TORONTO – Sunday might go down as the day baseball ceased being a video game or a televised spectacle for Dalton Pompey. It might go down as the day it became real; the day his wondrous, rocket ride from Mississauga to the majors became a business.
This much is for certain: it’s already gone down as a day when another Blue Jays player left the game early due to an injury. This time, it was rookie second baseman Devon Travis, who was hit in the ribs by a pitch from the Atlanta Braves’ Shelby Miller, then came out after he was forced to dive back to first on a pick-off attempt. X-rays were negative, but Travis is day-to-day with a rib contusion.
But back to Pompey.
“When I used to watch [major-leaguers] on TV, I used to think they were pretty much perfect people and they made all the plays and they never made mistakes,” the 22-year-old Pompey said quietly, after publicly apologizing to his teammates, fans and coaching staff for a grievous fielding mistake on a day when Daniel Norris needed the widest possible margin for error. “My whole life, I’ve played aggressively and for some reason I haven’t been as aggressive as I can be these past 10 games. I need to take a situation like this and go back to being the player I was.”
The Blue Jays dropped a 5-2 decision to the Atlanta Braves in front of 44,794 at Rogers Centre — the first time Toronto’s lost consecutive home series since late August of last season — and it was a fielding miscue on a Jonny Gomes’ liner with two out in the first inning that cleared the bases.
Gomes was credited with a double, but the runs were all on Pompey, who broke in on the ball then never really recovered his sense of place or balance.
“That ball, you just stay turned and you’ll be fine,” manager John Gibbons said.
The vicissitudes of youth, eh?
“If you’re going to commit to them, you better be able to live with a little bit, any way,” Gibbons said.
The loss left the Blue Jays with a 6-7 record and a 2-5 mark on a 10-game homestand that continues Tuesday when the Baltimore Orioles play the first of a three-game series at Rogers Centre, and there was very definitely a whiff of not-ready-for-prime time about things.
Norris hung around for just 2.2 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits while throwing 66 pitches and this was not all on Pompey by any stretch. He was up high in the strike zone throughout the game, and later said he was feeling the effects of what he referred to as a “dead arm.”
These things come and go for major-league pitchers, but here’s a hint for Norris, usually it’s not mentioned publicly by the pitcher. Some things are better off not said.
“I’m trying to over-compensate,” said Norris (1-1). “So it’s really tough for me to feel that late life that I was used to in spring training. So, I’m just trying to battle through that.
“I can definitely battle through it. I feel 100 percent fine it just doesn’t come out like it usually does. Even when I throw one that says 93 or 94 [miles per hour] on it I can’t really command it the way I’m used to. It’s mentally exhausting to find a way to generate a little bit of momentum.”
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Miller (2-0) held an opposing team to two earned runs or less for the eighth time in his last nine outings dating back to last season, when he was with the St. Louis Cardinals. It was his second start at Rogers Centre against the Blue Jays, to go along with a three-hit shutout he tossed in Toronto in an interleague game on June 7 of last year.
The Blue Jays came into that game leading the American League East by six games, their high-water mark for the season. They lost four of their next five after Miller carved them up.
The good news for Gibbons, Pompey and Norris is that the Blue Jays have Monday off. Time to re-calibrate and time to make some decisions, perhaps.
Gibbons said the organization might not make a move to address Travis’ status, saying that for now the plan is to have Jose Reyes back in the lineup on Tuesday — he will be limited to hitting from the right side after leaving Thursday’s game with soreness in his left ribs caused in part by a small fracture — and to see how Travis feels after the day off.
Meanwhile, Pompey’s bad day coincided with the continuing encroachment of Michael Saunders, who is rehabilitating his way back to the majors where he will take away playing time from either flavour of the month Kevin Pillar or, if Pillar shifts to centre field, Pompey.
The Blue Jays made a move before Sunday’s game and it paid immediate dividends, with left-hander Jeff Francis coming on in the fifth inning and striking out three and walking two in 3.1 solid innings of relief. Francis’ contract was selected from Triple-A Buffalo, while Colt Hynes was optioned to the Buffalo Bisons.
If there was a plus to the game, it was the 6.1 innings of shut-out pitching by the bullpen and more remarkable defence from catcher Russell Martin.
Martin, whose two-run double to right field in the sixth provided all the Jays offence on a day when they managed just five hits, threw out Cameron Maybin on a strikeout-throw out double play in the first after Maybin led off with a single. He also caught Gomes straying off second base for the second out of the eighth.
Pompey’s miscue on Gomes’ liner wasn’t his only mistake. In the third inning, he air-mailed a throw to third base with Freddie Freeman alertly reading the slow turf and going from first to third on a Chris Johnson single. Freeman scored the Braves’ fourth run, and Johnson raced to third. Gomes drove him in with the fifth run on a sacrifice fly.
“I take responsibility,” said Pompey. “I made a bad throw. I didn’t charge as hard as I could. It’s a learning experience, but unfortunately I feel like I cost the team a chance to stay in the game. I’m sorry … but I can only do what I can do now: focus on being a better player, person or teammate.
“It’s really tough, trying to come here and make a difference on this team,” continued Pompey, who is hitting .188. “I’ve found ever since the season started I’ve been playing somewhat scared, just because I don’t want to make a mistake and take a situation like that where I couldn’t bail out my pitcher in Daniel Norris.
“I’ve made plays behind him many times, and this time I didn’t step up to the plate. It shows me I need to be more aggressive and make mistakes being aggressive. Those mistakes … they’re not as bad.”
From lights out to deer in the headlights, welcome to life in the majors with a young team. Deal with it, Toronto, because even if Pompey’s playing time is cut down the young arms aren’t going anywhere.