The Star
Reyes effort wasted, Jays blow it late against Astros
In almost unbelievable fashion, Reyes’ stretch of starts without a win climbed to 27 Friday night after his mates blew a seven-inning gem from the starter, and what appeared to be a solid 2-0 lead.
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“I’m not,” Reyes said when asked if he’s wondering what more he has to do to bag a win. “I gave the team a chance to win and that’s what I have to do. Baseball is a funny game, stuff happens and they’ll (bullpen) pick me up another night and I’ll be thanking them.”
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Rauch, who has now blown two saves in games Reyes has started, had a heated exchange with Gorman as he exited the field after the top half of the eighth.
“He’s trying to do his best … we all make mistakes, I’ve always said that. But that’s no excuse for me not getting the next two batters,” Rauch said.
“Jo-Jo did a helluva a job tonight and hopefully next time we can get the job done and pick him up.”
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Reyes, with that quirky new hairdo, kept the Astros quiet and struck out a season-high seven batters. He had command of all his pitches, and in the early going, used his breaking stuff to strike out five of the first nine batters he faced.
Bautista’s rise mirrors career of Maris
Exactly 50 years ago right now, meaning May 21, 1961, Roger Maris drilled a Chuck Estrada fastball into the lower right-field deck at Yankee Stadium. It was only the seventh home run of the season for the reigning league MVP, but his fourth in four games and, as he later wrote in a ghosted recap of the year, “for the first time all spring, I was feeling good. ... Perhaps now I was off and running for a good year, after all.’’
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But why talk about Maris and 1961? Because when one considers Maris’s historically significant seasons arriving mid-career with a bang, it feels, at least here, as if we’re seeing it again this season (and last) with the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista.
Just for fun, and without knowing what Bautista did Friday against the Houston DisAstros, here are some career stats for each:
Player……BA…OBA…..SLG…..OPS
Bautista… .250… .351… .471…… .823
Maris….. .260… .345…. .476…… .822
Bautista’s career still may — may — be on the ascendency and Maris was pretty much done as a productive player by 1964, by the age (30) Bautista is now. Three years from now, these numbers could diverge significantly — and those who parse more advanced metrics might smell other statistical herrings — but they’re close at this point.
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Plus — and here’s that enormous difference — Maris batted in front of Mickey Mantle, he of the career OPS of .977, merely 12th-best in history.
Whoever bats behind Bautista this year, from Adam Lind to Edwin Encarnacion to Aaron Hill to, somehow, Juan Rivera, well, just consider Maris hit 61, but Mantle hit 54 himself and led the league in slugging percentage. Now that’s “protection.”
Jays Minority Report: Electric arms jumpstart Dunedin’s surge
After starting the season 1-8, the Dunedin Blue Jays have found a winning formula, thanks to a starting rotation that’s heavy on major league potential.
With 21 wins in their last 31 games, manager Clayton McCullough’s relief is palpable.
“It’s a heck of a lot better,” McCullough says after his team’s 5-0 win over the Jupiter Hammerheads that included a seven-inning, two-hit gem tossed by the Toronto Blue Jays’ first pick in the 2010 draft, Deck McGuire.
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In the usually pitching-rich, Class-A advanced Florida State League, these young Jays are opening some eyes. Three starters, Nestor Molina, McGuire, and 2009 first-rounder Chad Jenkins, rank among the league’s top nine in ERA.
And while minor league stats don’t always tell the tale, McGuire’s last three starts — 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA, 8 hits and 6 walks in 18 innings with 20 strikeouts, show the 21-year-old is settling in just fine in his first season of professional baseball.
With low 90s fastball, the 6-foot-6 righty is not overpowering but his arsenal of pitches, changeup, curveball and a “very good” slider, may already be the most refined in the staff.
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McGuire’s running mate is another right-hander, Asher Wojciechowski, the 41st overall pick out of The Citadel in 2010.
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At 6-4, 235 lbs., the 22-year-old Wojciechowski is living up to his projections as a power pitcher.
“With Ash, everything’s hard. He has a very good fastball, slider and changeup,” says McCullough. “Ash can just overpower hitters with his (mid-90s) fastball.”
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The starting pitcher with the most FSL experience on the staff is also the youngest. Henderson Alvarez, who turned 21 in April, signed as a 16-year-old non-drafted free agent out of Valencia, Venezuela.
After starting out the season on the disabled list, Alvarez has made just two starts and sports an 0-1 mark with a 6.48 ERA. But according to his manager, those stats aren’t indicative of his ability.
“He’s maturing as a pitcher and as a person,” says McCullough, adding that pitching in the Dominican winter league and a stint at the Jays’ major league camp left a lasting impression on Alvarez.
“Last year, his numbers weren’t great (8-7, 4.33 ERA) but for him, it was a very positive year. He grew up a lot.”
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“His velocity continues to jump. Now he’s pitching in the mid-90s,” says McCullough. “He’s got that easy arm action. The ball jumps out of his hand.
“If he can tighten up his breaking ball, he can be lights out.”
On Thursday, Alvarez was promoted to the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
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Chad Jenkins (2-4, 2.53)
The 20th overall pick in 2009 is in his turn at Dunedin. The 23-year-old right-hander spent the second half of his first pro season with Dunedin and posted a 2-6 mark with a 4.33 ERA.
“He’s taking the necessary steps to pitching beyond here,” says McCullough.
Brett Lawrie to get call to big leagues?
Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said Lawrie’s arrival isn’t imminent - but the 21-year-old has made “tremendous” strides in his development the past month.
“If Brett keeps doing what he’s doing, he will force our hand and that’s exactly what we want him to do,” Anthopoulos said.
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Anthopoulos said Lawrie, while batting .430 at one point in April, has been asked to make adjustments to his approach at the plate. Anthopoulos said Lawrie has responded well, working counts and pitchers harder and harder, and showing he can grind out at-bats.
“I’d say pitch selection is the highest priority for Brett,” Anthopoulos said.
“It’s about swinging at the pitch you want and not at the one the guy on the mound wants you to swing at. It’s also a sense of when does it become part of his game regularly, and not just a stretch he’s going through. Brett’s starting to do that the last 7-10 games, and we want to see that it is a part of his game now.
“I get excited when I see his reports and they say he lined out but also worked the pitch count higher. Before we were seeing at bats of one, two, four pitches and now we’re seeing higher pitch counts. To be honest, I’m more excited about what I see with Brett today than when he was hitting .430. He’s getting it.”
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Farrell said Jayson Nix has been starting at third for several games now simply to give him an opportunity to work on his timing and rhythm.
Nix is not the club’s main third baseman - and Farrell said Edwin Encarnacion will be back at the position Saturday against Houston.
The Globe and Mail
Astros rally past Blue Jays
Jesse Litsch went on the disabled list, Jo-Jo Reyes pitched well enough to win -- but didn’t -- and there were rather large hints being dropped that Canadian Brett Lawrie’s Major League debut may come more sooner than later.
All in all it was an interesting Friday evening at Rogers Centre where the Blue Jays began it’s first leg of inter-league play by blowing a late lead and falling 5-2 to the Houston Astros.
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Before the game, Farrell raised plenty of eyebrows when he dropped Lawrie’s name into the mix of potential third base candidates moving forward.
The Langley, B.C., native has been tearing pitchers apart while playing third base in Las Vegas for Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate,
Heading into Friday’s game, the 21-year-old was hitting .335 with nine home runs, 14 doubles and 32 RBIs plus nine stolen bases.
“We’ve got three options there,” Farrell said before the game of players he would not hesitate to use at third, throwing out the names of John McDonald, Jayson Nix and Edwin Encarnacion.
“And then when Brett Lawrie comes, there’s another one,” Farrell added.
It was a straight out-of-left field remark and when the manager was asked when that might be he responded he didn’t know.
Astros’ Brett Wallace finally makes it to Toronto
Friday night was a homecoming of sorts for Brett Wallace, even though it marked the first time the Houston Astros player had stepped foot in Toronto.
The Blue Jays have pursued him since 2005 when they selected him in the 42nd round of baseball’s first-year player draft.
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“Honestly, what I had been told was that I was going to be part of the future, so it was definitely surprising,” Wallace said before Friday’s game, the first of Toronto’s 18 inter-league games against National League foes this season.
Feeling a bit like a travelling salesman, Wallace has finally been able to settle in with one team and it has been a lot easier on his psyche.
“I’ve been able to have fun, know the guys and just be calm because I don’t have to make new friends, meet new teammates, things like that,” Wallace said. “Just go back into the same situation and kind of relax about it.”
Wallace was immediately promoted to Houston’s big-league roster after the trade and he’s never left, displaying the batting skills that made him such a wanted commodity in the first place.
Wallace, who was given Friday off by manager Brad Mills, entered the night with a team-best .303 batting average (minimum 100 plate appearances) and is the second youngest player in the majors to lead his team in that category.
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The Blue Jays believe the long-term future at first base is sound once Lind comes off the DL, which is still a week or so away.
They have David Cooper armed and ready at Triple A, having already made a tour of duty with the big-league club this season.
And they also have Michael McDaid playing Double A at New Hampshire, a 22-year-old whom Anthopoulos rates as the best defensive first baseman in the organization.
Toronto Sun
Home-run king Bautista's one classy guy
Will Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista break the major league home-run record?
With 16 already he’s certainly on pace to match or surpass the record accomplished 50 years ago this fall.
And we are not talking about Barry Bonds’ 74 or Mark McGwire’s 70 or even Sammy Sosa’s 66.
No the record Bautista has a chance to eclipse is the real single season home-run record for 162 games and that belongs to the late great Roger Maris.
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“Bautista is a treat to watch,” says the Blue Jays team doctor Ron Taylor. “And he kind of has the same soft-spoken and humble personality of Roger.”
Dr. Taylor would know, too, since he not only knew Maris personally but also faced him in the 1964 world series. “I remember walking Mantle but I think I got Maris out,” teases Taylor.
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“I still can’t believe I was able to keep my composure in Yankee Stadium but I just focused on location of the ball,” he said of his four innings out not allowing the Yankees to score a run.
He was still in Triple A in 1961 but Taylor said his experience in 1964 gave him some feel of what it must have been like when Maris and Mantle were chasing Babe Ruth’s legendary 1927 record.
“That place was electric,” he said of old Yankee Stadium.
Taylor’s own story is the stuff of a movie, too. He was scouted out of Leaside and went on to pitch in almost 500 big league games including being on the 1969 Miracle Mets.
With two world series rings as a player and two as the Blue Jays team physician for 35 years, Dr. Taylor has a unique distinction in baseball.
Lawrie's banging on the door
Lawrie, a native of Burnaby, B.C, is currently hitting .335 with the Jays’ triple-A Las Vegas 51’s, and leads the team with nine home runs, 32 runs batted in and 105 total bases.
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“When I look at a game report for Lawrie the first thing I look at is the number of pitches seen per plate appearance,” said Anthopoulos. “When they’re not going to give him a lot to hit we need to see that he’s made the adjustment, and he’s starting to do that.”
Another thing the Blue Jays brass has watched is Lawrie’s defence. Primarily a second baseman before this season, he’s had to learn third base this year in Las Vegas.
Lawrie’s made nine errors at the hot corner thus far but as the season’s progressed he’s improved defensively.
Switch sparks Rivera fireworks
After watching the defensive hijinks of Edwin Encarnacion an evening earlier, Jays manager John Farrell started Juan Rivera at first base Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Rays.
It was Rivera’s first game at first for the Jays and only the 14th time he’s played the position in his career — 10 of those as a starter.
While most plays he made were fairly routine, Rivera’s defence was good enough as the Jays beat the Rays 3-2 at the Rogers Centre.
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“He looked very natural and very comfortable there,” said Farrell, suggesting the move benefits Rivera as well as the team. “He’s involved more in the game in that position than in left field and I think there was some excitement to his game.”
Rivera also had a strong night at the plate going 2-3, putting Toronto on the board with a solo home run in the second inning and scoring another run on J.P. Arencibia’s go ahead home run in the seventh.
Drunk Jays Fans
Game Threat: Jays (21-21) vs. Rays (25-18)
At his worst Edwin Encarnacion is a terrible, unplayable defensive player. I'd really like to keep on pointing to the 841 innings he played at third last year, making "only" 18 errors and appearing average-enough according to the advanced defensive metrics DRS and UZR, and insisting that he simply could not possibly continue to be this bad. But... even though I probably do actually believe that (no, really) there's no **** way I could any longer say with a straight face that I'd actually have the stomach to find out whether or not that hunch was true.
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But I gotta say... what bothers me most about the situation isn't so much Encarnacion's horrific play, but the way it brings out the absolute piece of **** in so many of this team's **** dullard fans.
It happens people. Players sometimes make awful mistakes, teams sometimes have little or no choice to run them out there and hope for the best, and just because it's right in your **** face and obvious and easy as **** to **** on doesn't mean it's OK to act like errors are incredibly **** worse than they really are.
It's like Gregg Zaun and his inability to throw out runners, or Lyle Overbay and his supposed otherworldly ability to ground into double plays. You don't have to like that **** when it happens, but have just a little bit of **** perspective, maybe. Encarnacion had mostly been solid at first up to last night-- a **** war crime at third, yes, but solid at first-- and now it's like the hysterical pissers knee-jerky moaners are about ready to burn him at the stake.
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I do understand the impulse, but I truly **** hate it when home fans turn a player into a whipping boy based on worthless perceptions and their inability to see the whole picture. Encarnacion has not exactly been put in a position to succeed, and Farrell hasn't had much choice but to try it.
Getting Blanked
Simile Saturday: Rapture Edition
And now Harold Camping, who I first heard driving home from Royals Spring Training camp, would like you to know that you might be raptured around 6:00 tonight (in whatever time zone you’re in; it apparently takes the Lord exactly an hour to round up everyone in each time zone). It is, at once, fascinating and ridiculous.
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So since this is so obviously happening, I thought the polite thing to do was to provide a handy guide to the coming End of Days for our neighbors to the North.
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A-Rod is like the Anti-Christ.
Duh.
Oh, you want more? He comes into the league billed as a savior and lauded. About half-way through his career, it becomes apparent that he’s evil, probably because he invents PEDs and takes embarrassing photos.
Like the Anti-Christ, he remains dangerous, even in the decline phase of his career, and may murder many more dozens of baseballs before he finally hangs it up. Though the chances of him conquering Barry Bonds to become the All Time Homerun Leader are now almost certainly dead.
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Jose Bautista is like The Second Coming.
Babe Ruth always said he’d come back as a former slap-hitting third baseman who would transform overnight into the greatest home run hitter in two countries. As the rest of baseball has struggled offensively, Bautista has actually improved. He’s gone homerless in his last four games, which means he’s basically teasing us at this point, since he can clearly turn it back on whenever he wants. Oh-for-three? Look again, he’s turned it into two homers and 4 RBI! Last year, it might have been dismissed as a fluke, but in the face of so many miracles…brother, you have to believe.
Ten Stray Thoughts On A Friday
The Two Sides Of Kyle Drabek
A couple of days ago, I took a look into Kyle Drabek’s pitch selection to find that he is throwing his curveball far less than one would expect after hearing so much about it while he was a prospect last year in New Hampshire. Today, I looked at how his pitch selection is affected by the handedness of the batter he’s facing. It basically boils down to this: versus right handed batters Drabek throws his curveball, versus left handed batters he uses his changeup. He’s also much more likely to use his cutter against a right handed batter than a lefty. As is probably to be expected for a young right handed pitcher, Drabek is much more successful against right handed batters than guys hitting from the left side.
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Jeff Passan informs us of two pitchers, both potential top five draft picks, who have warned the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates to stay away because they enjoy long tossing and the two organizations, as a rule, don’t allow their young pitchers to do it. Can you imagine any other point in MLB history where two players who haven’t even been drafted would try to dictate the policies of their prospective teams? Passan lays out the points of both sides of the long toss debate, but in the long run I think I’ll side with Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus who is rather dismissive of the teams avoiding the pitchers because of their preferred throwing programs.
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Charlie Morton
Much was written about Charlie Morton after his last start in which he threw a complete game, five hit shutout against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati. It was a great result. But here’s why everyone is watching his every start like it’s the suspenseful moments just before someone gets killed in a horror movie:
His percentage of players left on base is higher than average;
His BABIP is far lower than average;
His ground ball rate is astronomically high;
75.7% of his pitches are two seamers;
He’s only faced 80 left handed batters so far this year; and
Lyle Overbay basically cursed him, by claiming he has better stuff than Roy Halladay.
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I Told You So
Hey Baltimore, what happened to the Buck Showalter Showalter magic? What happened to the free agent acquisitions that were going to spur you back to mediocrity in the AL East? It’s almost as though your team made horrible, horrible offseason decisions this past winter. At least you can take solace in the fact that Kevin Gregg will be around for another year after this one. Enjoy!
Miked Up
What Does He Have To Do?
Jo-Jo Reyes couldn’t have pitched much better tonight. He had the best start of his big-league career, throwing seven innings of five-hit shutout, striking out seven against only one walk. He only got into trouble once, in the first inning, and managed to pitch out of a second and third, one out jam by striking out Carlos Lee and Jason Michaels.
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For Francisco, it was the fourth home run he’d allowed this season, and he’s only thrown 11 1/3 innings. That’s a brutal number from someone who is supposed to be your strikeout-machine closer. Last season, in 52 2/3 innings, Francisco only gave up five home runs - and that’s with his home games in Texas! This is a guy who came into this season averaging 0.9 home runs allowed per nine innings for his career, and four walks per nine. This year, those numbers are an ugly 3.2 and 6.4. He’s only blown one save, and Rauch has blown two with tonight’s, but Francisco hasn’t been the shining light they’d hoped he’d be at the back of the bullpen. He and Octavio Dotel are the only ones in the group of eight who aren’t off to a good start to the season, and it stands out.
What do you do? I don’t know. You don’t want to flip-flop between Rauch and Francisco as your closers all season, and it has only been 11 1/3 innings, but Francisco is going to have to start cutting down on those walks and keeping the ball in the park in a big hurry if he wants to keep going out for high-leverage innings, one would think.
Reyes, by the way, is second on the Blue Jays to Ricky Romero in getting deep into games, having thrown at least seven innings four times this season. In his last four starts (since that implosion in Texas in which he didn’t allow an earned run, but stunk), he’s thrown 25 2/3 innings and allowed seven runs on 27 hits, walking four and striking out 18. That’s an ERA of 2.46 and a WHIP of 1.208. Plenty good enough to succeed, just not good enough to get a win.
Aaron Hill’s resurgence continued with a three-hit night. He had a pair of doubles, the first of which just missed being his first home run of the season, hitting high off the wall in left. Hill is starting to come around, despite the zero in that home run column. In his last 22 plate appearances, he’s hitting .400/.455/.700 with six doubles. If the line drive bat comes back, nobody needs him to be a 25-homer man.
Corey Patterson extended his hit streak to 11 games, a career-high, with a single to left in the second inning. It was his 1,000th career safety, so mazel tov to him and his!
Ghostrunner on First
Second Guesses on First Pitches
Swinging at the first pitch is a lot like stealing bases. Nobody minds too much when it works but loves pointing out what a horrible mistake it is when it goes wrong.
Last night the Jays got a lesson in BABIP from Rays starter Wade Davis. A known strikethrower, the Jays stayed aggressive by swinging early and often. Davis rode the Rays new pitching backward philosophy to a measure of success - allowing just three runs in 7 innings.
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In all, Davis faced 33 Blue Jays and distributed the first pitches this way:
Four seam fastballs: 8
Curveballs: 7
Changeups: 6
Two seam fastballs:6
Sliders: 5
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Other than a few cases, you can't really say any Jays expanded the zone. Rajai Davis swung and missed a curveball in his second at bat after singling on the first pitch in his first PA.
In all, the Jays took 19 pitches, fouled three off, reached safely with hit and Juan Rivera hit his second inning home run on the first pitch he saw. The Jays hit .333/.333/.667 on the first pitch last night. Not too bad at all, I'll certainly take it.
As always, we must fight what we see with what we think we see and what we know. Swinging at the first pitch from a guy always around the plate is certainly not a bad play as a rule. Context matters a lot but going up to the plate looking to rip is not something I oppose.
It is what happens next that defines hitters: can they show some patience and stay in hitters counts or are they aggressive in way that hurts them? I think that is the million dollar question, quite literally.
The Tao of Stieb
Sometimes, hustle and heart matter
We greet schmucky slogans like "Hustle & Heart" with derision, probably more than is deserved (even if some gentle mocking is probably in order).
We like to claim that we don't care about clubhouse unity; it matters little to us if the roster is comprised of grade-A pricks, so long as they perform.
Well, you know? **** that. Can't we have both?
I'm an admitted softy to these kind of stories, probably moreso since my own baby son went through a life-threatening stretch of illness of his own. So if you're a heartless robot (and not in an awesome Halladay-esque way) who would gladly trade solid citizenry for thirty points of OPS, feel free to spend the next few minutes spending your time elsewhere.
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That's what ties all this together. These Blue Jays - Romero and Arencibia in particular - seem to get it. They really do. Maybe we're all just so jaded into believing that pro athletes are naturally arrogant and selfish in nature that when the players we cheer for seem to actually care, we're taken aback.
But tears and emotion don't lie. Romero and JPA could have given the standard quotes - "well, hearing that kind of story puts it all in perspective, y'know, so we just went out there and gave it 110% for the kid." But their actions on the field and reactions beyond it showed so much more otherwise.
SS Girl
RGM Girl
Random thoughts
Sorry I missed yesterday, I tried to make up for it by including as much as possible today.
I could be wrong, but I think the Lawriemania is largely based on lazy sportswriting. I get that it's an enticing story and makes for a good headline, but just because Farrell happens to make an unsolicited mention of the guy's name doesn't mean that he's gonna come up tomorrow and go 4-5. Chill the **** out you lazy derivative ****.
As per usual the Star's Minority Report offers some great stuff, I definitely recommend checking out the rest of the article.
The Sun's article on Bautista is also really interesting. It actually focuses more on the Jays team doctor, who himself used to be a pitcher in the majors. Really good stuff.
My favorite snipped of sportswriting of the season so far is easily Stoeten referring to Encarnation as "a **** war crime at third". Well done, sir. Apparently Encarnation is back there today, so look forward to more woeful descriptions of his ineptitude in the future.
Finally the SS girl was kind of fugly so I tried to make up for it with extra RGM Girl hotness. Right click + view image for goodness.
That's it, see you in the game thread.
