TORONTO- They are young and, to borrow a cliché that seems fitting heading down to Texas, this is their first rodeo.
They are talented, with electric stuff that bodes well for the immediate and long-term future of the Toronto Blue Jays.
For 13 innings on Friday, Marcus Stroman, Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez – with a combined 162 big league games behind them – helped keep the suddenly silent bats of their teammates in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
They saw a valued member of their bullpen, the impermeable Brett Cecil, blow out his calf muscle and be lost for the series. They saw bazillion-year-old LaTroy Hawkins, who runs things in the bullpen when everything else is going on in the dugout and on the field, get tagged with the loss in what could be the last game of his career.
And when it was done and Sanchez was asked to explain 1.2 electric innings from himself after a nervy stretch in September, he didn’t want to talk about this adjustment or that adjustment.
“Maybe it’s that I knew coming into the post-season … that you might never get a chance, again,” he said, shrugging.
That might seem surprising given the usual confidence that Sanchez exhibits, but part of the story of this team is players who have waited a long time to even get a sniff of the playoffs – guys like Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion.
Not everybody gets there like it’s their birthright – except, maybe, Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin. And while it is true that, as Hawkins said, Osuna and Sanchez “have got a lot of time in the big leagues ahead of them,” well, you really don’t know, do you?
“You like to think it’s the same game in the post-season,” said centre fielder Kevin Pillar. “But, you work so hard to get here and you understand how important it is. To be honest? It could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. There’s a lot of people in this clubhouse playing for the first time after 10 years.”
Not to go all 2016 on folks, but to truly appreciate this team, it must at least be acknowledged that this group is going to return intact next season. You can grow and win at the same time – the St. Louis Cardinals are the perfect example of a team that has patented riding young, homegrown arms to the World Series – and with that in mind you’d have to say Friday’s loss was like one big post-graduate lesson in the vagaries of the game.
“Super odd … really weird,” was how Sanchez described the afternoon.
Osuna?
“This loss feels … weird,” he said. “Different than others.”
What did Sanchez spend most of his time thinking about?
“Just catch a break,” he said, shrugging. “I just wanted us to catch a break.”
The loss of Cecil is devastating. Truth is, he is manager John Gibbons’ most trusted reliever – Gibbons told reporters earlier this week that if the Blue Jays were to go on an extended playoff run, Cecil was destined to be “our most over-worked reliever.” – and while Aaron Loup retired both left-handed hitters he faced when the teams were in the middle of bullpen tag, he is no Cecil.
Cecil tore his calf on a rundown play, ending an inning that had seen him give up a game-tying single to Mike Napoli against the shift.
Napoli is a feared right-handed hitter but Gibbons left Cecil in because Cecil has reverse splits and Napoli was 2-for-17 lifetime against him with seven strikeouts. Napoli singled through the shift, as for the second game the Rangers proved adept at fundamental, situational hitting.
“Cecil has been facing Napoli for years, now. and he’s really held him in check,” Gibbons said, when asked why he eschewed a righty matchup with Mark Lowe or Liam Hendriks. “I think he just threw a curveball … the one that doesn’t have a whole lot of bite to it.”
Gibbons professes faith in Loup, who he says “has been a big reliever around here for a couple of years.”
“This year was kind of an up-and-down year,” Gibbons added. “He kind of got lost in the shuffle. But this is the perfect opportunity to kind of bounce back.”
The Blue Jays will add another reliever, likely Ryan Tepera or, less likely, Jeff Francis, but Sanchez said he and Osuna will be ready after the off-day.
“I think our philosophy is pitch when we’re asked to until they take the ball away,” he said.
It was suggested to Pillar that with all that happened in Game 2 – all the injuries and crappy strike-zone and high-wire act stuff – the performances of the young Blue Jays pitchers might also get lost in the shuffle.
“No way,” he said. “It won’t get lost in the shuffle. Why would it?”
Hawkins’ eyes were moist as he discussed the loss, his voice halting when he was told about Cecil’s injury. He didn’t know, he said.
“We can’t see in the bullpen,” he said. “We got no TV. No replay. Nothing.
“I didn’t know he got hurt. What’s wrong with him? I was back icing, I didn’t see anything. Calf? That hurts. I mean he’s been our best pitcher since I’ve been here. Torn calf? Geezus. Wow. Not good. Not good at all …”
Hawkins’ voice trailed off.
Can’t see nothing from where you are in the Blue Jays bullpen at the Rogers Centre, but you can see growth – and you can feel how fleeting things can be in this game, even when you’re young and cocky and have a big arm and endless ambition and potential. That has to count for something, doesn’t it?
It must. It absolutely must.
