Blue Jay Across The Pond

We’ve made it through the first week of the 2024 regular season but it’s been a tough watch from a Toronto Blue Jays perspective.

Summary of The Week

The week started on the worst possible note as the Jays faced the reigning AL West and 2022 World Series Champions Houston Astros as Minute Maid Park. Game 1 saw Bowden Francis make his first MLB start but ultimately it wasn’t to be as the Astros roughed him up for seven earned runs on 10 hits through 5 1/3 innings. He gave up 2 home runs to Kyle Tucker and one to Yanier Diaz. On the other hand, the Astros lined up Ronel Blanco who was making his 8th career MLB start and he was flawless throwing a NO HITTER with the only baserunner for the Blue Jays being George Springer. The Blue Jays took Game 2 by a score of 2-1 where Springer was celebrating 10 years of MLB service at the place where it all started. José Berríos was dominant through 6 innings giving up one run to an Altuve homer but admitted to saying that: ‘He didn’t have his best stuff’. The winning moment was secured by Davis Schneider as he hit a 2-run homer off a Josh Hader slider to deep left field to secure the victory. In the finale, Chris Bassitt continued his rough start to the season giving up four earned runs through 4 1/3 innings in another shoutout victory for the Astros. On the flip slide, the Blue Jays only managed 1 hit from Daulton Varsho.

The Jays continued their road trip to Yankee Stadium hoping to fix their offensive woes. An earthquake hit the New York/New Jersey area just before the Yankees home opener but that didn’t faze Yusei Kikuchi who was brilliant through 5 1/3 scoreless innings raking up seven strikeouts on two walks. The Jays managed to score their runs on two wild pitches from Nick Burdi and Ernie Clement. In Games 2 & 3 starting pitching was a massive issue. Ace Kevin Gausman struggled with his velocity in the brisk conditions and didn’t make it out of the first inning. In addition, Bowden Francis also gave up five earned runs including a grand slam to Giancarlo Stanton in an 8-3 loss. At the end of the week the Jays rank:

Statistics Update

28th in batting average, (.193), 22nd in on base percentage, 29th in stolen bases, (1) and 26th in ERA, (5.46). Justin Turner leads the team in AVG, (.286), Alejandro Kirk in RBI’s, (6), George Springer, Guerrero Jr and Schneider in HR’s, (2). Turner also leads in OBP, (.400).

Let’s just say that’s NOT pretty!

The Week Ahead…

The Blue Jays will now head home to play a 3-game series against the Seattle Mariners who have the same record as Toronto through 10 games on the back of back-to-backs series losses. José Berríos will be looking to continue his great start to the season against Luis Castillo, (0-2 6.75 ERA). Bassitt will go in Game 2 against George Kirby and Yusei Kikuchi will be facing his former team in Game 3 against Logan Gilbert. To finish the week, Colorado will be coming into town with Kevin Gausman looking to redeem himself against his hometown team.

Moment & Jay of The Week

It was tough to choose between Schneider’s two run homer and Springer’s tribute video but I’ll have to go for the former as that was the winning moment. My JOTW this week goes to José Berríos for his good outing against one of the best offensive teams in baseball, (6 IP, 1R).