Game #34 Preview: Sanchez vs Faria

I’m sitting in the Calgary airport and have half an hour, so this is going to be short.

The Blue Jays take on the Rays this evening for game 2 of their 3 game series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

Aaron Sanchez gets the ball for the Jays. On the season, he is 2-2 with a 4.06 ERA across 6 starts. In his 37.2 innings, he has struck out 25 while walking 18. The walks have been a problem, and the lack of strikeouts is a concern. But he has managed to have some good starts this season where everything is clicking.

To me, he is still working on discovering what his changeup can do, how to control it, and how to incorporate it going forward. Once he figures that out, he will become one heck of a pitcher. But until then, we’ll deal with the ups and downs, and hope that the control of his other pitches improves.

Rays’ Pitcher

Jake Faria is making his 7th start of the season for the Rays. The 24 year old righty has averaged just under 5 innings per start, pitching to a 4.60 ERA. Like Sanchez, he has struggled with walks, surrendering 15 in his 29.1 innings of work.

Faria features a fastball, slider and changeup, while tossing over a curveball every now and then. His fastball sits about 92 mph, getting good separation from his 82 mph change.

Blue Jays’ Lineup

Curtis Granderson left yesterday’s game with a sore hamstring. Still nothing about whether it’ll be an extended absence.

Martin should be back behind the plate for this one.

Not really sure what else we’ll see.

Rays’ Lineup

They beat us, pretty much how you’d expect.

I don’t really have much to say about their lineup. They’re doing Rays things well, stringing together hits and doing a decent job of being above average. So, good on them, but man they’re frustrating.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Albert Pujols got his 3000th hit yesterday. Congratulations to him. He has long been a favourite of mine to watch, just too bad he has sucked so badly the last few years. Let’s call him our hitter of the day.

Yan Gomes had a 0.54 WPA for the WPA King award.

Pitcher of the Day goes to the however many Dodgers that pitched last night.

Milestone Watch

Donaldson needs some home runs, doubles and walks to continue to move up the Jays all time board.

(Milestone Watch section successfully mailed in)

Find the Link

Find the link between Faria and whatever you want. When I land in Toronto, I’ll pick my favourite one(s).