Mr. Biagini, Mr. Joe Biagini: The 2017 Toronto Blue Jays

yikes.

Dumb comment I made about Bautista. You can't stir up the team when probably most of them thought the bat-flip was ridiculous.

Surprised at Pillar--just doesn't go along with everyone's perception of him. In general, I have mixed feelings about suspensions for saying stupid or hurtful things. If other players want to treat him like a pariah, fine, if sponsors want to bail, that's fine too. If a pitcher wants to drill him with a pitch, fine; if the pitcher's gay, even better. A suspension just seems like an empty gesture that's meant to wish away the incident. I don't know, maybe it's the best of a bunch of imperfect options.

his apology was a bit crappy, "i was angry blah blah" instead of you know, just straight up saying "i shouldn't have said that thing because it's offensive". but like, i dunno, the jays as far as i know don't do pride stuff or basically any hat-tip to the gay community at all - when even hockey teams do so- so maybe they could consider those kind of steps?

assiduously avoiding social media hot-takes about this which will be all pc/snowflake etc. lot of dumb fucks who want sports to be their safe space

(badly phrased i specifically mean dumbasses using the terms pc and snowflake complaining that he's even been made to apologize)

If the apology's sincere, I'm all for it; if he's apologizing for no other reason than he's supposed to, it's meaningless. When some student gives me a fake apology over something--the behavioural teacher often standing beside him/her, prefacing it with "Such-and-such would like to say something..."--I usually respond with the most lifeless "Fine" I can muster. It's meaningless.

I was thinking about Elvis Costello. He said something really stupid in 1979. The record company didn't fine or suspend him (that I can remember anyway); he did spend the next couple of decades and beyond haunted by the comment, trying to explain it and live it down. That's a much better consequence.

i still tell that story about elvis costello to anyone who will listen!

I should have been watching--Teheran plunked Bautista.

he took it like a champ. then scored.

big story from tonight is the Stroman home run!

also: Ceceliani (sp?) dislocated his shoulder hitting a home run. our b-team is starting to go down now.

jays have apparently called up anthony alford from double-a

Truth be told, a month ago I thought Bautista was finished for good. Thus far in May, including today:

.313/.421/.638, 7 HR

have to admit – I've had a minor man-crush on Alford for a while now. he has like, all the talent of Gose, but with a fucking brain. Someone said Coco crisp would be his ceiling comp, and that sounds about right to me.

whatever happened to mississauga's own dalton pompey?

concussion in spring training, still on DL iirc

looking more and more like his 2015 was a bit of an aberration tho, regardless of concussion.

yes, i don't think he would be expected to play, barring injuries

17-10 over the last month

seems close to 'true talent'

so that was some game today.

Stroman went into the game tonight 4th in the league in run support:

http://stats.nesn.com/mlb/getleaders.asp?rank=085

Reds starting pitching, good for what ails you.

Meaningful if you know the Skydome: Donaldson hit one into the 500s tonight.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/233384126/josh-donaldson-homers-into-fifth-deck-vs-reds/

holy shit! he must have been charging up the last several weeks

one win off .500

the jays low-A squad has the teenage sons of dante bichette and vlad guerrero, both of whom are absolutely tearing it up

yeah vlad jr is the top prospect for the jays apparently

i read a scouting report of his and he has like the exact same tools as his dad, lol. great bad-ball hitter, lots of power, huge arm

bo bichette's line in 64 pro games/283 plate appearances: .396/.456/.656

and he's two years younger than average in the leagues he's been in

and he's a shortstop, though he might be borderline there ultimately

insane

If Justin Smoak improbably keeps this going, he'll pull off one of those great Rich Aurilia/Jim Hickman-type outlier seasons:

Going into 2017 (per 162 games): .223/.308/.392, 21 HR, 65 RBI, 95 OPS+
2017 (projected): .288/.350/.559, 38 HR, 109 RBI, ~135 OPS+

I guess he always had decent power pro-rated.

judge just hit a 116.2 mph screamer that basically went right through pillar's glove

Guess Grilli didn't have it today.

Bo Bichette went 7/8 in Lansing's doubleheader today and is now hitting .400 and slugging .645. He only turned 19 in March. #BlueJays

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 16, 2017

him and Vlad Jr have me fucking pumped.

God, I wish this team would get to .500.

they can do it tonight – and pass Baltimore & possibly tie the Rays.
in theory.

Yes--definitely in theory.

blue jays fans: "hey, this disaster may be ending!"
blue jays: "hold my beer."

i'm going to the game sunday and hoping to grab one of those grilli aprons

This is ridiculous. It's like it's 1982 or '83, and there's this magical place called the Kingdom of .500 that we've never been to before, and we're just pushing our rock up the hill and getting nowhere.

Up 4-1, bottom of the ninth, two out, man on second, Royals come back to win 5-4. The Kingdom of .500 recedes.

Osuna picked a ripe time to have an existential crisis.

He's been doing so well. I'm really surprised by this.

I don't mean to make light of the situation, but could there be a worse match in sports than an anxiety-ridden closer? You've got to have ice water in your veins to do that job.

He said he feels fine on the field though. I think he's struggling with everything else in his life.

Well, he did good today.

Grilli DFA'd

vlad jr and bichette both invited to the futures game

after playing for brazil in the wbc, bichette will be on the us team in miami

Not that this year's Jays deserve such stature, but:

1978's famous "Boston Massacre," as the Yankees swept and caught the Red Sox in early September: 15-3, 13-2, 7-0, and 7-4, for a cumulative score of 42-9.

2017 version, still two innings to go: 7-4, 7-1, 15-1 = 29-6.

Smoak is the asg starting 1B!

nice

Osuna got off to a terrible start this year--he gave up runs in four of his first six appearances--but in 30 games since his ERA's under 1.00, and for the season his K/BB ratio is up in Jansen/Kimbrel territory, 47-3.