Today's sermon: These memes need to die.
We've been hearing it time and time again, that teams/good teams/great teams/everybody but the Jays beat up on weaker teams/pitchers and try to hold their own/not get beat up too badly against superior teams/pitching.
The last two games are a point of evidence against such a theory. The Jays gave future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson fits yesterday, smacking 10 base hits in 4 innings against the tall left-hander. The day before? They could only put together 1 run in 6 2/3 innings against some nobody that only seamheads like us have heard of, causing them to lose the game 6-2.
This isn't at all contradictory or weird, though it is a bit unexpected. There's a number of reasons why stuff like this happens:
1. Dumb luck. Never underestimate the power of randomness or factors which could not have been forseen. A long game ending flyball could have been a game winning homerun had the wind picked up just a little more. The Yankees would have won the 1960 World Series had it not been for a small pebble. Etc. etc.
2. Misapplication of averages and transitivity.
We look at the standings and see that A has more wins than B and incorrectly infer that if A will B beat B more often than not if they play head to head.
The problem with that theory is that those wins in the standings came against teams C, D, E, and the Royals. Baseball, like life, isn't transitive, and lesser entities own greater ones all the time. Jim Palmer is in the Hall of Fame, but he could never seem to get Doug Griffin out. Griffin was a career 245/299/299 hitter. That doesn't make Griffin a better player than Palmer. I remember watching an NBA game about 15 years ago where some guy I had never heard of scored 50+ points against Michael Jordan and the Bulls (anyone remember this game? I can't seem to find details about it). The Royals used to give Earl Weaver's Orioles fits in K.C., because the Orioles weren't built for that kind of ballpark.
I'm rambling, but the point remains that baseball isn't transitive. The implications of that is that you can win a pennant and World Series and still be owned by someone like the Devil Rays or Doug Griffin. It also means that you can get defeated rather convincingly by Aaron Small then bounce back to hand a defeat to Randy Johnson. The Jays just need to win more games than the other teams fighting for the same playoff spot. Doesn't matter who those wins come against, and they won't all come against the targets you think they will.
Other thoughts: I've often said that runner-in-motion plays are too often used in baseball given their dubious strategic value. That being said, Shea Hillenbrand's steal of home was one of the most exciting things I've seen on a diamond all season. Far more exciting than seeing a ball clear a wall. Way to go, Shea!
Good on Felipe Alou not to let this story get away. Even in the 21st century baseball has problems with racism, including with the fourth estate. I'm glad a respected figure like Alou is calling people out on it.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050807092433716