Blue Jays taking their share of knocks
Knock-knock. Who’s there? Osuna. Osuna who? Couldn’t be Osuna enough for Roberto’s teammates and manager.
(Knock-knock is the little ritual shared by Osuna and catcher Russell Martin after a win, one rapping, the other opening an imaginary door.)
“The knock-knock?” grins Martin. “I don’t even know how it started. It’s, ‘knock-knock, who’s there, hey it’s me, we’ve just won the game, great!’ Just something fun. The fans seem to like it so that’s cool.” So. Knock-knock. Who’s there? Not Josh Donaldson, disappointingly for Tuesday night’s 41st home opener. Knocked out of the starting lineup on account of a tight calf and sounding like he wasn’t too pleased about that medical call either. Summoned as a bottom-of-the-ninth pinch-hitter, to chants of MVP!MVP!MVP!, but a full-count strikeout rather than cameo hero.
Knock-knock. Who’s there? Your 1-and-6 Toronto Blue Jays. Scuttling and scuffling home to the Rogers Centre lugging a franchisetying season start pffft, then kicking it up to 1-and-6 with a 4-3 loss to the Brewers. If, to a man, shrugging it off as inconsequential and aberrational and IT’S EARLY and calm downcalm down calm down.
“My understanding is that there’s a l-o-o-o-n-g season ahead,” Martin deadpanned, just before the Jays unwrapped their home season, their nine-game homestand, against Milwaukee. (And what’s with that, schedule-makers? Interleague play straight out of the chute, against the blah Brewers, rather an American League East adversary.)
“Look, we haven’t had a great start but there’s a lot of baseball ahead,’’ Martin continued, reassuringly, as yet another TV mike was shoved in his face, amidst the hyper media coverage that had the field crawling with reporters, often interviewing each other. “It’s a marathon. If you compare it to a 15-round fight, we’re barely into the first minute.’’
Further, 1-and-6 would not engender mass hysteria if this were, say, July. But puny on the very front end of the season magnifies crummy numbers across the board that have no ballast, including those microscopic batting averages for the likes of Jose Bautista and Troy Tulowitzki (two doubles, a pair of RBIs last night) and Devon Travis and .000 nada for Martin, hitless at the ballpark, an 0-for-17 slouch at the plate matching his career high (low), then surpassing it; a scuzzy team .150 (6-for-40) with runners in scoring position through that six-pack in Baltimore and Tampa.
Looking, we gotta say, not much hitting-different from the team that got sliced-and-diced by Cleveland pitching — steady diet of sinkers, sliders, fastballs up chased — in the AL championship series.
Bautista rejects the notion of Jays bats still stuck in those autumn doldrums, although opposing teams may well have taken copycat note of how Toronto’s offence could be neutralized, dealing inside-outsidehigh-heat.
“I think it’s too early to tell. Plus, we’ve got different guys in the lineup. Pitchers, no matter what, are always going to go with their comfort regardless of who they’re facing. It’s more who we’re facing and what their arsenals and repertoires are than necessarily what happened last year.”
At this point, we should acknowledge the very continuing existence of Bautista as a Blue Jay, his return to this park for a ninth home opener, which had seemed a fat-chance thing in his free agency off-season, halfway gone where good friend Edwin Encarnacion had led the way, except suitors didn’t beat a path to his doorstep.
“It feels great to be back,” said the slugger, who has defined a Blue Jays era. “That’s what my preference was. I’m excited to be here and looking forward to a new season and contributing and hopefully get back in the playoffs and this time seal the deal.’’
Bautista may get up their noses in Baltimore and Arlington but he rocks the house here. “I get a lot of love, not matter where I am, from Blue Jays fans. I don’t expect that to change any time soon.”
A sold-out crowd brought the love to ’em all during pre-game introductions, perhaps most volubly for Marcus Stroman — the World Baseball Classic stud — and Donaldson, who also took possession of his Silver Slugger award. So visibly frustrated with being sat down, with a calf issue not related to the calf strain he suffered, then rehabbed diligently, in spring training.
“My calf’s feeling a lot better today than it was even just yesterday,” Donaldson told reporters. “That being said, they want to take a little more of a cautious route than I would want to take but ultimately it’s their decision. They get paid to make those kind of decisions and they’ve had a lot more schooling in the situation than I have so I’ll take their word for it now.’’ Except it’s his calf. Calves which, Donaldson shared with the Star back in spring training, are too big. (Makes two of us.) Freakishly large around, he’s been cautioned to treat them with proactive conditioning respect.
“Maybe I need to go to a plastic surgeon and get them cut down a bit,” he joshed last night.
“On the real side about it, it’s just an issue that I’ve always had, kind of tight calves. It’s to the point now where we’re continually trying to find ways and methods to make sure that they’re OK. We’re doing out best to figure it out.’’
Maybe starting tomorrow, maybe starting by the weekend. Maybe pinch-hitting off the bench in the interim, manager John Gibbons said before the game, as the DH options are limited, with Kendrys Morales India-inked at that job.
Antsy, itchy, to resume his post in the hot corner, clearly. Versatile Ryan Goins was stationed there last night.
“That’s kind of why it’s hard for me to not be out there in the lineup,” said Donaldson, referring to fans’ anticipation. “Because this is a special day for all of us here in Toronto, for the players and the fans. It’s an emotional day for us, just to kind of get to relieve a little bit of what happened last year and then the new beginnings of this year.’’
Downside: Donaldson out, reliever J.P. Howell out with shoulder soreness.
Upside: Osuna in, ready for his 2017 debut, crick neck healed.
His return a boost to the confidence of the entire pitching staff, wouldn’t you say Gibby? Hell with them. “It does something for me.” Straightens out the ‘pen though. “Our bullpen has pitched pretty good,” the manager countered, taking his relievers off the hook for Toronto’s defeats. “But when your closer’s back, it makes it much easier, that’s for sure. The key is to get a lead and let those guys work with it a bit.
“We haven’t won too many games, it’s pretty obvious. But we’ve been in every one of them. Big hit here or there, big pitcher here or there to get out of an innings, might be looking at everything differently right now.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” Wry smile. “Somebody said that before?” Knock-knock it off, skip. Knock it off Jays too, any time now?