Game #73 Atlanta Braves (43-30) @ Toronto Blue Jays (34-39) - game recap

JA Happ pitched 8.1 strong innings as the Blue Jays defeated the Braves 5-4 to earn the series split. The two teams will meet again July 10-11 in Atlanta.

This was a key game that the Blue Jays will want to win with the team embarking on a difficult west coast road trip that starts tomorrow in Anaheim. Last night, they were trounced by the Braves, who jumped all over some shoddy pitching. Today, the Blue Jays sent ace JA Happ to the mound, looking for his 9th win of the season. Could he be the tonic for the Blue Jays? Here is today's game recap.

no. 73 - Atlanta Braves (43-29) at Toronto Blue Jays (33-39)

Amazing they still embrace this, huh?

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 | 12:37 pm

Rogers Centre | Toronto, ON

Anibal Sanchez (3-0, 1.93, 0.96 whip) vs. J.A. Happ (8-3, 3.48, 1.06 whip)

Game #72 Atlanta Braves (43-29) @ Toronto Blue Jays (33-39) - game recap

Braves No. 9 hitter Charlie Culberson was 4-5 at the plate with 5 RBI and 2 runs scored and he sacrificed his body to make a great catch in LF to save a pair of runs as the Braves routed the Blue Jays 11-4

After a terrific series vs. the Nationals on the weekend, the Blue Jays were looking to continue their good play of late against a Braves team, who came into their series winners of 5 of their last 6 games, They had Jose Bautista for a couple of weeks but released him a couple of weeks ago Tonight, Toronto fans got to see Calgary native Mike Soroka on the mound. Canadian citizem Freddie Freeman is also on the team and batted 3rd and played 1B tonight. Ex Vancouver Canadian Kurt Suzuki was in the lineup and batting 6th as the DH tonight. The last time theses two teams met was last year and the Braves took three of four. Macus Stroman hit a home run in the Blue Jays 9-0 victory in Atlanta. Oh, and welcome back to Alex Antropolous, who put the rosters together for the 2015/2016 playoff runs. Here is today's game recap.

no. 72 - Atlanta Braves (42-29) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (33-38)

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 | 7:07 pm

Rogers Centre | Toronto, ON

Mike Soroka (RHP, 2-1, 2.57, 1.29 whip) vs. Jaime Garcia (LHP, 2-5, 5.71, 1.56 whip)

PREAMBLE:

It's the RETURN OF ALEX A.A. ANTHOPOULOS as a G.M. of the Baaaarves!  I can imagine that Oakville has stocked his living room full of red wine and Greek olives in preparation for this long-awaited reunion-of-sorts.

As well, it's a second debut for Mike Soroka, the 20-year-old from Calgary, who is making his first major league appearance on Canadian soil.  He comes in having made four solid starts as a Brave to start his career.

More Canadian content - Freddie Freeman is having an MVP-type of season for the Braves, hitting .337/.427/.585 (the latter two leads the NL) with 15 HR so far.

The Blue Jays look to continue their inter-league dominance, having gone 6-2 so far this season, including a sweep of a (allegedly) strong Washington Nationals team this past weekend.

Ten weekly random thoughts - week 11 May 11-17

The past three weeks have served to show where the Blue Jays stand against AL East opponents. In the last 2 and a half weeks, they were swept by Boston, NY Yankees and Tampa Bay and they swept the Baltimore Orioles, who are on a historically bad streak and are the only team in the MLB with less than 20 wins. This puts Toronto 4th in the AL East, better than Baltimore but worse than the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays. Against Boston, NY and Tampa Bay combined this season, the Blue Jays have a 6-19 record and against Baltimore, their record is  6-1. Boston and NY are built to win now whereas Tampa Bay is in a similar situation as the Blue Jays where they are playing a number of stop-gap players in their lineup and pitching staff while their prospects are developing. Baltimore is, well, Baltimore. The Orioles have not been getting good pitching and Manny Machado is essentially the only dangerous hitter you have to worry about in their lineup. On that happy note, here are ten random thoughts from the 11th week of the MLB.