Well, I sure am glad that I’m not going to be obsessing over every detail of this ugly mess!
Had to miss the game today, other than the first inning, because it was another one of those family obligation days. Our grand-daughter’s big end-of-the-year performance with her dance studio is this weekend, with performances on Saturday and Sunday, and, yes, I’ll be missing Saturday’s game as well, but not Sunday’s.
So tonight was the dress rehearsal at the performance venue in Mississauga. We had to pick up the grand-daughter from her school in the far reaches of Scarborough at 3:30, get her back to our place in time for a light supper and costume and makeup (and no, I don’t do the makeup) and then get her to the Mississauga City Centre area by 7:00.
Given that this assignment required a round-trip crossing of the 401 in rush-hour traffic between Islington Avenue and McCowan Road, we had to leave home at 2:30, so I was able to catch the first inning of the game. By the time we got back to the house at just after five, it was just in time to enjoy the long faces of Gregg and Jamie and Tim and Sid as they muttered together over the sorry performance of the Blue Jays.
Hence, I apologize, I shall confine myself to general remarks related to the game, except for the first inning, in which Russell Martin, batting second for the first time this year, doubled to left on a play that Nomar Mazara might have made, but was stranded there by Justin Smoak, hitting third in the absence of the slightly-injured Josh Donaldson, and Kendrys Morales. Another wasted double.
Then in the bottom of the first despite the confidence that Stroman himself exudes and that emanates from him to the entire team, Toronto started out in the hole again. Stroman retired Shin-Soo Choo on a grounder to short on the first pitch of the game. Then he jumped ahead of Elvis Andrus with a two-strike count before completely losing the plate, missing badly on four straight balls to put Andrus on, which is not what you want to do. Stroman turned around and fanned Nomar Mazara on a 1-2 pitch when the only ball he threw was a pitchout, and went ahead 1-2 on Adrian Beltre. But then he threw a mistake to Beltre, a pitch up and in, and Beltre lined it into the left-field corner for a double.
The Jays had a chance to cut Andrus down at the plate, despite the fact that he had the advantage of the jump off first with two outs. The ball was hard hit, and Smith got to it quickly, but his throw short-hopped the cutoff man, Troy Tulowitzki, and Tulo in turn mishandled it so that there was no throw to the plate. Texas one, Toronto no score, after one. Again.
So that’s what I saw. Now, having listened to most of the game on the radio while driving, here is what I think about what happened today.
First off, despite the fact that Marcus Stroman has given some strong performances this year, and has been the most reliable of the Jays’ starters, that is not to say that he has been as consistent as you’d want a number one starter to be. I spent a lot of time last year wondering which Marcus Stroman would show up for a given start, and it really hasn’t been that different this year. It seems that today was a good example of that, as he simply wasn’t able to keep the ball in the park.
Second, if we can’t even get a quality start out of Stroman, then the bullpen has to carry the load all of the time, and that just doesn’t work. Gibbie tried to save the bullpen by riding Cesar Valdez right into the ground and the result was that we fell further behind.
Third, the lack of clutch hitting is becoming crippling. Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales can’t carry the team every game. They’re power hitters, and are going to strike out their share of the time. Every time they fail to pick up a base runner it’s magnified, because they’re the only ones that are doing it consistently.
Fourth, in retrospect, we should have listened to ourselves reassuring ourselves about the rotation in the off-season. If there’s one lesson to be learned from the 2017 season over all, not just the Blue Jays, it’s that you can’t rely on your starting pitching, no matter how good it looks on paper. It seems that in the contemporary era to be a starting pitcher is to be either headed for the DL, on the DL, or returning from the DL. Or extremely rare.
Finally, we’re damned lucky to come out of Arlington with two wins. To come home with a winning record on this road trip, the way Kansas City has been playing, will be a tall order indeed. We need some length from our starters, and some shortened swings from our hitters, not to mention way less thinking!
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