TORONTO – The city’s sporting spotlight belongs solely to the Toronto Blue Jays after the Maple Leafs’ elimination from the NHL playoffs, and they put on an impressive display Tuesday night for any fans getting reacquainted with them.
This was a lot more like how the Blue Jays were supposed to play when they were put together during the off-season, R.A. Dickey strong over six innings despite concerns his fingernail might crack, and Melky Cabrera pacing a relentless offence that piled up 18 hits in a 10-6 thrashing of the San Francisco Giants.
“We’ve been playing better baseball,” Dickey said. “Outside of a couple of plays tonight, I felt like we were a pretty good baseball team, we pitched well, we played pretty good defence, we hit with runners in scoring position, we got a lot of big two-out hits, we did a lot of good things and that’s what we’re seeing more and more of over the course of the past week and a half, to two weeks.
“I certainly think it can be a jumping-off point for us, but we’ve tried to take the mentality of just win today, don’t try to get eight games back in one night.”
The defending World Series champions looked like anything but that, making two errors that ended up in the boxscore and several others that did not, playing the type of sloppy ball their hosts made a habit of during a dismal April.
They’ve cleaned that up and times have gotten better for the Blue Jays since then, currently on their second three-game win streak of the season, in position to win consecutive series for the first time this year when Ramon Ortiz starts Wednesday against Ryan Vogelsong.
Cabrera reached on an error in the first, triggering what turned into a six-run inning, and proceeded to add hits in each of his next four at-bats while fighting through tightness in his left hamstring that will be examined through an MRI on Wednesday.
Not a bad way to cap things off after being presented a World Series ring by Giants manager Bruce Bochy during a brief pre-game meeting in the Rogers Centre weight room.
“He was pretty excited about,” manager John Gibbons said. “It’s a nice ring, by the way.”
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WHERE THINGS STAND: Back home after a 4-3 road trip, the Blue Jays (16-24) picked up their sixth win in the past nine outings before a crowd of 31,753. They wrap up the two-game set with the Giants (23-16) Wednesday before heading to New York for a three-game series against the Yankees that starts Friday.
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REUNITED: Melky Cabrera didn’t leave the Giants under the best of circumstances after he was told not to return once his 50-game doping ban in early August had been served, but there was no ill will for him Tuesday.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy presented him with a World Series ring and Cabrera appreciated the gesture.
“I’m very happy, I got a chance to talk with Bochy before the game,” Cabrera said in comments interpreted by Luis Rivera. “He told me that he knew I contributed for that team to win, and was a big part of making it to the World Series. People make mistakes, you just continue to play and move on.”
Controversially, Cabrera never faced his teammates after the suspension was handed down and that reportedly left some of the Giants irked at him. Asked why he didn’t address the team, Cabrera replied: “When they heard the news, somebody told me it was better for me to leave. That’s the reason I didn’t talk to the players. I would have liked to talk to the players, but somebody told me to leave.”
Meanwhile, Cabrera is set for an MRI on Wednesday to examine why his left hamstring is so tight, and while GM Alex Anthopoulos mentioned the DL as a possibility, the outfielder said, “I’m going to play, I know my legs are a little tight, but I want to be on the field.”
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DOMINANT DICKEY: The tightness in his back between the shoulder and neck finally ebbing, R.A. Dickey started to look like the pitcher he’s been for most of the past three seasons, and he did it while briefly concerned that his fingernail might crack.
The last time that happened the Boston Red Sox pounded him for eight runs, seven earned, in 4.2 innings, but it didn’t this time, and the Giants managed only two runs on six hits and two walks over six frames, striking out 10 times in the process.
“I’m starting to heal up from (the back injury), I’ve been battling it for some time and it’s still faintly there,” Dickey said. “As the game goes on, before it would tighten up from time to time, now it’s actually loosening up as we get deeper into the game, so that’s a great sign.
“I feel pretty comfortable with my (release point) and mechanically, I felt like those last three innings I was right where I needed to be and that’s something to build off of for my next outing. And as we get a little deeper into the season here, I feel like the humidity is a little bit better, the summer is starting to come, so there’s a lot of things in my favour, I feel like as we go forward.”
Dickey gave up a Nick Noonan RBI single in the second and a Brandon Belt solo shot in the fourth but was otherwise able to avoid trouble. Hunter Pence opened the sixth with a double before Dickey struck out the side to end the frame, pumping his fist after Noonan swung through pitch No. 115.
“You just feel like it’s about time that you’re getting the swings and misses that you’re accustomed to getting and are ahead of hitters like you normally are,” Dickey said. “I have not been as efficient as I’m accustomed to being with my pitch counts, I’ve been behind hitters a lot and really feeling for the knuckleball. That last inning was like the overflow of feeling a little bit of satisfaction in that moment.”
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HITS KEEP COMING: In Sunday’s 12-4 thumping of the Red Sox, the Blue Jays pounded out a season-high matching five home runs but did all their damage without the long ball against Barry Zito and the Giants.
They also spread the offence around, as every starter but Henry Blanco collected a hit and seven different players, including pinch-hitter Adam Lind, collected at least one RBI.
That type of balanced attack is atypical for a club that usually relies on the home run, and is perhaps a sign that its batting average and on-base percentage (.237 and .301, 13th and 14th in the AL to start the day) is reverting to the mean.
“Against good left-handers that can pick the plate apart, especially away on you, and then change speeds, you’ve really got to stay on the ball, you’ve got to stay out over the plate, that’s where they make their living,” manager John Gibbons said. “We got some big hits the other way … a lot of good hitting. You can still hook it and put it in the seats, but you’ve still got to be able to cover away.”
Dickey had been getting only an average of 2.1 runs in support prior to this outing, so he really appreciated the breathing room.
“Ahh, that’s nice,” he said. “The offensive output is great, it’s great to see a lot of guys get involved, it was a real community win, and it can be fun when that happens.”
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THE STINK-EYE: Maicer Izturis was thrown out trying to steal third after hitting a one-out double in the fifth inning, and upon returning to the dugout, a clearly irritated manager John Gibbons shot him a death stare.
Izturis walked over and explained himself, although Gibbons still didn’t appear impressed.
“That was a miscommunication on signs,” Gibbons said.
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TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: Reliever Brad Lincoln surrendered an RBI double to Brandon Belt in the eighth and a three-run shot to Pablo Sandoval in the ninth, the third of three two-out hits. Esmil Rogers came on to get Guillermo Quiroz to fly out and end the game.
