Game Threat: David Price Returns to Toronto, Blue Jays (26-25) vs Red Sox (29-20)

After winning the first two games of the this weekend series with the Red Sox, the Blue Jays will look to finish the sweep this afternoon against David Price. He’s spent most of his career in the American League East, so it’s not like facing Price is something wild and new, but this game should be special because it’ll be the left-hander’s first game at the Rogers Centre since signing with the Red Sox in free agency after helping the Jays break their million-year playoff drought last year. 

The big question for me is whether or not the fans are going to be ass-clowns or not, and whether Price is going to get a warm welcome, or if he’s going to be booed out of some backwards, misguided spite that he let the team and the city down by signing with a rival. 

I won’t go into detail on yesterday’s game, but here’s the recap post. Not only was that game fantastic, with the two separate rallies, the walk-off, and everything, but it truly felt like a turning point in the season. 

Here are some interesting updates from the Tampa Bay Times about the Blue Jays and their partnership with Dunedin, and some skepticisms that the city has on publicly funding upgrades to professional sporting complexes. 

Yesterday, Noah Syndergaard intentionally threw inside at Chase Utley, obviously as retaliation for when he broke Ruben Tejada’s leg with that ridiculous slide in the playoffs last year. As a result, Syndergaard was tossed from the game, since the rule states that a pitcher or manager can be tossed if there’s intent to hit a batter. So why doesn’t this happen when Blue Jay players are thrown at? Where’s the consistency here? Does Chase Utley get special treatment for being Chase Utley? Jose Bautista thinks so. 

David Price will go up against R.A. Dickey, who happen to be the winners of the American and National League Cy Young Award from 2012. Price has been, well, not great in his first season with the Red Sox, sporting a 5.34 ERA, but his 2.84 FIP and career-high 11.0 strikeouts per nine inning suggests that better things are on the horizon, which isn’t really all too surprising. In his last few games, Price seems to be getting better results, allowing just six total runs over 21 innings. 

I think we all know first hand what David Price is all about, I just really, really hope that the fans don’t boo him today when he’s introduced. Give him a standing ovation, and then go back to treating him like any other Red Sox pitcher. Don’t be bitter about him leaving, considering the Jays didn’t even offer him a new contract. 

Jose Bautista (R) RF
Josh Donaldson (R) 3B
Edwin Encarnacion (R) DH
Justin Smoak (S) 1B
Devon Travis (R) 2B
Darwin Barney (R) SS
Kevin Pillar (R) CF
Ezequiel Carrera (L) LF
Josh Thole (L) C