Series 33: Athletics @ Blue Jays (Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. July 24 to 27, 2017)

[hockeyfan1]

                                                                        @

Place:    Rogers Centre  Toronto, ON


Mon. July 24
Starting Pitchers:      Francisco Liriano LH (Jays)  5-5  6.15 ERA
                                Chris Smith        RH (A's)    0-0  2.77 ERA
Time:                      7PM
Tv/Radio:                  Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Tues. July 25
Starting Pitchers:      Cesar Valdez      RH (Jays)  0-0  2.70 ERA
                              Sonny Gray        RH (A's)    6-4  3.66 ERA
Time:                      7PM
TV/Radio:                Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Wed. July 26
Starting Pitchers:      Marco Estrada    RH (Jays)    4-7  5.52 ERA
                              Paul Blackburn  RH (A's)      1-1  2.88 ERA
Time:                      7PM
TV/Radio:                Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Thurs. July 27
Starting Pitchers:      TBD
                              Sean Manaea      LH  (A's)    8-5  3.82 ERA
Time:                      12:30PM
TV/Radio:                Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Source:  MLB.com

 

[hockeyfan1]

The Oakland Athletics (44-54) come to town in a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays (44-54).

At first glance, these two teams share identical records in their respective divisions, however, while the Jays are 10 GBL Boston Red Sox in the A.L. East, the Athletics are a whopping 21 GBL Houston Astros in the A.L. West.
Both teams are 6.5 GB for the WC spot.

The fact remains that both of these teams are in essence cellar-dwellers.  Neither of the two has given their faithful much to cheer about this season.

That holds particularly true for Blue Jays fans.  It has been, and still is, the season from hell, so to speak, injury-wise.  No other team in MLB has lost more games this year due to injury than have the Blue Jays.  Not a very enticing thought for a team that was set to challenge again in the standings.  The baseball gods have certainly had other plans.

Sanchez, Tulowitzki, Bollinger are on the DL.  Sanchez could be out for as long as it takes to figure out what course of action to take on his recurring blistered finger problem.  Add Marcus Stroman to that potential list.  He pitched the 2-1 loss to Cleveland last Saturday with what appeared to be a developing blistered finger.

What the Blue Jays need now is a nice winning streak to kickstart some sort of confidence so lacking among the troops.  A boost here and there will do.  Let's hope this is the start to something better.

GO JAYS GO!

 

[hockeyfan1]

Athletics 2  Blue Jays 4

An excellent outing by Blue Jaya starter Francisco Liriano combined with offensive support -- a home run by Russell Martin, plus smart offense from the likes of Smoak, Goins & co. -- combined to down the Oakland A's here in Toronro.

It certainly must have felt good for the Blue Jays to be home after a disheartening road trip.  What made the win all the more worthwhile was Liriano having afforded Oakland just two hits (with the two runs), striking out five in the five innings that he pitched. 

Relievers Joe Biagini and Ryan Tepera combined to deliver shutout work and Osuan as usual, the save.  Liriano by the way got the win.

Game story:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/jays-oakland-recap-1.4219974

 

[hockeyfan1]

Arhletics 1  Blue Jays 4

A stellar pitching performance, and some opportune hitting combined to give the Blue Jays their first back-to-back wins not seen since the month of May.

With Troy Tulowitzki back from the DL contributing along with Goins & Bautista, the Jays took quick and easy advantage of Oakland's starter Sonny Gray including some errors that definitely helped bring the runs in.

As for the Jays' starter Cesar Valdez, a veteran of the baseball journeys, he pitched a super solid seven innings in allowing just one run on five hits and striking out four.  Chalk one up for the Jays' starters in this series so far, something that hasn't happened enoigh in this sorry season.

Osuna got the save.

Story:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/valdez-impresses-blue-jays-strike-early-win-athletics/

 

[louisstamos]

A stellar pitching performance, and some opportune hitting combined to give the Blue Jays their first back-to-back wins not seen since the month of May.

I think you mean back-to-back home games?  The Jays won 3-in-a-row earlier this month against the Yankees and the Astros.

 

[Andy007]

A stellar pitching performance, and some opportune hitting combined to give the Blue Jays their first back-to-back wins not seen since the month of May.

I think you mean back-to-back home games?  The Jays won 3-in-a-row earlier this month against the Yankees and the Astros.

Not only that, I'm pretty sure that Tulowitzki came off of the DL at the end of May, not just yesterday.

 

[hockeyfan1]

A stellar pitching performance, and some opportune hitting combined to give the Blue Jays their first back-to-back wins not seen since the month of May.

I think you mean back-to-back home games?  The Jays won 3-in-a-row earlier this month against the Yankees and the Astros.

Yes, it should be back-to-back home wins.  Sorry I wasn't specific enough.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Athletics 2  Blue Jays 3

Nice comeback.  Simply put.  A Justin Smoak two-run shot followed by a Kendrys Morales game-winning blast was all the homers the Jays needed to win it in the ninth inning. 

Jays starter Marco Estrada lasted five inning and didn't actually fare too badly considering the direction Estrada's year has been  going.  He alowed two runs on three hits, struck out four and walked four.  He was  not happy with the no decison outcome.  Certainly it was a better outcome than his last few starts to say the least.

"I need to get better with everything," a sullen Estrada said... "I need to locate better. ... I think I walked four guys again and this isn't like me. It's frustrating. But we won and that's all that matters.

.

To which Jauys skipper Gibbons had this to say:

He's probably still a little frustrated but we saw some good things and he got to five [innings], that's been kind of his tough inning for a while now."

Game story:
http://www.cbc.ca/m/sports/baseball/mlb/jays-athletics-recap-game-three-1.4223259

 

[sickbeast]

The last two games have been the highlight of the season for me, by far.  Great baseball to watch, highly entertaining.

 

[Captain Canuck]

I didn't get to see the game, but looked like a pretty thrilling finish this afternoon.
Really enjoyed the Valdez start on Tuesday, was one of the best starts by a Jays pitcher all season.
The game last night was zzzzzzz until the 9th, but I sure woke up when Smoak and Morales went back to back in the come from behind walk off!

Whats with Mr. Willy Little's performance today? Looks like he thought everyone came out to see him.  :
Lucky for the Jays that Pearce wasn't going to be outdone!

 

[Andy007]

Eh, Little's performance was perfectly fine imo. Stroman was whining incessantly about every borderline pitch he didn't get called strike. And at the plate, Tulo, Bautista and Martin all wined about pitches called strikes that were in fact strikes. I actually thought it was a pretty sad display by the Jays, not the ump.

 

[dappleganger]

Eh, Little's performance was perfectly fine imo. Stroman was whining incessantly about every borderline pitch he didn't get called strike. And at the plate, Tulo, Bautista and Martin all wined about pitches called strikes that were in fact strikes. I actually thought it was a pretty sad display by the Jays, not the ump.

I actually thought the ump was calling an alright game too, even though people were complaining. After the game, Zauny & Co. brought up the 'pitches called balls' chart and it was a little spotty. I'm sure not unlike most games, I can't say for sure. 

 

[Andy007]

Eh, Little's performance was perfectly fine imo. Stroman was whining incessantly about every borderline pitch he didn't get called strike. And at the plate, Tulo, Bautista and Martin all wined about pitches called strikes that were in fact strikes. I actually thought it was a pretty sad display by the Jays, not the ump.

I actually thought the ump was calling an alright game too, even though people were complaining. After the game, Zauny & Co. brought up the 'pitches called balls' chart and it was a little spotty. I'm sure not unlike most games, I can't say for sure.

Yea those charts didn't seem to look like anything out of the ordinary; umps are never going to be perfect. But interestingly enough, they showed that the Oakland pitcher had a lot more better pitches called balls than Stroman.

 

[cabber24]

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=7&day=27&year=2017&game=gid_2017_07_27_oakmlb_tormlb_1%2F&prevGame=gid_2016_10_15_tormlb_ahsmlb_1%2F&prevDate=0727

Graphic looks pretty consistent to me. It wasn't as if the ump just went off in one moment. It was a slow build to a point where enough became enough. I don't work in radio or get paid analyze baseball and I found this graphic which tells the whole story. I don't understand all these media guys who are paid to do so  going off on this ump when the evidence shows the ump was consistent.

Anyway, I obviously enjoyed the series. It's nice to have some good news for a change.