"Wow! How many home runs are you gonna hit with that bat?"
"Let's see... we play thirty games, ten at-bats a game... three thousand."
*whistles*
As I write this, it's May 11th. The Toronto Blue Jays are 16-16,
four games back of the surprisingly good New York Yankees. The start for
the Bluebirds so far has felt disappointing: the pitching staff has
inspired some to mention the 1970s teams (I wasn't there, I wouldn't
know) and every established starting pitcher has performed below
expectations. The bullpen has also fallen short of expectations, like a
big fight hyped for years that ultimately goes to judge's decision
(wait, bad example). Not everybody in the pen has been bad: My namesake
Liam Hendriks has pitched well enough to deserve a larger role (still
waiting, Gibby), Brett Cecil is starting to get the feel for his curve
back after his shoulder issue, and Aaron Loup gonna keep Loupin' yo.
The
biggest mistake (and thus debate) thus far has been throwing Miguel
Castro into the ninth inning, which worked briefly before not working equally quickly. Look, I can understand the reasoning: the kid was
lights out, Cecil still wasn't at full strength, so why the heck not?
Once again, this seems to come down to that Ninth Inning Mystique(TM).
Maybe it takes an actual big league pitcher to take on that type of
situation, a guy with enough experience to compensate when his stuff
isn't sharp to still be able to retire the best hitters in the world.
Maybe there's a reason why nobody else uses 20 years with electric arms
to close games for them. Castro has that arm, but it takes time and many
innings to learn the finer points of pitching under that level of assumed pressure. Most importantly, how to
use what you have when the "A" stuff isn't there. Castro was dominating
when his stuff was so overwhelming, but he hasn't pitched that same way
when it doesn't.
Roberto Osuna, on the other hand... well, may he continue to prosper so I can write about him next month. To the game!
April 18 -- Atlanta Braves at Toronto Blue Jays
The
Jays haven't really played that many exciting games so far. I blame all
the 11-9 slugfests. Eventually in games like that, you know they're
gonna score and you're gonna score. It becomes the baseball version of
Beat The Clock. There isn't the same tension as a 2-1 grind, where a
runner at third with less than two out is so very significant.
Anyway,
this matchup featured Braves hurler Alex Wood up against R.A Dickey
(hey, keep those jokes to yourself. The GotM is a family program,
damnit!). Cameron Maybin began the game with a fly out to centerfield,
but the #2 batter Alberto Callaspo (really!) laced a single into
left-field. The wily old knuckleballer started fighting the strikezone:
#3 hitter Nick Markakis (yeah! really!) drew a five pitch walk, as did
cleanup man Freddie Freeman (that's more like it). Suddenly the bases
were loaded with only one out, Braves third bagger Chris Johnson coming
up. Johnson pounded a ball deep to right-field that sent Jose Bautista
to the warning track. It came down just in time to stay in the park and
land in Bautista's glove, but it was more than deep enough to score
Callaspo. 1-0 Atlanta. A.J Pierzynski worked Dickey to a ten
pitch at-bat before striking out to end the inning. In came Alex Wood.
You know, in this age of generic pitching windups, it is refreshing to
see somebody with a unique delivery. Wood's reminds me of a really tall
person having to constantly duck under a low ceiling, or that tab you
have to pull to launch a pinball. Josh Donaldson bashed a one out single
up the middle but went no further thanks to a Bautista double play.
After one, 1-0 Braves.
The top of the second inning began
with Dickey striking out Jonny Gomes, who had proved to be an enormous
splinter in the palm of the Blue Jays all series. This particular
knuckler was so eager to escape contact, it missed Gomes' bat and
Russell Martin's glove entirely. It bounced away from Martin, but Gomes
stood in the box without moving, thinking he'd fouled the pitch off. It
is quite possible he didn't believe he could've missed the pitch that
badly, and so the sound of the ball hitting Martin's pads convinced
Gomes he actually put wood on it. Next was Kelly Johnson, who bopped a
ball into right-field that Bautista made a nice sliding backhand snag on
before it could touch the carpet. With two out, up came Andrelton
Simmons. Not keen on swinging at the thing, Simmons showed bunt and
deadened one right between Martin and Dickey, thirty feet in front of
home plate. Dickey charged in, barehanded the ball, and with the
gracefulness of a Klingon doing ballet, launched himself and the ball
towards first-base. R.A. is a fabulous defensive pitcher, but his style
points are better defined as "goofy" than "smooth". It was a fabulous
play. The ball beat Simmons by a step and the inning was over. Still 1-0 Atlanta.
The
bottom of the second began with Edwin Encarnacion grounding out to
shortstop. Danny Valencia followed that by bashing one into center-right
field for a single, but despite stealing his way into scoring position
neither Martin or Kevin Pillar could drive him in, so the score remained
1-0. The top of the third was the R.A. Dickey Dramatic Traveling
High Knuckleball Show, being for the benefit of Mr. Kite of course.
Dickey fooled Cameron Maybin to swing and miss a high one for a
strikeout, and did the exact same to Callaspo. Both pitches started in
the exact same spot, the exact same speed, but moved in opposite
directions (Maybin's fluttered away, Callaspo's darted in on his hands).
The third act of the Show however saw Nick Markakis ask for his money
back, as Dickey threw one on a full count a good two feet outside of the
zone, walking Markakis. Freddie Freeman was another unsatisfied
customer, but instead of asking for a refund, Freeman took a hammer and
bashed down the entire tent. It was a low and in knuckler that didn't
knuckle, and just like that it was 3-0 Atlanta. Chris Johnson ended the inning with a groundout. I suppose there's always the DVD market.
Now
armed with a 3-0 lead, Alex Wood took to the hill in the bottom of the
third. Feeling a bit more aggressive, he challenged Steve Tolleson with a
dead-red fastball on 0-2, which The Utilityman (come on, that should
totally be his nickname) lined past a diving Callaspo into centerfield.
After Dalton Pompey lined out, Devon Travis was next. Red hot Devon
Travis, hitting every pitch a mile, leading the team in so many
offensive categories at this point. So red hot that he, bounced a ball
right at Wood, who started a routine 1-6-3 double play. Ah, baseball
will do that to you. After three, 3-0 Atlanta.
Sportsnet
was barely out of commercial break (they'd shown the boxscore for a
split second) when A.J. Pierzynski hijacked Dickey's first pitch and
took it for a joyride just over the right-field wall. 4-0 Atlanta.
It amuses me somewhat to imagine all the fans watching this game live,
going to the bathroom or into the kitchen between the third and fourth
innings, only to come out just in time to see Pierzynski rounding the
bases. "What the hell? All I did was grab some tortilla chips! They got
another run already? You suck Dickey!" Well, if you write it in giant
letters on Mount Shelbyville, that way they will know that they suck.
Well, Dickey managed to limit any further suckyness by retiring the
remaining Braves in order, leaving it 4-0 heading into the bottom
of the fourth. Josh Donaldson began it by drawing a well earned walk
against Wood. Bautista popped out, then Edwin Encarnacion ruined that
well-earned walk by hitting a double play ball at Andrelton Simmons.
This is also known as Death and Taxes. After four innings, Atlanta
remained in control, 4-0.
The fifth inning began with a
Dickey knuckleball hypnotizing Maybin yet again, catching him looking at
one high and tight. Callaspo was also caught in a similar trance,
swinging and missing a knuckler up at his eyeballs for the second out.
The deja-vu of the second inning continued when Markakis drew yet
another walk (his third of the game) bringing up Freeman, who had
crushed one into the second deck in that second inning. This time
however, Freeman rolled over on that low knuckleball, grounding out
harmlessly to Devon Travis who slung the ball over to first. The spell
was broken. Once again, the commercial break had hardly finished when
Danny Valencia began the bottom of the fifth by hijacking a Wood
fastball, blasting it into the left-center gap for a leadoff double.
Martin grounded out to Simmons and could not advance the runner, but
Pillar was next and miraculously laid off an outside full count slider
from Wood, drawing the walk. The tying run was suddenly on deck,
Tolleson up. All this excitement and tension lasted all of... one pitch,
as Tolleson chopped a ball right at the second baseman Callaspo,
resulting in an easy double play to end the fifth inning. Toronto was
getting runners on base, but the twin killings were, well, killing them.
4-0 Atlanta after five.
To the top of the sixth, which
was an extremely efficient one for Dickey. He retired the side in order
(including a nice snag on a high comebacker to his left) on eleven
pitches, ten of them strikes. The bottom of six arrived with Pompey
trying to bunt his way aboard, but popping out back to the catcher
instead. Travis opted for the more common method of swinging his way
aboard, and did so with a high bouncing single over the head of the
third baseman. With insane range, Simmons charged over to retrieve the
ball in shallow left-field and fired it over to second to keep Travis at
first. It's utterly ridiculous how good that guy's glove is. After a
deep fly out off the bat of Donaldson, Bautista unleashed a mighty
swing, sending the ball hundreds of feet... straight up. Simmons caught
it and the sixth was over, the Braves still leading 4-0.
Dickey
returned for the top of the seventh and it was a ground ball gala:
Kelly Johnson bounced out to the shortstop Tolleson, Simmons hit one
sharply up the middle that only he could've possibly made a play of, and
then both Maybin and Callaspo hit two hoppers right at Donaldson, which
he fired to Travis at second base for force outs each time. No damage,
Atlanta was still in front. The bottom of the seventh saw Edwin just
miss one (he's been doing a lot of that so far), hitting it deep to
centerfield for the first out. Valencia was next and Wood, clearly
forgetting that Valencia eats a big hearty bowl of Lefty-O's for
breakfast every morning, tried to sneak in a 2-2 fastball low and in,
which was smashed off the wall for a one out double. Next up was Martin,
who went with a high outside Wood pitch and laced it the other way,
dropping it in front of Markakis. Valencia raced around third and scored
without trouble. 4-1. Up came Pillar, who was in Jumpy Pillar
mode and popped out to first base on Wood's second pitch to him. Two
out, Martin at first and Tolleson batting. This time, The Utilityman delivered
the tools with an opposite field gap shot, splitting Maybin and Markakis
as they chased the ball all the way to the wall. Martin scored, while
Tolleson chugged all the way to third base for a triple, which was
slightly funny to watch. 4-2, Pompey up at the plate as the tying
run. Wood (still in the game) jammed Dalton with a slider low and in,
which Pompey hit as a slow grounder to the left of Simmons. Simmons
snagged it and fired to first, the ball hitting Freeman's glove just
around when Pompey's foot hit the bag. The first base umpire called him
safe, to which Braves manager Freddi Gonzalez immediately challenged to
no avail. The grounder scored Tolleson, making it 4-3. (The
replay showed the ball might have hit Freeman's glove an instant before
Pompey hit the bag, but understandably the evidence to overturn the call
wasn't strong enough).
This was it for Alex Wood. In came
reliever Brandon Cunniff, starting a trend in this game of awesomely
named Braves relief pitchers. With the tying run at first in Pompey,
Cunniff faced Devon Travis, whom he got to hit a blooper right between
left-field, centerfield and shortstop. Unfortunately for Travis, that
shortstop happened to be Andrelton Simmons. Simmons ran full speed
backwards, the new Dome turf following his tracks like that cloud of
dust that follows Roadrunner (I stole that from someone but it's the
best description there is) and made a ridiculous basket catch with his
back to home plate, ending the inning. But it had been a big inning for
the Blue Jays, scoring three times and pulling themselves right back in
the game. 4-3 Atlanta after seven.
Colt Hynes (remember
him?) was summoned for the Bluebirds to pitch the top of the eighth. A
logical move, considering two lefties (Markakis and Freeman) were
scheduled to bat. Well, Hynes didn't do his "Can I stick around?
Pleeeease?" cause any favours, giving up singles to both those batters
to start the inning. Gibbons had seen enough of that, coming out quickly
(as quickly as Gibbons can do that) to snatch the ball from Hynes. Now
it was Liam Hendriks, brought in to bail the Blue Jays out of this jam
and possibly save any chance of winning the game. Chris Johnson was up
and smacked a Hendriks offering deep to center, right into the glove of a
backtracking Dalton Pompey. Markakis tagged and advanced to third,
putting runners at the corners with one out. It was an excellent time
for a double play, until a Hendriks pitch bounced off of Martin and
rolled left, too close to the plate to score Markakis but far enough to
advance Freeman to second. So much for that. A.J. Pierzynski was the
batter, and so Hendriks said enough of this double play stuff and threw a
nasty 1-2 slider down and in, which Pierzynski whiffed on completely
(In subtle Pierzynski fashion, he practically had a seizure of rage upon
missing it). Two out now for Jonny Gomes, who also fell into a 1-2
count against Hendriks. Figuring it worked the first time, he threw the
same pitch in the same spot to Gomes, who swung and missed it about as
badly as Pierzynski had. Hendriks had escaped the jam without damage. It
was still a one run game, 4-3. Onions, baby.
The bottom
of the eighth brought out a Braves reliever named Cody Martin, who I
confess doesn't have a particularly amusing name. Josh Donaldson led off
the inning by whacking a Martin offering right in the hole between
shortstop and third. Naturally, Simmons managed to dive and come up with
the ball, but it spilled out of his glove allowing Donaldson to reach.
Yes, even Andrelton Simmons cannot microwave a burrito so hot he himself
cannot eat it. Up came Jose Bautista, who you know would try to eat
that burrito anyway. He's Jose Freaking Bautista. Martin fell behind
1-0, so he decided to challenge Jose. Bad idea, try again next time (or not).
Bautista crushed it into the second deck, giving the home team their
first lead in the entire game. Toronto suddenly led by one, 5-4.
Martin stayed in, getting Edwin to ground out, giving up a single to
Danny Valencia and getting a double play off the bat of Russell Martin,
winning the Battle of The Martins. But the damage was done: the Blue
Jays had the lead heading into the ninth, making it Miguel Castro time.
Kelly
Johnson led off the ninth for the Braves. Like a good troll facing his
former team, he worked Castro to 2-0 before smashing a Castro offering
deep into the centerfield-right field gap. Pompey went back, tracking it
all the way to the wall, leapt and... it was over his glove for a game
tying home run. 5-5. To make it feel worse, Pompey landed rather
gracelessly on his behind after attempting the jump, reminding me of a
forlorn little leaguer who'd been waiting all game for a ball to be hit
to him, only to have that one ball just go out of his reach. No, your
analogies are too specific! Anyhow, the game was now tied and Castro
was looking shaky. After getting the next two batters out, Callaspo
singled and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Up was Markakis,
who launched a ball deep into the left-field gap. Kevin Pillar chugged
as best he could, closing distance but the ball kept sailing. Then, as
though everyone in the Dome were collectively blowing breath at it to
slow it down, the ball hung up just enough for Pillar to bring it down
at the warning track. Three nail chewing outs to be sure, but the Blue
Jays had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth.
In for
Atlanta was Luis Avilan (okay, that's not bad. Avilan could be a Roxy
Music song or something). After retiring Pillar, Avilan coaxed a high
hopper off the bat of Ryan Goins. The ball bounced to Freeman at first,
who underhanded it to Avilan covering the base just as Goins slid head
first in there. Goins was called out and Gibbons challenged right away.
The replay was extremely close, but Avilan's foot beat Goins' hand by
about two inches, and the call was upheld. Pompey drew a two out walk
but would get no further as Travis took a ball for a ride deep to
right-field, right-into an Atlanta glove. This one was heading to
extras, tied at 5-5.
Brett Cecil was tasked with keeping
the Braves off the scoresheet for the 10th inning, and did so rather
spectacularly. First was Freddie Freeman, who worked a full count before
being caught looking at a Cecil fastball (probably) on the black of the
plate. Rookie Jace Peterson was next and rapped a grounder just past
Josh Donaldson and into left-field for a one out single. Feeling pretty
good about himself, Peterson took a big lead and noticing Cecil's slow
leg kick, thought why not sneak his way into scoring position.
Unfortunately for him, Cecil was feeling clairvoyant this day, throwing
over to first just as the rookie was taking off first move. Peterson was
caught hung up between first and second, which rarely ends well for a
baserunner. To his credit, he committed to just trying to steal the
base, making for a close(ish) tag at second, but he was clearly toast
for the second out of the inning. The last chance for the Braves in the
10th was Pierzynski. The ageless/horribly aged catcher bounced one that
Edwin dove for, came up with and shoveled to Cecil covering the bag for
the third out of the inning. You know, I feel Edwin gets a bad defensive
reputation at first base and rightfully so, because there are many
aspects to the job he isn't suited for, like PICKING BAD THROWS. But his
range isn't bad, and this play in particular is one I'm not sure Smoak
makes because Edwin is just a bit quicker off his feet. Take that for
what it's worth. Heading into the bottom of the 10th, still tied 5-5.
And
here is what I've been talking about all game! Well, aside from the
baseball action itself. The awesome names of the Atlanta relievers!
Because for the bottom of the 10th, the Braves brought in a pitcher
named Sugar Ray Marimon, which actually seems to be his real first name.
I'm not kidding. I checked Baseball Reference, Wikipedia and Google and
couldn't find any clue of a different given name. I really want this
guy to have a big league career. Why wouldn't you? Well, this was his
second big league game and the first man he faced this outing was Josh
Donaldson. After missing with the first pitch, Marimon came high and
away with an off-speed pitch. Donaldson stayed back and drove it deep
into left-field. Eric Young Jr. went back, to the track, to the wall,
but ran out of room. Donaldson had gone yard and the game was over. The
Blue Jays had won it. And high on Mount Shelbyville, it read: Josh
Donaldson Rules, Suckers! FINAL: 6-5 Toronto.
The P-Wing
There
is only one thought that comes to mind when Kevin Pillar is mentioned:
what a weird, weird player. He seems like somebody from a universe long
ago, where his incurable allergy to walks would be forgiven among the
moustached masses. As a ballplayer, he reminds me of one of those items
you get after beating a boss in Super Mario Bros 3: useful in most
situations, but extremely useful in certain ones. As a hitter, he is
what he is. At worst, you save him for that level where the giant fish
tries to eat you. Everybody needs help with that level.
The Wounded
I
can't help but think the atrocious pitching has hidden a major issue
for the Bluebirds this year: injuries. And fair enough, the only injured
pitcher of any significance is that Duke college student. Ha, kids these days, turning demoralizing injuries into opportunities for self-improvement. Where
does it end???? Anyway, the injuries to the big league team have all
been on the hitting side (Reyes' ribs, Bautista's shoulder, Navarro's
hamstring, Saunders' everything probably). But that storyline has been
lost because of how well the team has been able to score runs despite
those absences. I certainly wasn't eagerly awaiting Michael Saunders to
return solely because the offense was in the toilet, and unless he's
replacing Chris Colabello I doubt he'll be much of a defensive upgrade
with that knee problem, which is sure to bark at him again at some point. Hopefully this latest DL stint can give him the
rest to actually get completely healthy, because he clearly wasn't. Can't blame a
guy for wanting to rush back on the field though, especially for a new team.
Reds Review!
As
I'm sure so many of you are sick of me bonking you over the head with, I
also follow the Cincinnati Reds quite closely. So here's a new segment
where I briefly take a look at my National League squad. So far
they're... um... okay. They've pretty much had the exact same season as
the Blue Jays so far, with minor differences. Always a strong
pitching outfit in recent years, the Reds have had four pitchers perform tremendously
great so far: Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Aroldis Chapman and Anthony
DeSclafani. J.J. Hoover has been solid so far out of the pen, but he's
J.J. Hoover and I can't get over a guy who went 1-10 out of the bullpen
last season. What's weird is every other pitcher has been
anywhere between really bad and Sergio Santos 2014. Compare that with
the Blue Jays, who have nobody pitching as well as those tremendous four but
have a bunch of guys at a "meh" level the Reds would love to get. Other
storylines in Cincinnati include the resurgence of Joey Votto's power
(hell yeah), Zack Cozart actually hitting (scary) and Todd Frazier launching lots of home runs with nobody on base (10 bombs, 19 RBIs).
They're hanging around .500 for now, so we'll check in on them next
time.
That's it! See you next month. Come on boys, give me a pitching duel or something. Those are quicker to write at least...
You can watch the condensed version of this game here! At MLB.com: http://m.mlb.com/video/v79179483/41815-condensed-game-atltor
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20150501225611114