Ok so Saturday there was the 2nd game of the 3 game series between the Blue Jays and the Orioles. So again, like the previous game, I'm going to break down performances of both teams and give an overall verdict on where they stand starting with Baltimore.
Ok so the Orioles started this game throwing their right handed pitcher Miguel Gonzalez onto the mound, no up until now Gonzalez has had a fair amount of success despite being a relatively young pitcher in the Orioles staff with a stat line of 5-3 (W-L), 3.75 (ERA), 1.21 (WHIP) and 59 strikeouts over 81.2 innings. Now this is only makes his situation better as he has a 3-0 record against the Jays with an ERA under 3.00, which is a fantastic stat to have against a heavy hitting team and to be honest he performed to that level in the game as he only allowed 3 runs, 3 hits, 5 strikeouts and 3 walks on 7.1 innings. Now this is good because he struck out a good deal and didn't allow a huge amount of hits/walks but he also had very good control of his pitches over the first 4 innings, as he painted the outside of the strike zone very well and definitely took advantage of the home plate umpire having a slightly shifted strike zone. Overall their starter did a great job, though all of the runs allowed were of his own making and one in particular could have been avoided, I'm referring to the run scored by Melky Cabrera on a wild pitch by Gonzalez. Now the bullpen for the Orioles had it's same troubles as Darren O'Day didn't have great control of his pitches as he allowed Rajai Davis on base and then gave up a long home run to Jose Bautista to give the lead to the Blue Jays, which they took to the end of the game with Casey Janssen shutting down the last 3 batters. Now on the side of the offence there wasn't much special about it as they didn't have many hits on the day then only managed to score one run in the 5th inning and only did so due to a fielding error on the part of Emilio Bonifacio, otherwise it is likely they wouldn't have had any base runners that inning. Then their second and only other run was from a solo home run by Taylor Teagarden (who has been batting under .100). And as I've previously preached they had a very low batting average with runners in scoring position this game (1-6) or .167, which as I've said about the Blue Jays is not something an offence needs to be high in order to be potent enough to beat out heavy hitting teams. Now the last thing to look at is the defence by the fielders and base running, which there isn't really anything to complain about as they made a double play, had no errors, and Nate McClouth was caught stealing once in the 8th. Overall nothing bad on the defence but like I said in the previous post the Orioles biggest weakness in this series and future ones is their bullpen and without significant improvement in that area they could face trouble in getting to the playoffs. As well it seems their forte for clutch hitting has been diminishing a bit as well so they need to have their offence starting to get out of the slump their working themselves into if their going to continue being at or near the top of the AL East.
Now on to the Blue Jays, much like the Orioles the pitcher they threw onto the mound, Chien-Ming Wang, pitched a fantastic game as he threw 6.1 innings, allowed only 1 run that was unearned and struck out 2 on only 4 hits and no walks. Now Wang has been fantastic in his starts with the Blue Jays ever since being signed and he continues to deliver with above average control and a propensity for good ground ball outs that have allowed him to stay on top. Though unlike Gonzalez, Wang doesn't have much relevant data against the Orioles as he was with Washington in 2012 and 2011 for a brief time, was in the minors from mid 2012 till a couple weeks ago and in 2010 so he's been out of the majors for a fair amount of time, meaning even if he hasn't improved on his previous repertoire then it'll at least take some time for hitters to adjust to him. Now the bullpen was as dominant as ever with only a couple exceptions, the first being that Aaron Loup, who I've raved about being close to the worst of their bullpen, hit Chris Davis with a pitch and the home run allowed by Darren Oliver. Though those two were fairly minuscule as the batter Loup allowed on base didn't get hit in and the home run given up by Oliver was quickly thrown back when the Jays scored 2 in the next inning. Now on to the offence, the Jays managed to accumulate 4 runs over the course of the game with 4 hits and 3 walks, now the same ups and downs on the offence were present, Bautista, Arencibia and Rasmus were a bit inconsistent at the plate and as a result got themselves out a fair number of times when they could have scored runs or got on base (they combined for a total of 4 runners left on base). Though like nearly all the games during this winning streak the rest of the offence has contributed well to make up for the lack of plate discipline of Rasmus, Arencibia and Bautista. In addition to this the troubles of Bonifacio continue as he made another couple fantastic defensive plays but his lack of ability at the plate might lose him his starting spot like I discussed in the previous post. Now on the defensive side there is just as little to talk about as with the Orioles the only defensive hiccup was the error made by Bonifacio but that was made up by Darren Oliver picking off Nate McClouth. The through this I pretty much come to the same conclusion I came to after the last post, if the Jays can continue this level of production from the entire lineup they can easily take this series and given that the Rays are having issues with their pitching, with David Price and Alex Cobb on the DL and Hellickson and others having issues with their delivery. Now one thing to take into account towards the finale against the Orioles is that Baltimore has yet to announce their starter for the game, it is expected to be either Freddy Garcia or Zach Britton. Now if it is the first then it'll be more difficult for the Jays than if it's Britton and that's because first Garcia is a much more experienced pitcher and has spent the previous 2 years with the Yankees and has more experience with the major AL East hitters. Overall though I still believe that the Jays can win, not just because of their performance but because they are reaching their clubs winning streak record, which is 11 wins and they are at 10 wins.
-Eric
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