Facts: Jays Remain Rough

FACT: There are 150 Games Left to Play.

Over the weekend, the “burn it down” takes started to filter in. Apparently, we can get a lot of prospects for Josh Donaldson. 

You can go ahead and panic, if you like, but the fact remains that there are 150 games left to play. That’s a fact that won’t change no matter how much you yell about it at Mike Wilner on Twitter.

So either suck it up and watch. Or find something else to do.

FACT: Blisters are a pain.

Aaron Sanchez is on the 10 day DL because of a blister. He’s had a piece of fingernail removed to deal with the blister and should be throwing in a few days.

When this was announced, I was somewhat relieved. His offspeed pitches didn’t have that good and necessary snap in his last start versus the Orioles. I much prefer a reason for sucking than a mystery surrounding sucking.

Here’s a Vice News story about pitcher blisters from a few years ago.

Also!

@Minor_Leaguer .@Al_Leiter22 was talking about blisters tonight on yanks broadcast. Apparently the Jays reached out to him for suggestions. #BlisterHistory

— Cheese (@JayLippert) April 18, 2017

FACT: Josh Donaldson is Lit from Within

Look:

Also

Donaldson told Toronto Life that he wants a chest tattoo of a lion wearing a crown because he's the "king of the fuckin jungle" #PitchTalks

— Minor Leaguer (@Minor_Leaguer) April 17, 2017

FACT: Darwin Barney is on Twitter. (Update- NOT BARNEY)

@DarwinBarneyOFC 

I already love him on Twitter. He liked this tweet.

@DarwinBarneyOFC "Blue check mark, bro. You must verify." -catcher tips. pic.twitter.com/q0GJ5or80r

— Joanna (@HumandChuck) April 18, 2017

FACT: Russell Martin’s Face

I want more games that make Russell Martin make this face:

Less of this face:

FACT: “Not Edwin” is a Joke

Apparently some on Twitter want people to stop referring to Kendrys Morales as “Not Edwin.” “Not Edwin” is a joke I made up that has absolutely nothing to do with Morales and everything to do with the endless stream of Toronto media that, this winter, said, “You don’t need Encarnación, you have this guy.”

Russell Martin even, in his French language interviews during the Montreal series talked about losing “Eddie” but now they have this guy.

It’s not much of a secret that Encarnación was basically my favourite and his departure wounded me (in a way that I wasn’t expecting),  so this general narrative always made me roll my eyes a little. I think Morales has been pretty great (one of the few bright spots) but I joke that he has to play well to earn my love.

Why am I even explaining this? Not Edwin forever.

FACT: The All Red Jerseys are Ugly

They just are. Stop trying to make red happen, Blue Jays. You are not Cincinnati or Boston or Washington or St. Louis.  You are the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Your colours are blue. Toronto, in general, is a blue city. It was quite the thing when the Raptors chose purple as their colour in the 90s because blue has been such a standard Toronto colour since the Argonauts chose it in the 19th century. Just be blue. 

BE BLUE.

At the very least, don't make the logo red. It just looks like a half-assed attempt at patriotism masking corporate branding. I don't care that it may not be that, but it looks like that. 

Burn the Red jerseys. #BlueJays

— Michelle (@MisheeMore) April 16, 2017

FACT: This is Someone's Opinion

Keith Law wrote a book. In it, he argues that the sac bunt is dumb. Not everyone agrees

@espn @keithlaw I don't think Keith has the right to be speaking for every fan, the sac bunt (when done right) is one of the most exciting plays in baseball

— The Banana King (@KingZeke8) April 17, 2017

Oh Banana King!  One of the most exciting plays in baseball? You are a king! Why are you watching such boring ass baseball games?

@espn @keithlaw Nope, true BASEBALL fans appreciate the sac bunt and all of its value. Way off. Time for the platform deaths of these absurd "philosophers."

— Ryan Ruby (@TheRyanRuby) April 17, 2017

Is all caps BASEBALL different than actual baseball?

FACT: To Sum Up

To sum up- the red jerseys are ugly, the branding looks like Molson, Lets Rise is dumb, the gods have forsaken us

— Joanna (@HumandChuck) April 16, 2017

Fighting for It: Bautista and Stroman Vs. Destiny

With the near constant stream of negative press surrounding the Blue Jays and their dismal April, it’s not hard to get down.

It’s extremely trying to wait for something all winter and to be told that despite it being only two weeks into the season, the season is completely lost. The summer stretches out endlessly in front of us, but the team is looking up from a deep, deep hole.

It’s been trying for fans and it’s been trying for the team itself.

This stress and heightened emotion has been no more evident than on the face of José Bautista on Friday night and in the demeanor of Marcus Stroman this Sunday afternoon. Boys are fighting for it.

Bautista has looked lost at the plate and hadn’t hit a homer yet this season. There was a lot of this:

Then, early Saturday morning, a hero emerges from the darkness:

Jose Bautista smashes a three-run home run to left-center field to give the Blue Jays an 8-5 lead in the top of the 13th inning Check out http://MLB.com/video for more! About MLB.com: Former Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced on January 19, 2000, that the 30 Major League Club owners voted unanimously to centralize all of Baseball's Internet operations into an independent technology company.

After they secured the win close to 4 AM Eastern, he praised the powers that be.

FINALLY pic.twitter.com/QO28E485RA

— Ian Hunter (@BlueJayHunter) April 22, 2017

It inspired beautiful art. 

pic.twitter.com/cyK3NUqVmO

— Andy (@_rallycap) April 22, 2017

Sunday's game was one that felt more stressful than the final score shows.

Stroman battled the entire game and was completely fired up. Gregg Zaun talked about “the right and wrong” way to behave on a baseball field in the postgame, but Stroman’s entire demeanor was like he was protecting something that outside forces were trying to steal from him.

People forget that Stroman had next to no run support for most of this game and the only run against him came from a very questionable illegal quick pitch call to Calhoun, who eventually came around to score. Stroman looked in control of his game, but behaved like it could go to shit at anytime because the baseball gods had forsaken this team. 

The Angels looked at him a long time when he did this:

"I WAS INCREDIBLY HAPPY WITH THE UMPIRING TODAY" pic.twitter.com/XXkCPYTxYc

— Ian Hunter (@BlueJayHunter) April 23, 2017

But it was beyond the Angels at this point. It was Marcus Stroman vs the Universe.

I wouldn't have been surprised if Stroman had punched Russell Martin in the face right there. Not because Martin had done something, but sometimes you just need a face to punch.

When your buddy picks you up. pic.twitter.com/Dz1ctSsi18

— Ian Hunter (@BlueJayHunter) April 23, 2017

---

So the Orioles and Red Sox played each other this weekend. Stuff got stupid.

Matt Barnes gets ejected for hitting a bat? Pitches at Manny Machado's head. 😬😬😬 pic.twitter.com/7eBwWbFKNl

— TheRenderMLB (@TheRenderMLB) April 23, 2017

So Matt Barnes is trash and should be suspended for a good long time. And you know what? Suspend/fine John Farrell for okaying this, being complicit or just for being John Farrell. “John, I’m tired of your face. Write me a cheque for $10,000.”

Dustin Pedroia had this exchange with Machado after the incident:

Here's Pedroia/Machado exchange, initiated by Pedroia, after Matt Barnes was ejected for throwing at Machado's head: pic.twitter.com/qp5SNYOwwy

— Danny Picard (@DannyPicard) April 23, 2017

It appears Pedroia is distancing himself from the beanball and Machado is more or less saying, “That’s nice. But it is my head.”

Pedroia elaborated on this postgame, and it made be kind of like him.

Dustin Pedroia's full thoughts: pic.twitter.com/CD1m40xlKa

— Brian MacPherson (@brianmacp) April 23, 2017

A Barstool stooge I blocked last year was running his mouth subject, something about “free drinks” to Matt Barnes, but again, I blocked him.  Here is a reasonable response:

@Jared_Carrabis Matt Barnes throws hard. Maybe he puts one through Machado's pansy ass skull tomorrow.

— Colin Jacobson (@Jacobson_Colin) April 22, 2017

It’s a shame, because he has “make the Oxford comma great again” in his bio. That’s something I can really get behind.

And then this:

A player from a team not involved texted me about story below, saying, “I don’t like what Barnes did, but Britton is WAY out of line here.” https://t.co/7iwk8TXcxM

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) April 24, 2017

I love Ken Rosenthal. He's such a tease. 

And then, in the postgame, Manny Machado said this:

In case you missed Manny Machado's post-game scrum Sunday, after he was thrown at by Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes, here's the money quote: pic.twitter.com/JSM2Tyhr6K

— Jonah Birenbaum (@birenball) April 23, 2017

Manny believes, guys.

So the blood here is bad, so I'm thinking this is a season long feud that leads to mass suspensions/possible injuries and the Jays rise to the top through the destruction. 

I Have a Couple of Follow up Questions: My Imaginary Conversation with Saltalmacchia

I was at an event at the Sport Gallery in Toronto and one of the topic’s of discussion was the political nature of the baseball and how players may or may not discuss politics. A player, given where he is from or how secure he is in his career, may or may not feel comfortable expressing his opinion.  Mr.  John Lott brought this article up from WEEI Boston's Rob Bradford. 

Jarrod Saltalamacchia has a lot to say. 

Most of it is standard anti-Obama right wing rhetoric, which is sort of boring. It was the final quote that stands out to me because I don’t know what he’s on about.

Rob Bradford didn’t challenge Saltalmacchia on any of these points he brings up. He gave him free rein to just run his mouth.

Had I been talking to him, I might’ve asked these followups:

Why do you find kneeling during the National Anthem to be so upsetting? Is it worse than black men getting shot in the street by law enforcement at an alarming rate? Why is kneeling, for you, so offensive?

Is it your view that athletes shouldn’t have any say at all, or should they just have a say when they happen to agree with you?

Are you aware of Kaepernick’s charitable givings in the last year, since he started kneeling?  Does that change your opinion of him? Or is he solely defined as a good or bad person based on his kneeling during the Anthem?

Do you know what a Millennial is? Do you know that you, at 31, are one? The vast majority of them are adults in their 20s and 30s. 

When you said “how the Millennials are”, what did you mean? How are they?

“Just like in the baseball world, there’s people who fought before us to have the union we have and have the rights we have in this game.” Do you see parallels in the MLBPA formation  with  the Civil Rights movement and Black Lives Matter, or are the only valid fights military ones?

Do you see the value of a union in other industries, or just for MLB players?

When you said, “Yeah, you don’t like what’s going on but you can’t venture one way because of what’s going on now.”  does that mean you don’t know or understand American history, which is full of examples of Americans doing exactly that? The foundation of the nation you seem to love was a group up people who did that. 

You have a very large truck. Have you thought about why you like big stuff? Are you compensating for something?

Jarrod Saltalamacchia has a ridiculous car. pic.twitter.com/XnxAue3oRu

— Blue Jays from Away (@JaysFromAway) March 18, 2017

At which point I’d be escorted out of the clubhouse, never to be asked back.

Gathering Thoughts: Jays are 1-8

What even the fuck?

I have no words except I'm not sure it's good for my mental health to keep watching this. I'm always impressed and slightly mystified when people say that baseball is soothing and helpful to their emotional well-being. 

A seemingly endless string of well-pitched games missing one big hit to turn a loss into a win, but falling short. 

No luck. No hope. No joy. 

Pain in my heart she's treating me cold where can my baby be Lord no one knows.

I am feeling some kind of way.

All I have now is soul music. 

Purists might not acknowledge Aretha as a blues singer, but so what? Even if The Delta Meets Detroit is at heart another way of raiding the Queen of Soul's catalog for niche-market sales, it's a convincer.