The weekend couldn’t have gone better for the Toronto Blue Jays.
The club swept the Los Angeles Angels in record-breaking fashion to move into first place in the American League East while the New York Yankees dropped three of four to the Cleveland Indians and the Baltimore Orioles lost four straight to the fading Minnesota Twins.
And MVP candidate Josh Donaldson largely outplayed Mike Trout.
Before we look ahead to the upcoming series with the Texas Rangers, who now hold a playoff position, here are five takeaways from the three-game set with the Angels:
Revere shows his value: Ben Revere had a rather underwhelming start to his Blue Jays tenure – at least from an offensive standpoint – but the veteran outfielder showed why the club was eager to add him before the non-waiver trade deadline.
Revere started off the Angels series with an impressive 4-for-5 outing Friday night and finished the series with eight hits, six runs and three RBI while providing solid speed on the base paths and an improved contact rate.
It’s easy to understand why some fans continue to clamour for Revere to hit out of the leadoff spot, but this weekend’s series provided further evidence that he’s a better fit at the bottom of the Blue Jays’ order.
Estrada has been a pleasant surprise: No one would refer to Marco Estrada as an ace. However, the 32-year-old, who just so happens to be in his contract year, has been a stabilizing force for the Blue Jays rotation.
Estrada, who recorded his 11th win of the season in Saturday’s 15-3 shellacking, has allowed two earned runs or less in all but two of his starts since June 19 and has only allowed a total of three home runs over the past two months. That’s a significant improvement for Estrada after he led MLB in home runs allowed last season.
Manager John Gibbons recently compared Estrada to a right-handed version of Mark Buehrle and it’s hard to disagree with that assessment.
Edwin Encarnacion on fire: There’s no doubt that the Blue Jays are a much more potent lineup when Edwin Encarnacion is contributing offensively. The Angels had no answer for the 32-year-old, who drove in seven runs with seven hits over the course of the three-game series.
Encarnacion has recorded at least one hit in 19 straight games, dating back to July 26, hitting five home runs, 18 RBI with a batting line of .414/.476/.757 over that stretch.
Defence matters: It was hard to watch the ineptitude of the Angels defence this past weekend. The left side on the infield botched several plays in Sunday’s game after a strange display Friday night where C.J. Cron misplayed a few routine fly balls at first base.
It was a dramatic difference from the Blue Jays, whose team defence can be overlooked because of their offensive fire power.
By adding Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop and with Justin Smoak at first base and Russell Martin catching, the Blue Jays have arguably seven plus-defenders in their lineup, which was certainly not the case in Toronto over the past few seasons.
Smart move to bring up Thole: It is hardly ideal to carry three catchers or use a roster spot on a player whose only role is to catch R.A. Dickey every fifth day, but the Blue Jays made a very wise decision to bring up Josh Thole from triple-A Buffalo.
The move provided Martin with the additional rest as catching the knuckleballer has been hard on his body. He clearly looked to be labouring late in Wednesday’s loss to the Philadelphia Phillies when he could barely run to first base.
By using Thole – who would’ve been a September call-up anyway, behind the plate on Sunday, Martin was able to sit out both on Saturday and Sunday. Combined with Monday’s off-day, the Canadian catcher should be much fresher for the team’s upcoming series against Texas.
That is much more valuable than carrying Matt Hague as a pinch-hitter on the bench.
