end has come when the starter gets in a spot of trouble in the sixth or seventh inning. I realize that, especially with Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, who are pretty young to carry the responsibility that they do, there is a tendency to be a little protective, both of their confidence and their arms. But to me one mark of a mature major league starter is that he has developed the ability to work his way out of his own jams. If, for example, Sanchez or Stroman were more experienced, I would respect them for saying to the manager, “Listen, I’ve got plenty left in the tank. I can do this. Piss off, and take your hook back to the dugout.” That’s what Jack Morris would say. I have no doubt that that’s what David Price says, hiding it behind his big goofy grin.

To me the most significant moment in today’s game, both as a turning point for the Jays’ win, and as a significant signpost on the road to Aaron Sanchez establishing his bona fides as a top-of-the-rotation starter, came in the Rockies’ seventh. They had opened the inning with a Mark Reynolds single, following which Sanchez had walked Daniel Descalso. After getting Brandon Barnes to fly out to Kevin Pillar in centre, he issued another base on balls, to catcher Tony Wolters. I had expected to see Gibbie pop out of the dugout after the Descalso walk, so I thought sure that the second walk would be it for Sanchez. But, no: Gibbie to his credit left him in—you’re a big boy, you can get out of this—and didn’t Sanchez induce an inning-ending double-play ball from pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn?

Just to show that Gibbie had made the right call in the long run, he sent Sanchez back out for the eighth, already at 96 pitches, and Sanchez finished up his day’s work by getting two ground ball outs and a foul popup from the top of the Colorado batting order on just ten pitches, to finish at 106 pitches, and, by now, a 5-1 lead.

The Jays’ manager turned the ball over to Roberto Osuna for the ninth in the non-save situation, partly because Osuna needed the work, and partly because, well, just because. The Jays’ shaky bullpen, right? And as usual in non-save situations, Osuna was less than perfect. In fact, I’d like to see the split of his save-situation ERA versus his non-save situation ERA. Maybe even thrown in a third split, for when he’s used in tie games or when the Jays are down one, and seriously need a hold. Today, for example, he struck out the side . . . on 29 pitches . . . giving up two runs on three hits, a walk, and a hit batsman. This is what it looked like: Gonzalez walk, Reynolds double, Descalso double, Barnes whiff, Wolters double, Hundley pinch-hitting whiff, Blackmon hit by pitch, Adames whiff. All in a day’s work, right, Bobbie? Piece of cake, was it?

Colorado rookie lefty Tyler Anderson pitched well enough to win as well, going six innings on 107 pitches. He gave up two earned runs on eight hits, walked two, and struck out six. Like Sanchez, Anderson must have reaped the benefits of having been able to cuddle up on the bench in a hoodie during the previous night’s crazy rain-delayed slugfest.

The Jays broke on top in the second on an RBI double by Junior Lake, but couldn’t cash Pillar on third and Lake on second with one out, letting Anderson wriggle off the hook. They increased the lead to 3-0 in the third with a massive solo shot by Josh Donaldson, followed by a an Edwin Encarnacion double, Edwin was then delivered by Troy Tulowitzki who went the other way to single to right. Sanchez gave up his only run in the fourth when Descalso delivered Nolan Arenado from third with a two-out base hit. This, after the first two Rockies’ hitters had reached on base hits, and Sanchez had dampened the threat by getting Mark Reynolds to hit into a double play.

The lead was extended to 4-1 in the seventh on three base hits, the RBI going to—who else—Encarnacion. This may have given Sanchez the extra gas he needed to pitch out of the bottom-of-the-seventh jam I described earlier. We added a fifth run in the top of the ninth without a base hit, as very raw right-hander Carlos Estevez came in wild as a March hare, and helped the Jays along with two walks, a hit batter, and a wild pitch that finally plated Ryan Goins, who was running for Encarnacion who had walked.

The extra runs picked up by the Jays in the seventh and the ninth then, were actually needed by Osuna to give him the cushion to protect, finally, the sparkling effort by Aaron Sanchez.

I haven’t weighed in yet on the question of preserving Sanchez by sending him to the bullpen a little further into the season. I have done a lot of teeth-grinding over it, though. How do you arbitrarily shut down, assuming his arm would still be healthy, a guy who is your number one-A starter after Marco Estrada, just because he woud be going where he had never gone before, past 130 innings? Methinks, however, that the decision to shut Sanchez down may not be irrevocable after all, and the pressure on Jays’ management to rethink the whole thing must be building.

So tomorrow we return to the TV Dome, having a saw-off to show for the six-game westward swing. Not great, but minimally acceptable. But now we’re looking at Cleveland though, and how ’bout them Indians, eh?

There’s just enough of a kid in me that as a general rule I really, really hate rainouts. I guess I never was very good at delayed gratification. The only exception is when the game is out west, in a later time zone. In that case, I’ll take a rainout any day over a long delay before starting the game, since if they finally go ahead and play, like they did tonight after two hours and forty minutes, it’s going to run into the wee hours, and beyond.

As I checked in on the visuals from the Beer Barrel ball park, it was pretty clear that tonight was off the books and we’d be looking at playing two tomorrow. There was a flood waste deep in the tunnel between the Rockies’ clubhouse and their dugout . There was so much hail, and it was so chunky, that it looked like drifting snow on the infield tarp. The grounds crew had to shovel the ice pellets into groundskeepers’ carts. No game tonight, for sure.

Then, about 10:30 Toronto time, a banner started to run across the bottom of the cable feed stating that the game was projected to start at 11:20 p.m. I groaned. 11:20, average game time three hours, 2:20 in the morning—not much sleep for the old scribe tonight! Oh well, maybe it would be a nice, crisp, two hours-ten minutes pitchers’ duel. At the Beer Barrell?? As if.

When the game finally started, a minute late even, the stink would have started emanating from the screen immediately, if they’d ever actually invented Smellovision. Up against the raw, unpolished rookie Eddie Butler, the Jays went down meekly in the first, despite Josh Donaldson drawing a two-out walk. Here’s a thing to consider: Donaldson leads the American League in walks. If he’s hitting third and draws a walk in the first inning, how often will that be with two outs? If he’s hitting second and draws a walk, the inning is exponentially (I would think—remember, I don’t do analytics) more promising. On the other hand, the significance of the batting order the first time through may be highly over-rated. What is likely more significant is whom you’re hitting behind, or ahead of. Tonight, as we’ll see, Zeke Carrera and Devon Travis stirred up all kinds of trouble for the Rockies, and whose big bat came to the plate next every time they started something? Sure paid off in the fourth inning.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. I was still recalling the nervous stench of the first inning. After Butler put the Jays down, Jay Happ took the mound, and immediately revived the recent concern about his location and efficiency that have been so good for much of the season. Not that the first inning troubles were really his fault. Charlie Blackmon led off with a lame bloop single to left. Christhian (still not a typo) Adames followed with an even lamer bloop single to right, that floated agonizingly softly over Devon Travis’ glove, hit the turf, and quickly splashed to a stop in the flooded no-man’s land. Two mis-hits, two baserunners. Nolan Arenado was the first to hit the ball hard, really hard, driving Zeke Carrera to the wall in right for the out. Blackmon tagged up and easily took third on the catch. Carlos Gonzalez lined a single to centre for the Rockies’ first run. Trevor Story hit the ball hard to left, over Michael Saunders’ head, but Saunders scrambled back, stretched all of his considerable length up toward the ball, and just snagged it. We were now up to one run, two cheap hits, and three hard-hit balls that produced two outs and the run. Finally, Happ froze Mark Reynolds on a two-two pitch, his 31st of the inning, to limit the damage, but not lift the gloom.

The second inning passed uneventfully. Butler continued to labour, but set the Jays down in order. The Rockies efficiently moved a leadoff double by catcher Nick Hundley to third with a following right-side ground-out, but Happ shut the door this time, fanning the pitcher and getting Blackmon on a grounder to first.

The Blue Jays employed some National League small ball to tie it up in the third, but the sense of the fates conspiring against us continued, as Michael Saunders, with the bases loaded, ended the inning by driving the ball deep to centre field where Charlie Blackmon had to make a very good catch on it, so close it was to a bases-clearing double. Pillar had led off with a single to right, bringing Happ, with considerable National League experience, to the plate. Happ calmly and efficiently bunted Pillar to second, and after Butler walked Zeke Carrera Devon Travis delivered Pillar with a clutch single to right. Josh Donaldson then drove the ball deep to Blackmon in centre, letting Carrera advance to third. A walk to Edwin Encarnacion, one of three he would receive tonight, set the table for Saunders to be disappointed by Blackmon. At least we’d tied it up. For the moment.

For the third inning in a row the Rockies’ leadoff hitter reached base. In fact, only in his last inning, the fifth, would Happ retire the leadoff hitter. Not a practice conducive to keeping your pitch count down! This time it was a walk to Adames. For the second time in a row Nolan Arenado hit the ball hard, but for a double, Adames stopping at third. This brought up Carlos Gonzalez, whom Buck and Pat and the other cool guys call “Car-go”. Ugh. What a load. Also ugh that for the second night in a row he pounded a three-run homer to right, and with no one out, and not so much as a howdy-do, Happ and the Jays were down 4-1. With that business off his mind, the suddenly erratic veteran lefty settled down and retired the remaining hitters in order.

Baseball is a pretty strange game, though, and for some reason the baseball gods decided to smile down on the Blue Jays, for almost the first time in a week, and for the first time ever in Denver. Troy Tulowitzki led off, and gave his adoring Denver fans the moment they’d been waiting for, as long as the Rockies held the lead. They were very happy for him as he hit a rope over the left-field fence. No doubt his Toronto teammates were a lot happier, though, at this quick answer to the Gonzalez soul-crusher.

Russell Martin singled to right, which means all’s well with the world, and after Kevin Pillar fanned, we came to one of those National League moments that show how interesting things can happen even if you’re forced to send a weak hitter to the plate. Eager to prove himself useful, Jay Happ laid down a second sacrifice bunt on the day. This one went back to the raw rookie on the mound, and he thought he had a shot at Martin at second, so threw the ball into the outfield, which didn’t work out so well for him. Martin jumped up and scampered to third (I don’t know, what do you think: can I say that Russell Martin scampers?) Meanwhile, Happ was safely ensconced at first, and promptly put in a call to the dugout for his roller blades, which didn’t arrive in time. Ezequiel Carrera delivered Martin with a single to right to cut the lead to one, and it was time for Rockies’ manager Walt Weiss to relieve Mr. Anderson of his burdensome duties.

Unfortunately for him, he called on journeyman lefthander Yohan Flande to take over, but Flande forgot to bring his instruction book on how to get out of trouble. Devon Travis singled to left to load the bases, and Josh Donaldson promptly unloaded them with what should have been a double to right, but comically turned into a triple when it hit something funny in the corner and started rolling quickly down along the wall in foul territory, in the general direction of the infield. Gonzalez chased after the rolling ball, that seemed to be picking up speed. Gonzalez, like an eager retriever playing fetch, kept after it until someone, probably first baseman Mark Reynolds, beat him to the ball and Gonzalez could go back to his post in right, his tail between his legs and his tongue hanging out. Meanwhile, Donaldson fetched up at third.

At this point in a typical Encarnacion surge, no one in the American League, or even the Rockies, is about to pitch to Edwin with one out and a runner on third, so even without his how-to book, Flande knew to give the big guy a free pass. That brought up Michael Saunders, and gave Flande a chance to contribute to a really weird statistic: Saunders bounced one back to the pitcher, who tried for the force at second, and maybe a double play, but threw wildly. Encarnacion was safe, Donaldson scored, and two Rockies’ pitchers had each made throwing errors to second base in the same inning. I told you it was weird. Troy Tulowitzky let Flande off the hook for the extra baserunners by grounding into a double play. All told, this strange sequence of events resulted in six runs for the Jays, which vaulted them into a 7-4 lead that they would never relinquish, though that doesn’t mean that it was a walk in the park for the rest of the night.

In the bottom of the fourth the Rockies cashed a leadoff double by Brandon Barnes to cut the lead to two, and in the top of the fifth the Jays cashed a leadoff walk to Russell Martin with a two-out double to right by Ezequiel Carrera to restore the lead to three, where it remained while Happ stranded a couple of singles in the bottom of the fifth, but also ran his pitch total to 103, so it was his last inning. By the end of the fifth, both starters were out of the game.

Unlike so many of their games this year, the Jays continued to hit and score in the late innings, accumulating a commanding lead over Colorado. In the sixth, Martin, Pillar, and Junior Lake all racked up two-out base hits with runners in scoring position, though Lake’s only produced an outfield assist for the Rockies because Pillar was thrown out at the plate on a strong throw by left fielder Brandon Barnes for the third run. The clutch hitting provided three more add-on runs, and the Jays’ lead was extended to 11-5. Runs in the seventh, on a sacrifice fly by Michael Saunders, the eighth, on an RBI single by Devon Travis, and an unearned run in the ninth combined for 14 runs on 18 hits, the Jays’ highest run and hit outputs of the season.

After Happ’s premature departure, the results from the Toronto relievers were generally good, as they maintained the lead, with Joe Biagini having a good sixth, Jason Grilli coming in to wrap up the eighth, and Roberto Osuna pitching a clean ninth just because he needed the work. What’s that, you say? I left out the Colorado seventh? Well, that was a special case, you see.

With his good sixth inning under his belt, Biagini, working on a fair bit of rest, coughed up four to the Rockies in the seventh, but an unusual catching error by Edwin Encarnation not only kept the inning alive, but rendered three of the four runs off Biagini unearned. Nelson Arenado led off with a double, and his partner in crime Carlos Gonzalez doubled him home for the only legit run off Biagini, to make the score 12-6. Biagini quickly got two ground ball outs, while Gonzalez moved around to third, whence he scored when Nick Hundley reached as a catchable throw from Troy Tulowitzki at short ticked off Encarnacion’s glove at first. Gonzalez scored the second run of the inning, unearned because the play should have ended it. For those of you keeping score at home, as Ernie Harwell used to say, this also made any subsequent runs unearned, such as the two that followed on single-walk-single before Biagini struck out catcher Tony Wolters to end the inning at last.

Regardless of the injustice of it all, the lead was now 12-9, with two innings to go in the Beer Barrell, where the dry air juices the ball and the fences beckon enticingly. It was not for nothing that the hearts of Jays’ fans were set a-fluttering by that star-crossed seventh, but the pickup runs in the eighth and nine quickly restored calm to all our breasts, and our boys escaped Denver with a two-one series win. Hail Columbia.

On a personal note, if you have read the short biography of yer humble scribbler on the site, you will recall that I noted that one of the reasons that 1968 was the best of years was that it was the year the Tigers finally won it all, and another reason was that it was the year that my lovely and talented wife and I were wed. (I love sounding archaic, especially when waxing sentimental.) I have just finished reporting on today’s Blue Jays’ game of June 28, 2016. Well, today is the forty-eighth (!) anniversary of our wedding day, and I thought I’d fill you in briefly on certain circumstances surrounding our wedding concerning which I have frequently found it necessary to defend myself over the years.

Our candlelight wedding was scheduled to begin at 8:00 on Friday evening, the twenty-eighth of June, 1968. It seems that there was a brief delay just before the ceremony was to start because the prospective groom had not yet appeared at his appointed spot. It turned out that I was ensconced in the chaplain’s office with my best man and my one usher (it was a small affair), ears glued to a transistor radio tuned to the Tigers’ broadcast from Tiger Stadium across the river in Detroit. As the clock clicked closer to eight, I now admit that I was repeating to myself that age-old refrain, “just one more pitch, just one more pitch”.

I freely admit that I was (ever so slightly!) late for my own wedding because I couldn’t tear myself away from the ball game. As I was thinking about concluding this piece, the thought occurred: what was going on in that game that night that was so compelling?

It turns out that some of the stats geeks have put together a wonderfully useful site called Baseball-reference.com, on which you can find more details that you would ever need to know about any game in major league history starting from 1910. It turns out that on my wedding night the Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox five to four, one of their 103 wins that year. And what was going on as the minutes and seconds ticked down toward what was supposed to be the beginning of my wedding? Well, the game had been scoreless for an inning and a half, with relatively quick innings, but in the bottom of the second, the Tigers’ slugging outfielder Willie Horton cadged a walk off the legendary Chisox knuckleballer Wilbur Wood, and then slugging first baseman Norm Cash, the original “Stormin’ Norman” gave the Jays a two-run lead with a big home run. That must have been the moment when I tore myself away from the radio because I can remember being really happy as I hurried toward the chapel. I know that this was because I was racing toward my wedding and the rest of my life, but I also suspect that it was also because the Tiges had just taken the lead. Despite my wife’s enjoyment at regaling all of our friends and acquaintances with this story of her goofy husband on his wedding night, I have never for a moment felt embarrassed about being torn between my baseball team and the woman I love.

Tomorrow Aaron Sanchez starts for us in the series finale. How will the sterling young righty fare in that hitter’s paradise the Rockies call home?

For some odd reason, and despite the overwhelming emphasis on relief pitching in contemporary major league baseball, there is currently no major award allocated to the best relief pitcher in each league. This strange omission to the parade of post-season awards is likely to make little difference to Roberto Osuna, the Jays’ terrific young closer, this year. Not because he’s not one of the best in the league, but because the way things have been going he’d never get enough save opportunities to merit consideration for this award that no longer exists. Until the Blue Jays can find someone, or, better, three someones, who can come in from the bullpen carrying a fire hose rather than a gasoline can, the odds of a save opportunity being passed on to Osuna by the bridge guys are extremely long.

There was an award for relief pitching from 1960, when The Sporting News established the Fireman of the Year awards, through 1977, when sponsorship was acquired by the pharma company that produces Rolaids, the proprietary treatment for acid indigestion, They maintained what was renamed the Rolaids Relief Award until 2012, when their relationship with major league baseball came to an end. Anyone of a certain age will find it really hard to suppress the memory of their ubiquitous tv commercials in which various random characters posed the rhetorical question, “how do I spell relief?” and then spelled out the answer: “R-O-L-A-I-D-S”. You can thank me later for giving you your ear-worm for the day.

Tonight’s implosion in the Colorado Rockie’s seventh inning by Drew Storen and Jesse Chavez was only the latest, but perhaps one of the most (insert any negative adjective you choose here—we can call it a “write your own game story” experience) examples of the Jays’ pen letting down not only the starting pitcher, but the rest of the team. If they are to make the playoffs, a couple of pitchers have to step up, or be found, who can do a consistently better job than the current denizens of the bullpen. A number of the Jays’ relievers have had very good outings over the course of the year, but every night it’s a crap shoot for Manager John Gibbons as to whether or not he can depend on anybody for more than one good outing out of two, or even three, appearances.

To be fair to the team’s relievers, the crew has been beset with injuries since spring training. Veteran left-handers Aaron Loup and Franklin Morales started the season on the DL, and though Loup came back for a few outings he’s now out again, and Morales is only just now finishing up his rehab stint at Buffalo. Brett Cecil, who had a great season in 2015, and was expected to be one-half of a solid setup duo with Drew Storen, had a number of spectacular flameouts early in the season, and then, just as he seemed to be sorting things out, he was detoured by an injury, and is currently accompanying Morales on the rehab brigade in Buffalo. And it certainly didn’t help that Gavin Floyd, who has been solid in full-inning and longer appearances for most of the season, after an early period of adjustment to pitching out of the bullpen, recently pulled himself from a game because of shoulder tightness, and then joined the growing list of Jays’ relievers on the disabled list.

Pat Venditte, Ryan Tepera, and now Bo Schultz, just returned from off-season hip surgery, have been brought up from time to time from Buffalo to fill in and shore things up when the arms out there were getting tired, but the first two have had varying degrees of success, and the jury’s still out on Schultz, who struck out the side in his first inning of work for the season against Chicago on Sunday, but also yielded an insurance solo homer by J. B. Shuck that threw the last shovels of earth on the Jays’ coffin in Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the White Sox. That leaves Joe Biagini, who has been surprisingly good, but is a rule five guy, whom the Giants didn’t think was ready for prime time, and Chavez, who’s been very good lately but was terrible last night. And of course poor Osuna, sitting down there praying for a chance to do some meaningful work.

Obscured in the general angst among the Jays and their supporters over the horrible six-run Rockie uprising in the seventh tonight were three other significant developments that occurred during the game. Not to mention an emotional reception of returning hero Troy Tulowitzki by the Colorado crowd when he came to the plate for his first at-bat in his first game back in Denver after last year’s shocking trade. The Rockies’ fans, many of them wearing his name on their backs, rose and gave full cry to their love for Tulo as he came up, and the generally reserved Toronto shortstop stepped out of the box and doffed his cap to the crowd, a gesture they deeply appreciated. They also appreciated it when Rockies’ starter Jon Gray struck him out on a caught looking a few moments later. Hey, it’s nice to see an old favourite return to the scene of his greatest moments, but baseball’s baseball, right?

Besides Tulo’s return, credit must be given to Marco Estrada for yet another excellent starting performance, to Devon Travis and especially Edwin Encarnacion for bringing out their heavy lumber, and for the 24-year-old Gray, who hung in there for six innings, giving up four runs and striking out eight while not walking a batter, to improve his record to five and three, and get his ERA under 5.00.

Estrada came into tonight’s game riding an amazing streak of eleven straight starts of pitching six innings or more while giving up five hits or less, a record that went back to 1913 until he broke it in his last start. He also led the majors in opponents’ batting average allowed. And it was all good for him tonight. He extended the streak to twelve games, and emerged from the game still maintaining an opponents’ batting average of .168, still comfortably ahead of Jake Arrieta, at .178. Except.

Except, remember that sore back issue he was concerned about, that apparently stemmed from one of his at-bats in Philadelphia? Well, the story is that it’s not as bad, but still a bit of a problem. He was accordingly on a short leash from Manager John Gibbons tonight, who said later that he was going to pull him after six innings. And that magical sixth was the wall for Estrada, though he did finish it and left with the lead, insulating himself from what seems like the inevitable loss that followed. Armed with a shiny 4-0 lead, thanks to an RBI single by Josh Donaldson and a huge homer by Edwin Encarnacion in the top of the inning, he walked Charlie Blackmon to lead off, and gave up a double to short left centre by Christhian (not a typo, by the way) Adames, that was gained by sheer hustle. In typical Estrada fashion, he fanned the imposing Nolan Arenado for the second time, but couldn’t get by the Rockies’ second basher, Carlos Gonzalez, who dispatched what Estrada later said was a good pitch into the right field seats, and the four-run lead was down to one shaky run. After a double by Mark Reynolds, Estrada got the last two outs, but, his pitch count ballooned from 63 to 91 and his lead shaved to one, he was done for the night. After Kevin Pillar hit a two-out double down the left-field line off Gray, Justin Smoak was inserted to hit for Estrada, which was at least neat and sensible since he was done anyway. But it didn’t work, as Smoak popped out in foul territory, Arenado coming in from third to take the ball over the first-base foul line, to save catcher Nick Hundley the bother.

At least Drew Storen appreciated being able to start the seventh instead of coming in already in trouble, right? Right?

Aaron Sorkin, who created, produced, and wrote most of the first four seasons of the series The West Wing, that changed series television forever, has a penchant for dropping a line that immediately becomes universally useful. One of my favourites is in the series pilot of Wing, when Rob Lowe’s character Sam Seaborn suddenly realizes that the attractive elementary school teacher that he’s trying to pick up while guiding a tour of her class through the White House is actually the daughter of his formidable boss, the president’s chief of staff. “Oh, this is wrong on so many levels,” he says, while squirming under the amused gaze of the young woman.

Well, the performance of Storen and Jesse Chavez in the seventh inning tonight was so wrong on so many levels that I hardly know where to begin. So let’s say what you don’t do, if you have any control over the situation at all. You don’t let the number eight hitter lead off with a single. You don’t let Rockies’ manager Walt Weiss get away with the cheap National League trick of putting in a pitcher to pinch-bunt for your starter, who’s done pitching anyway, because the pinch-bunt pitcher is a better bunter than the starter that he’s pinch-bunting for.  Pitch him high, jam him, don’t let him get the ball down. And if he does, you suck it up and don’t blow your cool by overthrowing and hitting the next two batters. This brought Nolan Arenado, smarting over his lousy night so far, to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out. You try not to give up a two-run single to him, but some things are just out of your control, and that’s when you give it up for the next guy.

And when you’re Jesse Chavez, that next guy, you don’t give up a single to load the bases again, you don’t subsequently walk in the Rockies’ third run of the inning, and you don’t give up two more base hits and three more runs before getting the hook with only a second out achieved. What you do do, if you’re Ryan Tepera and you just arrived from Buffalo, and you come into this hot mess with six runs in and two runners still on, is you blow away the pinch hitter Ryan Raburn, sent in to hit for the pinch-bunter/pitcher, and end the disgrace. Thank you Ryan (both of you) for your gracious bounty.

The last notes of this farce that went from a 4-0 lead to a 9-4 deficit were at least a little encouraging. Tepera came back in the eighth and retired the side in order, racking up Arenado in the process for two strikeouts, no baserunners, and only 20 pitches in one and a third innings. Leaving aside the homer off Schultz last night, maybe the newest reinforcements from Buffalo will give us a bit of a boost. And Edwin Encarnacion led off the ninth with another smash out of the park, this time to right centre, off mop-up man Jason Motte, to continue adding to his impressive June totals, not to mention his major-league-leading RBI count.

One of the strangest facts to arise from the current series is that before tonight’s game there were 15 interleague games in history between the Blue Jays and the Rockies, 6 in Denver and 9 in Toronto. The home team had won every single one of those 15 games. Tonight extended the home-team dominance between the two to 16 games, and may it end right there. Jay Happ, over to you.

There was a Sale at the ball park in Chicago, but no bargains on offer for the Blue Jays, as Chris Sale dominated for seven innings while the White Sox nibbled away at a fifty-percent-better Marcus Stroman to secure a 5-2 victory, and a series win against our heroes.

In certain jurisdictions, primarily the UK, what we generally refer to as a garage sale or a yard sale is called a “tag sale”. If the Jays were to have any hope of eking out a series win against these tough Chicagoans, tagging Chris Sale was exactly what they had to do, but it didn’t happen.

Once again, we could write reams about the Marcus Stroman saga. Whither? Why? When? Everybody seems to have an answer, regardless of the question. I’ll add my two cents to the discussion, but the topic isn’t worth much more than that, because, frankly, today we lost to Sale’s performance, not because of Stroman’s. He gave up four runs in five innings. The newly-arrived Bo Schultz coughed up one more in the eighth. In June the Jays have averaged over six runs a game. By my calculation, six runs for and five runs against equals victory, so let’s get the Stroman watch report out of the way, and move on to the other aspects of the quick and merciful dispatch the Sox administered to the Jays today.

The word before the game was that Stroman had been working on simplifying his delivery, primarily by giving up the high, hands-together position he has shown just before rocking into his motion. The change was evident from the first pitch, and for one inning it seemed a miracle cure. Three easy ground-balls on seven pitches and he was bounding back to the dugout in fine spirits. But in the second he wavered significantly, giving up two hits, a stolen base, and a walk, and only escaped without a run scoring because Melky Cabrera came off the bag at third on a steal attempt, and Brett Lawrie grounded into a double play.

In the third the Sox took the lead by scoring two runs with the help of Stroman himself and the usually sure-handed Edwin Encarnacion at first. With one out, Stroman issued a walk to number nine hitter Tyler Saladino. I don’t want to abuse your patience by referring to this as a pitcher’s cardinal sin, but it really is, isn’t it? (And for those of you who have no idea what the Baltimore Catechism is, a cardinal sin is an act grave enough that if unforgiven condemns the perpetrator to the fires of hell. No doubt there are a number of pitching coaches and managers who would happily subscribe to this practice.) With Saladino on first, one out, and the effective rookie leadoff hitter Tim Anderson at the plate, the possibility of a hit and run was clearly on the minds of the Jays’ brain trust. So Stroman made the customary “check-in” toss. It was a perfectly fine toss, if not really necessary, but Encarnacion didn’t reach enough for it, it ticked off his glove, and Saladino was off to second on the error, erasing the double play possibility.

Anderson followed with a slow bouncer to short which he beat out while Saladino came to third. After showing bunt twice, Adam Eaton did exactly what everyone in the world knew he was going to do, and dropped a decent one to Stroman’s left. Stroman fielded it quickly, threw it quickly to the plate, but a little to Russell Martin’s right, and Saladino smartly slid to his left and scored. Meanwhile, of course, Anderson was on to second on the play. Melky Cabrera, whose hitting was certainly not the reason that the Jays did not re-sign him at the end of 2014, predictably delivered Anderson with a two-out single to right and the Sox had the lead.

Now, a number of analysts this morning have parsed every mini-second of Stroman’s handling of the Eaton bunt, but my question is, why even try for the out at the plate? Even if you are facing Chris Sale, who’s already knocked down nine in a row without breaking a sweat, don’t you always concede the first run of the game to get an out at first? Eaton’s bunt was a good sac bunt, but not a base hit. If Stroman throws him out at first, the subsequent strikeout of Jose Abreu ends the inning and takes the bat out of Cabrera’s capable hands.

It looked like Stroman had braced in the fourth, retiring the side on twelve pitches. He gave up an infield hit to J.B. Shuck with two outs on a ball that caromed off his glove and trickled toward first, but handled Saladino’s subsequent comebacker cleanly to end the inning. At this point, he was at 61 pitches through four, and down 2-0. So far so good for him, pitching-wise, though the big two on the board behind Sale was ominous enough for the team.

But then came the fifth, in which Stroman sealed his own, and his team’s, fate, by personally allowing the White Sox to double their lead for Sale. He grooved one to Tim Anderson leading off, and Anderson didn’t miss it. He then walked Adam Eaton, but struck out Abreu again. Too bad the rules didn’t allow for Abreu to have some extra at-bats against Stroman. Melky–who else?–singled to right, sending Eaton to third, whence he scored on a Stroman wild pitch. After another walk, to Todd Frazier, Stroman fanned Alex Avila and Brett Lawrie, but Sale now had four runs to work with, and that was plenty enough for him on this day Having taken 30 pitches to navigate this mini-mess, Stroman was through after five, on 91 pitches.

So the jury’s still out on Stroman, though there were definite signs of improvement. While I wouldn’t want to make too big a thing of this, I would think that the emphasis for him should be as much on his composure as on his mechanics. When he was blowing everybody away, it was so easy to overlook his relative inexperience, but surely it must play a part in his ongoing saga.

Everybody says that a pitcher’s win-loss record doesn’t mean much (just ask R. A. Dickey about that), but there’s good reason why Chris Sale went to 13 and 2 with today’s win. His ERA of 2.79 coming out of the game is a contributing factor, but his ability to get the ground ball when he needs it, meanwhile conserving pitches, is the real reason for his success. In short, he’s doing well because he’s pitching like Marcus Stroman at his best.

Today the air came out of the Jays’ balloon on the second play of the game. After Devon Travis led off by skying to right, Josh Donaldson went with the pitch and dumped a ball over first that bounced toward the corner, seemingly a sure double. But Adam Eaton played it aggressively and, showing off his strong arm, nailed Donaldson at second so decisively that the Jays didn’t bother to challenge the call. Would the Jays have followed with better at-bats against Sale if Josh had beaten the throw to second? Sadly, we’ll never know.

The next Jay batter to reach was Travis, leading off with an infield single in the fourth. Donaldson hit into a double play. Encarnacion walked, but Sale struck out Michael Saunders to end the “threat”. Saunders, who “hits left-handers really well”, say all the pundits, went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and a popup against Sale. It wasn’t until the seventh that a Jay hitter reached base again. Donaldson led off with a single, again to right. Encarnacion hit into a double play. Saunder struck out.

Going into the eighth, Sale’s dominance was complete: no runs, 3 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, on 79 pitches. To say he had cruised through seven is an understatement. But in this day and age, even a pitcher like Chris Sale, pitching like he was today, goes to the eighth looking for the wall that he is about to hit. Two solo homers, by Troy Tulowitzki and Junior Lake’s first as a Jay, a walk to Darwin Barney, a sketchy strikeout of Kevin Pillar and twenty more pitches later, and Sale was done for the day. David Robertson breezed through the ninth on ten pitches for his twentieth save, and the win was in the books for the Chisox.

Joe Biagini and Bo Schultz picked up Stroman, with Biagini throwing two effective innings, striking out two and allowing no baserunners, and Schultz striking out the side in the eighth, though he did allow a solo homer to J.B. Shuck that effectively spiked any hope the Jays may have had of sparking an uprising against Robertson in the ninth. This is such a game of emotion, isn’t it? Today, mostly sad, I’m afraid.

Tomorrow night we start a rare visit to Colorado, with Marco Estrada getting the ball first. It will be interesting to see how Estrada’s usual fly-ball-inducing regimen fares in the bandbox confines of Crummy Beer Produced by a True American Fascist Park.

(Not to be repetitive, but if you’ve just jumped on board with this chronicle, I need to explain from time to time that I refuse to acknowledge the annoying corporate names of contemporary major league ballparks. And if you don’t realize what an awful person Joseph Coors, the heir to the Coors brewing empire was, you should look him up. Maybe then at least some of you will stop drinking his swill just because it’s on draught everywhere, and it’s name is easy to remember. Amen, brothers and sisters.)

On a bright, sunny Saturday at Mobile Phone Park in Chicago, the Blue Jays held on for a 10-8 win in a crazy slugfest of a game, of a kind that you may never see again in your lifetime.

Here’s a question for you about the relative value of poker hands: do seven homers beat five doubles? Wrong! I don’t know if it happens every time, but on this day in Chicago, the Jays’ five doubles trumped the White Sox seven homers, and gave them the win on the day. The explanation for this conundrum lies in a single word: baserunners. Besides the seven homers, the Sox had one double and four singles for twelve hits, and of six Blue Jays’ pitchers, only starter R.A. Dickey issued a single base on balls. Of the Jays 13 hits, besides the doubles they had one homer themselves, off the bat of Devon Travis in the second inning, and seven singles. But they also received five walks from the five Chicago pitchers. (Though he might have lost the ball game Sox Manager Robin Ventura won the Who-can-use-the-fewest-pitchers? sweepstakes, small consolation indeed.)

Yes, the weird thing about today’s power outburst by the White Sox is that they were so busy hitting home runs that they neglected to put anybody on base before hitting them: all seven homers were solo shots, and who would like to figure the odds on seven homers producing the minimum of seven runs? Well, if you only have seven baserunners in the game, one reaching on an iffy throwing error laid on Ryan Goins for a throw from third that pulled Edwin Encarnacion off the bag, plus the four singles, one double, and one walk, it’s easy to see that though an anomaly, it’s not out of the question that there was never a runner on when a home run was hit.

On the other hand, besides the Travis homer, the Jays reached base 18 times, via the twelve other hits, the five walks, and a particularly cement-handed error by Brett Lawrie on an easy ground ball. I have no regrets about insulting Lawrie here, after the ungrateful wretch from Langley, B.C., sporting his new, fanged vampire look, single-handedly attempted to tromp on his former team’s tra-la-la to the tune of going three for four with two (solo) homers and three RBIs. But the nice thing about doubles is that when somebody hits a double, whether or not it knocks in a run or two, it always leaves a baserunner in scoring position for the next guy coming up. With homers, they’re just so over, when they’re over.

It was a jet stream at the ball park today, and this obviously provided the optimum conditions for the White Sox’ power display. Here’s a strange statistic for you: Besides the seven homers and the double, and disregarding the singles, only two balls hit by Chicago batters were lofted to the outfield but stayed in the park for outs: ten fly balls produced only two outs. For the Jays, it seemed that the effect of the prevailing winds was to push possibly catchable balls out of reach of the fielders, without sending them over the fence: the White Sox’ fly ball outs turned into homers, and the Jays’ fly ball outs turned into doubles. As we have seen, advantage Jays.

When Toronto’s batting order lined up for the first go-round today they must have been salivating a bit at the prospect of facing their old buddy Miguel Gonzalez. When the Baltimore Orioles found themselves forced to trot out Gonzalez against the Blue Jays, it never turned out well for them, and today there was no reason to believe it would be any different just because Gonzalez was wearing a different shirt. And it wasn’t. Though he only threw 17 pitches, Gonzalez gave up three runs on five hits, three of them doubles to the four-five-six hitters, Encarnation, Michael Saunders, and Troy Tulowitzki. And the damage could have been worse, as Josh Donaldson was thrown out for the second out of the inning trying to score from first on Encarnacion’s double to centre. Only a perfect relay from centre fielder J.B. Shuck to Lawrie to former Jays’ catcher and all-around nice guy Dioner Navarro was able to cut down Donaldson cleanly at the plate. The out at the plate could have given Gonzalez the lift he needed to stem the bleeding, but it didn’t. The second and third consecutive doubles, with Encarnacion parked at third as a result of the throw to the plate, netted two more runs, and the Jays had a tidy three-spot posted.

Gratified, R.A. Dickey came out in the bottom of the first and shrugged off an infield hit by Adam Eaton, a little dribbler to his right that knucksie tried for, but probably should have left for a charging third baseman Ryan Goins (how that man gets around!) to retire the Sox on only 15 pitches, a real rush-fest by Dickey, when you consider how many pitches he usually throws in the first innings of his starts.

Then the Jays went right back to work against Gonzalez in the second. Devon Travis made him pay for walking number nine hitter Josh Thole by hitting a no-doubter to left to extend the Jays’ lead to 5-0. Despite all expectations of Dickey dying of lack of run support again, there he was going into his second inning of work with a big cushion. Unheard of in this strange and crazy world.

The strange and crazy would only get worse, though, as Dickey reported for his second inning of work, to experience what he later termed the “bizarro world” of this game. How about giving up back-to-back-to-back jacks, to Lawrie, fellow ex-pat Blue Jay Navarro, and Shuck, while striking out the side, making Todd Frazier, catcher Alex Avila, and shortstop Tim Anderson look utterly foolish in the process? Well, there it was, it happened to Dickey, and I sat there and watched it, happy beginning to miserable middle to relieved end, every pitch of it.

After a tumultous series in Fenway where his charges won three out of four from the Red Sox, and their close win over the Jays the previous night, manager Ventura was obviously aware that his bullpen was gassed coming in to Saturday. There can be no other reason, unless he just plain doesn’t like the guy, for Ventura to leave Gonzalez out as long as he did, wracking up 8 runs on ten hits with two walks over five and a third innings, while only throwing 81 pitches.

Despite his misgivings about his bullpen, Chris Beck and Dan Jennings went an effective two and two thirds innings, shutting the Jays down on only two walks issued by Beck, and giving the Sox the opportunity to climb back into the game, which they did by reviving Dickey’s dinger demon in the fourth, courtesy of Lawrie’s second on the night, which cut the lead to 8-4. Like Gonzalez, Dickey departed after five and a third, leaving runners on the corners for Gavin Floyd with one out. Floyd gave up an RBI single to that crazy guy Lawrie, the only Sox run of the day not plated by a homer, with Alex Avila coming to third. Then Floyd got Navarro on a fly to medium left on which Avila played it safe and held at third while Lawrie hustled to second after the catch. Then, worryingly, after throwing two balls to Shuck, only his third and fourth pitches of the inning, Floyd called for the trainer and was lifted with shoulder tightness. We haven’t heard anything yet on the extent of Floyd’s problem. Manager John Gibbons called on Jesse Chavez, who induced a ground out to end the threat.

The power assault by the White Sox continued against the Jays’ pen, as Tim Anderson hit one in the seventh off Drew Storen, and Avila hit one off Jason Grilli in the eighth, while Beck and Jennings held the Jays in check. As we came to the ninth, then, the Jays clung to an 8-7 lead. Bend but don’t break was coming perilously close to breaking.

Next up out of the bullpen for Ventura in the top of the ninth was Michael Ynoa, and he failed to hold the Jays at bay, in effect costing Chicago a chance at a tie, which would have been achieved by Adam Eaton’s solo (what else?) homer in the bottom of the ninth off Jays’ closer Roberto Osuna, in for the save. But Eaton’s shot was too little and too late, and Osuna hung on for the save, all because Ynoa in quick order had given up two insurance runs in the top of the inning. Donaldson led off by crossing up the shift with an easy single to right centre, and promptly scampered around to score on Encarnation’s second double of the night and fourth RBI, giving him an MLB-leading 66 on the season. Troy Tulowitzki would eventually plate Encarnacion with a single, ensuring that Eaton’s homer would go for naught, and sealing what would be a 10-8 win against all reason for the Torontos. Osuna got the save, number 15 out of 17 chances, and Dickey, for once getting support, saw his record improve to 5-8, though his ERA dipped slightly to 4.23 from 4.08.

Marcus Stroman will have to seriously brace up tomorrow to keep his team in the game as they go up against the formidable Chris Sale in an attempt to take two out of three in Chicago.

It truly is an ill wind that blows no good, but no harm, no foul, right? Sorry for mixing the imagery, but it was that kind of a day.