Young Jays ride out storm with an eye on long game
Having a no-quit attitude is necessary amid the organization’s reinvention
A visit to Minute Maid Park in Houston to face the Astros is a daunting trip for any team, but a three-game series deep in the heart of Texas is a particularly formidable task for the struggling Blue Jays.
Before Saturday’s 7-2 loss the Astros — minus Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who sat out after taking a pitch off the left hand in Friday’s game — the Jays were hitting an American League-worst .221, while the Astros ranked second behind Minnesota with a .266 team average despite injuries to all-stars Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa.
On the mound, the Jays’ combined ERA of 4.74 — before Saturday starter Clayton Richard was knocked around for five runs in five innings — ranked in the bottom third in the AL, while Houston’s 3.50 mark sat third-best.
The Astros also own the league’s best home record at 2710, with the Jays now 13-23 on the road. The list goes on. What the rebuilding Jays have on their side as the losses pile up is a no-quit attitude, developed out of necessity in the face of adversity. Losing takes a toll, but they know they’re playing the long game and trust that perseverance will prevail.
“We went into spring kind of trying to build that,” said infielder Eric Sogard, who had two of Toronto’s six hits on Saturday. “I think this team really has to have that. We’re going to have some tough games this year, so to continue to have that attitude, to continue to battle every single day and give our best, we have to do that.”
Catcher Danny Jansen remembers veterans such as Sogard setting that tone early on, reminding younger teammates that baseball is a crazy game and anything can happen. Youthful enthusiasm is another motivator as several Jays get their first taste of the big leagues, win or lose, and the occasional come-from-behind win goes a long way — most recently an 11-7 victory over the New York Yankees on June 5 that saw Toronto score five runs in the eighth for the second of back-to-back wins over one of the league’s best.
“We’re a team that’s going to keep battling, no matter what the standings show or the records shown,” Jansen said. “We’re going to keep having the joy in the game, we’re going to keep fighting, give everything we’ve got.”
Jansen, a career .269 hitter in the minor leagues, has struggled mightily at the plate — batting a team-low .181 after an 0for-3 Saturday. With just 95 bigleague plate appearances before this season, the goal is for Jansen to get more comfortable and show progress, even if the stats don’t show it. But there are moments when Jansen admits he has focused too much on the results.
Like the team as a whole, though, he speaks confidently about what the future holds.
“Keep going, keep swinging,” Jansen said. Manager Charlie Montoyo and his coaching staff have reinforced that mantra every step of the way.
“I think starting from me and my coaches, everybody’s staying even-keeled,” Montoyo said. “Nobody’s throwing (expletive) around, nobody’s tense. It’s, ‘OK, let’s go. Let’s play.’ I think that helps, because I’ve been in places where the coaches are throwing stuff, everybody tenses. I think that helps. But all the credit goes to the players.”
Guerrero took batting practice Saturday is expected to return to the lineup Sunday, a little good news for the Jays after falling to 25-45.