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Series 24: Blue Jays @ Rangers (Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. June 19 to 22, 2017)

hockeyfan1

hockeyfan1

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Place:  Globe Life Park  Arlington, TX


Mon. June 19
Starting Pitchers:      Marco Estrada        (Jays)      RH  4-5  4.54 ERA
                              Austin Bibens-Dirkx (Rangers)  RH  2-0  3.28 ERA
Time:                      8PM
TV/Radio:                Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Tues. June 20
Starting Pitchers:      Francisco Liriano    (Jays)            LH  3-2  5.36 ERA
                              Nick Martinez      (Rangers)        RH  1-3  4.67 ERA
Time:                      8PM
Tv/Radio:                Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Wed. June 21
Starting Pitchers:      Joe Biagini          (Jays)              RH    1-6  4.36 ERA
                              Tyson Ross          (Rangers)        RH    1-0  3.18 ERA
Time:                      8PM
TV/Radio:                Sportsnet, The FAN 590


Thurs. June 22
Starting Pitchers:      Marcus Stroman (Jays)              RH    7-3  3.15 ERA
                                Martin Perez      (Rangers)        LH    3-6  4.72 ERA
Time:                        2PM
TV/Radio:                  Sportsnet One, The FAN 590


Source:  MLB.com,  theStar.com
 
This four-game series between the Toronto Blue Jays (33-35) and the Texas Rangers (34-34) is the final one this season.  These two rivals have had a lot going on between them dating back to Jose Bautista's famous bat flip in the A.L.D.S. in 2015, and the Rangers' Rougned Odor's punch to Bautista in a brawl in May 2016.

The last time these two met was in May in Toronto, where the Jays took two out of three at the Rogers Centre.  The series went without incident.

It's worth noting that the Blue Jays have been nothing short of a menace to these Rangers, in that not only have the Jays dominated them this year so far, but eliminated them two years in-a-row in the playoffs -- 2015 A.L.D.S. & 2016 A.L.D.S. in three straight.

While the Rangers are at .500, the Jays have failed to reach that mark.  They had seven tries being one game below .500 this season and just could not make do with it.  The Blue Jays are in no panic so long as they hover near the mark, and hopefully can induce a streak of victories, starting with this series against the Rangers.

The Blue Jays are coming off a win over the Chicago White Sox in Sunday's game -- staving off a series sweep by the Chisox.  Not a good series for the Jays, error-prone defence and lack of offence did them in in the losing games.  When the Jays hit the long ball, and keep at it, displaying good offensive strategy on the base paths and at the plate, they are usually successful.

Let this series begin.

GO JAYS GO!
 
Nice come from behind win for the Jays!
Looked good early on after they got out to a 5-1 lead, but then Estrada just laid an egg and promptly coughed up 5 runs. Full credit to the bullpen, they were awesome tonight!
Another shot at .500 tomorrow, 8th time the charm?
 
Just can't seem to get over the hump, 8 tries and 8 failures at getting to the .500 mark!
Liriano just didn't have it tonight and the bullpen had to carry the load again. Campos was called up to eat some of those innings, but he got hurt tonight. Pretty bad when the guys you call up from AAA to cover for injuries get hurt themselves!

The time to make up ground is now, the schedule from the end of the month until about 3 weeks into July is a real grind. The good news is there should be a definitive answer by then on whether to buy or sell at the deadline.
 
Captain Canuck said:
Just can't seem to get over the hump, 8 tries and 8 failures at getting to the .500 mark!
Liriano just didn't have it tonight and the bullpen had to carry the load again. Campos was called up to eat some of those innings, but he got hurt tonight. Pretty bad when the guys you call up from AAA to cover for injuries get hurt themselves!

The time to make up ground is now, the schedule from the end of the month until about 3 weeks into July is a real grind. The good news is there should be a definitive answer by then on whether to buy or sell at the deadline.
Click to expand...

They need to put together a winning streak of some sort.  The Blue Jays are  5.5 GBL Boston in the A.L East standings and 2.0 GB for he Wildcard spot.

All things considered,  especially with the way things have turned out for them in this injury-riddled season, the Jays are not in a very bad position,  not in the sense that they cannot inch up further in the standings.  They've done it before and can do it again with a near full roster on deck.  A win sfreak, please.

 
9 tries and 9 failures to get to the .500 mark  :P

Personally I don't look at the games back column in the standings and get excited. That would be for the 2nd Wildcard spot and doesn't really take into account all the teams clumped in there that you have to climb over to even get that last spot.
Historically you need about 90 wins to get a playoff spot, which means you need to finish about 20 games over .500, which means the Jays need to go about 55-35 the rest of the way, which is over .600 ball. There are only 4 teams in baseball that have played that well over the first 70+ games of this season (Astros, 3 NL West teams).
Currently I'd put the Jays chances of making the playoffs at about 20% and even that may be a little generous.

Starting in a week the Jays schedule is going to be hell into the better part of July and like I said before we should have a clear idea whether to buy or sell at the deadline.
 
This failure to get to the .500 mark is bordering on a sense of ridiculous-ness.  I mean, really, the Jays should have reached that mark at least once by now, even for psychological reasons, to prove to themselves that they can accomplish something in a positive direction.  It's good motivation for the mind and for team confidence as a whole. 

Cripes, if they don't get their act together soon, then as you mention, some serious thinking and doing will need to be done.

It's a long season, though, and no one seems overly concerned yet of their season, so far.  Could it be that the players aren't taking this attempted .500 climb seriously enough?
 
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