Game Day - April 1st - The Openers
Toronto Blue Jays @ St. Louis Cardinals
What does the Mets’ starting staff have to offer after Scherzer and IL-bound Verlander? Who are the Marlins?
Act I – Missed Opportunities Equal Runs for the Other Team
Baseball can be a cruel sport. The Blue Jays batters put together a string of good at-bats. They drew walks and had runners on base in the first three innings. These runners mean nothing if you can’t cash them in. A strikeout in the first, double play in the second, and another strikeout in the third put an end to the Blue Jays opening up a large lead early in the game. Watching the game, the fun evaporated in the third inning. Not for the runs scored by the Cards, but the lack of conversion. Brandon Belt struck out to end the first and the third. The right players were up to bat to convert these base runners into runs and it wasn’t happening. How long until these missed opportunities became a problem?
The Cardinals were doing nothing against Kevin Gausman. Get to the third inning and that all changes with a bloop, an error, and a quick grass-burner off the end of the bat passed a diving Chapman. To add insult to injury, the throwing error was on Chapman. Baseball has a way of reminding you that fortunes can change in one swing or one throw.
The most frustrating is that Flaherty does not look good out there but he has a no-hitter going through 4 innings and the body language of the Blue Jays has changed. We move to Act II of this game where the Blue Jays need to become participants in this game rather than passengers in the Flaherty experience.
Act II – Race to the Eighth
The Jays are down three and they need to score some runs before they get to the eighth inning and face Hicks and Helsley. I don’t think they are going to have the same kind of meltdown they had the other day. The problem is, the Jays can’t seem to get anything going. They can’t even get a hit and it’s not like the pitchers for the Cardinals are looking unhittable, the Jays just aren’t getting hits. That is until the 7th when Kiermaier gets a single but two groundouts end the inning and the Jays are no closer to getting a run in this game.
By now, it doesn’t feel like the Jays have a victory in them. They can’t string hits together, heck, they only have one hit to this point. I’m wondering now what happened to the team from two days ago and seeing visions of the covid season when the Jays left so many runners on base. As bad as this game has been for the bats, game one gives me hope. I know the bats are there. Plus, one game is a blip, two games make a trend, three make a pattern and five are cause for concern. Let’s get to act III before we write this one off.
Act III – Hicks & Helsley vs The Blue Jays Round 2
A walk brings some hope. Another walk makes me think it’s possible. Chapman grounds out but moves the runners, this is promising. Another walk, can the Jays do it again? A ground-out RBI, is this really going to happen for a second game in a row against this bullpen?
No. The 8th inning ends with the score 3-1 Cards. St. Louis would score another in the bottom of the 8th. The jays find a way to get two runners on in the 9th and Vladdy to the plate but he strikes out. Today just wasn’t meant to be for the Jays. Tip your cap to the baseball gods and move on.
It feels bad to waste a good start from Gausman and to essentially lose on an error, that stings. Baseball really is a game of inches and today’s game showed how that is true. Today was the blue jersey. Lt. Blue leads 1-0 Blue is 0-1. The white home jersey is on deck.
Chicago White Sox @ Houston Astros
Are there such things as good losses?
This was a fun game with both teams taking their shots on offense. The difference was the Houston offense doing more damage when they needed to and the White Sox falling just short of the goal in the ninth inning. The Houston starter got touched up by Chicago but the bullpen had a positive game score and only allowed one run after Houston tied the game. Kyle Tucker had a good game, he is going to be a problem for the rest of the league. Houston ends up getting the win 6-4 and go into tomorrow looking to get off to a tough series win to start the season.
If I’m Houston I’m feeling good about winning two in a row. I’m feeling good about scoring 6 and keeping the opponent below 5. That’s a great way to win a lot of games. If I’m Chicago, I’m feeling good about showing up in the opening series against the defending World Series champs and giving them 3 good games with a chance to split the series tomorrow.
