GameDay - April 30th

Seattle Mariners @ Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays have secured the series and now they are trying for a sweep of the entire homestand. The Rays and Orioles have the same 8 wins and 2 losses over the last ten games. The start to the season has been great for a Jays team that feels different. These kinds of games aren’t must wins, but the Jays need to keep winning if they want to solidify their spot in a division that looks like it is going to be more difficult than I thought it would being at the start of the season.

Top 1st: Bassitt gets squeezed in the zone and what would have been an inning-ending strikeout has turned into a higher pitch count and possibly some earned runs. As I write this, Teoscar Hernandez is at the plate and has been a strikeout machine with series. I’m less worried about any runs surrendered and more about the pitch count. One bad call and Bassitt has lost at least an innings’ worth of pitches.

Well, that awful non-strike call has turned into 4 runs off a grand slam. Does not feel good. Now Bassitt will probably get a three-pitch strikeout to end the inning. Epilogue: wasn’t a three-pitch strikeout, but it was a three-pitch flyout. Tough start to the game. hard to know how to feel. The series win is secured, I view these as “free games” to just sit back and enjoy, but how can I enjoy the beauty of baseball when Bassitt gets unjustly punished for a bad call? Where are the robo-umps?

Bot 1st: The Jays are taking great at-bats when they need to play catch-up so early in a game. Chapman hits a two-run double and this inning is a success regardless of how the rest of this inning plays out. This is not going to be another low-event game for the bats if we are to extrapolate the rest of the game.

I will say one thing about the broadcast. I like a little “homerism” in my broadcast teams. The Jays’ TV team is trying to explain away the terrible calls and the consequences of those calls. I don’t expect outrage from the broadcast but I want just a little spice on behalf of a pitcher who got bitten really bad by a poorly called strike zone.

Bot 2nd: Bo Bichette hits a 3-run home run and the Jays take the lead 5-4. I have to admit, my anger-justice has been unlocked and now I want this win. I hate that just in this case means on a 1-run lead that should be a “cruise to the finish” 5-run lead.

Bot 3rd: Credit to the Jays’ lineup for scoring 8 runs in support of their starter. They have not been scoring double-digit runs this homestand but in a game where they needed it, they are getting the run support. More importantly, Bo hit a huge homerun and he has looked a little lost in recent games. Espinal and Janssen are getting hits and RBI. For the first time in years, it feels like the lineup and the pitching staff are playing their best at the same time.

Top 6th: Trevor Richards comes into the game and gives up a home run. The Jays’ lead is 8-5. I feel good about a 3-run lead going into the late innings. What I’m more worried about at this moment is the pride I have for Bassitt. He gave the team 5 full innings and gave up 2 hits total. I like rooting for teams I can feel good about rooting for and this Jays’ team is one of them.

Top 7th: I love good defense and the GIDP turned by Vladdy, Bo, and Richard (3,6,1) was beautiful. The kind of play I’m not used to seeing on the Jays’ field. Build confident baseball.

Top 8th: Errors hurt and an infield error leads to a 2-run home run. The lead is now 8-7 and the Jays don’t have their full complement of bullpen arms today. This game suddenly feels tense. Yimi Garcia comes in and gets the last out of the inning. Can the offense buy some insurance for the 9th? No, is the answer. Tense 9th time, let’s go!

Top 9th: Garcia gives up a leadoff walk and Ty France is coming to the plate. France and Rodriguez are the two bats in this lineup that scare me. A very tricky play up the middle. Espinal was able to get the out at first. I think if he tries to be a hero and make the flip to Bo on second there are no outs and two runners on base. Garcia gets the strikeout for out number two. The top of the lineup is at the plate. Did the umpire just non-call at the end of the game? Unreal. On what looked like strike three, it’s called a ball and this game is now tied. The wind is out of the sails of the fans. I feel like the Jays have a good chance to win this game. It would hurt a lot to not get a win after the calls, and their effects on the game.

Top 10th: A 2-run home run and the Mariners are leading this game. The game isn’t over, but this one hurts. The bullpen has been great recently. They are not going to go the full season without giving up another run, but this one hurts because of the bad calls that led directly to runs for Seattle. Yes, the Jays’ didn’t get the leadoff double across the plate in the bottom of the 9th…..reasons, excuses, reasons, excuses. Ugh, this one sucks. Maybe there is a little more justice left in this game?

Bot 10th: First bit of justice is Springer getting a bloop hit after all of his hard contact straight at the defense. Unfortunately, that is all the justice the baseball gawds have to offer. Doesn’t feel good, but got the series win.

Baltimore Orioles @ Detroit Tigers

The Orioles starters have been good to start the season. Only one of the starters has a negative WAR after 27 games played. The lineup has 6 hitters with wRC+ at or above 115. The team is playing as a team and they have the record to show for it. Playing the Tigers who are 6 games under 500, can the Orioles get the victory?

Top 2nd: This game has seen Baltimore get its fair share of baserunner and they’ve been unable to convert into runs. The Orioles just find ways to have men on base all the time. They are aggressive on the basepaths and they just have not run into a team that can punish the “paper talent” of the pitching staff.

Bot 3rd: The Tigers have played the Jays recently and what I saw in those games vs what I see in this game is a team that lacks any sort of threat.

Bot 5th: The Tigers get a 2-run home run and the Orioles’ lead is down to 4-2. Here’s the thing about the Tigers. They are good enough to hang around and win a game here or there, but their wins are more dependent on the underperformance of the opponent rather than “winning the game”.

Bot 8th: Runners on 1st and 2nd, two outs, and a hit will give tie the game, and maybe give the Tigers the lead. Rodgers strikes out. This is another moment where the Tigers can show they are a team that deserves consideration but they just fall short to meet the moment.

I would like to thank the Orioles for demonstrating my point. A solo home run and the lead is now 5-3 Orioles. Who thinks the Tigers are going to score a crooked number of runs in the bottom of the inning? Even as I write this, the Orioles hit a double. Runner on second with one out. If this run scores, the game feels like it’s over and I think the manager agrees with me because there is a pitching change in progress.

Cleveland Guardians @ Boston Red Sox

Chris Sale is on the mound with 1 great start and 4 bad starts so far this season. What can he bring against a Cleveland team that started the season so well but now sports a 13-14 record?

The game is half over, zero runs scored and the say looks miserable. I used to live in the area and it looks damp and cold and unpleasant. The score is very representative of the playing conditions.

Chris Sale gets the quality start and the Red Sox fans have to be looking at the Yankees in 4th place thinking the Sox can catch them in the standings.

The Red Sox blow the game open in the middle innings and have an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th. Sale shows off he has good games in his arm, how many more will he bring to the season? What happened to the Guardians?

New York Yankees @ Texas Rangers

Bot 1st: We’ve already talked about first-inning grand slams and the Rangers are getting in on the action. Cortes does not have his best stuff today and the Rangers are taking advantage. The Yankees have not looked good lately and the question is, how much of an effect will this bad patch of the season have on the overall record?

Top 4th: Huge play to end the top of the 4th inning with the third out being called at home. The Yankees were on the path of chipping away at the lead. Getting that out can take a 3-run lead into the second half of this game and holds off the momentum for one more inning. This will give the Rangers’ bats another chance to widen the lead they have.

Bot 5th: 4 runs from one home run or 4 runs from 3 home runs, does it matter how you get there? I would argue three home runs given up is worse.

Things got out of hand for the Yankees after this….

Tampa Bay Rays @ Chicago White Sox

Jumping into this game in the second inning and somehow the Rays were able to get runners on the corners, down by one and they did not take the lead. This team, all season, if they were not winning by 400 runs, they were coming back to take the lead. I still think they will come back to get this game, but runners on the corners, down one is peak Rays baseball and PEAK “in play, run(s)” when the Rays are at the plate.

Top 4th: Back-to-back home runs and the Rays have taken the lead 2-1. I can’t wait for this team to get to their May schedule. They have to play a good team every day for a month. Even if they play above 500 for the month of May, we will all know what kind of team this is. For the whole of the season so far it’s been a mystery with some clues, but they play well enough to beat up on the teams they are supposed to beat up on. I just want to know and 30 days from now, we should know.

Bot 6th: A 2-run home run of Rasmussen has given the White Sox the lead. No, I have no faith this lead will hold and I hope the White Sox bullpen proves me wrong. A pitching change is followed by an example of why the White Sox are not a good team right now. A hit to the outfield and the batter tried to stretch the hit into a double. It was obvious from the broadcast there was not a double in the hit. The runner rounds first and you know he is out by a mile before the play even happens. A few seconds later, the out is confirmed and the inning is over. That’s bad baseball.

Top 8th: The Rays scored their first run of the inning on a fumbled hit that allows the runner to score from third base after they slide into the bag. There was no intention of going home but the bobble in the outfield allows the run to score. The Rays then hit a 2-run home run and they have the lead. Watching “hope” baseball sucks and White Sox fans are subject to a lot of “hope they keep any lead” baseball.

Bot 9th: Apparently the justice for the Jays was moved over to the Rays’ game. The Rays gave up 7 runs, I repeat, SEVEN RUN(S) in the 9th. I don’t even feel bad about the Jays’ loss now. Yes, they could have closed the gap, but the Rays losing a game like this just before they go on their May gauntlet, I’m fine, everything is fine. All my apologies to everything bad I said about the White Sox in this article.