I'm back!


I'm cranky, I'm sore, and I may be too exhausted to feed myself. I need a nap. Just win, baby.

The Story So Far (Abandon all hope, ye who enter here...)

After a promising April, the Blue Jays visited Fenway Park for four games and cries of "MayDay" soon echoed through the land...

Mon May 1: Toronto 5 Boston 6 - A see-saw affair, that began with the Red Sox jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead against Berrios on doubles from Verdugo and Yoshida and a single from Turner. The Jays struck back immediately - Jansen and Kiermaier walked and Bichette delivered a three run homer. The Red Sox chased Berrios with a three spot of their own in the sixth. Duran led off with a homer, Casas walked, and Valdez homered to put the Sox up 5-3. The Jays tied it in the eighth - a Biggio double and a Bichette single factored in, but a pair of errors from Hernandez at short made it all possible. And so we went to the bottom of the ninth, and Verdugo hit Romano's third pitch over the wall.

Tue 2 May: Toronto 6 Boston 7 - The Red Sox painstakingly assembled a 3-0 lead against Kikuchi, scoring a single run in the second, third, and forth innings. But the Jays put six on the board in the fifth inning, the big blows being Guerrero's two run single and Varsho's three-run homer. But prosperity? Who needs it? In the bottom half, Kikuchi hit the leadoff man and gave up a couple of singles, and it was a 6-5 game by the time Pop got out of the inning. A homer by Wong tied things up in the sixth, and it was still 6-6 when Swanson came on in the eighth. And after Wong led off with his second homer, it wasn't 6-6 anymore.

Wed 3 May: Toronto 3 Boston 8 - Solo homers by Varsho and Guerrero staked the Jays to an early 2-0 lead; the Red Sox tied it in the fourth with four hits against Manoah. The Jays went ahead again when Pivetta balked Kiermeier home, but the Red Sox scored three times in their half on a Chapman error, a hit batter, and three more hits. They added a single runs against three successive relievers - Bass, Richards, Pearson - to pad the final score.

Thu 4 May 4: Toronto 5 Boston 11 - The Bostons abused Gausman early on, with a Yoshida solo homer in the first inning and five more runs in the second on a walk and six hits. Guerrero's solo homer in the fourth put Toronto on the board, but the Red Sox scored two more in their half to finally chase Gausman from the game. The Jays briefly looked like they might be able to make a game of it, scoring three to cut the lead to 8-4, but Boston soon put up three of their own against Pop.

Well, maybe things will be better when we get them in our house. Or maybe not.

Fri 30 June: Boston 5 Toronto 0 - A pitcher's duel between Paxton and Berrios, scoreless until Turner's solo homer leading off the fifth. Duran and Yoshida added solo shots of their own an inning later, but Paxton wasn't even going to need them on this day. The Jays managed just three singles all evening against him and two relievers.

Sat 1 July: Boston 7 Toronto 6 - This was tied at 2-2 heading to the fifth, thanks to solo homers from Guerrero and Bichette for the home side and a two run shot from Devers for the bad fellows. But the Red Sox got Kikuchi for three runs in the fifth and stretched the lead to 6-2 an inning later. The Jays closed to within a run after Chapman's two run homer in the eighth. Turner's leadoff homer against Swanson in the ninth provided a key insurance run, as in the bottom of the inning hits by Springer and Bichette put the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate. Belt fanned for the second out, but Guerrero delivered a base hit to score Springer. Alas, Bichette was thrown at home to end the game.

Sun 2 July: Boston 5 Toronto 4 - A Bichette single scoring Kiermaier and Springer put Toronto up 3-2 in the third, and Belt's second homer made it 4-2, but the Red Sox had made Gausman throw a lot of pitches and he was pulled after just five innings. And for once Mayza didn't have it, quickly allowing a couple of hits and forcing Garcia to come in to escape the sixth inning jam. Which he did, but the Sox tied it with a couple against Swanson in the seventh. And they broke the tie when Verdugo led off against Romano in the ninth and whacked a solo homer and hadn't we already heard that story?

You will have noticed that four of those seven losses were by a single run. There's always a bit of bad luck when that happens. As for the other three...
Fri 4 Aug - Manoah (2-8, 5.87) vs Paxton (6-2, 3.34)
Sat 5 Aug - Berrios (8-7, 3.31) vs
Sun 67 Aug - Bassitt (10-6, 4.00) vs