Ep. 35 - Torched by an Angel

Blue Jays Happy Hour

The Blue Jays squandered all the momentum and good vibes generated by last week’s 6-1 road trip to New York and Boston by falling three straight times to the lowly Angels over the weekend. Saturday featured a wonderful 30th anniversary tribute to the 1992 World Series winning team, and delivered on a hotly anticipated pitching duel between Alek Manoah and Shohei Ohtani, but other than that — and the performances of Ross Stripling and George Springer — there really wasn’t a whole lot of entertainment to be had. Shut out twice, blown out twice, flagging effort, brutal fundamentals, 22 runs allowed in three games to a team that had scored just 12 in its previous seven and had come to town on a six-game losing streak. Before the end of it the Jays even waved the most symbolic of white flags available to them, bringing Yusei Kikuchi in to pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth in lieu of burning another reliever — a similar strategy to the one employed on Friday, when both Kikuchi and Whit Merrifield were called on to pitch. It was ugly. And as I write this the Blue Jays sit in the third AL Wild Card spot, with the Baltimore Orioles — a team just one year removed from a 110 loss season! — only 1.5 games back. While losing and volatility are part and parcel of the sport, and nothing about a season is ever as good or as bad as it seems, there’s something special about this team’s ability to confound. Even those who have spent their entire lives in baseball are befuddled by this Jekyll and Hyde season. “I think the word that’s gonna follow the 2022 Blue Jays around for years to come is ‘streaky,’ right? We’ve had more highs and lows this year than any team that I’ve been a part of,” said Stripling to reporters following his Sunday start. He’s not wrong! And though that hardly means the season is doomed, it doesn’t exactly give one confidence about the possibility of a long, sustained postseason run, does it? Especially considering that the Jays have — or had — a real opportunity, beginning with this series, to beat up on some also-rans and tighten their grip on home field advantage in the wild card round. Not great! And on this week’s episode we talked about all that, the ‘92 team, Alek Manoah’s velocity, potential off-season contract extensions, potential off-season subtractions, Gurriel’s speed, Teoscar’s foot, Springer’s elbow, and more! Download the Callin app for iOS and Android to listen to this podcast live, call in, and more! Also available at callin.com