"New York is thata way, man."
"Thanks kid!"
After a successfully high-flying three game set versus the Red Sox, the Bluebirds roll out the (un)welcome mat for another harsh division rival, the Yankees. New York, who lost 2 of 3 to Toronto less than a week ago, just won 2 of 3 themselves against the Rays in Tampa. Their Sunday victory was especially noteworthy, winning 2-1 despite registering only one hit the entire game (a two run homer naturally, off the bat of Starlin Castro). With that in mind, I'd still like our chances if we only cough up a single hit in each game. Probably.
Pitching Matchups
MON 7:07 -- Nova (3-2, 3.65) v. Estrada (2-2, 2.76)
TUE 7:07 -- Sabathia (3-3, 2.83) v. Happ (6-2, 3.20)
WEDS 7:07 -- Tanaka (3-0, 2.89) v. Sanchez (4-1, 3.29)
Injury Report
The last time I did one of these for the Yankees was six days ago, so nothing has really changed. Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira have missed some time with back and neck soreness respectively, or Old Man Ailments(TM). Right, right? Not really. Get outta here, lazy joke!
Joe The Lion
I'll admit to having a certain inclination towards rooting for Rule Five guys on the Blue Jays. The first one of those I can remember (in my relatively brief span of following the team) is Corey Thurman, a changeup overdosing reliever whose 4.37 ERA and 45 walks in 68 innings was entirely acceptable for the smouldering disaster that was the 2002 pitching staff. In 2003 we got the "is he actually 28?" Aquilino Lopez, who was actually pretty good that year (14 unscary saves, if I recall) and then not so good onwards. Next up was Jason Smith in 2007, an AAAA infielder type whose only appeal must've been a home run swing (without actually hitting home runs). Pitcher Randy Wells was the next one, pitching one scoreless inning as a Blue Jay before being returned to the Cubs and eventually having a short run as a decent innings muncher there. What did he do during that one appearance to get himself sent back? Tell John Gibbons a tasteless redneck joke? Put Vernon Wells' head in the Shine-o-Ball-o?
Alex Anthopoulos didn't seem to care much for the Rule Five Draft, as his teams not even once carried a Five Guy out of spring training. So now in Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins' first year we have Joe Biagini, who thus far has impressed us all with both his arm and his charm. Watching Biagini pitch is an odd experience for me, it's like I forget he's actually a big league pitcher and so get really nervous for the first batter. "Oh-no, he's gonna get eaten alive! This isn't open mike night at Second City, this is the big leagues! Oh, he struck him out." I really like Biagini a lot (for his arm and his charm) and hope he can keep this going. I still think Dave Till's line about him nails it: "He's just goofy enough not to know he's supposed to be scared out there."
Be nice to win a few.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20160530020156395