Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 4:07 pm
Rogers Centre | Toronto, Ontario
Homer Bailey (7-6, 4.61, 1.38) vs. Marcus Stroman (5-9, 3.04, 1.25)
PREAMBLE:
The epic struggle for 2nd worst-dom in the A.L. (let's be honest, nobody's catching the oriLOLes) continues after KC's "win" last night.
In today's afternoon game, Marcus Stroman looks to continue a string of solid outings (and audition for opposing scouts); he'll go up against Homer Bailey, who will be making his first career appearance against the Blue Jays. Bailey has been hot of late, winning his past three starts with a 0.47 ERA.
NOTES:
Our Lourdes and Saviour continues to be en fuego. .352, 14 HR, 26 RBI in 32 games (125 AB) since his recall. Put him in the All-Star Game.
For proponents of "Kill the Win", take a quick look at the two starting pitchers and see their W/L records vis-a-vis their other numbers.
It's the Year of the Home Run. The numbers are crazy from the first half of this season. To wit:
- MLB is on pace for 6,644 HRs, which would be 1,000 more than last year and 500 more than the record.
- 59 players are on pace to hit 30 HRs, compared to 27 last year.
- Four teams are on pace to smash the all-time record for HRs in a season by a team (which was set by the Yankees just last year)... Twins, Mariners, Brewers and Yankees.
More baseball fun facts, courtesy of Jayson Stark:
- The oriLOLes were bad last year, losing 115 games; they're on pace to be even worse with 117 this season. They've gone 45 straight games without winning two in a row.
- These same oriLOLes are 13-45 against teams with a .500+ record, and they still have 43 games left against the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Astros, Dodgers, plus games against the Nats and Indians who figure to be better than what they've shown so far. Being worse than the Mets' 40-120 record in 1962 isn't out of the question.
- Josh Hader could be headed for a historic season; per 9 innings, he's struck out 17.4 batters and given up a mere 3.1 hits. Nobody's come close to matching these numbers in the same season. For the season, Hader is on pace to give up 12 HRs and only 6 singles. Bizarre.
LINEUPS:
