The Blue Jays lose their second series in a row, this time to their other AL East foe Boston Red Sox? Is it too early to panic?!?!?!
What Happened
On Monday, J.A. Happ pitched splendidly, striking out ten hitters over seven innings. He left the game with the lead, but thanks to a few singles and a horrific missed strike call that should have ended the game, the Sox tied it up and the game went to extras. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait too long as Curtis Granderson hit his first walk off home run as a Blue Jay. They won 4-3.
Tuesday‘s game was pretty back and forth. Aaron Sanchez pitched well, his only blemishes being a Mookie Betts leadoff homer to start the game and a Brock Holt RBI double in the fifth. Betts ended up hitting another home run, a two-run bomb, off of Danny Barnes in the seventh to take the lead for good. Jays lose 4-3.
Wednesday looked like a sure loss, right? Chris Sale went up against Marco Estrada and the Blue Jays made him look ordinary. I was kind of expecting a 13-strikeout masterpiece from the lanky lefty, but these aren’t the 2017 Blue Jays. Sale lasted just six innings, gave up three runs and only fanned four. Unfortunately, Marco Estrada surrendered five earned runs, including a three-run shot from J.D. Martinez that put the Sox ahead 5-3. The good guys added another run, but still fell short and dropped the rubber match 5-4.
Thoughts
- Boston came into this series bludgeoning opponents and managed to win the series via two one-run decisions. All three games were close and it could have been a sweep for either team. Nobody likes moral victories and you obviously want tangible results against a division rival and powerhouse, but at the very least, you have to feel good about that.
- Aside from the two little blips by Osuna and Barnes, the bullpen was actually pretty good. Nobody else gave up a run over the course of the series.
Up Next
The red hot #ActuallyGood Texas Rangers, who are a…*checks standings* full seven games out of a playoff spot in April!
So uh, what was gibby doing in the 8th. Why pinch hit grandy for gurriel?? Gurriel has shown is very adept at shooting the ball through the right side. Grandy should have pinch hit for maile. who is a reallllyy bad hitter, I dont care about his 20 ABs this season. Even martin would have been a better option.
Man this comment would look stupid if things had worked out differently.
Was dumb at the time and still looks dumb. You don’t put your weakest hitter( Maile who btw has looked like his old self last few games) in that position. Gibby tried to outsmart the red sox and it backfired.
You are correct that the move was unconventional, and it didn’t work out. But if he gets a hit, Gibby is a genius for trusting in his recent success and doing something unconventional and outsmarting the red sox.
I don’t know how best to evaluate managers, but I am certain that evaluating results of individual events in single game with the benefit of hindsight is not the right way.
A start might be a review of his success rate in late game high leverage pinch hit situations compared to other managers in the league over one ore more seasons. We might even need to normalize for batter ability… even that doesn’t consider defensive consequences following the pinch hit decision… it gets complicated quickly.
Your first two paragraphs contradict one another. Just saying.
“Is it too early to panic?!?!?!”
It’s too early to ask if it’s too early to panic, especially when you’re winning 58% of the time with a strong run differential.
Reasonable expectations for this team going into the year is that they can compete for the 2nd wild card. They’re in a strong position so far (still very early) to do that. Oh no – they lost series’ to two teams everybody knows are better than they are, but they didn’t get swept/blown out in either. Every other series, they’ve won or split. This is how you compete for the 2nd wild card. Keep it up.
Stop being rational
I was being extremely sarcastic