Pure Theatre: Jays Win Series vs Royals
The rubber match on Sunday was a perfect ending to a really fun series. It got ugly, messy and kind of violent. The players were fired up and so were the fans. It was pure theatre.
Josh Donaldson, who was plunked once, but was thrown at two additional times, was a little salty. Especially after a warning was given to both benches in the first after the plunking, and Volquez wasn't tossed after he buzzed Donaldson for a second time. The radio broadcast praised umpire Jim Wolf for his restraint, saying that it was an 85 mph changeup rather than a head hunting fastball. Fair enough, I suppose, but it was in the general direction of his face. I don't want a projectile travelling at my face at 85 mph. I think it was at this point, Wolf lost control of the game.
He should have tossed Volquez, who clearly by his demeanor towards Donaldson in game and by his comments post game, wanted to get into it with him. Volquez wanted to fight. He has before.
The post-game comments were amazing.
“There are no quarrels between that team and this team. These are two good ball clubs. There’s a warning given after he hit me in the first at bat. Guys get hit all the time, but you don’t see warnings thrown out all the time. But the reason he did it is because he knew just as well as I did that he hit me on purpose. So, he had two decisions there: one, he could have thrown him out immediately, which I don’t want him to do – I thought it was pretty good hittin’ so I don’t want him out of there – second, when you give a warning like that and you see balls continually thrown around the head area … it’s pretty much one of those things where you can’t question intent. There have to be repercussions for the warning at the beginning, and I think that’s where he (Wolf) went wrong at it.”
So what was up with the Royals?
"None of [the inside pitches] were intentional on our part," Ned Yost said. "It's part of the game. [The Blue Jays] are as good an offensive team as you're going to face. They have tremendous power, but they all dive to the inside of the plate which makes them susceptible to inside pitches.
"If you continue to throw away, away, away, you're going to get hammered. You have to throw inside."
Things got even more insane when Ryan Madson plunked Tulowitzki on the forearm and then went inside nearly hitting Donaldson again.
I don't think there was that much intent on Madson's part, but then Wolf tossed Gibbons when he came out to argue. The next inning, Aaron Sanchez threw a pitch that grazed Alcides Escobar's leg and Sanchez and acting manager DeMarlo Hale were tossed.
Then the benches cleared (including a tossed John Gibbons- I've actually never seen an ejected manager return to the field during a fight. He didn't wear a mustache.)
Gibbons seems like the type to be chill until you push him too far and when he gets mad, he really, really gets mad.
During the melee, he also took time to get a little affectionate with Omar Infante.
John Gibbons runs back on the field after being ejected, pats Omar Infante on the back for some reason. pic.twitter.com/5t5O2VaIJd
— Ian Hunter (@BlueJayHunter) August 2, 2015
So what was up with the Royals?
"None of [the inside pitches] were intentional on our part," Ned Yost said. "It's part of the game. [The Blue Jays] are as good an offensive team as you're going to face. They have tremendous power, but they all dive to the inside of the plate which makes them susceptible to inside pitches.
"If you continue to throw away, away, away, you're going to get hammered. You have to throw inside."
I don't think Volquez or Madson got the team memo that those pitches weren't intentional because both came off petulant and defiant.
“He’s a little baby. He was crying like a baby.”
“He got mad at everybody like he’s Barry Bonds,” Volquez said. “He’s not Barry Bonds. He’s got three years in the league. We’ve been around longer than he has.”
But yeah, no intent.
I mean, behold:
Lost in all this brouhaha was that Dickey was, once again, fantastic. Pitching on short rest to accomodate David Price's schedule, Dickey held the Royals scoreless on two hits over seven innings of work and retired the last 12 of 14 batters he faced.
Dickey is in a real groove lately and watching his starts is really enjoyable. Over his past five outings, yielding just five runs in 36 1/3 innings (1.24 ERA) with a 26:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
He also provided the more cerebral take on today's goings on:
"I think they're used to pushing people around. So when they come onto the playground and there's a kid that's bigger than they are for a day, I think it probably [ticks] them off. And I can't blame 'em. That's part of their swagger. That's part of what makes them good, and they compete hard ... You just can't ever take a moment off against a playoff-calibre team, and they are a playoff-calibre team."
“For him to get upset, I don’t think he fully understands the game, or he just let his emotions get the best of him,” Madson said. “He thought that a warning means you can’t throw inside.”
I think Donaldson took offense because there was a warning and repeated attempts after the warning. He understands the game just fine. That Donaldson quote above indicates as much.
It's a lot of posturing and trying to save face. It's petulant and it's not a good look.
The Jays very nearly swept the Royals. They won a game started by the new Royals pitcher. They walked it off in dramatic fashion. The Jays scored against the Royals vaunted bullpen. And Donaldson was in on a lot of that.
The big takeaway from both this game and this series is that the Royals, and maybe by extension the league. have become afraid of the Blue Jays.
And it's just going to get more ridiculous.
Be prepared for more accusations of cheating- both "Man in White" nonsense and PED talk. More Twitter wars. More trolls.
I mean, behold:
"I want to use this space to ask the community of Royals Review if they think there's anything suspicious about the Blue Jays' ridiculous home split for hitting and slugging. I researched the topic for hours last night.
They've been busted before for stealing signs at home. Just google "Blue Jays cheating"; it's happened several times, actually. What do you think, community of Royals Review? Do you have any way to defend this?"
I'll give you a moment to stop laughing.
First of all: "I researched the topic for hours last night." That's just funny. It really tickled me.
Second of all: "Just google 'Blue Jays cheating' " Oh, the court of Google. That's legit.
Third of all: "They've been busted before for stealing signs at home."
If he's talking about looking in while a guy is on second, everyone does that. If the pitcher/catcher doesn't like it, change the signs.
If he's talking about the "Man in White" story, that was a story that was full of half-truths and not a lot of proof. The Jays were hardly busted. This isn't a "Deflate-gate" situation. The Blue Jays don't have nearly the clout that other teams have. Baseball would look into it if it was a thing.
Also, you know who was on the Jays forever? Your starting right fielder Alex Rios. He would've shared this. You had Emilio Bonafacio, Eric Kratz and Liam Hendricks on your team last year. All former Jays. There are former Jays all over MLB. They didn't sign a blood oath of secrecy.
Also, given how sort of average the team has been since they won the World Series twice, they should probably figure out how to cheat better if they are actually cheating.
Also, given how sort of average the team has been since they won the World Series twice, they should probably figure out how to cheat better if they are actually cheating.
It just so dumb it's delicious.
The current Jays team has been assembled less than a week and they've already created a blood rival
— YBTZ (@the_Zubes) August 3, 2015
Lost in all this brouhaha was that Dickey was, once again, fantastic. Pitching on short rest to accomodate David Price's schedule, Dickey held the Royals scoreless on two hits over seven innings of work and retired the last 12 of 14 batters he faced.
Dickey is in a real groove lately and watching his starts is really enjoyable. Over his past five outings, yielding just five runs in 36 1/3 innings (1.24 ERA) with a 26:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
He also provided the more cerebral take on today's goings on:
"I think they're used to pushing people around. So when they come onto the playground and there's a kid that's bigger than they are for a day, I think it probably [ticks] them off. And I can't blame 'em. That's part of their swagger. That's part of what makes them good, and they compete hard ... You just can't ever take a moment off against a playoff-calibre team, and they are a playoff-calibre team."