Happ makes case for regular turn in rotation
> BLUE JAYS 3 > PHILLIES 0
PHILADELPHIA— J.A. Happ’s career in Toronto has been filled mostly with disappointment and frustration.
Strictly a starter with the Houston Astros, the 6-foot-6 left-hander was shunted to the Blue Jays’ bullpen upon his arrival via trade midway through the 2012 season. He eventually made a handful of starts — a couple of them very good, most of them middling — but ended the season on the DL with a broken foot.
Then in 2013, following the club’s dramatic off-season remodelling, Happ was slated to start the season in Triple-A Buffalo, much to his chagrin. “I’m a major-league starter,” was his stolid mantra.
In the end he got his chance to start — thanks to Ricky Romero’s implosion — but barely a month into the season he was beaned by a screaming line drive that shut him down for the next three months.
This year, after a disastrous spring training, Happ — who’s in the final guaranteed year of a two-year contract extension — lost his spot in the Jays’ rotation and started the season on the disabled list with a back injury. When he was well enough to return, there was no role for him. His last outing came nearly two weeks ago, on April 23, when he mopped up 2.2 innings of a 10-8 loss to Baltimore.
But with Brandon Morrow out for at least the next two months, Happ now has an opportunity to prove he’s deserving of a better fate.
Making his first start of the season on Monday, he was solid if unspectacular, throwing five scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies to lead the Jays to a 3-0 victory — the first time in more than two weeks the club has strung together back-toback wins.
“He stepped up,” said Jays manager John Gibbons. “He left with the lead, gave us what we needed.”
Happ, who was drafted by the Phillies and enjoyed a breakout season here in 2009 (when he went 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA), looked understandably rusty — particularly in allowing four walks in his first four frames — but he limited and contained the damage. Given the long layoff between Happ’s outings, the Jays couldn’t have asked for more.
“It felt great. It felt like it had definitely been a while,” Happ said afterward. “I’m looking forward to the next one.” Even with Morrow’s injury, there was still a sense that this was a sinkor-swim outing for Happ — that he is merely keeping a rotation spot warm for Marcus Stroman, the energetic young prospect who was promoted from Triple-A Buffalo on the weekend. That could still be the case, but like Dustin McGowan on Sunday, Happ doesn’t appear willing to give up his job without a fight. “He’s where he wants to be,” Gibbons said, acknowledging Happ’s dis- satisfaction with the bullpen role. “So it’s his opportunity.” Staked to a three-run lead, the Jays’ beleaguered bullpen — responsible for three losses in the last week — was steady enough to secure the win, though they needed a little help from Jose Bautista, who preserved the shutout by gunning down Marlon Byrd as he tried to score on a sac fly in the sixth. From there, Aaron Loup, Steve Delabar and Brett Cecil combined to throw three scoreless innings. The Jays also won their first replay challenge of the season — a pivotal one — on a bang-bang play at first base in the eighth that kept the leadoff runner from getting on. Jose Reyes spotted Happ an early lead with the 19th leadoff home run of his career, a no-doubter to right field off Phils starter Kyle Kendrick. Melky Cabrera followed with his major-league-leading 46th hit of the season — he would later add his 47th — and was driven home by a fluky, just-fair fly ball dumped into shallow left field by Juan Francisco. The Jays added a third run off Kendrick in the second frame when Josh Thole drove Colby Rasmus home with a double to the gap.
So despite losing four straight series and eight of their last 12 games, the Jays now move into a four-way tie for second in the bunched-up AL East, just two games back of the firstplace New York Yankees.
Before the game, Gibbons admitted he was a “little bit” surprised his club hadn’t fallen further behind after losing 17 of its first 30 games.
“Guys are beating each other up, some of the other teams in our division have some key guys injured, which has helped us. But yeah, I am a little bit surprised. It’s there for the taking, I think.”
Brett Lawrie, playing second base during interleague play to keep Francisco’s bat in the lineup, left the game in the fourth inning with tightness in his right hamstring and is day-to-day.
“We don’t think it’s a big deal,” Gibbons said. “But a day or two will probably do him some good.”