A Beautiful Game that We Play: A Winning Series vs Texas, Donaldson and Travis.


One of my favourite recurring aspects of this season is how often it seems that teams run out a rookie pitcher with a teeny ERA and have them Run the Gauntlet (™ Wilner.) (Of course that's one of my favourite recurring aspects of this season- what are the other options? Peptic ulcer inducing late innings?)

Two more babies were run out over the weekend to face this mighty offence-Nick Martinez went Friday and Chi Chi Gonzalez went Sunday. Both left with larger ERAs. The Jays particularly punished Martinez for eight earned runs.

Did Edwin Encarnacion hit two homers, including a grand slam?

The Rangers were pounded so hard they had a position player pitch to avoid burning another bullpen arm.
It was pretty funny.


Sandwhiched between the two was the game started by our own baby Matt Boyd, who gave up three homers and lost 4-0 on Saturday. Yovani Gallardo's scraggly beard took full advantage of a wide strike zone, avoided pitching anything down the pipe and shut the Jays down.



Boyd wasn't terrible. As I was watching, I noticed he was throwing a lot of strikes as evidenced in his seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. Throwing a lot of strikes is a good thing, but I also wonder if it was the type of strikes (right down the pipe) that led to the three homers.

Both Pete Walker and Dioner Navarro spoke to John Lott after the game and wanted a few do-overs, particularly on a curve-ball to Robinson Chirinos' .206 batting average.

“Navvy said right away it was the wrong pitch,” Walker recalled. “That was on a 1-2 count, and [Boyd] had thrown the fastball by him. Maybe a hard slider in the dirt. In certain situations, you learn about a guy.”

Know better, do better. Boyd definitely pitched well enough to earn another start. 

Lott also wrote a piece about Boyd before his debut. He talked specifically about going back to the advice his dad gave him.

“My father was always my coach up until the time I went to college,” Boyd said during an interview Wednesday in Buffalo. “He preached to me, ‘Always attack. Be aggressive out there. Be on the offence. Even though you’re on defence, you’re holding the ball. You’re on offence.’”

I agree with Boyd Pater. There is really nothing worse than a nibbler. Pitching capon is my father's term for them. 

And looked at how happy his dad (and rest of his family) were on Saturday:

Sunday's game was a bit more tense, but Roberto Osuna shut down the Rangers. The sequence of pitches to Mitch Moreland in particular were a work of art.

Martin and Osuna had a plan. 

“Moreland’s a good hitter,” Martin said. “I feel like he’s a good low-ball hitter. [His bat] stays in the zone for a long time up there. And we had beaten him up in the zone. I knew that he was going to be pumped up with adrenaline, and Osuna threw a perfect pitch, up at the hands, up and in. Got ahead of him, probably got him worried about the velocity a little bit.

“Then he executed a perfect changeup down and away. And then, at that point, I felt like we had him in-between. We just threw another fastball up and he executed that pitch also.”
Beautiful.

Justice has finally prevailed and Josh Donaldson is currently leading all MLB players in votes for the All Star Game. I always sort of have mixed feelings about these things. Yeah, it's kind of stupid and the guys could probably do with a rest. But on the other hand, the novelty of Mike Trout facing Clayton Kershaw is fun, too.

Besides, Donaldson seems happy about it.
Here he is talking to Carlos Pena and Blonde Lady (whose name I'm too lazy to look up.)
Grown up seven year olds.  He's a charming guy and seems honestly humbled by all the attention. He also sidestepped that Pena question about how to improve the Blue Jays.

Devon Travis made his way back after about six weeks on the DL. Goins definitely pulled his weight, but when Gibbons pulled Jose Reyes late in the game Friday and put in Goins, I felt like things were finally clicking as they should in that situation. Ryan Goins is a perfect fifth infielder and should be used in the maintenance of Jose Reyes.

"I’ve never had so many people come up to me and say, ‘Isn’t it great about this guy getting a chance in the big leagues?’ as I have with Devon Travis,” says Mike Martin, who coached Travis at Florida State University. “Everybody loved Devon. It’s real easy to pull for him. He’s such a special young man. He’s just one of those people who fans, those close to the program, everyone, thought the world of.”
Arden Zwelling had a feature about Devon Travis' journey from T-ball to Major League Baseball. 

Travis talked about having all his family and friends in New York to witness his first big league homer.

“Hitting that ball and everyone being there for it—you’re doing something you’ve dreamed of forever. It’s crazy,” Travis says. “It just hit me right there. It’s a beautiful game that we play. Yes, it’s our job. And it’s a tough business. But it’s a game first. It’s the same game I’ve played since I was four years old.”
Plus, ten things that didn't make it into the feature. TEN!