NEW YORK – The line can be thin between constructive navel-gazing and destructive finger-pointing once the reality that a season is lost really hits. That’s when true colours tend to emerge, as Mark Buehrle pointed out, and this final week should be revelatory for the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s in such circumstances that you get R.A. Dickey stressing how there’s always something to play for and that, “the hope is no one is mailing it in, and guys are still playing with heart.” Or bullpen coach Bob Stanley saying to Sportsnet’s Barry Davis that, “It’s about pride, pride in yourself. Some guys, it looks like they don’t have much pride in themselves.”
Cause for concern, no doubt.
Standing out amid the wreckage is Jose Bautista, who is putting the final touches on a masterpiece campaign and was the driving force in Saturday evening’s 6-3 victory over the New York Yankees, ending the Blue Jays’ season-high six-game losing streak.
He singled and scored on Edwin Encarnacion’s double in the first, walked in the third for No. 100 this season, walked and scored on Danny Valencia’s pivotal two-run double in the sixth, hit a solo shot, homer No. 34, to extend the lead in the seventh, and walked and scored on Dioner Navarro’s single in the ninth.
The results said leadership, but more importantly, so did the effort.
“I believe everybody in here is still playing hard every game,” said Bautista, adding later: “We had to deal with some adversity, some injuries, some people who didn’t perform up to their capabilities, which happens all the time, and having to deal with all that we couldn’t figure out how to win. We lost some of the consistency that made us successful when we were winning more games than we were losing, and if you try to assess what this team has done, yeah we’re in a difficult spot to make the playoffs right now but having to deal with all that and still have a winning record in this division is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Bautista’s efforts, combined with six strong innings from Marcus Stroman, who allowed two runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts in a home-state start he was able to make while appealing a six-game suspension, and some solid bullpen work from Aaron Sanchez, Brett Cecil and Casey Janssen, provided the Blue Jays some relief.
Improving their record to 78-76, they shaved their new magic number – wins needed to a .500 season – down to three.
Hey, it’s where things are at.
The catalyst in every Blue Jays rally, Bautista reached the 100 RBI barrier for the third time in his career Friday and broke the century mark in walks for the third time Saturday, becoming the first player in the majors to accomplish the feat this season.
“That puts you in an elite group amongst major-leaguers, 100 RBIs, 100 walks, good on-base percentage and driving in runs is what the game is all about when it comes down to it,” said Bautista. “I’m going to enjoy it in the off-season but we’re still worried about winning games here.”
Encarnacion, playing with inflammation in his back revealed in an MRI the day before, crushed a double in the first to cash in Bautista to open the scoring.
The Blue Jays gifted the Yankees a run in the third on a Derek Jeter single off a diving Steve Tolleson’s glove, a wild pitch and a Brian McCann single through the shift, and Stroman fell behind on a two-out RBI single by Francisco Cervelli in the fourth.
Things stood there until the sixth when Bautista led off with a walk, took third on Encarnacion’s single and a Stephen Drew throwing error. Chris Capuano then walked Navarro to load the bases for Valencia, who ended an 0-for-16 skid with a ground-rule double.
John Mayberry Jr.’s sacrifice fly made it a 4-2 game, Bautista’s first homer to right field all season added on in the seventh and Navarro padded the lead in the ninth, which came in handy as Jeter turned on a 97 mph Brandon Morrow fastball for an RBI double in the bottom half.
Janssen then took over and after hitting McCann with his first pitch, closed things out for his 24th save.
Stroman, described as being a little “wired” by manager John Gibbons during his previous start in Baltimore, was in total control throughout his six frames. The seven strikeouts ran his pitch count up to 107 through six innings, but he described himself as “definitely sharper than last time out.”
“My sinker was a little better, I had pretty good command, I was staying on the corners of the plate for the most part, I feel like even when they did beat me it wasn’t with a big homer, it was pretty much groundballs that were getting through holes,” said Stroman. “Any time I’m keeping the ball on the ground, that usually attests to me hitting my spots and being down in the zone.”
A decision on whether to drop his appeal, as expected, and begin serving his suspension hasn’t been made yet, he said, but he was able to shake off the heat that followed from his errant pitch to Caleb Joseph and throw his game.
“I’ve dealt with a lot worse in my life than that, so I’m able to put that behind me and really focus on the present and the task at hand,” said Stroman. “It really didn’t affect me at all.”
Bautista got into it with fans in the right-field bleachers, drawing their ire in the bottom of the seventh when he caught McCann’s fly ball and faked a ball toss into the stands, instead throwing it into the infield.
When he returned for the eighth, they booed him mercilessly, even after he tossed a ball into the stands, which was thrown back to the field. They proceeded to call him a certain orifice in a chant, afterwards, giving some good fun a nasty turn.
“They were chirping at me, I was blowing them some kisses, they got a little rowdy and threw a ball onto the field,” said Bautista. “At first I thought it was some innocent back and forth, but after the ball was thrown I decided not to continue to have the interaction because what’s going to happen next?”
What happens next is the bigger question before the Blue Jays, as a whole, too. A needed win cooled the temperature for one day, perhaps easing some of the raw emotion dominating the introspection.