TORONTO – To expect that Edwin Encarnacion and the Toronto Blue Jays could hit the way they did during their high-water mark stretch May 4-June 6 for the whole season would have been ludicrous.
During his 31 games over that 32-game span, he posted a .302/.382/.810 slash line with 17 homers and 33 RBIs. The team as a whole batted .278/.343/.491 with 53 homers and 167 RBIs while going 25-7.
It was video-game-like production.
Still, to also expect the drop-off on either side of that torrid stretch to be as steep as it was and is would have been ludicrous, too. Outside of that period, Encarnacion is batting .245 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs in 70 games while the club collectively is hitting .254 with 99 homers and 405 RBIs in 104 contests.
Yet here we are, the second-worst August in Blue Jays history in the books at 9-17 after Sunday afternoon’s engaging 4-3 comeback victory over the New York Yankees, with the swing from one extreme to the other to blame for squandering a season of promise.
To be fair, the right quad injury Encarnacion suffered July 5 in Oakland, right around the same time Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie also went down, have contributed significantly to that downfall. When Encarnacion and Lind returned earlier in the month the Blue Jays counted on getting a boost, but so far it hasn’t happened.
Timing, in more ways than one, has worked against them.
“I do a lot of different things to hit, sometimes I’m moving too much, sometimes I use my body too much, and it’s hard when you have your timing the way I have it,” said Encarnacion. “I hit with a lot of movement, and to get all those moves and put them together to get my timing is harder.”
The timing was there for him in the seventh inning Sunday, as reminiscent of those heady days in May, Encarnacion hit a game-tying solo shot, just his second homer since coming off the disabled list Aug. 15. Combined with solo drives from Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista (who went deep for the fifth consecutive game), the Blue Jays hit three homers in a game for the first time since knocking four out in Houston on July 31.
Add in that Encarnacion and Bautista homered in the same game for the first time since July 2, and you get a pretty good idea of why things have gone so poorly in August for the Blue Jays (69-67). They’ll head into September 10.5 games behind AL East leading Baltimore and five games back of Detroit for the second wild card.
“Things don’t happen the way you want it to happen sometimes,” said Encarnacion. “That’s why we’ve got to keep pushing, keep trying to put everything together and try to have a great September now and see what happens.”
The Blue Jays pushed across the winning margin in a different fashion later in the seventh, as Dioner Navarro walked against Brandon McCarthy, pinch-runner Steve Tolleson stole second and Munenori Kawasaki delivered a two-out RBI single off the hulking Dellin Betances to barely score his fellow infielder.
Casey Janssen, back out to handle the ninth a day after Aaron Sanchez closed out Saturday’s victory, worked around a bloop Jacoby Ellsbury double for his 20th save. A crowd of 45,678 stood as Derek Jeter, playing his final game in Toronto, hit a soft liner to Tolleson at second to strand the tying run at third.
“I could see the little fairy tale story being written,” Janssen said of facing Jeter, “but got that out of my head real quick and knew I had to attack him.”
Such a combination of power, timely hitting and strong pitching – JA Happ allowed three runs in seven solid innings – is what keyed them through the May-June stretch that created so much promise, but has been too infrequent since.
To have any hope of doing their part to make a miracle September rally even remotely possible, the Blue Jays will need the offence to reignite and Encarnacion must be a key part of it.
“Hopefully that’s the start of something,” said manager John Gibbons.
The only way it will be is if Encarnacion’s growing confidence in his quad ends in him regaining his rhythm at the plate. While he insists the leg feels strong with no pain and that he’s running cautiously by design to avoid risk, he admits “it’s not strong (as usual) and that’s why I’m trying to straighten my back leg right now, don’t be jumping at the ball, and stay more on my back side. That’s where I have my power.”
“I lost six weeks of playing (time), right now it’s very difficult to get my timing back,” he added later. “I know I’m going to play every day, I know I’m going to get it back, I just have to keep going, keep pushing and keep working hard.”
At their best, Encarnacion and Bautista can carry the Blue Jays on their backs but banking on that may be unfair. Similarly, to rely on the home run the way they do may be a problem.
“They win, it’s guaranteed runs,” said Gibbons. “When you get into trouble is when you start swinging for them, trying to hit them, but (if) you get a good pitch that you can hit out, that’s elevated a little bit and you elevate the ball yourself, we have so many strong guys. It’s a good home run hitting park, it’s a good home run hitting division. That’s kind of what we do.
“You still have to get your other hits, but we’ve been missing that.”
They have, and during a crucial month at that. Now, the reason for the disparities in their production, even with the injuries, is something for the Blue Jays must examine and address over the winter.