Possible Every Time: EE owns Arizona
There was a point on Tuesday night that I realized that Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona was the anti-Tropicana Field. I don't know if it was the “dry heat” or the altitude or just magic, but the ball flew out of there. And I mean, flew. Rajai Davis hit two homers. Ex-Jay Aaron Hill didn't single handedly kill his former team, and the team actually pitched well. The Arizona broadcast spoke of Encarnación in hushed, fearful tones, deciding that the only solution to this complete dominance over them was to trade for him. I like to imagine that Miguel Montero is giving blurred out bitch face in the above picture.
As Gibby put it, "Eddie hits everywhere, but he hits really well here.”
It felt like this was possible every time he stepped up.
Every time. Plus, the press actually talked to him. They never do that.
Somewhere late in the last game, which was tied 3-3, between the Encarnación bomb to straight away centre, which was caught, and Rajai Davis’ inability to get the bunt down, it became clear that a bit of the magic had worn off and the loss was inevitable. As Meat Loaf once sang, two outta three ain't bad.
About the whole “pandering to the Asian fan base” nonsense from Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington.
For the record, there is no homogeneous “Asian fan base” that needs to be pandered to, but rather a combination of what might possibly be Japanese people in Toronto (those people show up for Ichiro and used to do it for Matsui), people who like funny people and people who wanted latch on to something joyful in a season of disappointments (the Kawasaki to the All Star Game are those people.) If the Jays “pandered” to anyone, they pandered to the dudes in the clubhouse who are head over heels in love with Kawasaki.
I present this to illustrate my point.
That appears to be a "Dominican" fan base, rather than an Asian one. And I'm ok with pandering to a Dominican fan base.
Mark Buehrle talked about his season away from his dogs, due to the well-documented ban on pitbulls in Ontario.
"Oh yeah. But I don’t know if they miss me that much. You know dogs, there’s times when we've left the house and gone back 20 minutes later because you forgot something and it’s like they haven't seen you for four months,” he said with a laugh. “It’s awesome. At the all-star break when I went home, they haven't been getting up in our bed but when I got home and laid in bed they all jumped up there with me. They're whining and shaking and so excited."
“The biggest thing is coming home and opening the door there’s no hugs from your wife and kids, no dogs running up to lick you."
Could someone not send him a Toronto dog to tide him over? I think he's pitched well enough to have earned it.
In my last post, I talked about Romero being called up. Stoeten over at DJF talked about it, too. And there was a tone to some of the comments that I found interesting.
I never assumed that Romero's reference to people not believing in him was a reference to people within the Jays organization. I thought he was referring to the haters on social media, and people in the press. But I could be reading this incorrectly.
If Romero seriously thinks that people within the Jays' organization haven't given him opportunities, there is either something not being said publicly (so we are getting an unclear picture) or something isn't clicking with Romero in his head. I don't think they've been perfect by any means, but I also don't think it's irreparable. AA talked about Romero on Brady and Lang on Fan 590 and said this:
“He’s going to get a clean slate again next spring. Very good chance he comes off of the roster in the off-season. I told him that ahead of time, just for the 40-man spot. He'll come in next spring, he’ll come in and compete and hopefully he'll start fresh and he can get it turned around.”
That sounds reasonable, no? I'm just not sure what else Romero expects them to do, given how he has pitched the past two seasons.
But I also suspect there is something else going on here. I remember reading that Romero hung up article about how the Jays made a huge mistake drafting him over Troy Tulowitzki in his locker in the minor leagues as a kind of motivator.
Romero might be trying to establish some sort of antagonist to motivate him. It all seems very dramatic.
Jose Bautista is out for the season on the advice of a New York hip specialist.
"It’s not how I wanted to end the season but I have no choice but to follow the doctor’s recommendation," said Bautista. "The fact that we're not in contention played a role in the decision-making as well.
"It’s a delicate spot but by resting it now and not making it worse, it will heal 100% and have no issues moving forward."
Yeah. This season was not very fun.
It doesn't mean he's fragile (mentally or physically), though, people who comment on Internet posts.
And finally, I was on TV again. Please check it out and feel free to tweet @AliyaJasmine that you enjoyed it. Or hated it. Either works.