A Few Observations From The Toronto Blue Jays’ Season Opener
With the 2012 season officially underway for the Toronto Blue Jays in the form of the longest opening day game (by innings) ever, lets revisit today’s scene from Progressive Field in Cleveland and recount some things the game taught us:
- JP Arencibia cares not for batting averages; he knows the old saying about chicks and the long ball. Odd factoid: today’s opening day home run marks the 3rd straight time the catcher has hit a home run in a season debut. Arencibia hit a pair of homers in his MLB debut back in August of 2012, and then another pair on April 1st last season. The batting average is probably never going to look pretty, and he looked lost against some breaking pitches. Still, as he showed in the 16th inning of today’s historic contest, there’s just no substituting for game-changing power. Now if he could be less of a 2-outcome guy…
- Ricky Romero didn’t look all that great today, as the Blue Jays ace ran into trouble early, giving up 4 runs on 3 hits and a pair of walks in a 50+ pitch 2nd inning. I know it’s early, but Romero’s peripherals from ’11 suggest that a regression is coming this year, and I can’t help but wonder how far Ricky’s numbers will drop this year. If you were going by pure talent, you’d probably put Romero (and everyone else in the starting 5) behind Brandon Morrow; but I will say that Romero’s poise in recovering after the disastrous 2nd (0H, 1BB in final 3 IP) is what keeps him at the top as a leader on the team.
- Did anyone actually think John Farrell’s gambit of running a 5-man infield (runners at 1st & 3rd, 1 out in the 12th) would actually work? Having Omar Vizquel come in to replace Thames in “left field”, counting on Luis Perez to coax an inning-ending double-play ball was a stroke of (accidental?) brilliance that was somewhat unexpected of the manager. What other crazy things will he think of throughout the season?
- …like, holding on to your best reliever until you have a lead in extra innings? Let’s just say saving closer Sergio Santos until the 16th inning was a puzzling piece of bullpen management. Next time, let’s see the best guy when the game is on the line, yes?
- Eric Thames’ victory lap for winning the battle for left field didn’t go all that well. Not only did he go 0-for-4, he also showed significant defensive defiencies out on the field, misplaying at least a couple of fly balls that turned into hits. He didn’t get charged with an error today, but it definitely wasn’t pretty. Expect to hear “Snider would’ve had that” more than a few times until this season.
- What exactly was Rajai Davis thinking in the 15th inning, when he bunted with men on 1st and 2nd, and then stood around to admire his handiwork instead of, you know, running to 1st base? It was a bizarre, lazy double-play, to put it lightly. I assume someone’s going to give that guy a good talking to. When small ball is basically your only game on the team, you should probably do that properly, eh Rajai?
- Raise your hands if you thought “Lawrie is totally going to go 0-for-6 on opening day”. Anyone? Even uglier is Rasmus’s 0-for-7, though he did hit a couple of balls well (that turned into fly outs). I still believe in Rasmus’ talents, but his lackluster spring has already riled up a segment of the Blue Jays fan base. He’ll have to be weary of the hometown hounds all year.
- Amusing moment of the day: When Perez (Dominican) nearly hit Choo (Korean) in a bench-clearing incident late in the game, the crowd at Progressive Field started a “USA! USA!” chant. That the team is named the Indians is a cherry on top.
- Heroic moment of the day: to show those silly Americans how chanting is done, a contingent of Blue Jays fans managed to start a “Let’s go Blue Jays” chant in enemy territory.
That’s all for today, then. The Blue Jays and Tribe will go back at it on the weekend, after a day off tomorrow. Considering they just played 16 innings worth of baseball, both teams will probably need it. I’ll probably have some time by then to come up with a proper name for these posts.
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Some funny observations you made Tom – but I have to take issue with a couple of your contentions. 1) Ricky is due for regression: fact – it was cold weather, tough conditions for baseball grip & feel – 11 Blue Jays walks tonight in total. Wasn’t just Ricky. He only gave up 3 hits, and he toughed out 5 innings. Not great, but damage control. He’ll be better. So will the control of the bullpen.
2) Strategy: Santos – you’re on the road – so why in the world ever use your closer before you have the lead? When you do eventually get it, you’ll need someone to finish the game. And if it’s a non save situation, it’s not his scenario. Why waste him, especially when you might for the last 2 games? Santos can’t win you the game. But he did get the save.
Thanks for the comments.
1) I don’t disagree that Ricky will be better, though me saying that he’s due for regression isn’t based on the the one start alone. I like the guy, but his career sub-3 ERA year doesn’t pass the smell test, not when he didn’t significantly improve his K/BB ratio, and his HR/FB rate actually jumped. He wasn’t a significantly better pitcher last year than he was in ’10 (if you happen to count WAR value, he was actually worse).
That’s not saying I don’t believe in Ricky though. He was still pretty good in ’10. I think the ability to lead a staff is more than just talent, and Ricky showed that after struggling in the 2nd.
2) I think I’ll just say I’m not a believer in holding on to your closer only when there’s a save situation on the line. Santos could have come in on a couple of situations, most notably in the jam that led to the team playing a 5-man infield with one out and the winning run at 3rd. Gotta to bring in your best guy to prevent the winning run from being scored.
It was a tough cold day to pitch in but in saying that the Indians pitcher wasn’t having any problems. His sinker was nasty. Arencibia looked lost at the plate until he got a fat off speed pitch up in the zone. I expect D’Arnaud to suplant J.P. At catcher. The jays may keep both and have two young catchers one offensive and one defensive to have a double barrel attack at that position but jp will have great trade value if they go that route. Lawrie better expect a steady diet of off speed pitches this year until he proves he can hit them and cause damage. If he makes the proper adjustments look out. It’s early in the season and I think morrow will be the best pitcher on the jays this year. As for the advanced metrics in Romero pointing towards a regression of sorts even if he slips to a mid 3 era he will still be above average and win games.