A Few Thoughts On The Opening Series
The series got off to a worrisome start, but talk about putting an exclamation point at the end.
The first game I give the Blue Jays a mulligan. Severino tops all starters this season so far in average fastball velocity. He had solid command and his breaking stuff was sharp. It's hard to fault the Jays offence too much considering every lineup in baseball would have had trouble with Severino's stuff that day. It was concerning to see them struggle after having the worst offence in the league last season, but also hard to blame them based on how Severino looked. Happ pitched well. He wasn't dominant, but if we see more games like that from him this season we should see solid results. The bullpen was a little shaky, but by no means was it a disaster.
Game 2 would have been nice to see the Jays do more against Tanaka. Tanaka pounded the zone, throwing 61 of 79 for strikes and the Jays were unable to generate quality contact. Sanchez was cruising before running out of gas in the 6th inning. The bullpen kept the team in the game, but the offence couldn't get things going against a formidable Yankees bullpen. One positive was Steve Pearce's hit against Chapman, followed by a run scoring double by Solarte. Pearce has the potential to be an extremely valuable weapon against lefties so it was nice to see him get a knock against one of the toughest southpaws in the league.
Game 3 saw another quality pitching performance. Estrada held the Yankees bats in check and Tepera and OH shut them down late in the game. Smoak's bat got hot and eased some concerns after a slow spring. They had a balanced attack on offence and managed 9 hits and 4 walks. Solarte's go-ahead home run in the bottom of the 8th was just what the team needed to gain some confidence on offence. Pillar's triple steal that included a daring theft of home got the fans and team excited.
Game 4 saw a mixed bag of good and bad from Stroman, more good than bad. If he continues to pitch the way he did yesterday I expect him to have a strong season. The bullpen once again was very good. The team spent most of the game trailing and the bullpen allowed the to stay within striking distance and fight their way back. The offence got hits from 8 different players. Smoak was the hero of the day. First he hit a home run to get the team within a run in the bottom of the 7th. He then came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th and I'm sure you know what happened.
Overall, it was a quality series by the Blue Jays. The Yankees are expected to be a monster this season and the Blue Jays held their own. The strikeouts are a bit concerning, but this is a team that has a number of players with career strikeout rates below average. I expect the strikeouts to drop as the season goes on and for the offence to find more consistency. The pitching was a huge positive for the Jays. Everybody knows this team will go only as far as the pitching takes them and it's hard to be anything but optimistic after the first series. No starter had a downright awful game and they all kept us in the game. The bullpen only had one bad game and 3 games where they were rock solid and gave the team a chance to win. Against a Yankees lineup with so much firepower this is a very good sign.
The team passed their first test. Now comes the less talented White Sox. Hopefully the Blue Jays can have a good series and show that they can win against the teams expected to be at the bottom of the standings. If they expect to make it to the playoffs, these are the teams they are going to have to beat up on.
