Injury-riddled Jays finally building some momentum
TORONTO It was a week or so ago when Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was given a little history lecture in Toronto baseball by former club president Paul Beeston and with it, a lesson in perspective.
The two were commiserating about the brutal start to a season. Beeston, of course, had seen it before and also was the steward to the magical turnaround in 1989.
“He says ‘We started out 12-24,’” Gibbons said, leaning back in the leather chair of his office and recalling the Beeston conversation.
“We went on and won the division. You guys can still do it … the only problem is we fired Jimy Williams.’”
Gibbons broke out in laughter at the telling, but the reality is the manager hasn’t even hinted at giving up hope. And minus losing his job, he still has aspirations of engineering a similar recovery.
Well, the Jays took another impressive step in the right direction on Friday with a 4-0 win over the Seattle Mariners, matching a season-high three victories in a row and five of their past six.
Suddenly, a team that began 2-11 is now 15-21 and doing so without three-fifths of its starting infield and the same percentage of its starting pitching staff also on the disabled list.
Jose Bautista was the hero at the plate on Friday and take note of what that means going forward if his gradual warming continues. Bautista beat up on a third-inning offering from Mariners pitcher Christaian Bergman, who was making his first career start.
Bautista pulled it high and hard off the left-field foul pole to extend the Jays’ lead to 3-0.
On the mound, the Jays got another solid starting effort from Joe Biagini as the team waits for Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ and Francisco Liriano to return.
Perhaps the biggest roadblock to get back to .500 and beyond is the injury-ravaged lineup Gibbons has been dealing with.
If the Jays can continue to chip away at the standings — their win percentage is now .417 — until Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin return, look out.
The fact that they’ve begun the climb back before those regulars return only adds to the encouragement, not to mention the confidence of players such as Ryan Goins and Ezequiel Carrera, who are getting added playing time.
NO ORDINARY JOE
Gibbons is a big fan of the quirky Biagini, even more so we’re thinking after his excellent outing on Friday and the impressive stats as a starter that go with it.
Working around the dangerous Mariners lineup, Biagini went sixplus innings of shutout ball. In his two major-league starts now, the big right-hander has pitched nine innings and has yet to surrender a run.
Even better, in those innings he’s allowed six hits while striking out seven. And perhaps most impressive about his nine innings is that Biagini has remained so cool that he hasn’t yielded a single walk.
“I could see him being a good major-league starter,” Gibbons said. “He got the stuff. More than enough. Nothing bothers Joe.”
JOSE, JOSE, JOSE
As mentioned above, some pop in Baustita’s bat is something Gibbons and the Jays have been waiting for throughout the tepid start.
But with two homers in his past three games, Bautista is starting to produce.
“It’s just a matter of time. I believe that. He knows that,” said Gibbons.
GAME ON
Biagini exited after allowing a leadoff single to Jean Segura, but relievers Aaron Loup and Danny Barnes cleared the slate ... Steve Pearce isn’t necessarily a speed demon, but he’s starting to look more comfortable in left field. Case in point was the running, diving catch he made off a sharply hit ball from Ben Garmel in the third to rob the Mariner of what surely would have been extra bases.