Angels at Toronto, August 22-25

Joey Votto didn't get the fairytale ending he - and all of us, surely - was hoping for. Wearing number 19, a numeral that means an awful lot to this franchise, for his home team. Coming up with some big hits in a pennant race or a post-season game. Well, not everyone gets to go out like Ted Williams or Derek Jeter. Votto was ejected from his last game in the majors. That's different.

It might even be appropriate. Joey Votto wasn't like the other players. It's not that he was quirky or eccentric, not at all (although the game can always use a few of those guys as well.) It's more the company he kept - other baseball players. Baseball players in general are not very interesting people. Well, they're all jocks. More than that, they're all elite jocks, very young men who have dedicated most of their short lives to mastering this silly game and little else. Joey Votto was different, if only by seeming to be a regular human being, with some perspective about himself, his job, and what it all meant in the grand scheme of things. And a wonderful sense of humour about it all.

And a very great player, who should be bound for Cooperstown, although his counting numbers will probably make him wait a year or three (all those walks don't help him here!)

Random notes....

Erik Swanson had actually been pitching just fine since returning to the majors a little more than a month ago - he'd allowed just two runs in 11 appearances. Both runs came on solo homers. He'd also been used almost entirely in non-pressure situations, most often in blowouts, with his team trailing. Last night was the first time he came into a game with the score tied since early May.

I expected Yarbrough to be tonight's starter - this would be Bassitt's normal turn, but they've decided to bump the entire rotation back a day. He may end up as the bulk guy, once the Angels beat up on Ryan Burr.