Wednesday bantering

It was a great win yesterday. Admittedly it was only against the OrioLOLes.

The team that is 37-89.

But a win is a win right?! Huzzah!!

Some good things: a 4 dinger day, good defence and hitting from Billy McKinney and a nice start from Sam Gaviglio, allowing just two runs on six hits over seven innings. He walked one while striking out seven Orioles, including three whiffs of Chris Davis (to be honest my 6yr old son could strike out Davis right now) but you take what you are given right?

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Talking of taking what you have been given, McKinney may prove to be a decent pickup. It was good to see him perform well yesterday as he collected a home run, a single and a walk in four trips to the plate. Throw in some solid defence in LF before switching to RF and i think we have the makings of sneakily good player on our hands.

Certainly his compact swing and bat speed on his first MLB homer is worth admiring:

McKinney showed power in parts of two seasons at triple-A, hitting .258/.314/.509 with 26 homers in 530 plate appearances. Lets hope he gets a bit more playing time in the next few weeks, so we can see more.

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Many of us love Justin Smoak and for good reason. His surname lends itself to describing home runs aka Smoak Bombs and he has excellent defence at 1B. Most of us want him to stay. He does too!

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Sanchez sighting

Aaron ‘who knows how he got his owey finger’ Sanchez returns to Toronto this week, will throw a side session on Thursday, and may start on Saturday at the Rogers Centre against the Philadelphia Phillies.

He has has missed 51 games with a right index finger contusion but says Gibby, is looking good enough to return to the big team. This despite Sanchez pitching for the Fisher Cats on Monday and allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits over 4.1 innings, walking four, striking out four, throwing only 42 strikes out of 86 pitches.

I guess we need all the help we can get right now, but i hope Aaron doesn’t get shelled on his return, Or injure his finger again. Or have a meteor land on his head.

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In other injury news Brandon Drury (left hand fracture) was evaluated by Dr. Tom Graham, a hand specialist, in New York on Friday. A bone scan showed good healing and Drury was transitioned from a cast to a removable splint. He’ll have another follow-up image within 10 days.

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At Buffalo, the Bisons game was rained off in the 9th tied at 1-1 with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders. However this was not before our top prospect Vlad did this to the Justus Sheffield, the Yankees top prospect:

And Lourdes Gurriel Jr’s injury rehab at the Bisons is going well. Check out this play that is smoother than a cashmere codpiece:

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Meanwhile the Fisher Cats lost 3-2 to the Portland Sea Dogs- the Cats third walk-off loss of their road trip. Yikes. But there is this:

(everyone on BBB whispers to themselves- please be better than Eric Thames, please be better than Eric Thames!)

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Play of the Day:

Lets just file this from Kolten Wong firmly in the top drawer:

Feel good play of the day:

Is anyone (sniff) misty eyed after watching this? (or is it just me?)