Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports Well-versed Blue Jays’ fans might have felt a touch of unease Sunday night when Roberto Osuna returned to the mound to pitch a second inning against the Texas Rangers. A closer is primed to work one inning at a time. In three of Osuna’s previous four appearances – all…
Blue Jays head trainer George Poulis briefs reporters on the status of Francisco Liriano during Saturday’s workout. Photo by John Lott For a man who took a line drive to the back of his head, Francisco Liriano received the best possible news. And after the Blue Jays delayed their flight home to await his arrival…
Blue Jays pitchers and their coaches gathered for a photo after Sunday’s game, with a ringer in the front adding some smoke to the gathering. Photo by John Lott BOSTON – Where to begin? With Aaron Sanchez, who talked management into letting him start all season and pitched brilliantly in Game 162? With Troy Tulowitzki,…
Photo Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports BOSTON – Much has been made in the media about the stone-cold demeanour of J.A. Happ. As always, he looked stoic on the mound Saturday night. But when he was done pitching and repaired to the seclusion of the clubhouse, Happ was yelling at the TV, like Blue Jays…
Edwin Encarnacion celebrates his walkoff homer against the Brewers in July 2014. Photo by John Lott BOSTON – As the crestfallen crowd fled the stadium on Thursday night, and his teammates gathered their gear and filed into the clubhouse tunnel, Edwin Encarnacion stayed behind. He sat in the dugout for a few extra seconds, gazing…
Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports On Monday night against the Yankees, Jason Grilli entered the ninth inning to protect a 3-2 lead. He gave up four runs. Three came on homers. Afterward, the usually affable veteran declined to take questions from the media. The next afternoon, he granted a brief audience to two reporters, of…
Melvin Upton Jr. scores on Ezequiel Carrera’s bunt as Tyler Clippard’s shovel pass eludes Gary Sanchez and deposits the ball in the dirt behind home plate. Photo by John Lott Marco Estrada loved this. Tight game. Big comeback at the end. The good guys won. And let us not forget about those bunts. “Great game…
Photo credit: John Lott With two outs in the eighth inning, nearly 48,000 fans in the Rogers Centre were craving two conclusions: a strikeout by Billy Butler and Jason Grilli’s ferocious dance of jubilation. There was no score, but Grilli had just given up a triple to a speedy Yankee. Everyone was standing, clapping, roaring…
Photo credit: John Lott Devon Travis has a new nickname: Baby. “He’s like a newborn,” said Blue Jays teammate Ryan Goins. “He sleeps and eats and poops, that’s all he does. And gets hits.” So in keeping with this oddball description, Goins ordered a set of T-shirts with a baby-faced emoji on the front and…
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports Shock and awe dominated the narrative Saturday after nine Cleveland relievers recorded all 27 outs in a 1-0 win over Detroit. Two pitches in, starter Carlos Carrasco had to leave. Ian Kinsler’s line drive broke his hand. As a communal pitching performance, it was undeniably remarkable. And it could…
Photo credit: John Lott The Blue Jays’ second-shortest game of the year ended with Kevin Pillar intercepting a laser shot on the warning track, and the crowd cheering like crazy, and Russ Martin heaving a sigh of relief and paying Steven Souza Jr. a compliment, and Souza thinking Martin had insulted him, and Troy Tulowitzki…
Photo credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports Players-only meetings hold no guarantees that a team will drag itself out of a ditch, but four veteran players say they came away feeling encouraged after Saturday’s 40-minute session in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse. Naturally, no one was about to spill any secrets about what was discussed. And naturally, everyone…
