Jays Thoughts: Tough Stretch and a Trade!

 Just as I got super excited to watch every inning again the Jays go on a 4 game skid including losing both games of a double header yesterday. To show how little I know about the MLB now, I thought they had changed the rules so that double header games are only 7 innings. I guess they changed it back to 9, I'm not complaining! The season is long and rough stretches will happen so I'm not too shook here, though the last few games have certainly been less fun to watch. Anyway, lots to talk about so lets dive in. 

4 Game Losing Streak

It was bound to happen again at some point! The beauty of the Jays hot stretch in July is that it was done mostly against the Yankees allowing them to build in a bit of a cushion on the division. The season is really long, everything was going right for a stretch and it made the Jays look like the best team in baseball. Now in the last 4 games the Jays have been outscored 40-14 making them look like the Colorado Rockies. There's still some things to be encouraged by even in a tough stretch. Prepare yourself for some copium:

In the 4th game of the Tigers series, after the Jays took the first 3, Max Scherzer had a tough 3rd inning when he gave up a 3 run home run to Gleyber Torres. He settled in completely after that and ended up going 7 innings. Most games, especially with this Jays team recently, if your starter goes 7 innings and only gives up 3 runs you're in a pretty good spot to win. Unfortunately they couldn't get the bats going through 7 and then the 8th came. Chad Green came in and got immediately blown up. He got pulled and Justin Bruihl got smoked as well. The Tigers put up 7 runs in the 8th off 2 relievers who are now no longer with the big league team anymore. By this point despite the Jays putting up 4 in the 9th the game was long over. The first game against the Orioles Chris Bassit just got lit up. That happens from time to time, I can't say it's much to be overly concerned about, but he couldn't make it out of the 3rd inning and that put the Jays bullpen in a tough place going into a double header the next day. Yesterday with the bullpen in a tough place going into game 1 they started AAAA pitcher Easton Lucas who got hit around early. They pulled him for another AAAA arm in Lazaro Estrada who did pretty well but by the time the Orioles saw him a second time around they started mashing him as well. Chad Green came in with the game already pretty out of hand and he got demolished as well in his last game in a Jays uniform. Another loss that you can't get too worked up by, all the pitchers who got lit up yesterday in game 1 aren't even on the team today. I see it as more of a game where they're saving their real bullpen arms after having to plow through a bunch of them already and with another game coming up in the evening. Finally game 2 of the double header was the only loss that I'd consider heartbreaking. Eric Lauer gave them 5 strong innings allowing only 2 runs. The Jays scraped and clawed to get 2 runs of their own and their bullpen held it together all the way to the 8th. Jeff Hoffman was called upon in a tie game in the 8th inning and he gave up back to back doubles to give the Os the lead. The Jays had a chance in the 9th inning with runners on second and third and only 1 out but Corbin Martin struck out Lukes and Bichette to end the game.

Long paragraph, sorry, but seriously in those 4 losses there was 1 bad game from Bassit, 1 game where the bats just didn't come through and then a couple games where pitchers who aren't even on the team anymore got lit up. The Bassit game and the game where they didn't hit just happen and will happen again. They just look worse when sandwiching 2 other lopsided losses. The Jays will be ok! Some other cause for optimism is despite the losses, both of Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guererro Jr are starting to heat up. In the last 15 games Vlad Jr. is slashing .375/.478/.607 with 3 HR and 10 RBI. Bo in the last 15 games is slashing .359/.388/.547 with 1 HR and 13 RBIs. Especially with Vlad, we know these are the types of hitters that these guys can be. If the rest of the lineup is just 80% as good as they've been, but Vlad hits like this, which isn't far off from what he's capable of, then the Jays are still in a really good spot to make some noise in the post season. 

A Trade!

Yesterday was one of the more humorous trades I've ever seen in sports. After the first game of the double header between the Jays and Orioles, the Jays traded for Orioles reliever Seranthony Dominguez. For the first time since 1922, a player walked from one clubhouse to the other in between games. The convenience is unmatched! Humor aside though, this is the type of player the Jays needed to be targeting and I'm excited they did! Dominguez has a K/9inning ratio of 11.7 this season and 10.6 on his career. He's got a fastball that tops out around 98mph adding velocity to the back end of the pen. According to baseball savant he's one of the best swing and miss relievers in baseball, exactly what the Jays need. We just saw in the last 4 games after you get past Hoffman, Rodriguez and Little it gets pretty dicey for the Jays. They just added another reliable reliever that can come in in difficult situations and strike guys out. I say they probably need 1 maybe even 2 more arms to sure up the pen, but this is a great start! Dominguez pitched in the second half of the double header last night against the team he was just playing for that afternoon, he struck out 2 and came away with no runs in his debut. Welcome Seranthony! 

That's all for today! Never fun to lose 4 in a row but it happens. The Jays are still 4 games up on the division. Obviously they need to put together some wins again to keep that lead but we've seen them do it before and we'll see them do it again. Don't panic Jays fans!