Series Recap: Blue Jays fail to capitalize on a weak opponent
By Cam Lewis
5 years agoI think the title kinda says it all, honestly. The Jays scuffled through a seven-game gauntlet against the Yankees and Red Sox, winning just two games. Though the Boston series was incredibly close and Toronto easily could have come out with a couple more wins, the team looked outclassed by the two top teams in the American League East. Texas, who is fucking terrible, represented a great opportunity to get some wins back, but the Jays and their struggling starters got dropped in two of three.
What happened?
On Friday, Marcus Stroman got knocked around, allowing four runs in the first inning. The Jays managed to climb back to tie it, but he imploded again in the sixth. 6-4 Rangers.
On Saturday, Jaime Garcia continued Toronto’s trend of ugly starts. The veteran struggled to find the strike zone and got tagged for five runs in five innings. The bats couldn’t get much going off of Bartolo Colon, who picked up his first win of the season.
On Sunday, J.A. Happ did what an ace does and put together a damn good start when the team needed it most. Happ chucked seven innings of two-run ball and the bats had an easy time with Martin Perez. 7-2 Blue Jays.
Thoughts…
- Marcus Stroman had another rough start. I don’t think it’s time to worry about him just yet given he’s still out-performing his peripherals, but, yikes. The main thing for Stroman is that he’s getting burned by a big inning each time he’s out there. That, and, of course, the walks. Stroman is walking 5.3 guys per nine innings, well above his career norm. It’s hard to imagine that keeping up, though some seem to be enjoying it.
- J.A. Happ had another good start! He’s certainly leaned into the Ace role this year. After a couple decent-not-great starts to kick the year off, Happ has been excellent. In his last two starts, he’s gone seven innings while scattering just three earned runs. The most wild part about his success is the absurd strikeout numbers he’s putting up. He’s struck out 50 guys in 36 innings while giving up just seven walks.
- Randal Grichuk had a pretty decent day at the plate on Sunday, going two-for-three with an RBI. He also made a weird-but-nice catch in the first inning. Hopefully it sparks some confidence. Him being bad isn’t all too noticeable right now given the fact Teoscar Hernandez is sporting a handsome 1.093 OPS, but eventually Hernandez is going to cool down and Grichuk is going to have to hit.
Up next…
The Jays have a hell of a schedule ahead of them. They’re in Minnesota for three, then they’ll head to Cleveland on what was supposed to be a travel day for the double header make-up games that were postponed a couple weeks ago, AND THEN they’ll fly down to Tampa Bay for a series against the Rays at the House of Horrors. Good lord! I suspect we’ll see Joe Biagini at some point stepping in for a start.
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