Jays give Dickey rare run support
This six-game homestand against the Los Angeles Angels and Minnesota Twins — two last-place teams with no hope of making the postseason — may not seem at first glance like an important part of the Blue Jays’ season.
But with the Jays locked into what figures to be a six-week dogfight with the Boston Red Sox for first place, they need to take advantage of this relatively soft spot in the schedule if they hope to head into season’s home stretch with some leverage.
They got off to a good start on Tuesday night, defeating the Angels handily in a 7-2 victory behind R.A. Dickey, who allowed just a pair of runs over a solid six-and-two-thirds innings. Afterward, the 41-year-old knuckleballer agreed the Jays couldn’t afford to sleep against noncontending teams.
“I think the onus for us should just be on playing good baseball and not beating ourselves,” he said. “Usually when you play what seems to be inferior teams the way that they beat you is you end up beating yourself a lot of those times. So if we can execute and play good baseball I think we should come out of this homestand feeling good about the momentum going into Baltimore (on Monday).”
Starting with that series against the Orioles next Monday, the Jays will play 25 of their final 32 games against division rivals, including a dozen games against Boston and Baltimore. That’s what makes getting the job done in this homestand so crucial.
“We still have to take care of business on the field,” Dickey said. “If we don’t play well — if we don’t move runners, if we don’t play good defence — those teams can beat you just as easily as the Red Sox or other teams that are really good this year.”
The Jays did a lot well on Tuesday, starting with Dickey, who was afforded a rare burst of offence.
The 41-year-old knuckleballer has been the victim of a dire lack of run support this season. Heading into Tuesday night’s game, the Jays had averaged only 3.6 runs in Dickey’s starts, more than a full run below what they have averaged with any other starter. In fact, he had received the ninth-least run support in the majors this season.
But on Tuesday all nine Jays’ hitters either scored or drove in a run. That allowed Dickey the rare opportunity to pitch with the lead and, by his own estimation, take more risks with his conventional repertoire when his knuckleball faltered. “I actually had a mediocre knuckleball tonight,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russell Martin continued to swing the hottest bat in the Jays’ lineup. Serving as the designated hitter on Tuesday with knuckleball-whisperer Josh Thole catching Dickey, Martin reached base in all four plate appearances — two singles, a double and a walk — while driving in a pair of runs. Since Aug. 1, he’s hitting .313 with an OPS over 1.000. “He’s smoking hot right now,” said manager John Gibbons.
Before Tuesday’s game, Gibbons was asked why he inserted Darwin Barney in the leadoff spot with usual number-one hitter Devon Travis out with a minor finger injury.
“Who else?” Gibbons said, laughing. Since Barney was taking Travis’s place in the field, he might as well in the batting order, too, Gibbons reasoned, only half-jokingly. “It’s not all science,” he said. The notoriously capricious baseball gods must have liked that quip, as the lark paid immediate dividends as Barney — who entered the game hitting just .153 since the all-star break — doubled and scored to lead off the game.