TORONTO – Easily forgotten amid the valid concern about injuries to Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie, not to mention the drudgery from two-plus weeks of offensive ineptitude, is that the Toronto Blue Jays remain a pretty deep offensive club.
Yes, their lineup has issues beyond who’s missing, and the batting order certainly has some outs in it, but should someone like Adam Lind suddenly get hot, and his return to the starting lineup in Monday’s heartening 8-3 rout of the New York Yankees certainly bodes well, they can survive this predicament.
Are there flaws on this team? Absolutely. But there’s no need for the panicky and fatalistic portions of the fan-base to climb up on the ledge just yet.
Really, the type of game the Blue Jays (43-35) played in beating the Yankees (39-36) for just the second time this season, before a crowd of 31,554, is exactly what they need to do more of in the weeks ahead.
"It’s going to be hard," Lind said. "We all know you’re not going to replace Jose Bautista. But if we play as a team and do our jobs in certain situations, hopefully we can maintain where we are."
Beyond the obvious of delivering key hits – including Lind’s three-run homer in a six-run second – the Blue Jays were also crisp in the field, with Edwin Encarnacion stealing a couple of hits at first base and Anthony Gose smashing into the wall in right to snag Brendan Ryan’s drive in the sixth.
Marcus Stroman tied it all together with his best start in the majors, allowing just a run on three hits and a walk over eight outstanding innings. Lasting just 3.2 innings against the Yankees last week in the Bronx, he was efficient and overpowering this time, his slider a devastating weapon that helped him match a career-best with seven strikeouts in his longest outing of the year.
"It was just more down, where last time I was probably hanging it, leaving it up in the zone a little more," Stroman said of his slider. "Just more conscious about it, really getting on top of it, really pounding it into the lower part of the zone."
The total effort in the opener of a nine-game homestand was an ideal response to a 3-7 road trip that capped a 5-11 stretch in which the Blue Jays were outscored 75-49. They’re still 1.5 games up on the Baltimore Orioles and moved 2.5 games up on the Yankees for top spot in the AL East.
"I don’t think (the injuries) should be blown out of proportion and I think we have capable guys who can fill in on a short-term basis and hopefully do a great job," Bautista, who is day-to-day with a mild left hamstring strain, said before the game. "Certainly the other guys that are in the lineup who are still regulars, they’re plenty good to carry the offence and the team on the field."
Lind’s done that before, and he showed no ill-effects from the bone bruise atop his right foot that limited his work the past week. His RBI single opened the scoring in the first off Chase Whitley, and he walked and came around on Dioner Navarro’s run-scoring single in the fourth.
"Lindy’s a big part of this offence, and he kills right-handers," manager John Gibbons said. "We’re not the same team without him in there."
Further helping matters was that the bottom of the lineup wasn’t the black hole it’s too often been. Juan Francisco – subbing in for Lawrie while he recovers from the broken right index finger that will sideline him 3-6 weeks – Munenori Kawasaki and Gose, who reached base three times, started the pivotal rally in the second.
Gose will platoon in right field with Pillar until Bautista recovers, and that’s expected to be relatively soon. While the star slugger won’t rush back his return at the risk of exacerbating the strain he suffered stretching for first base Sunday in Cincinnati, he’s expecting to avoid the disabled list.
"If I feel like I’m going to make it worse by starting to play again, I’d be doing the team and myself a disservice," he said. "I’ve got to know that I’m at least not going to make it worse.
"If my recovery becomes slower, or if I still have to deal with some pain playing, I can handle that, but if there’s an increased chance of me making it worse by playing, I can’t do that."
Lawrie’s loss is more complicated and while GM Alex Anthopoulos – currently taking stock of the club’s farm system – is canvassing the league for potential infield help, the Blue Jays will probably need to make do with what they have for now.
"Brett’s a tough guy to replace, he really is," Gibbons said before the contest. "He’s having a great year, you guys know what he does defensively, offensively he’s been clutch for us all year. And he brings that energy, too. We got some low-energy guys, so that’s part of it, too, he livens things up, so it’s not only his play on the field, we’re going to miss some of that, his toughness."
Still, as Gibbons said of his players later: "They know what we’re up against. We were struggling to begin with, and I think we’re overdue, I think we’re due to start playing some better baseball."
The Blue Jays did that Monday, and while one clean and decisive victory is no panacea, it’s certainly a reminder of how a few improvements can go a long way in compensating for their recent troubles.