The Justin Verlander no-hitter was shocking. I had totally forgotten that I was still alive and that that the baseball season was still happening. 

There was a point, probably around the seventh inning, I knew Verlander was going to do this. The combination of his staggering talent, his stubborn refusal to give in, facing a rather inexperienced Blue Jays lineup, one that is more likely to press as the game wore on was pointing to this end result. 

My favourite piece written about the game was by John Lott for The Athletic, not just because it featured this very agreeable quote from Bo Bichette:

You little scamp.

Verlander is amazing. Just a masterful performance that demonstrated everything good about Verlander and the potential of great pitching.

I also enjoyed what this performance said about pitching. It illustrated the very definition of a horse. This performance occurring in the age of the “opener”, an age where big-time starting pitching being devalued. And doing it at the age of 36, when teams are acting hesitant to sign players to long-term deals because the player will be 32 at the end of it.

Comments like this are coming out of the Blue Jays brass:

The juxtaposition makes me delirious. Bo, Vladdy and Biggio are good fun, but they will just be that unless they go get some actual starting pitchers.

Speaking of horses, here is Sandy Koufax giving up a dinger to Mr. Ed. 

Maybe Charlie should’ve let the horse bat clean-up.

Today’s Walk-up

In the midst of all, I swank on you