See What We Have in Us: Jays Take Two in Milwaukee

May 25, 2017 by Joanna Cornish

That was a tidy little two game sweep in Milwaukee. Given that so much of the roster has been on the DL* and that the team had such a terrible April, it's miraculous that they somehow have very close to the same record as the two previous seasons.

*pour one out for Anthony Alford's wrist. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, Alford was called up, got his first big league hit and broke his left wrist. You are officially a 2017 Blue Jay, kid.

Joe Biagini pitched with some guts in the first game. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but he toughed it out. He also got his first career RBI, so that’s something. Let’s go ahead and count that as the difference, as the Jays won by a run.

Kendrys Morales hit a towering bomb to straight away centre. According to Statcast, it went 447 feet (the second longest by a Jay this season.) It was also the seconded hardest hit homer, leaving the bat at 110.5 mph.

"It turned into a pretty tight ballgame and our bullpen stepped up, that's for sure," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We got some pretty good work in that one."

You said it, Gibby.

Biagini let the Brewers come back into it in the fifth, but Danny Barnes came in and pulled some RISP chestnuts out of the fire. After Villar and Thames pulled off a one out double steal of second and third, Barnes got Ryan Braun and Travis Shaw to strike out on a couple of well placed high fastballs.

As he said to MLB.com,

"Guys [in the bullpen] are just kind of cutting their teeth a little bit. Some people would say, 'They're going to get worn out now,' but I honestly think it's going to help us later on as guys build confidence."

Or they'll all end up on the DL. It is the 2017 Blue Jays, after all.

Perhaps just to illustrate the maxim that "you can’t predict ball", the difference in the second game was a Ryan Goins grand slam.

A grand slam could help Goins continue to get playing time once the injured Troy Tulowitzki returns to the lineup.

"He was in a little bit of a rut, I think because he was playing so much that he was wearing down a little bit, " said John Gibbons. "But he picked it back up when we got here. Good for him. He needed it. He got some big hits and helped us win some games, that's for sure."

José Bautista, Devon Travis and Kevin Pillar also hit homers.

"This is a tough ballpark to pitch in. It really flies here," Gibbons said. "The guys have been hanging in there. They haven't been able to knock us out yet. We get some guys back [from the disabled list] and we'll see what we have in us."

José Bautista has been red hot.

How locked in is @JoeyBats19? He has 7 multi-hit games in his last 11 and a 16-game on-base streak! 🔥https://t.co/sHgWKF8Reg @budcanada pic.twitter.com/suqOOMOpoW
— Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 24, 2017

Blake Murphy, for Vice Sports, breaks it down. He correctly points out that Bautista, since that controversial bat flip in Atlanta, has brought it.

A locked-in Bautista is a wonderful thing, especially wonderful after an April where he seemed so lost at the plate and some wondered if he was actually finished.

There are rumours that Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki may be back as soon as this weekend.

This team needs to see what they have in them.

Kevin Pillar's Word

May 18, 2017 by Joanna Cornish

I was going to say nothing but now everyone is saying stuff and I feel a little radio silent.

Kevin Pillar should not have used that word. He should remove it from his vocabulary.

His apology in the post-game scrum last night fell short, but I am willing to give Pillar, a seemingly otherwise decent person, a chance to do a better one.

Sometimes you have to meet a person where they are and pull them forward rather than yelling at them from a distance. That's how change happens. Sports culture has issues and last night, that was apparent.

I think this is an opportunity for the Blue Jays to actually use this to start to reach out to the LGBT community in Toronto and in sports, because this goes beyond just Pillar running his mouth.

You Can Play Project is a good start. Actually engaging LGBT people and ask them how to better include them would also be good. Make something positive out of this.

That's my two cents.

Also, any fan or player that wishes violence on José Bautista because he flipped his bat need to stop being pissbabies and to GTFO.

Gone Sweeping: Jays Win Four vs Seattle

May 14, 2017 by Joanna Cornish

When the Jays came back against Cleveland on Wednesday, part of me wondered if it was going to have a bigger significance. It's early days but it does feel like the Jays are back on track.

It's yet to be seen whether this moment for Goins is some sort of symbolic moment for the season, but it sure makes a great picture.

Nelson Cruz owns Marco Estrada, so having to face him in the first inning is probably one of the reason this particular first inning was full of grief.

Thanks for noticing, Scott. I think he's swell, too.

Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada tells Sportsnet's Starting Lineup that all the negativity surrounding him when he was traded to Toronto, fuelled him and motivated him to prove everyone wrong.

Joe Biagini is pretty exciting. He had another strong start, throwing five-plus scoreless innings. In his two starts, Biagini has allowed just one unearned run on six hits and seven strikeouts.

Whatever the future holds in this season, we'll always have weird Joe interviews:

Joe Biaxin is one of the most awkward, but loveable Jay. And he can throw the snot outta the ball!!!

Marcus Stroman is just fun to watch right now. He allowed just two runs over six innings on Saturday. Bautista and Morales both homered.

Bautista, after a very slow start, was finally showing proof of life.

So what Bautista is saying is that the team itself hasn't reacted to this tough stretch in a similar way to the way Jays Twitter has. I would say most were moping around and feeling bad for themselves. It was kind of a theme. Let's punish ourselves by watching our favourite players pull hamstrings.

An LOL you're old quip from Stroman

The double steal which featured Devon Travis steal of home is the point this series started to feel a little magic. It's not the high flying circus trick that a straight steal of home is, but it was pretty fun. Fun is only increased when the catcher is named "Tuffy Gosewich".

There were several shots over the weekend of Aaron Sanchez doing a variation of this:

However, the nail seems to have held up. Curveballs were thrown.

I think Pat Tabler had barely finished saying Edwin Diaz had a great slider when Kevin Pillar deposited a not so great slider into the right field stands.

Yeah, pretty good.

With the game tied at 2 in the bottom of the 9th, Kevin Pillar crushes a solo homer to send the Blue Jays home victorious 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.

I love it when people say they are speechless and then ramble on for a while.

Random images I enjoyed.

May you all use this GIF responsibly. #BlueJays https://t.co/UExtp2MwXO pic.twitter.com/aG4Cn8tUC1
— Daryl (@ateDARYL) May 16, 2017

All the smiles! #BlueJays https://t.co/gRnlHEW7H6 pic.twitter.com/dl9i2tmG6l
— Daryl (@ateDARYL) May 16, 2017

You better be healing, Coltrane. Because Maile got a gun.

KEVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/9EvNeBac5c
— Daryl (@ateDARYL) May 16, 2017

Old and New: Thoughts on the Return of Encarnación

May 09, 2017 by Joanna Cornish

This is an entirely untested and new hypothesis but maybe the Jays just need Edwin Encarnación in the building to play more like their 2015-2016 selves.

It was a weird feeling that took over last night and judging by the Twitter response, I wasn't the only one who felt it. I completely forgot about the terrible record and the entire roster on the DL. I was transported to a time when this team was fun, lucky and amazing, rather than old, injured and soon to be traded for prospects.

Something Stoeten wrote yesterday made me realize that the underlying reason I have have mourned the departure of Encarnación so deeply is that I was mourning the loss of a certain team and a certain time.

There were fans that felt indifferent to the return of the man who was a Blue Jay from 2009-2016 and who sits third for the most Blue Jays homers all time. We have perhaps been a little spoiled: it's not often that a player can blossom mid-career and truly evolve. It might become even less often now with the youth movement in baseball, where major stars are under 25. We have been spoiled because it's happened twice.

Both Bautista and Encarnación were on middling Jays teams in the post-Halladay Era, but they gave us a show. They gave us something to cheer for. They gave us magic where there wasn't any. I wrote about those teams, the vast majority of the content of this blog was about those teams, so as I’m reflecting on a decade of doing this, I’m feeling especially keen.

They also hit two of the most magnificent and important home runs in team history, memorable and magical enough to be added to a list that includes a come from behind walk off homer to win the World Series.

Of course, magic doesn't last and time marches on.

And I guess I'm a little sad about that.

Encarnación's Face

I have very rarely seen a professional athlete who wears his sadness and his joy so openly on his face. I recognize it might just be what Encarnación's face does and that he doesn't feel anything especially vividly or any more than any other player. But when all I have is the visual to go on (having never actually met the dude), this openly emotional face stands out.

His joy is always the most joyful and his sadness is always the most sad.