Game #82 Detroit Tigers (36-48) @ Toronto Blue Jays (39-43) - game recap

Justin Smoak hit a walk-off HR in the 9th as the Blue Jays beat the Tigers 4-3 to hand Detroit their 11th straight loss.

After a hard-fought win to start the Canada Day long weekend last night, the Blue Jays were looking to continue making life miserable for a struggling Detroit Tigers team. The Blue Jays received news just prior to the game that reliever Ryan Tepera was headed to the DL with an inflammed right elbow. In his absence, Tyler Clippard or Seunghwan Oh are the likely candidates to pitch in a save situation. Here is today's game recap.

#82 - Detroit Tigers (36-47) at Toronto Blue Jays (38-43)

Saturday, June 30, 2018 | 1:07 pm

Rogers Sauna | Toronto, ON

Matthew Boyd (4-6, 4.15, 1.23 whip) vs. Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.98, 1.23 whip)

PREAMBLE:

The Blue Jays won the series opener last night with a strong start from Marcus Stroman (his first W of the season!) and a two-run HR from Justin Smoak.

It was the Tigers' 10th straight loss, their longest since the 2003 season when they lost an unfathomable 119 games.

By contrast, after a rough spell at home, the Jays have won 9 of their last 10 in the Sauna.

The Tigers are apparently employing a strategy of sending up former Jays lefties to try and overcome their streak.  So far, they're 0-1 with that strategy, and it could very well be 0-2 as Boyd is a career 0-3, 8.66 in four starts at the Rogers Sauna.

Game #81 Detroit Tigers (36-47) @ Toronto Blue Jays (38-43) - game recap

Marcus Stroman pitched seven strong innings as the Blue Jays edged the Tigers 3-2

The Blue Jays returned home after a difficult road trip that saw them get three wins out of seven against difficult AL West foes in the LA Angels and Houston Astros. The disparity in talent and where the Blue Jays stand at the moment was evident the past week. Houston has a potent  lineup that can hurt you in pretty much every part of the lineup. Their pitching is one of the best in the league too. LA has perhaps the best hitter in baseball (Mike Trout) and other veteran hitters, such as Albert Pujols and Kole Calhoun. Their organizational depth is being put to the test with 15 players currently on the DL. Toronto began a 9-game home stand tonight facing a Detroit Tigers team in a rebuild mode, much like the Blue Jays are experiencing. The Tigers took two of three at the beginning of the month. Could the Blue Jays even the season series tonight? Here is tonight's game recap.

#81 - Detroit Tigers (36-46) at Toronto Blue Jays (37-43)

Friday, June 29, 2018 | 7:07 pm

Rogers Sauna | Toronto, ON

Francisco Liriano (3-3, 3.94, 1.25 whip) vs. Marcus Stroman (0-5, 6.80, 1.68 whip)

PREAMBLE:

Today's game marks the midway point of the season. You mean we are only halfway through this interminable season?  Oy.

After a tough road trip where the Jays did well enough to go 3-4 against teams well ahead in the standings (*grumbles that it ought to be 4-3 except for a Tepera meatball*), the Jays return home for a four-game set against the Detroit Tigers.

Getting Pedantic About Vlad Jr.

"So I flip my helmet too before I round the bases?"

As the 2018 Blue Jays slip further into the darkness, the time has come to dream of brighter days and fewer shutouts. That means wondering when Vladimir Guererro Jr, destroyer of minor league New England ballparks, should start murdering baseballs for our very own Blue Jays.

Unfortunately, baseball abhors fun, so instead of watching Vladdy fulfill his destiny as a better Delgado we get to pretend that he is studiously learning to play third base from coaches who wouldn’t be let into a Major League park without a ticket while congratulating (or condemning) the front office for their ‘asset management.’

Well, if we’re going to treat players like assets and MLB like JP Morgan, I figured I’d look more closely at what it actually means to ‘manage’ an ‘asset’ like Vlad. Basically, what we’re going to do is evaluate the value that a Vlad Jr ‘asset’ provides to the team over identical timeframes to try and figure out what the actual loss winds up being.

We’ll need to make a few assumptions to make this work that I’ll list below:

Different kind of Assumption

1. I’ll be using ‘real’ values for arbitration estimates, FA contract estimates and $/WAR based on 2018 values (https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-recent-history-of-free-agent-pricing/).
2. Vlad will get max arbitration awards and be paid the equivalent of $40m 2018 dollars for his FA1 year because he’s fucking dope.
3. Vlad will develop the same way whether he is called up this year or next.
4. The team will not let Vladdy walk in free agency

The table below shows the service time for both approaches:

Obviously, the team gets the same amount of value from 2019-2023. Using this framework, we can express the excess value we get from asset management as the cost difference between ARB 3 and FA 1 less the excess value derived from Vladdy’s 2018 season under team control.

Now we need to understand what those numbers are.

Using Donaldson’s record $23 million award for ARB 3 and the $40 million assumption for FA 1 gives us $17 million excess value from 2024.

This means that, in order for the team to break even from the manipulation Vlad would need to provide less than 1.5 WAR ($17/$11.1 million) during the period he plays in 2018.

If we assume that he performs close to how Harper did over his age 19 season he would be worth 3 WAR over the next 82 games, meaning the strategy would actually lose $16.3 million ($17 - $33.3) in 2018 value (and infinitely more in fun value).

Looks like he grew into the batting helmet

Now let’s talk about relative win values. I know that we are garbage this year so a win is worth more in a year when we aren’t garbage. Well, let’s figure out how much more valuable!

Keeping our 3.0 WAR guesstimate for Vladdy, in order to break even on the asset strategy a 2024 win would need to be worth approx 200% (33.3/17) more than a 2018 win.

Reasonable people can disagree over whether a 2024 win will be twice as valuable than a 2018 win. According to Nate Silver’s model for the win curve, the Jays have had 4 seasons in the past 15 in that zone, meaning the plan is ‘profitable’ 27% of the time. You might be more bullish, but it’s obviously not a slam dunk from a surplus value perspective.

But let’s mention the elephant in the room. If we let him walk (or we think we can’t re sign him) all of a sudden this becomes a different discussion. I’m assuming that we get the same value from Vladdy in 2024 whenever his clock starts. But if you think there’s a 50% chance he leaves? 75%? Now all of a sudden all of my math is worthless; clutch him tight and savor the memories while he’s here.

There are obviously lots of good reasons to manipulate service time, But we should stop thinking about this as an ‘asset management’ strategy. There is basically no asset that gains surplus value by forgoing the opportunity for present returns. It is actually an insurance policy against the Yankees or Red Sox giving us a wedgie when the time comes to pay the man. Whether or not we need that insurance is the real question.

Hopefully Vladito agrees

Game #80 Toronto Blue Jays (37-43) @ Houston Astros (54-28) - game recap

Alex Bregman hit the game-winning walk-off HR in the bottom of the 9th as the Astros defeated the Blue Jays 7-6

Well, one game where the Blue Jays looked like they could play with the big dogs and one game where it looked like David vs. Goliath and David lost bad last night. Things didn't get any easier in the series finale as the Blue Jays batters were facing a pitcher who hadn't given up an earned run in his last 12 innings. Meanwhile, the Astros were up against a pitcher who has a tendency to give up the long ball and with a potent lineup full of guys who can knock it out of the park. Here is today's game recap.

Game 80! Toronto Birds (37-42) at Houston Stars (53-28)

Wednesday June 27, 2018 | 2:10 pm ET

Minute Maid Park | Houston, Texas

Marco (Polo) Estrada vs. Dallas (Texas..wait they are playing in Texas) Keuchel. 

Preamble: Jays need to play better than yesterday if they want to win a game of baseball.

Game #79 Toronto Blue Jays (37-42) @ Houston Astros (53-28) - game recap

Alex Bregman went 4-5 at the plate with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored as the Astros shut out the Blue Jays 7-0

The Blue Jays received bad news on the injury front with Josh Donaldson suffering a setback with his calf. He re-injured the muscle while taking grounders in prep of a rehab assignment. It is unlikely the Blue Jays will get any injured players back before the all-star break (maybe Sanchez if he just needed to miss the one start.) With the recent spate of injuries this week, Lefty Ryan Borucki made his MLB debut tonight. Borucki had a 6-5 record with a 3.27 ERA this season. Here is tonight's game recap.

#79 - Toronto Blue Jays (37-41) at Houston Astros (52-28)

Tuesday, June 2, 2018 | 8:10 pm ET

Minute Maid Park | Houston, Texas

Ryan Borucki (First MLB appearance) vs. Charlie Morton (9-1, 2.74, 1.13 whip)

PREAMBLE:

The first of Blue Jays' top-10 young talent has arrived in Houston to make his major league debut against the team that is tied for the most victories in the majors and the defending World Series champions.  No pressure at all, kid.  Go get 'em, Ryan Borucki.

Including last night's loss, the Astros have gone 3-3 after a 12-game winning streak, so hopefully the Jays have caught them at the right time to make it a competitive series.

So, have you cleaned your shorts after that near-HR by George Springer with two runners on in the 9th inning last night?  Thanks to Randal Grichuk, we can breathe easier and look forward to tonight's game with the attitude that whatever good happens tonight with Borucki is gravy.

Game #78 Toronto Blue Jays (37-41) @ Houston Astros (52-28) - game recap

Curtis Granderson hit a pair of solo HR as the Blue Jays knocked off the Astros 6-3 for their 3rd straight victory 

The Blue Jays are facing the  ultimate test this week, defeating the World Series champs, who look poised for another deep run this year. Tonight's pitching matchup featured a potentially highly coveted trade asset in JA Hap against a pitcher who has already no-hit the Blue Jays once and is in the midst of perhaps the best season of his career in Justin Verlander. Oh yeah and the Astros have a couple of all-stars in the field who have been knocking the cover off the ball in Jose Altuve (.342) and Yuli Gurriel (.306). This series has the makings of being a blowout. Here is tonight's game recap.

#78 - Toronto Blue Jays (36-41) at Defending World Series Champs (52-27)

Monday, June 25, 2018 | 8:10 pm ET

Astrodome Enron Field Minute Maid Park | Houston, TX

J.A. Happ (9-3, 3.56, 1.03 whip) vs. Justin Verlander (9-2, 1.60, 0.78 whip)

PRELUDE:

Well, well... we've got perhaps the best pitching matchup of the season for the Jays so far - two pitchers going for their 10th win of the season.  And while it seems rather one-sided on paper, Happ has actually outperformed JV in the month of June thus far:  Happ 2-0, 2.84, .528 OPS against compared to JV's 2-0, 3.16, .638 OPS against with both throwing 25.1 innings this month -- and Happ's ERA was inflated by two inherited runners scoring in the 9th in his last start.

Including his final three starts of May, Happ is 5-0, 2.35 in his last seven starts.  The price keeps going up for him at the trade deadline!

So... sit back and pack a few cold ones, be sure not to miss this game!

ten weekly random thoughts: Week 12 June 18-24

Three months of the baseball season are in the books. The Blue Jays are 1 loss worse than their record this time last year (36-41). They are dealing with similar injuries as last year (Donaldson with his calf, Sanchez with his finger. Anyway, lots of news to get through, so without further ado, here are ten random thoughts from week 12 of the MLB.

Game #77 Toronto Blue Jays (36-41) @ LA Angels (41-37) - game recap

Kendrys Morales hit a huge pinch-hit HR as the Blue Jays beat the Angels 7-6 to earn the series split,

After a win last night on a 3-run HR by Randal Grichuk, the Blue Jays were hoping for the split before heading to Houston. New father Sam Gaviglio was on the mound, looking to lead his team to victory. Here is today's game recap.

#77 - Toronto Blue Jays (35-41) at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (41-36)

Sunday, June 24, 2018 | 4:07 pm ET

Angel Stadium | Anaheim, California

Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.75, 1.25 whip) vs. Felix Pena (0-0, 5.40, 1.50 whip)

PREAMBLE:

New daddy Sam Gaviglio returns to the team to make today's start in place of Jaime Garcia, who has been put on DL with a combination of left shoulder soreness/shittiness.  Here's hoping the quality time off spent with his family does wonders to recharge him after a couple of short starts in recent outings.

Assignment #1 for Gaviglio today:  Keep Luis Valbuena from hitting HRs.

Felix Pena is making his second MLB start after 38 career appearances out of the bullpen.  He faced the Jays once last season while with the Chicago Cubs, striking out the side in an inning.  Goins, Montero and Bautista were the K victims; all three are no longer with the team, so let that be a lesson for today's lineup!

Game #76 Toronto Blue Jays (35-41) @ LA Angels (41-36) - game recap

Steve Pearce hit a huge 3-run HR in the top of the 9th as the Blue Jays defeated the Angels 4-1

The Blue Jays welcomed back Marcus Stroman to the rotation on a day when Jaime Garcia and Aaron Sanchez both went on the DL with respective shoulder and finger ailments. This means Sam Gaviglio will remain in the rotation and pitch tomorrow. Likely Joe Biagini will get the start Tuesday in place of Sanchez. Lose any more starters and the Blue Jays will be like the Rays and be starting Seunghwan Oh in a game. Here is today's game recap.

#76 - Toronto Blue Jays (34-41) at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (41-35)

Saturday, June 23, 2018 | 9:07 pm ET

Angel Stadium | Anaheim, California

Clayton Kershaw (1-4, 2.76, 1.12 whip) vs. Jacob deGrom (5-2, 1.51, 0.99 whip)

Oops... that'd an ideal pitching matchup to watch.  Here's the actual one for this game...

Marcus Stroman (0-5, 7.71, 1.71 whip) vs. Jaime Barria (5-3, 3.57, 1.17 whip)

Game #75 Toronto Blue Jays (34-41) @ LA Angels (41-35) - game recap

Albert Pujols was 2-3 at the plate and scored the game winning run as the Angels beat the Blue Jays 2-1 in a pitcher's duel.

With all the news in Blue Jays land today, this game feels lik-e an afterthought. Roberto Osuna was handed a 75 game suspension, retroactive to when he was first placed on admin leave, Steve Pearce made his return to the lineup after missing more than a month with an oblique injury,Danny Barnes replaced him on the DL with knee tendonitis and new papa Sam Gaviglio returned from his paternity leave. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was sent to Buffalo to make room on the roster. With Stroman returning tomorrow, Sanchez will likely be joining Danny Barnes on the DL. Anyway, the Blue Jays were looking to even up this four game series after having their butts handed to them last night. Here is tonight's game recap.

no. 75 - Toronto Blue Jays (34-40) at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (40-35)

Friday, June 22, 2018 | 10:07 pm

Angel Stadium of Anaheim | Anaheim, CA

Marco Estrada (4-6, 4.66, 1.32 whip) vs. Andrew Heaney (3-5, 3.64, 1.10 whip)

Game #74 Toronto Blue Jays (34-40) @ LA Angels (40-35) - game recap

Angels 3B Luis Valbeuna hit a pair of home runs as the Angels defeated the Blue Jays 8-5 

West Coast games are OK by me since they start at 7:00pm my time. The Blue Jays started a 7 game road trip tonight in Anaheim. They had the red-hot Mike Trout to contend with. He played his 1000th game tonight and he continues to get better every year. It looks like he'll be the DH for this series as he deals with a sprained finger. Aaron Sanchez was looking to build on a solid month of June. He has pitched at least 6 innings in his last 3 starts. Here is tonight's game recap.

no. 74 - Toronto Blue Jays (34-39) at Los Angeles Angels (39-35)

Thursday, June 21, 2018 | 10:07 pm ET

Angel Stadium of Anaheim | Anaheim, CA

Aaron Sanchez (3-5, 4.35, 1.39 whip) vs. John Lamb (0-0, 3.60, 0.80 whip)

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 June 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.

Game #71 Washington Nationals (37-31) @ Toronto Blue Jays (33-38) - game recap

Randal Grichuk had a huge day at the plate with 2 HR and 4 RBI as the Blue Jays defeated the Nationals 8-6 to complete the series sweep.

Happy Father's day to all dad's in JITH. You guys have been an amazing addition to our game threads and blog. After winning the first two in this series, the Blue Jays were looking for their second series sweep in three series. Toronto took the first 2 games on the strength of their pitching and some timely hitting. A win today would be huge, giving the Blue Jays a guaranteed winning home stand before heading on a difficult road trip to Anaheim and Houston, starting on Thursday. Here is today's game recap.

no. 71 - Washington Nationals (37-30) at Toronto Blue Jays (32-38)

Sunday, June 17, 2018 | 1:07 pm

Rogers Centre | Toronto, Ontario

Tanner Roark (3-7, 3.63, 1.11 whip) vs. Sam Gaviglio (2-2, 3.66, 1.16 whip)

Game #70 Washington Nationals (37-30) @ Toronto Blue Jays (32-38) - game recap

Marco Estrada pitched 6.2 strong innings to lead the Blue Jays to a 2-0 victory over the Washington Nationals.

After a nice win against a lefty starter, something Toronto has struggled with, having dropped 11 straight vs. southpaw starters leading up to yesterday's victory the Blue Jays faced a different kind of challenge. They were matched up against Max Scherzer, a 2-time Cy Young winner, who is looking like a favorite to repeat as Cy Young champion.. Last time Scherzer faced Toronto, Kevin Pillar took him yard twice. Could the Blue Jays get to him again? Here is today's game recap.

no. 70 - Washington Nationals (37-29) at Toronto Blue Jays (31-38)

Saturday, June 16, 2018 | 4:07 pm

Rogers Centre | Toronto, ON

Mad Max Scherzer (10-2, 2.00, 0.85 whip) vs. Marco Estrada (3-6, 5.09, 1.37 whip)

Game #69 Washington Nationals (37-29) @ Toronto Blue Jays (31-38) - game recap

Yangervis Solarte blasted a pair of 2 run HR as the Blue Jays beat the Nationals 6-5

Another game, another interleague opponent. Tonight, the Blue Jays began a three game set against the Washington Nationals. The last time these foes met, the Blue Jays won the series 2 games to 1. Bryce Harper had 5 hits in that series, including a pair of doubles.Marco Estrada won the middle game of that series. Here is tonight's game recap.

no. 69 (cue sophomoric giggling) - Washington Nationals (37-28) at Toronto Blue Jays (30-38)

Friday, June 15, 2018 | 7:07 pm

Rogers Centre | Toronto, Ontario

Gio Gonzalez (LHP, 6-2, 2.65, 1.31 whip) vs. Aaron Sanchez (RHP, 3-5, 4.33, 1.50 whip)

PREAMBLE:

Congratulations to the Toronto Blue Jays as they managed to not lose a game yesterday for a change.  (shhh, don't remind me that they didn't play yesterday).

The wait is over -- fans of the Blue Jays will finally get to see a 19-year-old phenom.  Except, it's not Vladdy Jr, but rather Juan Soto, who is hitting .344/.447/.641 with five HRs in 64 at-bats since being called up.

Can the Blue Jays snap their long, non-oriLOLe streak of futility against the team that inspired the 'Nappening' team-bonding that sparked their (eventual) playoff run in 2015?

Game #68 Toronto Blue Jays (30-38) @ Tampa Bay Rays (32-35) - game recap

Rays 3B Matt Duffy drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 9th as the Rays Beat the Blue Jays 1-0 to complete the series sweep.

Tropicana Field continues to be Toronto's own little house of horrors. The Blue Jays dropped the first 2 despite not facing a true starting pitcher in the second game. The good news? The Blue Jays don't face the Rays again until August 10-12 (my birthday weekend!) in Toronto and they don't return to Tropicana field until the final weekend of the season. At that time the Blue Jays will likely have a much different look to their lineup and rotation with several players likely to be dealt in the next 6 weeks or so. Here is today's game recap.

no. 68 - Toronto Sacrificial Lambs (30-37) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (31-35)

Wednesday, June 13, 2018 | 1:10 pm

Tropicana Field | St. Petersburg, FL

J.A. Happ (8-3, 3.71, 1.08 whip) vs. Wilmer Font (0-3, 9.59, 1.78 whip)

Game #67 Toronto Blue Jays (30-37) @ Tampa Bay Rays (31-35) - game recap

Rays catcher Wilson Ramos hit a key 2 run HR and called a great game behind the plate as the Rays defeated the Blue Jays 4-1. Toronto looks to avoid being swept tomorrow afternoon

After a tough loss where it felt like every time the Blue Jays got the lead it was extinguished immediately, the Blue Jays were looking to get back to their winning ways against a plethora of Rays relievers. Here is today's game recap.

no. 67 - Toronto Blue Jays (30-36) at Tampa Bay Rays (30-35)

Tuesday, June 12, 2018 | 7:10 pm

Tropicana Field | St. Petersburg, Florida

Game #66 Toronto Blue Jays (30-36) @ Tampa Bay Rays (30-35) - game recap

Tampa Bay Rays 1b was 2-3 at the plate, including hitting his first career HR as the Rays doubled up on the Blue Jays 8-4

After a terrific weekend where the Toronto Blue Jays dominated the Baltimore Orioles  for 4 games, the Blue Jays were looking to extend their winning streak to a season-high 5 games. Devon Travis made his return to the lineup after missing a pair of games with knee soreness. Here is today's game recap.

#66 - Toronto Blue Jays (30-35) at Tampa Bay Rays (29-35)

Mmm, that's a head scratcher.  The label for this pix says "Tropicana Field" but there's all those people in there.
They have people that actually go to ballgames in Tampa?

Monday, June 11, 2018 | 7:10 pm

House of Horrors, aka The Trop | St. Petersburg, FL

Ten weekly random thoughts - week 10 - June 4-10

One week into June and things are looking up for the Blue Jays. They won 4 in a row for the first time in 8 weeks, they got their first series win since the May 25-27 series against the Philadelphia Phillies and their first series sweep since April 17-18 vs the KC Royals. Both the bats and the pitching have come around this week, saving John Gibbons job for now. Here are ten random thoughts from the 10th week of the MLB.

Game #65 Baltimore Orioles (19-45) @ Toronto Blue Jays (30-35) - game recap

Curtis Granderson was 4-5 at the plate with 6RBI and 2 runs scored as the Blue Jays routed the Orioles 13-3 and swept the 4 game series and finished the home stand 4-2

The Blue Jays were looking to do something they haven't done since April 17-18 vs. the KC Royals: sweep a series. A win today would give the Blue Jays some momentum heading into a three game series in Tampa Bay. So many good things have happened this week. The bats have gotten hot again, the pitchers have all had at least one solid start where they pitched into the 6th inning, and they've won three games in extra innings. Here is today's game recap.

Game #65 Baltimore Orioles (19-44) at Toronto Blue Jays (29-35)

Sunday, June 10th, 2018

11:07 EDT / Skydome / Toronto, Ontario

Alex Cobb (2-7, 6.19 ERA) v. Marco Estrada (2-6, 5.29 ERA)

Game #64 Baltimore Orioles (19-44) @ Toronto Blue Jays (29-35) - game recap

Yangervis Solarte was 2-5 at the plate with a RBI and a run scored as the Blue Jays won 4-3 in extra innings over the Orioles. Tomorrow they go for the series sweep.

Two wins in a row. A win today would give the Blue Jays their first series win since April 30-May 2 vs the Minnesota twins. It would be their first home series win since May 17-18 against the KC Royals. It's been clear the first two games that the Blue Jays are superior to the Orioles at the moment. Here is today's game recap.

Game #64 Baltimore Orioles (19-43) at Toronto Blue Jays (28-35)

Saturday, June 9th, 2018

11:07 EDT / Skydome / Toronto, Ontario

Kevin Gausman (3-5, 4.63 ERA) v. AA-Ron Sanchez (3-5, 4.48 ERA)

Game #63 Baltimore Orioles (19-43) @ Toronto Blue Jays (28-35) - game recap

JA Happ pitched 7 strong innings for his 100th career win as the Blue Jays won their second straight game with a 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles

After a terrific comeback victory last night, the Blue Jays were looking for their first multi-game win streak since April 29-30. This is an ideal opponent to string some wins together as the Orioles have been even worse than the Blue Jays. Offensively, Manny Machado is the main threat to worry about, and he could be traded in the next 6 weeks or so. Here is today's game recap.