Game Threat: Edwin Serves Suspension As Jays Head Into All-Star Break, Blue Jays (50-40) vs Tigers (46-42)
By Cam Lewis
7 years agoDespite a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers yesterday, their first one in over a week, the Jays are rolling into the All-Star break as one of the league’s hottest teams, and are looking like the contending team that most of us expected they would be this year. Regardless of what happens today, the Jays will head into the break with 50 wins, in possession of a playoff spot, and will be in a much, much better position heading into the second half of the season than they were last year when they sported a 45-46 record.
Yesterday
I won’t go into much detail about yesterday’s game because I didn’t actually watch it. Aaron Sanchez was matched up against David Price trade footnote Matt Boyd in what quite honestly looked like a complete mismatch in the best possible way for the Jays.
Boyd was strong, because, well, apparently he’s only ever good against the Jays for whatever reason. He tossed five innings, allowing only one run on four hits and a couple of walks, and struck out six, moving his season split line against the Jays to a 1.74 ERA over 10.1 innings. Uhhhhh. Okay?
Sanchez, on the other hand, was pretty meh, but that’s probably because we’re at a point where we expect a dazzling start from him each time he trots out to the mound. A few hours after being given the All-Star nod (that he probably should have just been given in the first place), Dirty Sanchez chucked five innings, and was tagged for two earned runs on five hits and a couple of walks. From my memory of following the game loosely on the At Bat app, Sanchez seemed to be in trouble all game, consistently allowing Tigers to reach base.
In the eighth inning, with the game tied at two, Jason Grilli came out of the bullpen and promptly gave up a home run to Victor Martinez, which ended up being the game winner.
Tremendo disparo de Ezequiel Carrera! #BlueJays! pic.twitter.com/lFHV92ARNk— El Antesalista (@El_Antesalista) July 10, 2016
Nobody really had a memorable day at the plate yesterday afternoon, as six different Jays had a hit, but none of them had more than that. The star of the day was probably Devon Travis, who had a solo home run in the seventh inning. Actually, it was probably Zeke Carrera who suddenly grew a throwing arm over night.
Otherwise? Meh. I mean, whatever, you win seven in a row and eventually you’re going to drop one. It isn’t the end of the world. It’s a good sign that even when you lose a game, it still seems like there was a pretty good chance you’re going to win. That’s what if felt like in August and September last year, from my memory.
News and Scuttlebutt
After sorta kinda getting snubbed the first time around (in which he, in my opinion, should have been named Marco Estrada’s replacement instead of Corey Kluber), Aaron Sanchez was given a very deserving All-Star nod yesterday. To this point, Sanchez has a 9-1 record with a 2.97 ERA, and while this performance is most certainly exceeding expectations for this season, he’s looking like the guy we dreamed about while painfully chugging through the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Anyways, congrats to Sanchez, who becomes the Jays’ fifth All-Star this season! He’ll join Marco Estrada, Michael Saunders, Edwin Encarnacion, and Josh Donaldson in San Diego for what’ll be the closest thing to a meaningful baseball game Padres fans have seen in, uhhh, who knows!
This isn’t really much of a surprise, but Edwin dropped his suspension appeal for his (completely valid) meltdown on Vic Cazzarazzajackass back on Canada Day. Since he made contact with an umpire, Edwin was suspended one game, but the appeal kept him the lineup all week, and by dropping it today, he can take a rest day against a pretty shitty pitcher before heading to San Diego. Well played, Eddy!
Today
Blue Jays: Carrera LF, Donaldson DH, Saunders LF, Tulowitzki SS, Pillar CF, Travis 2B, Smoak 1B, Barney 3B, Thole C
R.A. Dickey: 6-9, nice, 4.10 ERA, 5.22 FIP, 1.313 WHIP, 8.7 H9, 3.1 BB9, 6.4 SO9
Tigers: Kinsler 2B, Maybin CF, Cabrera 1B, Martinez DH, Castellanos 3B, Upton LF, Aviles RF, McCann C, Iglesias SS
Anibal Sanchez: 5-9, 6.52 ERA, 5.66 FIP, 1.602 WHIP, 1-.2 H9, 4.2 BB9, 7.4 SO9
Man, R.A. Dickey really gets the short end of the stick when it comes to lineups when he’s pitching. It’s like Gibby sees Josh Thole on the card, and decides to completely mail it in, or something.
Anyways, it’ll be Toronto’s bench vs Detroit’s long reliever, so this should be kind of an interesting game. Sanchez, as you can see, has been very bad this season, hence why he’s coming out of the bullpen and making spot starts in a rotation that features some of the junk that Detroit’s rotation does.
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