TORONTO – To fully appreciate J.A. Happ and all he brings to the table, don’t just look at his final pitching line in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night, or his overall numbers in this season of disappointment.
Instead, examples far more telling of the type of pitcher and the type of professional he is came in the second and third innings, when his defence gave away frustrating free outs and he refused to get derailed by the miscues.
Calm and collected, Happ shook off a Devon Travis throwing error on what should have been an inning-ending Trey Mancini double-play ball in the second, a mistake that let Danny Valencia score the game’s first run, and responded by striking out Austin Wynns to end the frame.
Then in the third, some miscommunication and a late peel by Travis caused a charging Kevin Pillar to drop Craig Gentry’s popper in shallow centre. Gentry promptly stole second – the run expectancy with a man on second and none out is 1.068 – but unfazed, Happ kept Joey Rickard from advancing him with a popper behind the plate before Adam Jones flied out weakly to left and Manny Machado grounded out.
By night’s end he had career win No. 100 and the Blue Jays had consecutive victories for the first time in more than a month.
“He’s been pitching a long time, that was 100th win, so that tells you something right there,” said manager John Gibbons. “But Happ’s always been mentally tough. He’s got emotion but he keeps it inside, you don’t always see it. He understands how the game works. Where some guys that might destroy them, not him, because he knows, ‘I’ll bail us out here.’ That’s confidence, too. He knows he can do it.”
Said Happ: “You’re trying to stay in the moment and trust that you’ve still got that one pitch to possibly get two outs, if that’s the situation you’re in, trying to stay positive. … I know we’re trying and they know I’m trying and you can’t fault anyone for that. So you just try to continue to go and try to pick your teammates up.”
Not every pitcher overcomes the mistakes of others with the same composure, which is among the many reasons why Happ is sure to be the player the Blue Jays get the most calls about between now and the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
The 35-year-old may very well be the club’s most valuable pending free agent – Josh Donaldson, Marco Estrada, Jaime Garcia, Curtis Granderson, Steve Pearce, Tyler Clippard, John Axford and Seung-hwan Oh are the others – as contending clubs can always make room for a quality starter, especially one performing well.
Teams have done well selling off mid-level rental starters in recent seasons. Oakland got Daniel Mengden as part of the return from Houston for Scott Kazmir, Cincinnati picked up Adam Duvall from San Francisco as part of the package for Mike Leake while San Diego got Canadian slugger Josh Naylor, currently mashing at double-A, from Miami for Andrew Cashner.
Up the food chain, Johnny Cueto nabbed Cincinnati a package built around Brandon Finnegan from Kansas City while in a deal Blue Jays fans will remember well, David Price fetched Detroit Matt Boyd, Daniel Norris and Jairo Labourt.
Beauty can also be in the eye of the beholder at this time of the year as the Blue Jays managed to get Teoscar Hernandez from Houston last season for Francisco Liriano, who was carrying a 5.88 ERA at the time.
Clearly Happ will be more enticing.
“He’s just ultra-professional,” said Russell Martin, who with a solo shot in the second and an RBI single in the sixth enjoyed his third multi-hit game of the season and first since May 13. “He rarely loses his focus, no matter what happens, miscues and whatnot. He might show a little frustration here and there, but he gets right back on the bump and keeps attacking. It just looks like he’s fearless out there. He believes he can get anybody out and just attacks the zone.”
Selling off assets is among the many changes that surely lie ahead for the Blue Jays, but the seven outstanding innings Happ threw Friday against the Orioles extended his team’s respite from its recent misery before a crowd of 28,863 on Pride Night at the dome.
Happ allowed only an unearned run on two hits and two walks while home runs from Martin, Randal Grichuk and Kevin Pillar helped ensure his effort didn’t go to waste, as the Blue Jays (28-35) won consecutive outings for the first time since a three-game stretch from April 29-May 1.
Not a bad 56th birthday gift for manager John Gibbons, although in the Orioles (19-43) his team has found an opponent to exploit. Happ is now 8-3 this season with the Blue Jays 9-4 in the games he starts.
“It’s a cool number, it’s a nice number that I’m proud of. I’m going to enjoy it tonight and try to get 101 the next time,” Happ said of reaching the century mark. “It gives you some perspective on the number 300, how difficult that can be, especially in this day and age.
“It’s still pretty cool.”
A steadfastness is required to get there and through good and bad, Happ has been one of the few support beams to hold strong as cracks have emerged all around him, picking up others when he can, giving credit where it’s due, too.
He did that in the sixth when Grichuk made a pretty diving catch after a long run on a soft Machado fly ball in foul territory. Happ waited by first base, where he was backing up a potential relay throw, and didn’t walk back to the mound without first acknowledging the right-fielder with a fist pump.
“Anytime you can make a play for your pitcher like that and see his reaction, and know he knows you’re giving it your all, that feels pretty good, said Grichuk.”
The little things sure do add up.
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