Tuesday bantering

A pile of pitching poop

I confess that at 10-2 down to the Sith yesterday, i quit the game for a while. I turned it back on in the 8th in time to see our rally start, so if we had won, it would have all been down to me naturally...

Sadly though, the comeback was to fall short, mainly because our pitching had given the Yankees such a head start.

I genuinely feel for Aaron Sanchez, but the reality is that he (like many others on our pitching staff) is not getting it done.

Sanchez exited after 5.1 innings of work in which he allowed nine hits, 7 runs and three walks. He’s now dropped a career worst nine consecutive decisions. Aaron currently carries a 5.1 BB/9...and a 35.4% hard-hit rate, the highest he’s posted in his six MLB seasons

He has battled finger issues intermittently, while pitching to a 5.89 ERA and eroded whatever trade value the Blue Jays were hoping he’d have at next month’s deadline. The plus side is that its very unlikely anyone would trade for him based on his current performance.

Marcus Stroman on the other hand...makes a case for why he would be a perfect fit for the Yankees. (Warning; read this and then take a shower after).

However, Marcus says he is just focused on competing despite the swirling trade rumours.

I hate to say it but i feel it wont be too long until we see Marcus in pinstripes and it wont be the Mets...

Upbeat bats

While the pitching is an omnishambles, our bats have been showing pleasing signs of revival; yesterday the Jays put up 14 hits and have had 10 or more in five consecutive games, the longest such streak since Sept, 2015.

Yesterday’s highlight was of course the Grand Slam by Frummy Galbist™

It was just the second ever grand slam for a Jay at Yankee Stadium (new or old.) The only other Jays batter to hit a slam at Yankee Stadium was Justin Smoak, who did so back in August of 2015.

Vlad Guerrero Jr. had his sixth three-hit night of the season, the most on the team.

Lourdes Gurriel’s homer was his 10th of the season, all of those coming since he was recalled from triple A on May 24.

And of course there is Bo Bichette who is trying to force Jays’ hand in his red-hot return from injury.

Hat tip #1 Anthony Alford is slashing .361/.451/.525 over the past 17 games – a stretch that includes 10 stolen bases.

Hat tip #2 Jonathan Davis with a stellar night

MLB bits

Atlanta got upset with Wilson Contreras for being boisterous:

Naturally everyone else felt left out:

I really hope catcher’s masks have crumple zones because...yikes!

Play of the Day

Definitely not this guy.