Second Half Starts With Series Win vs Tampa



The Jays had a pretty exciting first series of the second half.

The Rays are the only AL East team the Jays haven't been able to handle this season, mostly because they have solid pitching and have bizarre, previously unimagined ways of scoring versus the Jays. 

Friday, the game was tied 1-1 in the 5th when the Jays' bats did what the Jays' bats do- scoring five runs with Donaldson's two run homer and Smoak's three run homer.

And because it was Drew Hutchison at home, the pitching was awesome. Hutchison now has a 7-1 record and a 2.21 ERA in nine home starts. He pitched deeper into the game (which is what has truly been his issue this year) and had a pretty decent change working.

 Bautista, after having skipped the All Star Game, retured refreshed having rehabed his shoulder.

“It’s feeling better,” he said. “Definitely the rest and the rehab and the therapy helped, so I’m hoping when I start throwing baseballs today, it’s going to be a good feeling, free of any tightness or any soreness, and have full range of motion, and be able to hold that and maintain it from now to the end of the season.”

 Bautista wouldn't elaborate on what he did or where he went to get his shoulder treated, hilariously telling John Lott (and the rest of the beat) the treatment “involved going to rehab and therapy at the rehab and therapy place.”

 Bautista hit what was then the go-ahead homer in Saturday's game, but because it was an RA Dickey start, luck was completely sucked out of the building.

 “I haven’t had a year like this ever … when the luck just hasn’t been going my way. But that’s OK. So much of that is outside of my control. So it’s a great mental exercise to just try to put it behind you and keep going,” Dickey said.

 “I just have to keep concentrating on how I can get myself the best I can be, for more outings like that,” he said. “If I can consistently do that for our team, then more times than not I feel good about our chances of winning.”

 I hope he is truly this Zen about it, because it is pretty painful to watch. I hope he isn't feeling neglected because this much vaunted offense gives Hutchison or Buehrle 27 runs per start, and only manages to scratch out a measely run when Dickey is on the mound.

Or if the team does give him a few more runs and Dickey leaves with the lead, the bullpen decides that the Dickey start is the appropriate place for the weekly gut punch.

This was the game that illustrated how Tampa finds new and irritating ways to kill the Blue Jays.

I yelled, "WHO THE HELL IS CURT CASALI?" at the television. It was that type of game.

Looking at a Sunday rubber match with Chris Archer on the mound, it looked bleak.

Chris Archer, off the field, is one of my favourite MLB players. After participating in the All Star Game, he flew into Toronto for the rest of the break.
He then decided to do this:
Which is just fantastic. Archer also did Pan Am stuff, including visiting with the US Women's Baseball team.

(Women's baseball is new to Pan Am. It's a big deal. Flock to Ajax, kids. And follow Alexis Brudnicki on Twitter for everything you need to know about Canadian baseball and women's baseball.)

Archer has his own charity called the Archway Foundation. 

And he tweets this stuff:
I guess the kid was feeling extra charitable this weekend, because he finally lost to the Blue Jays on Sunday.

Archer has owned the Jays in 2015- 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA.

But on Sunday,  he surrendered a two run homer to Chris Colabello.  It wasn't much of a blow, but Marco Estrada didn't give an inch.

Estrada relied heavily on his changeup.

“We purposely went up (in the strike zone) a bunch of times,” Estrada said. “That’s what’s going to happen. If guys make contact on it, they’re probably going to pop it up. Hopefully, you miss up and either they swing and miss or pop it up. That’s kind of what happened today.”

Navarro caught him and had two key pickoffs of James Loney and Tim Beckham in the second and third innings, respectively.

“That’s huge,” Estrada said. “You’re out there , you’re battling and you’ve got a guy on third, and he comes out of nowhere and throws the guy out. You save a few pitches and mentally, it just helps out a bunch. So I’m very thankful and grateful for the way he caught back there. What he did behind the plate was awesome.”

It was a big win against a division rival. The Jays are still in tight in the East and have to have more series like this (minus the bullpen sucker punch in the middle game.)

“They gave us everything we needed,” Gibbons said. “We ended up winning two out of three, but the big thing was, we beat Archer. He’s been a nemesis of ours. If you’re going to go anywhere, sooner or later, you’ve got to beat the good ones.”

The Jays also announced that when Aaron Sanchez returns from the DL, he's going to be pitching out of the bullpen. I'm a staunch Sanchez = Starter girl, but if this maintains his health a little this season (so he doesn't have to go to "rehab and therapy at the rehab and therapy place"), and it both solidifies the bullpen and saves Osuna's arm a bit, too (so he, too, doesn't have to go to "rehab and therapy at the rehab and therapy place")

I think this move is the right one for the here and now. AA can focus on a starter and both boys can always start next year.

All quotes were mooched from various John Lott penned articles. He has the press pass I lack and does the best recaps around. He also took the picture at the top of this post.

See Lott's article about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (who was born in Montreal!) 



“He says he’ll make it in two years, in his mind,” said Ismael Cruz, the Jays’ director of Latin America operations, who handled the translation from Spanish during Guerrero’s first scrum with Toronto reporters.

I love this kid already.