Suddenly, timing is a strength of Jose Reyes’ game.
Reyes picked the perfect time to stand his ground during that bizarre pop-up play that was part of Sunday’s comeback win — and with the Miami Marlins in town for three days, he’s picked the perfect time to play his best offensive baseball of the season.
This series will mark the first meeting between the Toronto Blue Jays and Marlins since the franchises-altering 12-player deal that was made before the start of the 2013 season. Only Reyes and Mark Buehrle are still with the Blue Jays; only shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria and catcher Jeff Mathis are healthy and with the Marlins (pitcher Henderson Alvarez is on the disabled list), and Hechavarria is hitting .308, including .360 in the last week.
At the time of the deal, I wrote and said that Hechavarria would essentially be the last, best man standing out of the transaction — that while the Blue Jays were trying to figure out what to do with the final two years of Reyes’ $22-million contract (besides getting him to move positions), the Marlins would be getting game-changing defence and steady offence from Hechavarria, who is third in UZR and defensive WAR among all major-league shortstops.
But I still liked the trade, because it made sense at the time for the Blue Jays. Some saw it as a short cut; I prefer to see it as general manager Alex Anthopoulos taking the temperature of the market and his ownership and deciding it was time to position the team as a factor in future player movement. If anything, the debate has been complicated by the fact it’s viewed hand in glove with the acquisition soon after of R.A. Dickey for prospects Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard, and that’s a trade Blue Jays fans will debate for eternity.
In the meantime, Reyes has hit safely in 11 of 12 games since coming off the disabled list due to a fracture rib, is 19-for-55 (.345) and had his ninth career three-steal game on the weekend. Anthopoulos couldn’t have been clearer this weekend when asked if there’s an in-season position shift in Reyes future. He is the shortstop, deal with it — and let’s accept the analysis of the deal provided by Marlins manager Dan Jennings, who was in the front office when the team made the deal.
“I think if you judge it fairly, it was a good baseball trade for both that probably was unfairly and overly scrutinized at the time because it appeared that the Marlins were throwing in the towel when, in truthfulness, we were hitting the reset button,” Jennings told reporters on Sunday. “They (the Blue Jays) were in go-for-it mode.”
EMBRACING THE HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE
There is a uniquely Canadian trait I’ve never known whether to love or hate: the tendency to look a gift horse in the mouth whenever we get a break from officiating in an event we’re hosting — or, worse, imagining an undeserved break.
I don’t know if it’s to convince everybody that we’re not as parochial as Americans, but it’s already surfaced after one match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, a 1-0 win on Christine Sinclair’s goal from the spot in injury time following an arm to the head of Adrian Leon by China’s Rong Zhao in the penalty area.
Referee Kateryna Monzul of the Ukraine was, indeed, brave to make the call. But let’s be clear: it was a penalty. It was not 50-50 or 60-40 or 70-30. Not making the call would have been much more egregious than making the call. Brave? That would have been brave.
Yet, the predictable hand-wringing has begun. Are we being bad hosts by being happy? Should we channel the guilt into an exaggerated sense of concern? No, let’s just be honest: a win on Saturday was predictable, all first match nerves and frustration and sloppy first touches against a team that parked the bus.
Realists will suggest it’s a timely reminder that this country will be life and death to make the semifinals — remember, that golden bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics came on a late goal in a game in which France played Canada off the pitch — but there were enough signs on Saturday this team can get out of the group stage.
Head coach John Herdman’s introduction into the game of 17-year-old Jesse Fleming, and the 22-year-old Leon, provided a much-needed shot of energy, and Josee Belanger’s marauding runs are a welcomed wide option that hasn’t always existed. Plus … three points, people. Three points.
You want to worry about something? Worry who’s going to score besides Sinclair. But, please, no more apologizing that a call went — properly — our way. Let’s not make it like the 2012 Vancouver Olympics, where the fun of the first week was almost missed because we were tripping over mea culpas for our home-field advantage.
Let’s not do that again, OK?
QUIBBLES AND BITS
• Giancarlo Stanton has hit five of the 10 longest home runs in the majors in 2015, including a 484-foot shot at Coors Field on Friday that is the longest HR hit in MLB this season. With the forecast for rain, the roof might be closed for all three games of the series.
• Mississauga’s Dalton Pompey is 2-for-9 with two runs scored and two RBIs since being sent down to double-A New Hampshire on Friday and you should know the possibility of Pompey being sent to the Eastern League was discussed by Blue Jays executives during spring training as a possibility should the centre-fielder struggle.
Two reasons: first, the Blue Jays reckoned that triple-A Buffalo’s proximity to Toronto would weigh on Pompey’s mind and might even be a distraction with his family so close. Second, Pompey will see more young, hard throwers at double-A and less ‘crafty’ veteran pitchers, which means more fastballs.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos says he doesn’t expect Pompey to be at the double-A level for more than a couple of weeks. Much was made of Pompey’s rapid rise through the minors last season; not enough has been made of the fact that one reason the Blue Jays left him at double-A for only 31 games was there were some concerns about the clubhouse culture at New Hampshire in 2015.
• There really should be a special place in hell for U.S. college football coaches. In fact, you could have a room for Nick Saban, the Alabama head coach, who is upset because the SEC has adopted a rule preventing transfers of players from other conferences who have been previously disciplined by another school for “serious misconduct” — chiefly, sexual assault, domestic violence, or other forms of sexual violence.
Saban is concerned that it gives other conferences a competitive edge, which is … well, where do you begin?
THE END GAME
You can make book on it: next year, Major League Baseball stadiums will have protective netting down the first and third base lines, as it is currently used behind home plate and as is common-place down the lines in Japanese stadiums.
The genie is out of the bottle, after Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal reported — following Friday’s incident at Fenway Park where a fan was hit by a shard from Brett Lawrie’s shattered bat — that the MLB Players Association requested the netting in the last two collective bargaining sessions. Baseball owners did not agree, citing the potential for de-valuing the fan experience in the effected seats, but they have no choice now. In fact, don’t be surprised if netting is put in before the end of the regular season.