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GDB -4.0: The Alek Manoah Revenge Tour starts now
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Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images
Zach Laing
Feb 27, 2024, 10:50 EST
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The Alek Manoah Revenge Tour starts now.
Looking to shake off a calamitous 2023 campaign filled with mid-season trips to development league ball, Double-A and Triple-A, Manoah is back and looking better than ever. An offseason in which he committed himself to bouncing back, the Big Puma trimmed 30 lbs. from his frame amid a self-critical stretch.
“I totally think the toughest part was that on our team we had probably the best starting pitchers and if I could have just been serviceable, I feel we could have gone a lot further, you know?,” Manoah told the Toronto Sun’s Rob Longley. “At one point, these guys were throwing every four days and just piggybacking off of each other … that was the tough part.
“I wanted to be there helping those guys. For me I was just trying to find anything I could do to get back.”
Manoah’s season was off the rails before it even started, starting shaky in Spring Training. But it was game one of the season, opening day against the St. Louis Cardinals when the first tire went off the tracks. He got blown up across three and a third innings, allowing five earned runs, starting a significant downswing.
By early June, he was in Dunedin at the Jays training complex in Florida. By August, he wasn’t around the team at all.
“Watching the team go to the playoffs — celebrating clinching that playoff berth at the end of the year — that was tough,” Manoah added. “And after opening day when (the Cardinals) kicked the s— out of me, those were moments that really sucked.”
Now, Manoah is ready to go for his first innings of the season today against the Detroit Tigers.
“I feel like I’m in a good spot,” Manoah told Longley. “I feel like we’ve done a good job with some of the mound stuff. I just want to transfer that into games and transfer it into the season to help this team.”Manoah’s not too far gone, not even close. His 2022 season was an incredible one finishing third in Cy Young voting while earning a trip to the All-Star game. Across 196 and two thirds innings, he posted a tremendous 2.24 ERA. If the Jays can get him back to near that form — watch out.
First pitch: 1:05 p.m. EST — TV: N/A. Radio: 1270 WXYT-AM Detroit.
Odds via Betano:
Moneyline: N/A.
Spread: N/A.
Over/Under: N/A.
*Odds available at the time of writing. Odds subject to change.

Starting pitchers (2023 statistics):

Name
Team
GS
W
L
IP
ERA
xERA
ERA-
FIP
WHIP
K/9
BB/9
Alek Manoah
TOR – MLB
19
3
9
87.1
5.87
6.24
139
6.01
1.74
8.14
6.08
Casey Mize
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

Lineups:

TORONTO:
  1. E Clement (R) SS
  2. E Escobar (S) 3B
  3. A Kirk (R) C
  4. D Vogelbach (L) DH
  5. S Horwitz (L) 1B
  6. O Martinez (R) 2B
  7. A Roden (L) RF
  8. R Lantigua (R) CF
  9. W Robertson (L) LF
DETROIT:
  1. R Greene (L) RF
  2. S Torkelson (R) 1B
  3. M Canha (R) DH
  4. G Urshela (R) 3B
  5. C Keith (L) 2B
  6. J Báez (R) SS
  7. C Kelly (R) C
  8. J Bigbie (R) LF
  9. A Baddoo (L) CF

Need to bide the time until first pitch?

Tune into the latest edition of Blue Jays Nation Radio as the crew talks spring training.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO

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