The Jays win a wild one in the Bronx behind an unbelievable Vladtrick!
On the Vladtrick, Teoscar Hurtnández, Dr. Joséckyl and Mr. Berríos, a six-man rotation, the coming gauntlet, Kershaw, Stieb, and more!
The Blue Jays played the Yankees in the Bronx on Wednesday night, and… wow. The game had so much going on that this is the only place I’m even mentioning George Springer’s clutch, go-ahead RBI in the top of the seventh!!!
So let’s talk about it!
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VLADDDDDDDYYYYYYYY!!! Holy crap, my dude!
Here’s two up and one down!
Up: Vladtrick!!!
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., as he is wont to do, had himself a inning in the top of the first, making no mistake on a middle-middle slider from Yankees starter Gerrit Cole. Or, at least, not as big a mistake as the umpires made in not initially calling it a home run — or as much of one as Aaron Hicks made in trying to haul the ball back into the field of play.
However, it was a different tangle with Hicks that really turned this one into a special night for Vlad — that is, once we all realized he was fine.
In the bottom of the second, with the Jays’ infielders in a shift, Hicks hit what would have otherwise been a routine dribbler to second base. Instead, Bo Bichette had to rush for it, Hicks hustled down the line, and Vlad had to take a tough throw that put him off balance and forced him to put his hand down right in the base line — exactly where Hicks was about to step.
Blood was apparent immediately on Vlad’s uniform. The Jays’ training staff came out. Vlad left the field. And Jays fans’ hearts were immediately lodged in their throats.
Fortunately, after the umpires allowed a surprisingly lengthy delay for Vlad to get his bloody fingers fixed up, he trotted back onto the field.
Just how fine was he? We found out in the top of the third, when he came to the plate with Bo Bichette on second base.
That’s a 427 foot blast that was 109.1 mph off the bat. He added a two-strike double off a 98 mph fastball at the knees in the sixth.
And 114.4 mph, 443 foot solo blast to put the Jays up 5-3 in the top of the eighth!
UNBELIEVABLE. I guess he was OK. What a player!!!!!
Down: Teoscar Hurtnández
All-Star right fielder Teoscar Hernández seemed to be favouring his left side a little bit after a swing during his at-bat in the top of the sixth — to the point where it was pointed out on the TV broadcast, and Charlie Montoyo came to the top of the steps to check if he was OK.
Teoscar flashed him a thumbs up and continued with his at-bat…
… but it became apparent after his next swing, when he could barely make it halfway down the first base line, that he was not.
Officially, the Jays said during the game that he exited with “left side discomfort,” but obviously the concern is about his oblique — the same issue that now has Danny Jansen on the sideline for “several weeks.”
We can only hope that it won’t be as severe in this case. Even if it is, I unfortunately think that with the compressed spring training due to the lockout — thanks owners! — the injury bug might be biting a whole lot of teams in the early going.
Welcome to the Bradley Zimmer era, I guess? Maybe? Hopefully not? Let’s think about that all later. Ugh!
Up: Dr. Joséckly and Mr. Berríos
The final line for José Berríos wasn't as great as it felt like it was going to be after the fourth inning. Through that point, though he'd had a couple of scares, walked more guys than you'd have preferred, but was mostly the victim of some bad luck — a bad call here, an infield hit there. He'd held the Yankees off the board and, more importantly, looked much, much more like himself than in either the opener or any of the starts we saw him make in the spring.
The fifth inning was tough. The Yankees got more aggressive, jumping on fastballs/sinkers and blasting a pair of home runs and a pair of doubles to tie the game at three.
Perhaps they finally read the, uh, scouting report.
Anyway, it was definitely progress. He should get better and better the more he gets to pitch here in the early going.
Other notes
• Speaking of Vlad (weren’t we?), Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun has a great one in which he spoke to him about the work he’s putting stay fit, stay healthy, and be great.
• Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet reported on Wednesday afternoon that Ross Stripling will be getting the start on Friday night against Oakland. This will push Hyun Jin Ryu back a day, which is obviously something that the Jays are going to look to do whenever they can this year.
Putting Stripling into the series against the rebuilding A’s certainly makes sense, though it also means Yusei Kikuchi will likely be bumped to Tuesday’s start against the Red Sox against Fenway. Monday is an off day, so hopefully the extra two days of rest — and the extra time to work — helps him, too.
• Related to this, according to Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae, Charlie Montoyo said on Wednesday after noon that his Jays are “thinking of going to a six-man rotation.”
Now, that could mean as little as one turn. I certainly couldn’t imagine that he means it would be permanent. But that series in Boston next week starts a run of 20 games in 20 days for the Jays — and they’re not going to be easy ones, either.
They’ll start with Boston for three on the road, then Houston for three on the road. Afterwards they’ll head home and see the Red Sox again for four, the Astros again for three, then the Yankees for three. They’ll finish out the nasty run with three in Cleveland. Yikes.
Given the tight schedule, the tough games, and the fact that pitchers are still essentially in spring training, going to a six-man rotation through this stretch makes some sense.
May will get easier, with off days on the 9th, 12th, 19th, 25th, and 30th. Until then? Buckle up!
• Adam Cimber throwing a six-pitch bottom of the sixth after we were all still reeling from Teoscar’s apparent injury and the Yankees’ three-run blitz in the fifth? Thank you!
• Nice to see Scott MacArthur back on the air after being unceremoniously dumped by the Fan 590 six months ago. He’s now cohosting the mid-afternoon weekday slot for Newstalk 1010, and Sean Fitz-Gerald of the Athletic has a great catch-up with him.
• A lot of old man takes about Clayton Kershaw being pulled this afternoon despite being in the middle of a perfect game! Zubes here rather sarcastically got straight to the nut of it.
No, it wasn’t analytics. It was an aging and often injured pitcher in 5°C weather not being pushed beyond his limit less than a week after the end of a compressed spring training. Not a lot of teams are going to put that guy, with that track record of health (Kershaw has made more than 30 starts just once since 2013), coming off of that spring training, into that position. And they’d have been negligent if they did!
Kershaw said after Wednesday’s game that he agreed with the decision and wasn’t worried about individual success. He also noted that so far this year he had only made it up to 75 pitches in a sim game. “I hadn’t gone six innings, let alone seven,” he added.
Remember Johan Santana? On June 1, 2012, in his 11th start back after missing all of 2011 due to shoulder surgery, he was allowed to throw a 134 pitch no-hitter (his previous high that season was 108), which all but ended his career. Santana would last just 10 more starts after that one before being shut down for the year in mid-August. His ERA over his final 10 outings? A fugly 8.27.
So, y’know, let’s maybe not go nuts over this one.
But if you absolutely must blame someone, might I suggest Rob Manfred?
• Lastly, and speaking of being almost perfect, the final episode of the incredible Secret Base/Dorktown series on Dave Stieb was released on Tuesday, and hoo boy. Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein do an incredible job of making the Hall of Fame case for Stieb in this one, as well as the case against the Hall itself and selection’s arbitrary nature. With bonus points for circling back to the poetry of Stieb’s remarkable career ending just moments after he caught the Bobby Higginson home run ball that broke up Roy Halladay’s 1998 no-hit bid.
I can’t recommend the whole thing enough. Here’s part four.
Next up: Thursday, 7:05 PM ET: Jays @ Yankees (Kevin Gausman vs. Luis Severino), TV: Sportsnet, Radio: Sportsnet590
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“That ball is high, it is far, it is GONE
(ONE YEAR PASSES) ... but caught”
Great summary and game! Vladdy is something special indeed. But I'm getting lack of outfielder depth vibes.