Long Ball Stories

Two days ago, after Roberto Osuna’s shaky rescue of Marco Estrada against the Red Sox, I suggested that God must wear a Blue Jays’ hat. Last night, I questioned that assumption, noting that a lovely rainbow spread over the Detroit skyline just as the Tigers were putting the finishing touches to laying a beating on the Jays. Following tonight’s heartbreaking extra-inning loss to Detroit, the definitive result is in: not only does God not favour the Jays, but he/she (it? they?) has/have (sorry for all the inclusivity here, but needs must) definitely laid a hex on the Blue Jays’ hitters.

Aaron Sanchez pitched his heart out tonight. If the witness of your own eyes isn’t proof to this, just look at the numbers: 8 innings plus two batters. 2 runs, one allowed by Osuna after his departure, 3 hits, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts, 98 pitches, one fly ball out (and kudos to Michaels Saunders for his shoetop grab of a blooper off the bat of Andrew Romine), and utter dominance of the middle of the Tigers’ order. Nine of his twelve strikeouts were distributed among the two to seven hitters of their lineup, including two punchouts and a freeze of American League batting leader Victor Martinez, the first time he has struck out three times this year.

Kevin Pillar did his best to support Sanchez. Besides returning to his impeccable mastery of the vast reaches of centre field in Bank Park, after last night’s problems, he broke up Matt Boyd’s no-hit bid with a first-pitch home run to left to lead off the fifth inning and give the Jays the lead. Then in the seventh he led off with a two-strike single that bounced through the left side of the infield, took third on a Darwin Barney flare to right that he read perfectly, and scored the second run as Jose Bautista grounded into a fielder’s choice.

So, Sanchez threw a gem and Pillar provided the runs. Should have been a win, right? Well, no. Before we consider the gloomy implications of why we didn’t seal the deal for Sanchez, let’s briefly review the details of how it happened. Hope you have a strong stomach, because it’s not pretty.

Sanchez took the mound for the bottom of the ninth sitting on the two-run lead, working on a one-hit, one-walk, twelve-strikeout masterpiece, the only performance by a Jays’ starter this year to compare with the best of Marco Estrada, as in last Sunday against Boston. Now, sending him out there was a no-brainer for Manager John Gibbons, as he had only thrown 92 pitches, and the complete-game shutout would have been an enormous boost to Sanchez’ developing career, and an affirmation of the excellent work done all year by our rotation. The thought lingers that Roberto Osuna is so much better when he starts an inning, but it doesn’t linger long.

Then Jose Iglesias led off with a single to right, for the second hit off Sanchez. (The first had been a leadoff double by Justin Upton in the third that Sanchez had easily stranded.) Now the equation is a little different for Gibbons, or so it seems to me. Sanchez’ first goal for the ninth, finishing the one-hitter, was gone. Giving up his second hit of the game to a banjo hitter like Iglesias must have been really upsetting to Sanchez, who now had to face the veteran Ian Kinsler. What should the next goal have been, Sanchez getting his complete game, or the Jays securing the win, especially after last night’s blowout? Consider also Osuna’s position. Is it better for him to come in with a two-run lead and a runner on first, or a one-run lead and a runner on second? We’ll never know how it might have turned out on this night, but we do know how it did turn out: Gibbie left him in, and Kinsler smoked a ball to right centre for the double that scored Iglesias, and Sanchez was now well and truly done, having thrown only six pitches in his aborted ninth inning.

Enter Osuna, and we have to keep reminding ourselves here that as cool and skilled as he is, he’s still only twenty-one, and faced a tough situation, nobody out and the tying run on second. The hill ahead of Osuna got markedly steeper when the first batter he faced, Andrew Romine, pushed an effective sacrifice bunt up the third base line to move Kinsler over with one out and the Tigers’ intimidating sequence of Melky Cabrera, the Martinez boys, Nick Castellanos, and Upton coming up. Cabrera cut the suspense short with a double to right to score Kinsler and tie the game. Victor Martinez was walked intentionally to set up the double play, J.D. Martinez fanned, and Castellanos sent the game to the tenth by grounding into a fielder’s choice.

The Jays, as so often this year, went down meekly on just 13 pitches from Justin Wilson in the top of the tenth. This brought on Joe Biagini, and the end was as swift as it was cruel for the young right-hander. In eleven pitches in all, Upton singled to centre, Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked on a great three-two pitch from Biagini that home plate umpire David Rackley just plain missed, Iglesias laid down a sacrifice attempt toward third that Biagini fielded smartly and fired to third, Upton beating the throw, and the self-same Ian Kinsler walked it off with a single to left on an 0-1 pitch, saddling Biagini with the loss without his recording an out. This was no doubt the nadir of Biagini’s so-far successful year with the Jays.

If the how of the Jays’ loss tonight is sad, the why is even sadder, and far more depressing to boot. Sanchez’ fine performance, Pillar’s timely hitting, and solid defence all went for nought, thanks to the anemic performance of the Jays at the plate. 11 runners left on base, 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position, only five hits but unable to take advantage of 9 walks issued by the Detroit pitchers. There is no way that they ever should have been in the position of losing the game for Sanchez in extra innings. There is no point in looking at the relievers, no point in questioning Gibbie about taking Sanchez out at the right time. This game should have been a laugher, and the hitters should be embarrassed that it ended up in the loss column.

Let’s just take a look at the chances missed by the Jays. In the first inning Justin Smoak was caught looking to strand two walks. Admittedly, the call on the 2-2 pitch was atrocious. In the third, fourth, and fifth innings they failed to take advantage of walks, as Tigers starter Matt Boyd walked five in five and a third innings. After Pillar’s leadoff homer in the fifth, Boyd walked Jose Bautista with one out, Josh Donaldson moved him up on a right side ground out, and Edwin Encarnacion fanned to strand Bautista at second.

Things started to get messier in the sixth, as a promising inning fizzled because of sketchy baserunning. Russell Martin led off with a sharp single to left, and with one out Michael Saunders singled to left-centre. Martin read the hit perfectly and made it to third with the play right in front of him. That ended Boyd’s night, and the Tigers brought in the right-handed Shane Greene to face Devon Travis. With Travis at the plate, Saunders broke for second and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia pump-faked to second. Martin, who should have known better, broke from third and was easy pickings, caught stealing, catcher to third. With two outs and Saunders in scoring position, Travis struck out to end the inning.

In the seventh, after Pillar scored from third on Bautista’s fielder’s choice to make it 2-0, Greene walked Donaldson, which put runners on first and second where they had good vantage points to watch Edwin Encarnacion and Martin strike out. In the eighth they wasted a one-out walk to Saunders when Travis hit into a double play.

The top of the ninth was the height, or rather the depth, of Jays’ futility. Bobby Parnell, who had come in to get the Travis double play in the eighth, presented them with a golden opportunity to pad Sanchez’ lead before he would come out to try to close out the shutout. Maddeningly, they failed again. He walked Kevin Pillar leading off. With Pillar running on the pitch, Darwin Barney hit a comebacker to the pitcher. Parnell, not realizing that Pillar had broken for second, whirled to throw to second for the force, saw it was too late to get Pillar, tried to squeeze the ball, and spiked it into the ground. Barney was safe at first on the fielder’s choice with no out recorded. Continuing his largesse, Parnell bounced one past the catcher for a wild pitch, and the runners moved up, second and third, nobody out, and the top of the order coming up.

In a sad but rather familiar denouement, Bautista fanned, they walked Donaldson intentionally to set up the double play, but didn’t need it as Encarnacion fanned again, and Martin ended the inning with a foul fly to right. So the lead remained 2-0 heading to the bottom of the ninth, and you know the rest of the story.

Now I will grant you that accumulating baserunners by walks is not a really impressive way to show your offensive prowess, but the essence of a championship team is to be able to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them by their opponents. Tonight, the Jays scored 100% at failing to take advantage of opportunities. Given that this same team lost the American League Championship Series last fall to a team that has a genius for cashing in on opportunities, this does not look good for the home side.

Having played a winning hand into a losing one, our boys have consigned themselves to their first series loss after five straight series wins. Now it’s all up to R.A. Dickey to avoid the sweep tomorrow afternoon. His mound opponent will be Jordan Zimmerman. It’s not an easy prospect for a face-saving win in the Motor City.

The biggest issue to be examined about tonight’s dreadful shellacking of the Blue Jays by the Tigers won’t really be resolved until tomorrow night’s second game of the series at Bank Park in Detroit. That, obviously, is the question of how they will rebound after what happened tonight. The biggest measure of any team or athlete in any sport is how they respond to adversity. It’s relatively easy to break on top, stay on top, and coast home already cooling out, but most games or competitions don’t offer that kind of luxury to the aspiring champion. Even the Golden State Warriors had to scramble from behind to eliminate Oklahoma City and reach the threshold of their second straight NBA championship this spring.

Let’s delay the sorry story of what went on in the game tonight to consider for a while the venue, and the city. As readers will know if they have glanced at my bio, I am a native Detroiter who cut my baseball teeth on the dreadful bottom-dwelling Tiger teams of the nineteen fifties. My earliest memories of the Tigers start with listening to the sonorous voice of Van Patrick doing play-by-play on the radio. And for those of you who aren’t aware of it, yes, there was a well-known radio voice doing the Tigers before Ernie Harwell arrived on the scene.

When I was old enough, a special treat of the summer, two or three times each year, was to go to the ball game with my father. My father took us to games not so much as a father/kids bonding experience, a concept foreign to us back then, but as an excuse to go himself. I was the last of a large family, and probably got to see more games with him, if only because by the time I was old enough to go the older kids were mostly out of the house, and it was cheaper to take just me than a whole horde of kids ten years earlier. So, we went more often.

Visits to Briggs Stadium (more on the name in a minute) were marked by three special experiences. The first was stepping into the opening for your section and seeing the brilliant green field laid out below. The second was the tangy smell of cigar-cum-peanuts-cum-hot dogs with mustard that existed only there, and was reinforced by the smell of my father’s fresh cigar, a special treat he reserved just for ball games. Finally, there was the awe that I felt gazing out into right field, and thinking, “That’s Al Kaline standing there. It really is.”

Now, Briggs Stadium. You may have noticed that when I remember to do it, I refuse to use the corporately-sponsored names of today’s stadia. Thus the TV Dome in Toronto, and as above the Bank Dome in Detroit. (Must go back to stories from Tampa and change stadium name to Juice Field, and familiar references from “the Trop” to “the Juice”.) The now sadly departed Tiger Stadium was Briggs Stadium from 1935 until 1961 when new owner John Fetzer renamed it after the team. Briggs Stadium took its name from long-time owner Walter Briggs, and ironically, at least for me, the name was an early example of corporate stadium-naming. Walter Briggs made his millions from—wait for it—toilets. His Briggs Beautyware company was one of the largest manufacturers of porcelain bathroom fixtures in the American midwest. I guess the name of the stadium doesn’t bother me because it’s actually a person’s name, and does not reference the related product for more overt advertising purposes. It’s a good thing that the current practice didn’t exist back then, or we might have been watching the Tigers play in the Toilet Bowl . . .

I had wanted to write also about the current park’s location in the city, the vistas it presents, and its relation to the current state of Detroit, but I see now that I’ve spent too long on the old days, and if I carry on with my original plan, I might never get to tonight’s game, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing, would it? But then those of my readers who really need the nitty-gritty of the game would be disappointed, wouldn’t they? So I think I’ll leave further ruminations on the team, the stadium, and the city for a supplementary article. Watch for its appearance in the Articles and Ephemera section.

I’ll just segue back to the game by means of one further observation about the setting for tonight’s action. It had rained earlier in the day in Detroit, a real, lowering thunder-banger from the looks of it. By game time, the sun was out, but the big dark clouds were still there, casting that eerie-but-beautiful yellow glow over the field. The final touch, and a nod here to the designers of the new park for leaving the view of the city open beyond the centre-field fence, was that lovely light illuminating what’s left of the stunning Art Deco Detroit skyline. The final, final touch was the rainbow that appeared over the skyline as the Tigers put the game out of reach. Maybe God isn’t a Blue Jays fan after all.

On the face of it, the pitching matchup looked more like a mismatch. Jay Happ has been a rock in the Jays’ rotation, with the exception of the one early exit, while the Tigers were sending out Michael Fulmer, a young prospect they leveraged away from the Mets last year at the trading deadline for Yoenis Cespedes. If it pans out for them, the young pitching stock that the Tigers got in return for Cespedes and David Price last July could be the heart of their rotation for years, though I worry about how injury-prone Daniel Norris seems to be. A look at Fulmer’s stats disabused me of the notion of a mismatch pretty quickly, though. He came into the game with an ERA under three and a 5-1 record in eight starts, and had flirted with a no-hitter into the late innings in his most recent appearance.

Fulmer lived up to his record thus far. He went six innings, giving up two infield hits, walking three, and striking out five. He wasn’t pulled after six for his pitch count, which was only 88 at that point, but for future considerations. Tiger Manager Brad Ausmus saw no point to letting him go further after the Tigers had padded their lead to 9-0 in the bottom of the sixth. Better to save a few pitches for later in the summer. Fulmer has heat, good stuff, and poise. The two hits he gave up were both infield singles by Darwin Barney, Now, not that Barney’s hits weren’t legit, but there’s not a lot of mobility in the Tigers’ infield, and I can certainly see that as a problem in a game when they’re not roasting the opposing pitcher on a spit.

In fact, the only ball that was a threat to Fulmer in the least was the shot that Edwin Encarnacion hit to the warning track in right with two on and two out in the third, when the game was still in reach, sort of, at 4-0. Fulmer escaped that one with his shutout intact when right fielder J.D. Martinez finally untracked his clumsy self and made a lucky stab to corral the ball for the out. A word about names here: I shorten names where possible in my game notes, and had to come up with a way to distinguish between Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez. I settled on following the ARod example, and designated them as VMart and JMart . It’s a good thing the Tigers don’t have a Kevin Martinez . . .

So, Fulmer handled the Jays lineup fairly easily, and the relievers who followed mowed down our dispirited birds equally easily. The only gasp for the Jays was their last, a two-out triple to right in the ninth by Michael Saunders, followed by a four-pitch walk to Justin Smoak. However, the chance of a glorious two-out, eleven-run Jays’ rally went a-glimmering when Josh Thole, inserted into the game to give the increasingly frustrated Russell Martin a much-needed break (more on this in a moment), grounded out to second to end the sorry affair.

I earlier mentioned Jay Happ’s one problematic start so far this season. Well, make that two. For a second time in three games one of the Jays’ premier starters took his team out of the game early, though this time Happ did hang on to work five helpful innings before departing with a 6-0 deficit. The story of this game was writ early on, and both teams could have mailed it in after the third inning. For his part, Fulmer walked the leadoff batters in both the first and second, but escaped unpunished for his sins. In the second, Michael Saunders moved up on a deep fly and a right-side grounder, and so died at third. It’s quite a night for the Jays’ batsmen when their biggest achievement is Saunders dying at third. Twice.

For his part, Happ looked okay in the first, working around a one-out walk to Cameron Maybin, on only eleven pitches. Then came the fateful second, whose events might have been inspired by Macbeth’s three witches lurking around in the thunderheads above. With one out, Nick Castellanos hit a liner straight at Kevin Pillar in centre. For once, ever, it seems, Pillar broke wrong, taking a couple of steps in before realizing the strength of the carry and the strength of the wind blowing out. He frantically backtracked, but the ball was over his head and all the way to the wall, and by the time he’d retrieved it, Castellanos had a triple. Happ then issued his second walk of the night, to Justin Upton, which shouldn’t have been such a bad thing, with the slow-moving catcher coming to the plate. But Upton spiked that plan by promptly and easily stealing second, to take the double play off the table. No problem, though, because James McCann, the catcher, was hitting a buck 76. Which didn’t stop him from golfing a low, inside slider on a 1-2 pitch into the left-field seats. No, it didn’t stop him at all.

Now, there’s lots of commentary floating around about how Pillar’s misplaying of the line drive was the start of all the problems for Happ and the Jays, and there’s probably something to the notion that Happ finishes the inning off okay if Pillar makes that second out. But let’s have some perspective, folks. First of all, that ball was stung, and that’s on Happ. Secondly, if the inning does play out the same, which no one can know, then the Castellanos run gives the Tigers one less in an 11-0 win.

Be that as it may, the weirdness only got weirder before the inning was out. Happ got shortstop Jose Iglesias on a liner to centre that Pillar did catch, turning the lineup over to leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler with two outs. Kinsler prolonged the inning with a single to left. Then Happ, worried about his stunting around first base, solved the problem by balking him to second. Then Russell Martin missed a pitch that careened away from him, sending him to third, whence Happ obligingly wild-pitched him home by spiking one in the dirt. The Tigers extended the inning when Maybin singled to left, but it mercifully ended when Miguel Cabrera flied out to centre, Pillar carefully squeezing the third out.

Now, if you were Happ, or one of his team behind him in the field, wouldn’t you just pack it in after a farce like that? They might as well have, because, if possible, it was all downhill from there. After the Jays’ one shot at glory from Encarnacion died at the track in the third inning, Happ gave up a two-run shot to Justin Upton in the home half, and if you were able to eavesdrop in the dugouts after Upton’s homer you would have heard a lot of ball players making dinner plans for after the game. This one was in the books.

What’s left to say about it? Gavin Floyd had a terrible inning, wild as a march hare. I mentioned Russell Martin’s frustration earlier. Bad enough that he was all over the place in the third with Happ on the mound, but Floyd’s sixth was just as bad, including two wild pitches and a walk. Floyd kept missing so far outside that Martin took to snapping his glove out at the ball, when he could actually reach it, as his annoyance boiled over. After Floyd’s performance added three to the Tigers’ lead, Manager John Gibbons decided to call off the (sleeping) dogs, and put in some subs for the Tigers’ seventh, first and foremost Josh Thole behind the plate, getting Martin out of the line of fire just in time.

More effective out of the Jays’ pen was newcomer Jason Grilli. Though he gave up a double to James McCann, now Mr. buck 91, and an infield single to poor Jose Iglesias, who had been left out of the hit parade up till now, he struck out the side with some impressive pitches to strand the two runners he’d allowed. Drew Storen then did his bad cop routine in the eighth, allowing the last two Detroit runs of the night.

My summary of my game notes was the shortest one all year: “Ew-w-w-”, I wrote. (Is that how you spell it?) Now let’s look to Aaron Sanchez to help us brace up tomorrow night. He’ll be going against former Jay prospect Matt Boyd. The last time Boyd started for us last year, he didn’t get out of the first inning. We can only hope.

Whether they were lucky enough to hold tickets for today’s long-ago-sold-out game or not, Blue Jays’ fans were abuzz with anticipation.

The home team was going for its third straight series win, and had the brooms out for the hitherto high-flying Red Sox. We were also going for our fifth straight win, and eighth of our last ten. The excitement of the close first two games against Boston only promised further great things to come. (more…)

I purposely didn’t start yesterday’s game report right away because I needed some time to take in all of the commentary, and work through for myself the implications of everything that happened.

So, let’s start with this: Jose Bautista must be planning a major “good luck” clubhouse gift to the Toronto Raptors in advance of the first game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals tomorrow night. The shocking picture of Bautista’s glasses flying and his head snapping back under the impact of Roughned Odor’s wild sucker punch was the shot seen ’round the entire baseball world, making front pages everywhere that baseball is news. (more…)

So the Jays go into Boston finally having risen above the .500 mark, only to lose the first two of four, as the tight games continue. Now they have to take two in a row at Fenway to escape with a split. Not a great prospect when they’re struggling so at the plate.

A strong performance from Aaron Sanchez is just the antidote they need for their current doldrums. And they get a nice, tidy gem, as he earns his first win after two strong no-decisions, going seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out seven. The only glitch in his outing is that his pitch count, at 105, ran too high for him to come out for the eighth inning. Seven strikeouts and four walks contributed to the high pitch count.

Staying with the pitching, Drew Storen pitched a clean eighth inning in a perfect hold appearance, which boded well for his success in the setup role, throwing eleven pitches with one strikeout. The only fly in the ointment was manager John Gibbons’ once again quixotic decision to let Roberto Osuna mop up in a non-save situation. Oh yes, of course, he needed work, Gibbie said later. But, without the closer adrenalin flowing, Osuna struggles, coughing up a leadoff single to Hanley Ramirez immediately followed by a Travis Shaw homer. He manages to finish the inning, striking out two, and can’t be awarded a save because he’s blown a hold. More importantly, he throws 20 pitches, making him doubtful for Monday’s morning Patriot’s Day game on Monday.

On the other hand, to give the manager his due, the decision to install Michael Saunders in the leadoff spot and drop Kevin Pillar, while it doesn’t pay an immediate reward at the top of the order, Saunders going one for five and leaving four on base, it does wonders for Pillar, who goes three for four, and makes not one, but two, of his patented miracles catches in centre, in the fifth racing in and diving to his left to snare a Hanley Ramirez liner, which would have made Sanchez’ only mildly shaky inning even shakier, and then going back to his right and leaping against the fence to rob David Ortiz of an extra-base hit in the sixth.

Less encouragingly, the middle-of-the-order guys the Jays are depending on continued the troubling trend of failing to deliver a knockout blow with ducks on the pond and two outs, Russell Martin going down swinging in the first, Troy Tulowitzki in the seventh, and Edwin Encarnacion, Tulo, and Martin likewise in the ninth. In the first and seventh they scored a couple, and one in the ninth, but could have done more, and in the end, it was closer than it should have been after Shaw’s homer in the bottom of the ninth.

R.A. Dickey apprentice knuckler Steven Wright was effective if a bit laboured, throwing 107 pitches while giving up two runs on six hits over six, striking out six,and walking none. He did, however, plunk both Chris Colabello, who had finally cashed his first ribbie in the first, and Martin, neither of whom needed to report to the first aid station for repairs.

J.A. Happ tomorrow against Clay Buchholz: should be interesting. It always is when a visiting leftie starts in Boston. Meanwhile, the Jays have eaten up Buchholz in the Fens, strangely, while he’s been pretty effective against them at the Rogers Centre.

Sometimes the crucial plays that determine the outcome of a game come early, and the rest of the game carries an air of inevitability as each side plays out its fate.

In the top of the first, after Kevin Pillar took a called third strike from David Price, Josh Donaldson smashed a ball to Fenway’s Bermuda Triangle in right centre for a triple. Then Jose Bautista rifled the second pitch he saw from Price high off the wall in left, scoring Donaldson, and seeming to just beat the throw from Jackie Bradley Jr. to Travis Shaw at third, for a second consecutive triple. It looked like Price could be on the ropes. But the Sox asked for a review, the call on the field was overturned, and Bautista became the second out of the inning. Edwin Encarnacion went down swinging, and Price was off the hook with minimal damage. He proceeded to set the Jays down in order in the second and third, and the natural order of the universe was restored.

When Marco Estrada breezed through the first and stranded a walk to David Ortiz and a Shaw single in the second, it looked like we were settling in for a good pitching duel, with the Jays in the lead to boot. Then disaster struck in the third, with Estrada coughing up a Xander Bogaerts homer to left, unfortunately after two very lucky (for the Sox) infield hits. Bradley Jr. bounced one off Estrada’s calf (he appeared not to suffer any serious damage, and was able to continue), and then Dustin Pedroia squibbed a grounder to Donaldson’s left which he reached but couldn’t hold. One solid contact, three runs. There were no errors on the hits, but both could have been turned into outs with a good play.

The Jays got one back right away in the fourth, when Encarnacion’s double cashed Bautista’s one-out single, and there it stayed. Estrada went a steady six except for the one inning, and Brett Cecil and Gavin Floyd chipped in one uneventful inning each. Price scatters six hits and strikes out nine over seven innings, then Uehara and Kimbrel finish off as advertised.

Like many tight games, this one relied on good pitching, timely hitting, and a spot of luck, which rolled the right way for the Red Sox, not so much for the Jays.

Let’s start with a tip of the cap to Jackie Robinson, who changed everything, and to Branch Rickey, who made it happen. Somehow, Rickey’s role in the integration of MLB, which stemmed, as we understand it, not so much from a stirring call to social justice, as from a burning desire to make his team the best possible team he could, means more to me for that very distinction. You have to love an old baseball guy who was willing to buck the biggest tide ever in the sport, just because talent matters, and it’s about putting the best players you can on the field.

One more thought on Jackie Robinson Day: In accordance with recently-established tradition, all players and coaches on all teams wore Jackie’s number 42, and it didn’t matter a whit to following the game. I love that baseball players are always identifiable people, and because you do recognize them, you never forget their stories while you’re watching them play.

Okay, on to the game. Or perhaps all of the above is just my way of suggesting that there’s not much to say about the Jays’ loss to the Bosox last night. I mean, leaving aside the very important double breakout of the parrot for the first time this season, what kind of a game is it, in which the most notable feature was Manager John Gibbons raising both arms to call Pat Venditte in from the pen, possibly an MLB first. (Calling all Oakland fans: what was Bob Melvin’s bullpen call for him last year?)

The story of this game is really two ongoing ones: first,the typical early-season shakiness of R.A. Dickey, whose knuckler is equally as hard to control as it is live. He goes four and two thirds, throws 105 pitches, gives up 6 hits, 2 earned runs, and two unearned due to a passed ball strikeout of Hanley Ramirez, who makes first and scores behind David Ortiz on a double by Travis Shaw when the inning should have ended on the strikeout. He also walks four and strikes out three.

The second is the Jays’ continued hitting doldrums. Despite the fact that Rick Porcello was not much more than kind of good at best, he no-hit all the Jays except Edwin, going six and a third, giving up three runs on 2 hits, Encarnacion’s two dingers,with one walk and six Ks on 96 pitches.

Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, and Craig Kimbrel brought it home for the Sox, with Encarnacion’s bloop single off Kimbrel in the ninth the only hit. On the other side, Pat Venditte, Joe Biagini, and Jesse Chavez go three and a third, and give up only one less than spectacular run when Boston gets one legitimate hit and two infield singles, Joe Biagini yielding the second cheapie, allowing an inherited runner from Venditte to score. The mid-game hold pitchers for the Jays, like the starters, and the late inning guys, for the most part, are doing well. A little run support would go a long way to improve the record.

One question about the scoring: in the bottom of seven, Ortiz leads off with a walk. After two strikeouts, on a two-two pitch, Biagini ignores him and he takes second. Neither middle-infielder moves an inch toward the bag. It looked to me like defensive indifference, though of course the defence was not playing with the lead, yet Ortiz was credited with a stolen base. Having read the rule on not crediting a stolen base because of defensive interference, the only justification I can see for giving Ortiz the sb is that, being behind 5-3, “the score of the game” was a factor—the Jays could not have been “indifferent” to Ortiz advancing into scoring position.

I love a neat and tidy game, when the good guys win, the stars do their thing, and all the problems are little ones.

This one starts and ends with the Stroman. What can you say about him that hasn’t already been said? When he came back last September, the big new thing was his sinking repertoire that had turned him into a ground-ball pitcher. So how’s that workin’ out for him now? Well, try this: In the first five innings, 15 outs, he threw 12 ground-ball outs, and notched three strikeouts. All three of the Ks were breaking pitches in the dirt. His final score for 24 outs was 17 ground balls, the three Ks, one popup and three fly balls. Two of the fly balls were in the seventh, and one in the eighth, which would suggest that he was losing a bit of sharpness toward the end, except that the other two outs in the eighth were ground balls again.

Stro had one bad inning, the fourth. What happened then? At the outset, the Yankees had become so desperate to change the channel that Gardner, leading off, tried to bunt his way on. Marcus fielded it cleanly, planted, and threw him out smartly at first, without a thought for last spring’s ACL tear that had happened during pitchers’ fielding practice on exactly the same play. Then he goes 2-2 on ARod, who had grounded meekly to short the first time up, before having a pitch get away and graze ARod’s jersey. He came a bit undone after that—he’s still young, eh? A difficult play that Goins didn’t make contributed to the problems, and a wild pitch by Stroman didn’t help, and the Yankees picked up two, with only one solid hit, a Texeira single. In the fourth his pitch count climbed from 35 to 68 in one gulp.

A lesser kid pitcher might have been done at that point, but from the fifth through the eighth he retired 12 of 13 on one walk, throwing 37 pitches over the four innings.

All else that was needed was for Josh Donaldson to do his MVP encore bit with a three-run homer to take the lead for good in the bottom of five, not coincidentally extending his season-opening hitting streak to a Jays’ record ten games. Tulo rifled a cannon shot to left in the sixth to pick up his drooping spirits and provide an insurance run, and Osuna mopped up like he was playing wall-ball in Sinaloa, no big deal.

So, where are we on the question of Stroman as the new Price? In Price’s last outing for Boston, in which Kimbrel took the loss for the Sox, Price struck out 8 . . . in five innings, throwing 104 pitches, giving up 5 hits, 5 earned runs, and walking two. Just sayin’.

Finally, a 4-run eighth ices the game, in 2015 fashion. Timely hitting, going with the pitch, good baserunning: this is the first time that they’ve put it all together in one inning. And without a dinger.

The palpable sigh of relief out of the way, let’s get down to particulars.

First, starting pitching. I take Sanchez and Happ over Tanaka and Pineda every time. Better command, more confidence, more businesslike, not easily flustered. The numbers for all four starts so far in this series are about equivalent, but there was an awful lot of huffing and puffing and nibbling on the part of the Yankee starters. Eovaldi’s up tonight against Stroman. We know we’ll get the same kind of proficiency from Stroman, but will Eovaldi up the ante on his staffmates?

I for one was sorry to see Happ go after 2014, and glad to see him come back this year. Not for me the indignant rejection of “oh yeah, lose Price and get Happ and Estrada, way to go, guys.” Happ’s a worker and a pro, and was never supposed to supplant Price, for one, but he’s a solid and valuable middle of the rotation guy, and a lefty who throws hard to boot.

Staying with the pitching, Gibbie’s got more nerve than I do for running Cecil out there again in the seventh with a two-run lead, but kudos to him for it. It was an outing Cecil needed, and probably best to come back to back with the Tuesday night flop. Despite Texeira’s homer, Storen looks really strong, and what can I say about Venditte? He’s fascinating, of course, but also damned effective. I love that he has to warm up both sides in the bullpen—of course he does, but who even considered that part of it? Quite a treat for the bullpen catchers, I imagine.

Crisp defence this time, one good double play turned, a gift unassisted double play adroitly handled by Smoak, and some notable good throws from the outfield to take away the extra base.

And now the big story of the night, an offence led—wait for it—by none other than Ryan Goins! Ask me if I’m surprised. Two doubles, a single, two ribbies, and a nervy dash to third on a grounder to short by Pillar, that let him score on a Donaldson double-play ball. Interestingly, Bautista, who is lights out at the plate so far (may it rub off on the rest of the team) matched Goins’ dash in the eighth after his double, moving up on Edwin’s grounder to third. With only one out, this let Tulo relax at the plate and not worry about a base hit, so of course he hit an rbi single to right with the pressure off. With all the thunder in the lineup, it’s funny how little things like taking the extra base can make all the difference.

Final notes: on the basis of these two games, I think ARod is done—slow bat, easily fooled, not pulling the ball. In fact, he looks like he did last September here in the big 3-game series, out of gas. He’s going to be a liability, I think, to the lineup for the Yankees, by being nailed to the DH spot, keeping other good bench guys from getting some swings.

Let’s end with Ryan Goins: If he keeps playing like he has so far, what do the Jays do when Travis is ready? Travis is an every day player, but I don’t see him replacing Goins. Too good to sit on the bench, do they showcase him a bit to add a needed piece for the stretch run? (Don’t get me wrong: I loved the verve Travis showed in his very good start last year, but I think Ryan Goins has developed into a winning ballplayer for this team, a real key to their prospects for the postseason.)

Great anticipation for the pitching tonight, Sanchez versus Tanaka. We’re looking to build on the very positive Estrada/Storen/Osuna shutout of Boston on Sunday with another good outing on the mound for the Jays. We get it, and Sanchez certainly looks better than Tanaka, but we still lose. Two runs on three hits, even supplemented by 6 walks and an hbp that came around to score, aren’t enough support for most good starting efforts. So, not much reason to overanalyze the loss, but there are random observations to make, in no particular order.

God forbid we should see James Hoye’s elastic strike zone behind the plate again anytime soon. First he squeezed, then he expanded, then he squeezed. It affected both pitchers. Tanaka, who has become a bit of a nibbler anyway, couldn’t get a call, while Sanchez couldn’t satisfy Hoye high no matter what he did, and was the recipient of many low gifts at the same time. If MLB is going to be ending games on spurious Utley rule calls made in New York, how long do we have to wait for an electronic strike zone, people?

The Jays’ batting funk continues. Eleven more strikeouts, continuing to lead the league in Ks. Bautista laced a double, Donaldson and Pillar solid singles, and that’s it. Pillar got his second hbp—is he settling in as leadoff? He also made a textbook Utley-legal slide into second that resulted in Castro throwing wild to first, breaking up a double play. Two questions: will pivot men start throwing when they know they should eat the ball, hoping for a call? And will we ever get to the point where we’re not holding our breath every time the bad guys don’t turn two, or will they change/abolish the rule first?

We know about the various hurry-up clocks that are being used now. It occurred to me that when Tanaka’s translator has to come out with the pitching coach, that it takes more time to deliver the message. Do they allow a bit of discretion for that, or are they going to set up a translator exception in the rules? I’d bet on a new rule—seems to be the answer for everything. Different time limits for different languages??

This is the second time Cecil hasn’t picked up Sanchez in a close game and takes the loss. Where are we if he doesn’t get sorted out? With Morales on the DL, he’s the only lefty in the pen. Interesting anomaly aside, I thought they should have kept Venditte on the roster. I know, options and rule 5 players and all, but how much should the business/technical end encroach on the product on the field? Update: Three hours after I wrote this paragraph, the Jays announced that Arnold Leon has been designated for assignment, to make room for the recall from Buffalo of Pat Venditte. In two appearances for Buffalo, he pitched two innings with 5 Ks, no homers, and no walks.

Finally, with all due respect, if Tanaka is the Yankees’ ace, they’re in trouble.