Kevin Pillar tries to calm fans after Blue Jays drop six of past eight games.
TORONTO HAS LOST SIX OF EIGHT, TUMBLED OUT OF FIRST
Kin New York evin Pillar is not a team veteran nor is he particularly outspoken.
But the outstanding centre-fielder isn’t afraid to speak his mind and this week, in the midst of a three- game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, he did just that, assuring Toronto fans that the stumbling Jays are hungry and prepared to repeat as AL East champions despite the fact his team looked tired and sluggish at Yankee Stadium this week.
Toronto ( 77- 62) has dropped six out of its last eight, finished a nine- game road trip 3- 6, and this weekend the Jays face the dangerous Boston Red Sox ( 78- 61), who defeated the San Diego Padres on Wednesday to take sole possession of first- place in the AL East. Jays fans are starting to hit the panic button with just over three weeks in the season.
“No doubt,” said Pillar, when asked if he feels the fans’ angst. “I’m active on social media, I read stuff. And that’s their right as fans. You take the good, bad and ugly and everything in between with the fans. But ( this cold streak) is not because we don’t want to win or we’re not trying, it’s just how it goes sometimes.”
Toronto’s starting rotation has carried the Jays this year but it has struggled over the past week. Not since Aaron Sanchez’s win in Baltimore last Wednesday has a Jays starter earned a win. On top of that, the once-vaunted offence has cooled off, which is just as frustrating for the players as it is to the fans, said Pillar.
“None of us are trying to strike out or not drive in runs, we’re all trying to post and put up good numbers because we all enjoy what we do and we want to keep our jobs and guys want to win,” Pillar said. “So it’s not from a lack of care. At the same time it’s baseball, you’ve got to give credit to the other side sometimes when the pitching’s really good.”
The Jays struggled with all three Yankees starters this week, including 24- year- old Luis Cessa, who gave up two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings on Tuesday and an even younger Bryan Mitchell on Wednesday, who kept Toronto hitters off the board through five innings.
On paper, Mitchell seemed ripe for the taking. Making his season debut with the Yanks, he was 0-1 with a 4.29 ERA in six minor league starts this season. But the Jays couldn’t take advantage of that inexperience, going 0- for- 8 with runners in scoring position. Veteran starter Masahiro Tanaka picked up the win on Monday.
“People shouldn’t say we can’t hit. You have to give credit where credit’s due,” said Pillar, when asked about his club’s trouble against the Yankees’ rotation. “There’s going to be ups and downs in the season, guys are tired, beat up, a lot of guys are playing hurt, stuff that maybe the casual fan doesn’t understand. But I promise it’s not from a lack of care, a lack of try or lack of effort. It’s just baseball.”
The Yankees are rebuilding and have brought up a number of pitchers and position players from their farm system. Yet they played their way right back into the playoff picture with four straight wins ( heading into Thursday’s games) and are 10-4 in their last 14 games.
The Jays, one of the most veteran-laden teams in baseball, are going the other way. It’s no wonder the fan base is getting nervous.
“Yeah, everybody kind of seems more on high alert, they expect because we’re a first place team we should always beat a last place team,” said Pillar. “But these are all professionals, they’re the best players in the world, bad teams beat good teams all the time. Every day’s a mystery. That’s what makes baseball so beautiful.”
Baseball isn’t exactly beautiful to the Jays faithful at the moment. Still, a sweep at the Rogers Centre against the Red Sox this weekend, or at least a series victory, would do wonders for the mood in Toronto, and in the Jays’ clubhouse, which was extremely quiet after Wednesday’s 2- 0 loss.
Manager John Gibbons believes his club will benefit from an off day on Thursday given that a number of players, including catcher Russell Martin, who tweaked his left knee on Wednesday, are banged up.
What the Jays need is for one or two of their best players to catch fire — somebody like Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion or Jose Bautista, who seems to be receiving the majority of wrath from Jays fans at the moment.
Somebody has to put the club on his shoulders these last three weeks.
EVERY DAY’S A MYSTERY. THAT’S WHAT MAKES BASEBALL SO BEAUTIFUL.