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Tuesday: Royals 2 @ Jays 5. Darwin Barney & Russell Martin had all 5 RBI's for the Jays, while Alex Gordon ended up with the home run that broke MLB's single season home run record with a solo homer in the 8th inning.
Wednesday: Royals 15 @ Jays 5. Mike Moustakas set the Royals single season home run record with a solo home run in the 6th inning. All 9 Royals starters recorded at least 1 hit and only Alex Gordon & Lo Cain failed to record an RBI.
Thursday: Royals 1 @ Jays 0. Jason Vargas allowed only 2 hits which was enough for the Royals as Melky Cabrera finished 3-4 and had the games only RBI.
The final series of the year at Rogers Center starts on Friday against the Yankees. Masahiro Tananka (12-11, 4.73) starts for the Yankees against Marco Estrada (9-8, 4.84) who earlier this week signed a 1 year extension, Sonny Gray (9-11, 3.38) starts against Joe Biagini (3-11, 5.33) on Saturday while Marcus Stroman (12-8, 3.01) will face Jordan Montgomery (8-7, 4.06) in the final game of the year at Rogers Centre. Friday's game goes at 7:07, Saturday at 4:07, and Sunday at 1:07. Royals continue their final road trip of the 2017 season with 3 games in Chicago against the White Sox.
Friday: Yankees 1 @ Jays 8. Goins had a grand slam in the 6th off of Tanaka to blow open what was than only a 4-1 game, and also got Todd Frazier on the old hidden ball trick. Jays pitchers held the Yankees to only 3 hits, with one of the 3 being Aaron Judge's 46th home run in the first
Saturday: Yankees 5 @ Jays 1. 7-8-9 in the Yankees order, Starlin Castro, Greg Bird, and Todd Frazier had all 5 RBI's for the Yankees, while Teoscar Hernandez had the only RBI for the Jays on a home run.
Sunday: Yankees 5 @ Jays 9. Jays scored all 9 runs in the first 4 innings of the final home contest at Rogers Centre. To start the game, the team let Bautista jog out to RF on his own since this is likely his final game at Rogers Centre, and when Gibbons removed him in the 9th inning he got a huge standing ovation. Martin finished 2-4 with 3 RBI's.
The Jays play their final 6 series of the year on the road. The first 3 games are in Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Brett Anderson (3-4, 7.15) starts Monday against Drew Pomeranz (16-5, 3.15), Chris Sale (17-7, 2.75) starts for the Red Sox against J.A. Happ (9-11, 3.64) Tuesday, and Marco Estrada (10-8, 4.70) will make his final start of 2017 on Wednesday against Rick Porcello (10-17, 4.55). All games begin at 7:10. Yankees head home for their final 7 games of the season. They'll play a makeup from a May rainout against the KC Royals on Monday afternoon before the Rays come in for 3 beginning on Tuesday evening.
Off season additions: Nothing major as they made a bunch of minor moves. They brought in Curtis Granderson to platoon with Steve Pierce in LF; Pierce will get the majority of starts against LHP, a notorious lefty-killer playing for the Orioles & Rays, while Granderson will see most of the starts against RHP. Since generally you will see about twice as many righties as lefties during a season I'd expect to see Pierce some against righties plus Pierce can play a multitude of positions: 1st, 2nd, 3rd along with LF, so he could likely see some playing time at other positions as well. In separate trades with the Cardinals they acquired OF Randall Grichuck and SS Aledmys Diaz. Grichuck will probably get the bulk of the playing time in RF, while Diaz will be a fill in at SS once Tulowitski comes back, and will be the starter until that point. Also another signing from the Cards was Seung Whan Oh who will replace Dominic Leone who was traded to the Cards in one of those trades. ANOTHER ex-Cardinal (but at least not from last year) signed as the 5th starter will be Jaime Garcia who finished 2017 with the Yankees. Yangervis Solarte was also dealt from the Padres who will get the Jays infield depth at all 3 infield positions Gift Ngoepe, the first African born player to appear in the major leagues was traded by the Pirates which will give the Jays more depth at the MI positions and Danny Espinosa was signed to a minor league deal to provide even more depth at that position, but it's not likely both of those make the major league roster, and when you factor in both Solarte & Diaz who can play SS & 2nd it's entirely possible both Ngoepe & Espinosa will not break camp with the team.
Worst case scenario for the Jays: Estrada & Happ still can't back to the elite level they were in 2015 & 2016 so instead of top of the rotation starters they are just middle of the road starters, and Stro & Osuna take a step back. The rest of the bullpen, much like last year is bad and gets teed off on most games. Tulowitski fights with his nagging injury the entire year and can never get into a groove. Donaldson has a good but not great year, but since J.D. Martinez has 20 home runs for the Red Sox and Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge & Giancarlo Stanton have combined for 70 home runs for the Yankees, the Jays find themselves 10+ games out of the playoff picture and trade Donaldson at the deadline. The 1 year additions turn out all to finish at or near 0 in WAR and don't contribute much at all offensively. Smoak shows last year was a fluke and drops back to his career numbers that they were at heading into the '17 season.
What I expect to happen: The Jays will be in what I like to call "no man's land." Finishing between 82-87 wins, because 1-7 or even 8 they have one of the best rotations in baseball which will keep them in & win games. The problem is the offense isn't very good and even having this great rotation, the bullpen will probably lose about 5 or so games they were either leading or tied when they entered. I just can't see them surpassing the Red Sox or Yankees this year, so at the absolute best case scenario you are looking at a 3rd place finish and when you have 38 games against the Red Sox & Yankees, it's going to be difficult in the Wildcard race going up against teams like the Twins (who will have a combined 57 games against the Royals, White Sox & Tigers all rebuilding clubs) or the Angels who will have 38 games against the A's & Rangers not very good teams either.
Season opener is at home against the new look Bronx Bombers: J.A. Happ (10-11, 3.53 in 2017) gets the ball for the Jays in the Rogers Centre opener and he'll be opposed by Luis Severino (14-6, 2.98 in '17) who takes the ball for the Yankees. Game time slated for 3:37 PM.
If all goes well (health!) I can see the Jays scrapping for that 2nd WC. I have some doubts about the Yankees starting pitching but they'll launch so many bombs, it may not matter. They'll win a bunch of 9-5, 11-7 games.
After a Granderson lead off error, 2 batters later in his first AB for the Yankees Giancarlo Stanton had a 2 run homer to put the Yankees in front for good, and with how Luis Severino was throwing that's all he needed. Stanton & Gary Sanchez had back-to-back 2 out doubles in the 5th to put the Yanks up 4-0, and than the final 3 runs all came via solo homers: Brett Gardner for the Yankees in the 7th, Kevin Pillar for the Jays in the 8th, and Stanton had his 2nd and 4th RBI with a solo homer in the 9th. After Severino walked Justin Smoak and Granderson back-to-back with 2 outs in the 1st the Jays only got 1 other runner the entire game past 2nd base. Severino (1-0) pitched 5.1 scoreless innings with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts allowing only 1 hit. J.A. Happ (0-1) allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits in 4.2 innings (1 homer) with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.
The series continues on Friday evening. Masahiro Tanaka (13-12, 4.74) starts for the Yankees against Aaron Sanchez (1-3, 4.25) who made only 8 starts last year dealing with a whole variety of injuries last season. Game time slated for 7:07
Well, at least they only have to play the Yankees 17 more times. Brandon Drury double in the second scored Billy McKinney who had his first major league hit earlier in the frame, and in the bottom half of the frame Randall Grichuck had his first homer as the Jays to tie the score. Yankees took the lead for good in the 4th on a Drury single. Tyler Wade padded the lead and finished the Yankees scoring in the 6th on a Tyler Wade 2 run double, and the games final run came in the 9th on Yangervis Solarte RBI double. Masahiro Tanaka (1-0) allowed 1 run on 3 hits (1 homer) with 0 walks and 8 strikeouts in 6 innings. Tommy Kahnle (1st hold) and David Robertson (1st hold) pitched 2 hitless innings with a walk and a strikeout and Aroldis Chapman (1st save) allowed a run on 2 hits, but struck out the side in the 9th. Aaron Sanchez (0-1) allowed 4 runs on 8 hits with 4 walks and 2 strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
Game 3 of the series is Saturday. CC Sabathia (14-5, 3.69) starts for the Yankees against Marco Estrada (10-9, 4.98). Game time slated for 4:07.
Smoak had a 1 out single in the first scoring Josh Donaldson who had doubled the batter previous. Smoak put the Jays in front 2-0 in the 3rd on a double scoring Steve Pierce who started the inning reaching on an error. Tyler Austin had a 2 run homer in the 5th to tie the score at 2 and than after Luke Maile gave the Jays the lead back with a single in the 6th, Austin tied the score up again with another homer. Solarte homered off of Dellin Betances leading of the 8th for what turned out to be the game-winning run, and with 1 out Kevin Pillar single, stole second & 3rd and than stole home for the Jays 5th and final run. What does John Gibbons have with these guys running?? Actual stolen bases AND a steal of home?? . CC Sabathia allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts, and Betances (0-1) allowed 2 runs on 3 hits (1 homer) with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts in 2 innings. Marco Estrada allowed 3 runs on 4 hits (2 homers) with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts in 7 innings, Ryan Tepara (1-0) had a walk and a strikeout in a hitless inning of work, and Roberto Osuna (1st save) pitched a 1-2-3 9th with a strikeout.
The finale of the 4 game series concludes on Sunday. Marcus Stroman (13-9, 3.09 in 2017) starts for the Jays and he'll be opposed by the Yanks Sonny Gray (10-12, 3.55 in '17 with the A's and Yankees). Game time scheduled for 1:07.
Devin Travis gave the Jays a 1-0 lead in the 2nd with a single. After Marcus Stroman started the Yankees 3rd with strikeouts of Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner Stanton walked, Gregorius doubled, Neil Walker singled and Brandon Drury homered to put the Yankees up 4-1. Smoak would homer in the 7th after Donaldson lead off the inning with a walk, and than would add his second homer of the day this one a grand slam in the 8th for a final margin. Great start for the Jays bouncing back from the first 2 losses Stroman allowed 4 runs on 3 hits (1 homer) with 3 walks and 8 strikeouts in 5 innings, ex-Yankee fans punching bag Tyler Clippard (1-0) picked up the win allowing a walk with a strikeout in a hitless 8th inning while Seung-Whan Oh (1st save) allowed a hit with a strikeout in a scoreless 9th to pick up his first save with the Jays after coming over from another bird team, the Cardinals, in the winter. Sonny Gray allowed 1 run on 7 hits with 3 walks and 8 strikeouts in 4 innings. Tommy Kahnle (2nd hold) allowed 2 runs on 1 hit (1 homer) with a walk in 2/3 of an inning but picked up a hold and David Robertson (0-1, first blown save) allowed 4 runs on 3 hits (1 homer) with a walk in 1.1 innings.
Both teams have home series this upcoming week. Jays stay in Toronto who welcome in the White Sox who come into Toronto after winning the first 2 games this weekend in Kansas City (the 3rd game today was postponed). Jaime Garcia (5-10, 4.41 in 2017 with the Twins, Yankees & Braves) starts for the Jays and he'll be opposed by Miguel Gonzalez (8-13, 4.62 in '17 with the White Sox & Rangers). Game time slated for 7:07. Yankees have the home opener in the Bronx Monday afternoon against the Rays who come in 1-3 losing three straight 1 run games to the Red Sox after coming back from 4-0 down against Chris Sale in the opener Thursday.
Nice comeback win today to even the series against the odds-on favourite to win the East. Smoak was the Man today. Hopefully Donaldson and Travis will heat up. Pillar has been great. All-in-all, can't be unhappy with the split.
Can hope (not expect) to take a couple from the White Sox.
White Sox 2 @ Jays 4. So far so good from what I'm seeing out of this group, especially in the last third of the game! Games in March & April count just as much as they do in September!
Wellington Castillo solo home run after Jaime Garcia erased a leadoff Jose Abreu single with a double play, but Donaldson would tie the score in the 6th with a 2 out solo home run. Castillo who had 5 home runs against the Jays last year as a Baltimore Oriole including 2 walk off homers homered again in the 7th to put the Chi Sox in front 2-1. Granderson walked with 1 out in the 7th and following a Grichuck fly out, Russell Martin had a 2 run homer to LF. Diaz had a leadoff homer in the 8th inning to finish the scoring on the day. Garcia allowed 1 run on 4 hits (1 homer) with 2 walks (1 hit batter) and 7 strikeouts in 6 innings, Oh (1-0) allowed 1 run on 1 hit (1 homer) with 0 walks (but 1 hit batter) and 1 walk to pick up the win, Ryan Tepara (1st hold) allowed a hit in the 8th but recorded 2 strikeouts and Osuna (2nd save) had a strikeout in a hitless 9th for the 2nd save. Reynaldo Lopez allowed 1 run on only 2 hits (1 homer) with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in 6 innings. Luis Avilan (1st hold) allowed a run on a walk in 1/3 of an inning but picked up a hold (geez this "hold" stat is completely useless. Actually makes the save stat [which I'm really not a fan of] look like a competent statistic), Danny Farquhar (1-1, 1st blown save) allowed 2 runs on 2 hits (2 homers) with 0 walks and 0 strikeouts.
The series continues on Tuesday: J.A, Happ (0-1, 3.86) starts for the Jays and he'll be opposed by Miguel Gonzalez (8-13, 4.62 in 2017 with the Rangers & White Sox). Game time scheduled for 7:07.
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73-83
and David Robertson (0-1, first blown save) allowed 4 runs on 3 hits (1 homer) with a walk in 1.1 innings.