"That's Throwing like a Girl"


West Coast baseball is sort of terrible because it completely throws my schedule off, and occasionally I sleep through the final innings. Drifting off during Wednesday's game, I knew, somehow, that the score was going to remain 2-0 and Dickey was once again going to get screwed out of offence. I woke up the next morning, just knowing the score was 2-0.

There is this anti-Dickey sentiment that hangs over this team, coming not just out of the fringe crazies but from the mainstream media (which is perhaps feeding the fringe crazies, to encourage them to click and share deliriously.) Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star posted an article in which he writes:  “Dickey overall did not pitch poorly, but once again, as has been the case with all of the Jays starters, he did not pitch well enough to win.”

Back it up there, Griff. He went six innings and gave up two runs. Dickey struggled a bit, but he did manage to make pitches when he needed to and get out of jams. It was a crafty performance. If a pitcher pitches late into the game and gives up three or fewer runs, I think he's pitched well enough to win. Any decent offence should be able to scratch out two or three runs. I'm not arguing that the Jays are currently a great offensive team, but I definitely wouldn't hang that on the pitcher.

No pitcher is going to go out there and throw a perfect game, and throwing the idea that that is possible is doing a disservice to the already alarmingly ignorant fan base.

Just re-read this  and roll with it.

The bigger problem was that the offence left a village on base. They struggled mightily with the concept of getting the big hit.



Hopefully, the return of Edwin Encarnacion will help overcome that struggle. I really can't express how happy I am he's returned.

“He looks fine,” Buffalo manager Gary Allenson told Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News on Thursday morning. “I think the determining factor really is how much they need his bat in the lineup right now.

“Is he 100% healthy? I don’t really know. Maybe not. But that’s not going to be the point right now. Getting that bat in the lineup that drives in the runs is what you need. They haven’t been swinging the bats too good or scoring many runs up there. It’s obviously a big bat they need.”

Maybe not?

Gose is down for EE. No, I don't know why. Options?

A massive shout out to the Jays fans who made the pilgrimage down to Seattle from the West Coast and who clearly don't dislike the late games as much as I do. You made your presence felt and annoyed some Seattle fans on Twitter. This guy from Seattle wrote about this last year. He doesn't get it.




“It’s just crazy . . . it’s like the support of the fans is all across Canada,”  Marcus Stroman said. “I forget that you literally have a whole country rooting for you. I think when I’m in Toronto, I think we only have Toronto fans. But we’re not just a normal city, we have the whole of Canada rooting for us. It shows you how many fans are truly behind you and are keeping in touch with the Blue Jays and how many fans are hoping that we can get to the playoffs and win.”

On the subject of silly journalists, a couple of choice tweets from Jon Morosi this afternoon:


There were a lot of follow up tweets asking Morosi to send this info to AA, citing Jose Bautista's comments and the record. Yeah, I'm sure Anthopoulos is just waiting for that call, being totally unaware of the idea of upgrades. Also, I wish people would actually have read Bautista's full quote, because it does not come off as petulant and dissatisfied as the little pieces that were quoted heavily in the press.

I'm a big believer in the psychological aspects of the game (as I also believe in those things in life) but I'm not sure it actually works the way Morosi implies. Morosi is basically saying that the players acquired have not been great, but their very existence has inspired the Mariners to reach new heights.

Or, maybe the Mariners just got hot. They do have the best pitcher in the American League.

It reminds of the remarks Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler were making about the Yankees a few weeks ago. According to them, the Yankees are playing extra hard to make it into the playoffs for Derek Jeter.

A new commissioner was elected to the MLB. Rob Manfred is replacing the retiring Bud Selig. This tweet from Wendy Thurm sums up my feelings pretty well:
It's interesting that Paul Beeston was against the choice. I don't know what that implies. Maybe Manfred wears socks with his loafers.


Finally, the Little League World Series is happening. The star of the tournament has been Mo'ne Davis, a pitcher for the Taney Dragons out of Philadelphia. She's the 18th girl to play in the tournament's history.

She's 13 years old. And has a 70 mph fastball.

She's a bad ass. And I love her.

On being a girl in the tournament:

"Probably like a couple of years from now, there'll be a lot of girls here, and then it won't be just like all boys, so they'll have to build like another dorm for girls, so it'll be a huge impact if more girls start playing," she said.

On her roll as a pitcher:

"I mean, if it wasn't for my team, we wouldn't really be here right now," she said. "It's not just about me, like I can't fill all nine positions or bat all nine times, so you just have to see the whole reason why we're here is because we work well together and we work as a team."

From her teammate:

"She is the only girl on our team, but we don't really think of her as a girl until she starts telling us all what to do, and then we're like, oh yeah," said center fielder Kai Cummings, 12.

From her coach, Alex Rice:

"You won't see her fall apart on the mound," said Rice. "You can't get to her. It's a real poised group, and she's at the head of it."

She also gave this choice quote:

"Throwing 70 miles an hour," she said. "That's throwing like a girl."


"What about a you know, typically, uh, I don't know, more female friendly sport, like soccer? No?"

She led her team to the Little League World Series. But yeah, maybe she should try soccer.

I mean, people who do this:



should not be discouraged.

Oh, and she also challenged Clayton Kershaw to a pitch off (as you do.) 

His answer:
“Hey Mo'ne, just wanted to say congratulations on making it Williamsport. That's awesome, such a cool thing for you to get to do. Such a fun opportunity and I heard you're ready for a pitch off. I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm prepared. I'm ready for whenever you can make it out to LA, just let me know.”

Get Vin Scully to call it, and it'd be THE. BEST. THING.EVER.

RIP Robin Williams. (in a baseball context.)


I just love his line reading on "So, you're the one."