"And so, the Blue Jays must go forwards, not backwards! Upwards, not forwards! And always twirling, twirling towards freedom!"
How in the world do you blow a three goal lead with ten minutes left in the third period??!!!?? How does that possibly---
Whoops, wrong notes.
The Blue Jays are a strange team to follow. A casual fan might conclude: "Wow, we smoked the defending World Series champs in a two game series! Maybe there's something to this team after all!"
That same casual fan, under different circumstances, might also conclude: "Geez, we've been smoked by the Yankees in two straight games, and New York wasn't supposed to be all that good this year! Maybe there's nothing to this team after all."
I've played in a Toronto hardball league for some odd eight years now, six of those on the same team. Over those years we were sometimes fantastic, sometimes ordinary, sometimes truly dreadful, but no matter how well we were playing that season there was the same one team we could never beat. It didn't matter if it was a close game or if we built up a big lead, they would always find a way to steal the victory from us. There was no statistical explanation for this, no obvious "that's why we always lose" answer, just that they would always win and everyone was aware of that.
I believe confidently there is a similar dynamic throughout all levels of baseball, including the major leagues. You've got to believe that even the 1954 Cleveland Indians or the 1927 New York Yankees had a team or two they didn't like facing for one reason or another. That is the nature of how baseball teams are constructed: certain teams just don't match up well with certain other teams, regardless of talent level or experience.
The reason I mention this is because of the week the Toronto Blue Jays have had. They made the champion San Francisco Giants look hopelessly awful, yet a few days later made an injury prone New York Yankees team look unbeatable. The Blue Jays are now 0-6 this season in Yankee Stadium as I write this and 1-8 against the Yankees overall. The Yanks aren't THAT good, nor are the Blue Jays THAT bad (probably.) It seems to just be a bad matchup for Toronto, for reasons people more thorough than I can likely explain...
This weeks Game Of The Week is May 14th, the first game of the Blue Jays-Giants series. I was at this game and I must say, it was not a good game. I enjoyed the experience in the same way I will enjoy any live spectacle of baseball anywhere, but It was a pretty bad game as far as intrigue goes.
Anyhow...
I had finished work surprisingly early so I thought "What the fudge!" and went to the Blue Jays game. It was already the bottom of the first inning when I arrived and to my surprise and delight, Toronto was already up 5-0 on poor Barry Zito. The Blue Jays had already batted around in the first and another RBI single made it 6-0.
My ticket was for the 500 level but as I was alone at this game, I decided to hang around the 100 level and lean around one of those watching areas they have just before the steps into the stands. I was particularly curious to observe R.A. Dickey, who was starting for the Blue Jays, just to see how such an excellent knuckleball looked to an untelevised eye. Dickey struggled with the strikezone the first inning I watched, often throwing his hard knuckler wide. (though I do believe he was getting squeezed a little bit) Well, the Jedi Ninja of Knuckleballers admirably battled through some early jams and only surrendered three runs in seven strong innings, striking out nine Confunded San Francsico hitters. I must mention as well, my first impression watching Dickey pitch from so close was "how on Earth does anyone make contact with that thing?" On this particular day, Dickey's knuckleball was not consistent: sometimes it was a 74 MPH changeup with sink, other times it was a creature that did whatever it wanted as long as it hit the strikezone and was home by bedtime.
Barry Zito settled down a bit and kept the Giants in it until the sixth, when the Blue Jays bats came alive again. George Kontos relieved Zito and immediately gave up an RBI double to Edwin Emcarnacion on a line drive that just sailed over the glove of enigmatic Hunter Pence. Toronto added a bunch more to make it a 10-2 game.
Brad Lincoln came in for the last two innings and threw a lot of pitches. So many that once he gave up a Pablo Sandoval home run to opposite field, Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons came out to summon Esmil (call me Ishmel) Rogers, who recorded the final out of the game. FINAL: 10-6 Toronto.
So, yeah. Not really an exciting or memorable game but Toronto only played four games this week and the others were more unremarkable. Seeing Melky Cabrera go 4-5 was pretty cool I guess, he's really starting to smoke line drives everywhere and anywhere, sometimes past opposing players gloves. Definitely good.
Random Ramblings
There was a play in the 4th inning I think, where Henry Blanco came up with a runner on first and hit into a double play. What struck me about this was how hard Blanco was running down the line on a play he had no chance of beating: it was a hard groundball right to shortstop Brandon Crawford positioned beside second base. I doubt Anthony Gose beats that one out, yet Blanco charged as hard as his fourty-one year old catchers legs could carry him.
During a pitching change I noticed the Giants outfielders (Hunter Pence, Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco) having an animated discussion together in centrefield. After watching the grins on their faces and the wild swinging motions with their arms I realized they were talking about trying to hit Dickey's knuckleball. It was an amusing sight.
J.P. Arencibia had to warmup Dickey at the start of an inning while Blanco got his catching gear back on. Two balls slipped past his glove and towards the backstop.
Detour of the Week
There are three very good looking young starting pitchers in the National League right now I'd like to talk about: Tony Cingrani of Cincinnati (go Reds!), Matt Harvey of New York and Patrick Corbin of Arizona. These three pitchers all have some interesting things in common: they were all born within five months of each other in 1989, they each made their major league debuts last season and aside from Harvey were not particularly remarkable, and most impressive of all is that none of the three have lost a game yet. Corbin, Harvey and Cingrani have combined to go 14-0 this season and just for fun if you combine their other numbers into a mutant, three armed mega-pitcher, you've got 159 innings with only 100 hits, 41 walks and 12 home runs surrendered, oh and 172 strikeouts. Some young ones worth keeping an eye on in The Other League.
Stat Line To Chew On
2-2, 3.86 ERA, 18.2 IP, 18 H, 3 HR, 6 BB, 10 SO
Those are Chad Jenkins career major league numbers as a starting pitcher. (over only four starts of course)
Division of The Atrocious -- Standings (As of May 19th)
GB
Milwaukee Brewers 17-25 --
Los Angeles Dodgers 17-25 --
Toronto Blue Jays 17-26 0.5
Los Angeles Angels 16-27 1.5
Houston Astros 12-32 6
Miami Marlins 12-32 6
Will the Blue Jays escape the Division of The Atrocious? Will J.P. Arencibia draw another walk before July? Will Colby Rasmus appear in his own Head and Shoulders commercial? Find out next time on Game of The Week!
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20130521155111103