Change is gonna come for changeup artist Estrada
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.— One damn pitch. It’s the Marco mantra, really, as a Blue Jay. That one damn pitch, homertattooed, he’d like to take back. A theme.
But this sucker, in particular, still rankles.
Oct. 14, 2015, Game 1 of the American League Conference Series versus Cleveland.
“I love the way I was throwing the ball. I still remember the freakin’ changeup I threw. I was trying to go down and away and I missed middle-in. It was so annoying. Who knows, if we win that game …”
He meant to bounce it in the dirt on an 0-2 count, induce a swing-and-miss by shortstop Francisco Lindor.
Except it hung up in the strike zone. Lindor smashed it for a two-run jack, the only scoring that night at Progressive Field.
Only that one blemish but it made all the difference, as Estrada threw a complete, eight-inning gem, striking out six. There was no offensive support, sadly, as Corey Kluber wiggled out of trouble repeatedly.
“The first four innings, we had Kluber on the ropes. We had runners on I think every single inning … Man, we just couldn’t score.”
Compared to the playoff games Estrada has won in Toronto — most notably staving off elimination by winning Game 3 in the 2015 Division Series against Texas and Game 5 in that autumn’s ALCS encounter with Kansas City (“Wow” was all that manager John Gibbons said when he came to the mound in the eighth inning) — hardly anybody else recalls the one that sticks in Estrada’s craw.
“That was a better performance and no one ever mentions it,” Estrada said Saturday, tripping down memory lane as his Toronto career likely winds to an end on the unofficial DL, shut down for the season with an ailing back in the wake of his 28th and final start last Monday.
“One pitch really did it all. No one very brings it up.” Chipped tooth grin. “That’s ’cause we lost.”
Yes, of course, there was more winning than losing in those back-to-back post-seasons, and an everlasting sense those Toronto teams should have gone further, especially the ’15 version.
Estrada, as one of the few holdovers, looks around this road clubhouse reflectively and with some disorientation.
“It’s baffling. Last year I was expecting another run. I know what happened – injuries, like always. We just had too many, couldn’t overcome them. Same thing this year.”
Now his contract is up, free agency pending, with the likelihood of tweaking any re-up interest from the Jays nil after a more-than-decent acquittal in Toronto (39-40 in 118 starts with a 4.25 ERA).
This season has been a travail for Estrada, as it has been for all his teammates. It should have ended with the changeup virtuoso on the bump in Sunday’s final game here, against the Rays. But is was wiser everyone agreed, for the 35year-old to ease into the offseason on rest and treatment for the back issue, which will include embryonic stem cell shots.
“We kind of figured, what’s the point?” said Estrada, wrapped inside of the blue velour robe that ex-Jay David Price gifted to all his teammates in the late summer of that wondrous 2015 season.
“These past few days, not playing catch or anything, it’s actually done a lot to help. Haven’t touched a ball in four days. I’m feeling pretty good.”
One last medical report for Estrada, circa 2018: He’s got a bulging disc and arthritis in one of his joints. The achy, stiffening bank he blames on a strained hip thingy that caused him to miss a start this past month.
It irks him, not going out there every fifth day. Estrada prides himself on that reliability even if, in retrospect, he concedes it would have been smarter to baby his body a bit.
“Probably. I look back and saw when this started and how bad my numbers got.”
With the exception of six tidy innings in Baltimore, albeit a 2-1 loss, a couple of weeks ago.
“It was a grind. I guess in terms of business aspect, it would have made sense to shut it down. But that’s not me. I don’t care about that stuff. It means a lot more to me to be out there every five days, regardless of what you’re dealing with. Everybody goes through these things. I’m not the only one who’s pitched through stuff.
“A lot of people do and those are the ones I respect, the ones who are out there all the time grinding through things. Because it’s a tough game. It’s tough when you’re healthy. And when you’re out there and you’re grinding and you’re not doing so well but you’re still out there, those are the people I respect.
“And I want to be one of those.”
Estrada is one of those, even if his tenure as a Jay feels like it’s spooling out with a whimper.
He’s a blue-collar kind of guy, Mexico-born and raised in an L.A. barrio by a single mom, with baseball steering him out of gang trouble. He married his high school sweetheart; she went to work so he could go to college.
Estrada is a decent fellow who recognizes that he’s been blessed, in a clubhouse where decency has ofttimes been in short supply. Riding the bucking bronco of that signature changeup that makes hitters look silly, when it’s on, when it’s obedient.
Nor does it put undue stress on his arm, which is why Estrada believes he’s got more baseball left in him, that some team will make an offer over the winter, if not the Jays. He’s not put off by Toronto’s teardown and rebuild.
“I’m a bit older now and I don’t know how many years I have left. I want to win. If (Jays) called me and said, ‘Listen, we are rebuilding’ … I would consider it still just because I do love Toronto that much.
“Hopefully they want to win and I’d be more than happy to come back.’’ He would be more than happy to mentor what will be a young pitching staff, with or without the return of Marcus Stroman and/or Aaron Sanchez, one or both of whom may be traded before the spring bivouacs open.
“I would love to. I think that’s the way my mindset works. I could help them out, maybe make the game a little bit easier in that aspect, where it’s not speeding up on you.
“And lead by example — just doing things the right way. (J.A.) Happ was great at that, didn’t really say too much, but the guy was a professional, just went about his business in the right way.”
Like Mark Buehrle did, another no-nonsense role model for Estrada.
“I think younger players, just watching me go out there, not really making a mess of yourself, always seeing that you’ve got a level head on your shoulders, that sort of thing, it goes a long way.”
It’s a wistful argument. It won’t cut any mustard with the wieners from Cleveland.