Game Threat: Jays (53-42) @ Snakes (40-54)

7 years ago

Photo credit: Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports

Welp. Here goes nothin’.

I’m not sure what that even means, but I’m pretty sure I say it because here we are waiting to see which Marcus Stroman will show up on the hill for the Jays today, yet again. Stroman is coming off an ugly one in Oakland, of all places, that undermined the feel good vibes of both his better performances heading into the All-Star break, and his trip with teammates to Cabo during the All-Star break.

It was bad Stroman who showed up five days ago, but the club, at least publicly, believes that he was handed a difficult task in pitching the first game of the second half. Starting pitchers sure do like their routines! And Stroman’s certainly was disrupted by the eight-day lay-off he had. It’s just… it looked a little too close for comfort to what we were seeing during his much discussed speedbump period in May and June.

The lineup the Arizona Diamonb… er, I mean the Snakes are running out there today is a pretty good recipe for success, I think. But if he does succeed against these schmoes, what exactly does that tell us?

A whole lot of nothin’, I think. So here goes!

Scuttlebutt

Wait. Sorry. Who‘s leading off and playing left field????

Gregor Chisholm — who is doing an Inbox for tomorrow, so send him questions! — tweets that part of the reason Darwin Barney is in left today is because Michael Saunders had to go home for personal reasons and is not with the club. He’s expected back Friday.

The other part, Gregor adds, is that that Ezequiel Carrera — or “Zeke,” as I like to call him — is still dealing with an achilles issue. It’s not bad enough to place him on the DL, apparently, so here we are.

Barney hasn’t played left field since the mid-80s, basically.

Also: yeesh.

TV: Sportsnet
Next Game(s): Friday vs. Seattle, 7:07 PM ET
AL East Standings: BAL (-), BOS (.5), TOR (1.5), NYY (6.5), TBR (17.5)
And now, the lineups…