REACHING FOR THE TOP
Behind seven strong innings from Marcus Stroman, Jays extend lead in AL East to 41⁄2 games over Yanks,
Marcus Stroman, teacup-sized headphones clamped to his ears, is literally skipping through the clubhouse, as if venturing down the yellow brick road. LaTroy Hawkins reads a magazine, which is a nice change from hunching over a tap-tap screen. And Jose Bautista is tossing boxes of undies to his mates.
One lands in Kevin Pillar’s locker. He’s missed the catch — which doesn’t happen often.
“Free underwear!’’ the centre fielder enthuses.
Sexy skivvies too, which have arrived by the gross, nearly, a huge carton of freebies from some manufacturer addressed to Bautista.
“Undies are amazing,” Pillar continues, riffing frisky about the tight-snapping bloomers. “Any time you can get a new pair of undies, it’s amazing how much it changes your psyche. You feel so good in new underwear and these are some of the best. These are, like, high-performance — stretching, quick-dry. I mean, it gets real hot in here, you know? If we can keep out bodies cool with some action-stretch underwear, we’ll be better for it.’’
OK, this is jockey jock jocularity, in a loosey-goosey — but serious-minded — locker room. Pillar is doing wry humour, still more than three hours before game time Friday, before the Blue Jays scratch another W in the books, 6-1 over Boston, without once resorting to the trademark long ball.
Though Ryan Goins would hustle out a triple to the wall, launch into a head-first slide, then pound his fist three times into the dirt, triumphantly.
It was that kind of night for this kind of team, as the club opened its final homestand of what is turning into a glorious season. Nobody except for Marcus Stroman — making his first start at home, circa 2015, and cheered maniacally from the moment he stepped into the pen for his warm-up — verged on brilliant, yet there was polished efficiency throughout, self-assurance.
And it would be Pillar who got the party started, turning on a sinker up in the zone from Rick Porcello, slashing a double into the left-field corner and scoring Toronto’s first run on a well-read ground-ball out.
It was as close as the Jays have come to playing little ball all year — because, frankly, why would they want to? And the bottom part of the order — Pillar, Goins and Cliff Pennington — continues to do yeoman work, certainly afield but also, at the plate: Pennington had a sacrifice and a sacrifice fly last night; Goins had two hits; Pillar, his double and run scored. Sometimes it’s not the bold-face guys who earn the laurels. This is a deeply rich team.
It’s OK to talk magic number now (seven to reach the playoffs) and note that the Jays are closer to American League-leading Kansas City (one game) than the Yankees are to the Jays in the AL East, now 41⁄ games back. “We’d all be lying to
2 you if we didn’t understand where we are in the standings and what’s at stake,” noted Pillar, “not only in winning our division but having the best record in the American League. The goal remains the same, short term. If we can win games, we can chart our own destiny.”
This might be an appropriate point to review how destiny has unfolded for Pillar, sized up as no more than a fourth outfielder back in spring training. Now his name is being widely mentioned for Gold Glove investiture. That’s testament to his extraordinary defence in centre — it’s a toss-up who has been the most highlight-reel astonishing, Pillar or Goins. The latter was in on three double plays last night while the former, er, grounded into a forceout at home with the bases loaded in the sixth, not one of his finer at-bats.
“Everyone in this game who takes pride in defence dreams of being able to have that gold patch, have that gold glove, to be in that fraternity with some of the best defenders who have ever played,” Pillar said.
It’s often forgotten this is Pillar’s first full season in the majors — he was up and down and up a year ago — hence the teddy bear stuffed into his cubicle, as all scrubeenies, even quasi-rookies, are required to daddy-mind these plush toys, part of some gentle hazing exercise dreamt up by Hawkins.
Pillar might be best known for his acrobatic catches and Spidey-wall-climbing — he ranks second among all AL outfielders with 19 defensive runs saved — and, yes, for last week colliding with Troy Tulowitzki in
“I just hope that someday soon everyone just says: ‘He’s a good baseball player.’ ” KEVIN PILLAR JAYS CENTRE FIELDER
Yankee Stadium, a freakish thump that knocked the all-star shortstop out for (fingers crossed) two to three weeks with a cracked shoulder blade, but he’s also second only to Josh Donaldson on the Jays with hits (140). And Pillar has managed to retain that distinction whilst labouring through a 3-for-22 slump at the plate in Toronto’s most recent road trip, though he emerged from those depths in Atlanta.
“Yeah, I was struggling a little bit but that’s just how it goes sometimes. I’ve had some good months, I had a bad month. We’re all competitors, we all want to get on base, we all want to get hits, we’re selfish that way. Sometimes you accomplish everything you want to accomplish when you go up to the plate — first try to get a good pitch to hit, then hit it hard — and have nothing to show for it.”
Pillar thinks of himself possibly more as a hitter than defensive specialist. Hitter is how he was known in the minors and college.
“No one really talked about my ability to play defense. It was always what a good hitter this guy was. To be able to come up here and make some good catches . . . I think, to some degree now, what I’ve been able to do defensively has overshadowed what I’ve been able to accomplish offensively my first full season.
“It’s always about, oh, he’s such a good defender so whatever he does with the bat is a bonus. I just hope that someday soon every just says: ‘He’s a good baseball player.’ ”
So Pillar maybe won’t like what manager John Gibbons had to say about his centre fielder pre-game: “He’s such a good defender, even if he’s not getting hits on a particular night, he takes away hits as well.”
Aw, shut up.