Hits, music all about volume
The music blasting loud in the clubhouse is the Dave Matthews Band, a blessed relief from the thumpa-thumpa rap that usually bounces off these walls.
(And for that we can thank Luke Maile, who has seized control of the sound system.)
The soundtrack inside the inner sanctum of the Blue Jays universe has served as accompaniment to the team’s season, a kind of audible mood ring, fading to creepy silence while the losses mounted, such that an interloper could hear the swish of towels, the cheek-slap of cologne, the sotto voce conversations.
It’s been wall-to-wall clamour over the past four days, like guitar solo screeches and the timpani of drums to match four wins in a row, with Toronto feasting on the woebegone Orioles, on Sunday banging Baltimore to the tune of 13-3, equalling the club’s seasonlong winning streak, racking up 19 hits, the offence suddenly alive and very noisy.
It was only Toronto’s second series sweep of the 2018 campaign but let’s not quibble. The Jays departed the Rogers Centre on a 4-2 homestand grace note, their charter pointed toward the Tampa Triangle, where they have historically been chum for the Rays. But they overtook the Rays for third place in the American League East on Sunday.
“Yeah, the Battle of Tampa,” snarked manager John Gibbons about the three-game set looming.
Standings are not front of mind for the skipper. “We need to just win as many games as we can, you know. Four good ones here, go down there, hopefully we’ll win some more. Maybe get on a nice roll. I think we’re capable of that.”
They are feeling entirely chuffed with themselves. Nothing wrong with that. Been down so long, the B-O-I-N-G has put some wind in their sails, some lead in their pencil, to mix and match metaphors.
It’s entirely possible the Jays blew their wad in one spectacular afternoon. There’s often little rhyme or reason to these things. Or rather, the rhyme and reason most frequently swirls over the mound. Toronto’s starting rotation has reeled off seven straight quality starts.
On the hitting end of the spectrum, the Jays had a season-high four home runs yesterday, courtesy of Kendrys Morales (No. 5), Curtis Granderson (No. 6), Teoscar Hernandez (No. 10) and Kevin Pillar (No. 7).
There were three singles off the bat of Randal Grichuk, who raised his average by some 70 points against Baltimore, the cheer of the crowd like music to his ears after so miserable a start to his tenure as a Jay.
The glitziest flash, though, radiated from Granderson who, in his 15th year as a major-league ballplayer, collected a career-high half-dozen RBIs, driving in Toronto’s first two runs with a second inning double, collecting a three-spot off his fourth inning jack to right-centre and, for dessert, a fifth-inning double. He finished 4-for-5 with a walk, his first four-hit game since 2016.
Thirty-seven years old, the eminence grise of the Jays, he still emits the enthusiasm of a Little Leaguer.
“I didn’t even know about it until other guys started telling me,” said Granderson of his RBI apogee. “It’s really cool to be able to do that and, obviously, help the team win. Never something you go into a situation saying, ‘OK, I’m going to try to do this today.’ But the cool thing about this game is every time you do stuff on the field, something can happen that’s never happened before.”
The dinger, off Baltimore starter Alex Cobb, came on a 3-0 fastball right into his wheelhouse. Granderson, though he had the green light, doesn’t usually swing on 3-0. “Early on in my career I didn’t like hitting 3-0. But as I’ve had more opportunities to do it and learn that I’ve still got to stay within myself, I still have to get a pitch to hit, I still have to try to put a good swing on it, I’ve been able to put myself in a situation where I can trust that I can do it and hopefully have some success.”
And, yeah, with a grin splitting his face, he acknowledged it was sweet, it was savoury, especially that six-pack of RBIs.
“You always see certain accomplishments happening over the course of not only your career as a player but as a fan watching the game. I was talking to (Devon) Travis about it. I said, it’s crazy to think that guys have gotten 10 RBIs in a game. It’s really neat and you marvel at opportunities when you do get a chance to do something that you hadn’t ever done. Because I’ve been playing for so long. And you realize, this should have happened by now.
“It shows how difficult this game is.”
But so gratifying when the game is being kind.
It is kindly toward Grichuk now, after his return from rehab for a right knee sprain, during which he altered his mechanics and changed his batting stance, more of a straight-up silhouette at the plate.
“It’s allowed me to put borderline pitches in play and I’m laying off pitches outside the zone for the most part, not missing my pitch. Kind of eliminating some holes or at least shrinking them.”
This, he says, was the Grichuk he wanted to show fans from the moment he got to Toronto. And his confidence is soaring. “When they say the game is 90 per cent mental and 10 per cent physical, it’s definitely not an exaggeration. I feel that hits are contagious. You get a hit, your mind relaxes, your body relaxes.”
Burgeoning self-confidence — positiveness restored — has also stiffened the spine of starter Marco Estrada, who recorded a season-high nine strikeouts over six-plus innings, basking in the glow of a standing ovation as he departed the bump, albeit after surrendering a home run to Jonathan Schoop, a pair of them on the day, but no harm done with the kind of run support he enjoyed. Estrada is now 3-6 on the season.
A scrivener suggested no Toronto starter wants to break the recent streak of quality starts.
“Ah man, I might have to knock on wood now,” Estrada said. “No, we’re pitching great, we’re pitching the way we’re supposed to be. We’re starting to find our groove and everybody seems to be putting it together.”
Estrada’s changeup, in particular, has been more obedient and befuddling again. “The swings and misses that I want, or even just seeing the guys out in front of those changeups, it’s all I’m looking for.’’
Such a stark transition from the Jays team of just last week and a brace of dispiriting lateinning losses to the Yankees.
Granderson: “You realize that things can change really quickly ... But you also have to understand that it can easily switch back.”