A Beautiful Weekend

When last I wrote, the Jays were heading into what was looked at as a pivotal series.  It was May 2nd, and the Jays were starting fresh after taking a series against Tampa Bay.  The Jays were 12-14, which was at the very least reverse of what was expected going into April.  It wouldn't surprise me if most fans were expecting to be 24-2 at the start of May.

The Jays ended up winning that series, but that's where the fun stopped.  After a fantastic opening game against LA, the Jays went on to lose 8 of their next 11 games - including a 5-game losing streak (oh, and there was a bench-clearing brawl in Texas, too).  The sky was falling, and fans were pushing the panic button as if they were waiting for an elevator car that just won't come.  That was a terrible simile, but you didn't pay to read this, did you?

But a trip to Minnesota brought a change to the lineup - Bautista leading off?  What sorcery is this?  But it seemed to work - since May 18th, the Jays have gone 7-3.  At the time of publication (Top of the 9th, vs the Yankees), this brings their record for May to 15-11, two outs away from making it 16-11.

The offense is starting to heat up - there's no questioning that.  The starting pitching faltered a little in the middle of the month, and the bullpen is still terrible.  I even heard talk today of moving Sanchez to the bullpen (please don't do that if we're not bringing a better starter).

But what I wanted to highlight was a fantastic series vs the Red Sox, May 27 - 29.  I was lucky enough to be able to witness the game on May 28th, which was a walk-off 10-9 win.  Why was I lucky?  I didn't get the game Ortiz sat out.  Bautista served his suspension the night before.  I got to see Big Papi hit one over the fence mere feet away, and the Blue Jays still won the game.  I saw a rare (this season anyway) Russel Martin home run.  I saw an absolutely fantastic walk-off single and celebration by Devon Travis.

But I think the best thing I saw?  Bautista's reaction to the fans in front of me who were trying to get his attention.  I was setting in 113 DR so had a great view of both Jose and Mookie Betts.  While the fans in front of me were unsuccessful in getting Mookie's attention, Jose delivered some excellent fan service.  Oh sure, he waved a few times - I'm sure that's not the first time he's done that.  But what I'll remember from Saturday was this one moment in the late stages of the game.

Our section was filled mostly with Jays fans - a few Red Sox fans peppered here and there.  But it was the row of (presumably) drunk fans that were the most vocal; this one fan in particular was calling out Jose to hit a grand slam, constantly and boisterously.  Then, with perfect timing - as per usual Jose Bautista - he turned to our section, and made the most fantastic Jose hand motion I've ever seen and likely not caught on any camera: the drinky drinky motion.

Thank you for a memorable afternoon, Jose.

Jose Bautista's Early Season Dominance

If you examine the stats, I mean relax your focus and stare at the stats until you see the image of a saiboat, you'll see that Jose Bautista is having an utterly dominant season. Just think about it, if baseball is a game of failure, Bautista has truly mastered it. He's failing at all facets of the game, offensively at least. If he could find a way to emulate Eric Thames in the outfield, he'd be a complete player. Well done, Jose!

Opening Weekend Thoughts

An easy way to summarize the first weekend of the Jays season would be to say, it could have ended in disaster. But Toronto's bullpen and bats came through and bailed out the starting pitching. My favourite moment of the weekend had to be when Jose Bautista homered immediately after Masterson threw inside twice to Kelly Johnson. Also, Edwin Encarnacion has been amazing in the clutch so far.

The big story for me was that Joel Carreno was sent down to AAA. My immediate reaction was that Alex Anthopoulos has high expectations for the starting rotation. And if you think about it, Carreno wasn't horrible considering that it was only his first career start and the two home runs he gave up were to the same player. After sleeping on it, I think that the Jays are sending him down to get at least one start until later in April. Until then, the Jays can get by with a four man rotation. I think we'll see Carreno get recalled later this month.

Overall the Jays bats were relatively cold this weekend. It could be due to the weather, or it could have also been caused by all the sinker-ball pitchers Cleveland threw at them. It'll be interesting to see how the lineup fairs indoors at Rogers Centre tonight versus the Red Sox.

So here are the 3 Stars for the weekend series:

1. The Bullpen
2. Edwin Encarnacion
3. Kelly Johnson

Is Ben Francisco a Jose Bautista Clone? A Delayed Trade Reaction...

At the moment, the Jays outfield is overloaded, so we all know that someone's going to get moved this off-season, hopefully for a starting pitcher. But as I was pondering why Alex Anthopoulos traded for Ben Francisco, I decided to take a look at his career numbers to see what kind of a player he is:

 



Now check out Jose Bautista's numbers over that same time frame:

Sure, I'm being a bit selective, but they're both about the same age and put up similar numbers during the same time frame before getting regular playing time. Does AA see something similar in Ben Francisco?