Ugh. The Jays offence struggles again, the bullpen finally breaks, and the Yankees win.
On the middle relievers, Yimi Garcia, Tyler Heineman, Dan and Joe in the broadcast booth, Covid concerns, the rotation upon Ryu's return, Joey Votto, Brian Tallet, and more!
The stupid Yankees won their stupid tenth straight game on stupid Monday night, beating the Blue Jays by a score of three to two at Rogers Centre. Woof. So I guess we have to talk about it!
Here’s two up and one down…
Up: Phelps/Richards/Cimber
Normally I’d start one of these pieces with a look at the night’s starting pitcher — and, honestly, Ross Stripling was fine enough for the Jays, giving them four innings of two run ball despite a little more hard contact than you’d like to see — but the real key pitching performances here for the Jays belonged to this trio of middle relievers.
Phelps didn't miss a ton of bats, but was efficient, needing just 15 pitches to record five outs. He got away with it a little bit in a three-up, three-down fifth inning, allowing three rockets off the bats of D.J. LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, and Anthony Rizzo — all of which had expected batting averages of .560 or above — but the sixth was better, and overall he did a nice job of locating his pitches, and (more importantly) keeping the Yankees off the board.
Trevor Richards came in for an inning-and-a-third after that, doing a nice job getting Aaron Hicks to strikeout swinging to end the sixth on a fastball after throwing him five straight changeups previously. He then pitched a one-two-three seventh, needing just 12 pitches — a mix of curves, changeups, and fastballs — to get Gleyber Torres hit a hard ground out to short, before inducing weak contact to get both Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino.
Adam Cimber, as has been the case a lot this season, was both efficient and excellent. He needed just 10 pitches to get through the top of the Yankees lineup in order in what was, at the time, a tight 2-2 game. And he lowered his season ERA to a tidy 1.50 in the process.
Fine work from these three!
The fact that they had to be used in a game that the Jays ultimately lost is obviously not ideal, but their efforts were commendable — which is more than you can say for a lot of the rest of what was, frankly, a pretty dismal affair overall.
Down: The stupid top of the ninth
I mean, it had to happen sometime. The Jays have been playing too many close ballgames of late, playing with too much fire, to not eventually get burned. Unfortunately for Yimi Garcia, who has had a wobbly couple of appearances his last two times out after starting his Blue Jays career with eight straight scoreless innings, he was the one on the mound when the Yankees scratched out the winning run in the top of the ninth.
Garcia was far from awful, honestly. His fastball was up 1.9 mph over his season average. He managed some swing-and-miss, as well as a few called strikes. Nothing was hit especially hard, save for the 95.1 mph single that Gleyber Torres hit on a hanging 0-0 curveball to score Tim Locastro from second base.
Not a great pitch! But it’s worth remembering that Torres may not have managed an RBI if not for a dud of a throw from catcher Tyler Heineman when Locastro — who was pinch running for Giancarlo Stanton, after the slugger managed to smack a single to centre on a 2-2 fastball that caught too much of the plate — rather easily stole second base.
Now, I’m not going to pin this one entirely on Heineman. First of all, the Jays’ hitters need to hit more — and walk more, frankly — and for a guy who is ostensibly the number five catcher on the depth chart, having a 1-for-3 night at the plate means he did his part. Secondly, and more importantly, Locastro ranks in the 99th percentile for sprint speed, and has now stolen five bags in six tries this season. This is kind of his thing. It would have required a very good throw to get him there — something a little, ah, Moreno-esque perhaps.
Still, it was a disappointing way to watch the game fizzle. Because it didn’t ever really feel like the Jays had a ninth inning comeback in them in this one. Not with Alejandro Kirk, Santiago Espinal, and Raimel Tapia slated to bat in the bottom of the frame.
Two strikeouts and a flyout later and it was time to move on.
Up: Joe and Dan in the booth
Please do not get me wrong. We all love and miss Buck Martinez, wish him a speedy recovery, and can’t wait to hear him back in the broadcast booth where he belongs. Full stop.
Still, I can’t deny that it intrigued me a bit to hear a pair of my absolute favourite broadcasters covering the team come together for a big game against the Yankees — even if it’s still only early May, and even though the circumstances by which the pairing happened are not ones that anybody wanted to happen.
Dan Shulman’s reputation precedes him, of course, as the consummate broadcaster. Joe Siddall, on the other hand, hasn’t often been in the TV booth for prime time regular season broadcasts like this one. Siddall was hired by Sportsnet in March 2014 to work alongside Jerry Howarth in the Blue Jays’ radio booth, but since 2018 — when he took over from a certain disgraced “Manalyst” — he’s been on the TV side, providing award-winning analysis alongside Jamie Campbell between innings, after games, and on Sportsnet’s Blue Jays Central.
Joe and Jamie are a great team, and Joe has been a natural since making the move from the radio booth to the TV studio, consistently breaking down and teaching viewers about elements of the game in a way that only a baseball lifer with a healthy respect for MLB’s data revolution and a love for the modern game could. He’s perfect in the role. Yet, as someone remembers his radio work well, and fondly, I was definitely intrigued to hear him alongside Dan — who has a knack for elevating the game of everybody he works with.
Naturally, it was a delightful pairing.
Sportsnet’s got some real talent on their roster, and I would very much be happy to see some more rotation among their voices once Buck is back and healthy. And, frankly, easing everybody’s workload by getting Siddall into the mix more often might just work for everybody. I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’!
Other notes
• According to a pre-game note from Sportsnet's Shi Davidi, Cavan Biggio is through Covid protocols "and due to begin bsaeball activities."
Where exactly that puts his timeline, I'm not sure. But would it surprise me if we don't see him until the Jays get a chance to use lefty-masher Vinny Capra one more time in this series, against the left-handed Nestor Cortes on Wednesday? It would not.
Why did we not see Capra in this one? I couldn’t tell you! But I suppose if I were to try, it would probably start with something like: “If you’re looking to Vinny Capra to solve your team’s offensive woes, you’re in much, much deeper trouble than the little trough Blue Jays happen to be in at the moment.”
• In the same note from Shi, he informed us about the fact that the club was to be without third base coach Luis Rivera for this one because he's in Covid protocols due to a close contact. Also out due to a close contact, per a tweet he sent on Monday afternoon, was the team's radio voice, Ben Wagner. Sportsnet played a simulcast of the TV broadcast on the radio tonight.
What's maybe interesting about that is that, as I wrote about earlier on Monday, Jays GM Ross Atkins joined Ben in the booth on Sunday. We don't know anything about anyone else's status, and I think it would be unfair to speculate, but let's hope this is the last we hear of stuff like this, because an outbreak of any proportion could really undo the great start this team has had in a hurry!
• Other pre-game notes from Shi include the fact that Ryan Borucki will throw a bullpen in the next couple days as he works his way back from a hamstring problem. Nate Pearson will also throw a bullpen in Toronto before heading back to Dunedin (and eventually Buffalo) as he builds up after his bout with mono. Tayler Saucedo’s hip injury will "keep him down" a week or two (though I imagine we’ll see him in Buffalo before he's back with the Jays, given Borucki's timeline and the 14-pitcher limit in place as of Tuesday afternoon).
• Speaking of Dunedin and Buffalo, Shi also reports that Teoscar Hernández will be heading to the former locale for his rehab assignment this week, as the weather in Buffalo this week is not looking great. Hyun Jin Ryu, however, is slated to make a rehab start in Buffalo on Saturday.
That puts Ryu on the same schedule as Ross Stripling, who may end up piggybacking with him once Ryu is ready to return (as the four off-days the Jays will have in May render the six-man rotation idea they briefly were going to try in April untenable).
That would line up Kevin Gausman, Ryu/Striping, and Alek Manoah as the Jays' starters for the series beginning May 13 against the Rays in Tampa. (Provided, that is, Ryu only needs the one start, and the Jays don't adjust their rotation due to next week's two off-days to, say, skip Yusei Kikuchi for a turn. If they did that it would be Jose Berrios and Kevin Gausman at Yankee Stadium next week, then Ryu/Stripling, Manoah, and Berrios again at the Trop. Kikuchi would then get a chance to face his former team when the Mariners come to the Rogers Centre for three games starting May 16th, which would also line Kikuchi up for a home start against Cincinnati on the 22nd. I don't hate it!)
• No surprise here, as Ricky Tiedemann has been named to MLB Pipeline’s prospect team of the week. Tiedemann hasn’t allowed a run — or a hit! — since April 15th, a span covering two starts, 10 innings, and that saw him compile 17 strikeouts. Not bad for a third-round pick!
• Say it ain’t so, Joey!
• Votto’s contract runs for one more year, at $25 million, with club option for 2024 that includes a $7 million buyout. Plus, he’s coming off a 140 wRC+ year and is slumping hard right now kind of like just about everyone else! I doubt he’s being serious here.
However, this is probably a good time to remind you again that the Reds come to Rogers Centre for a three-game set this very month!
With the a more balanced schedule set to begin next year, which will include games for the Jays against every single NL team, there’s a chance that we’ll get to see Votto again in Toronto after this one, but there’s an equal chance that next year’s Jays-Reds series takes place in Ohio. Will he still be around in 2024, at age 40, or is this…
The Jays host the Reds for three games starting Friday, May 20th.
• Fun times on the Twitter machine tonight — you know, provided you tried not to pay attention to the horrific and demoralizing U.S. Supreme Court decision that got leaked. At one point, after a strong play in the field by Ross Stripling, I made a small joke about former Jays swingman Brian Tallet. That led to the great Ian Hunter re-posting an all-timer of a photo of Tallet.
Swingman indeed!
I quote tweeted that one with the line “This is what athletes looked like in 2007,” only to find myself getting roasted by one of my favourite Blue Jays ever!
Whoops! Lol.
Another legend of that era had a great response to this as well.
Well that’s actually pretty dang cool. OK, OK, to Brian Tallet, I hereby take back all my silly jokes!
• Hmm. It did look a little sparsely populated in there tonight.
• Lastly, we’ve scheduled this week’s Blue Jays Happy Hour live shows, and while we won’t always be able to do them at the conclusion of games, this week that’s exactly what we’ll be doing. Join Nick and I on Thursday at the conclusion of the first game of the weekend’s Jays-Guardians series (6:10 PM ET first pitch), and again at the conclusion of Sunday’s series finale (1:40 PM ET first pitch).
Be sure to find us on Callin in order to join live, listen in, or have us take any calls or questions you may have! And for those who can’t make it for the live shows, check out this post for all the info you need to update our feed so you get all of our shows in podcast format the way you’re used to!
Next up: Tuesday, 7:07 PM ET: Jays vs. Yankees (Alek Manoah vs Jameson Taillon), TV: Sportsnet One, Radio: Sportsnet 590
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Imagine if I told you before the season that Cavan Biggio, Raimel Tapia and Bradley Zimmer would be cumulatively as valuable as Joey Votto?
Is it me, or did Charlie miss a beat by not pinch running Zimmer (or Capra) for Kirk in the 7th? Zimmer would have had a chance to score on that double. Kirk was in the DH slot, and they still had Collins to catch in an emergency. I was yelling at my TV.