Batter's Box Interactive Magazine: Pirates at Blue Jays, May 31-June 2

The Blue Jays have played very well against Pittsburgh over the years, and are currently riding an eight game winning streak against the Pirates; the Jays swept in Pittsburgh last year, in Toronto the year before, and took the last two of a three game set here in 2017. Granted, the Pirates have mostly been fielding pretty bad teams since well before the era of interleague ball even began. It's been more than 30 years since Barry Bonds lit out for the coast, and Pittsburgh has managed to play better than .500 ball in just four of those seasons (2013-15, 2018).

You've probably heard that Isiah Kiner-Falefa is related, on his mother's side of the family, to the great Pirates Hall of Fame slugger Ralph Kiner - they are second cousins, twice removed. I have generally found it easier to come to grips with quantum mechanics than family geneologies, but this apparently means their great-grandparents were cousins? Ralph Kiner was a fearsome slugger (led the NL in homers seven consecutive seasons) for the terrible Pittsburgh teams of the late 1940s, and lived a long, long post-playing career life in the Mets broadcast booth. His second cousin (twice removed) is a somewhat light hitting infielder who, as far as I can tell, has yet to smile this season. Not even once. I think he's capable - he's positively beaming in the Jays Media Guide. Then again, I'm told you can do anything with PhotoShop.

And then, approximately one hour after writing that sentence, I was scrolling through Instagram in search of hot supermodels. As one does. And the Blue Jays had just posted ten pictures of various players modelling the new City Connect uniforms, and this was the last one.

The Pirates have yet to figure out who's pitching this weekend. They have two starters - Martin Perez and Marco Gonzalez - on the IL. Perez' turn would have come up on Sunday, and tonight should be Bailey Falter's turn, but the Pirates are uncommitted at the moment.

Pirates at Blue Jays, May 31-June 2

Friday, May 31 2024 @ 01:00 PM EDT