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May 22, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Games 44 and 45: Apocalypse Not

One day after it looked like the end of the world — as far as Jo-Jo Reyes and the Jays might know it — was upon us, Jose Bautista showed the future just could be pretty damn bright.

J-Bop belted a three-run shot in the sixth inning that sparked the Blue Jays to overcome a 4-0 deficit and led them to a 7-5 victory over the Astros at the ’Dome on Saturday, aka “The Rapture.”

We’re all still here. And Bautista is still hammerin’ balls the way those Bible thumpers who think the apocalypse is now smack “the good book.” J-Bop ended the scoring in the ninth with a solo shot, his major league-leading 18th. Yunel Escobar also went yard, plating the winning run with a two-run blast in the seventh that put the Jays ahead 6-4. Escobar was instrumental to J-Bop’s big hit in the sixth when he grounded to shortstop, a ball Houston’s Clint Barmes let slip through his legs. That spelled doom for the ’Stros.

In a way the outcome makes up for Friday night, when the Jays blew a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning, costing the winless Reyes that oh-so-coveted first victory. Jon Rauch blew the lead and Frank Francisco gave up three runs in the ninth to take the 5-2 loss. Thanks to Bautista and Escobar, though, the sting from that one didn’t last so long.

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May 20, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Game 43: Win one for Ryley

JP Arencibia homers for Ryley James Martin

JP Arencibia homers for Ryley James Martin on Thursday.

J.P. Arencibia not only made his good buddy Ricky Romero a winner on Thursday night, he got us all to remember winning on the diamond isn’t everything. Arencibia and Romero dedicated the Jays’ 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay to Ryley James Martin, a 2½-year-old Oshawa boy who passed away on Wednesday after battling leukemia.

Arencibia and Romero had met Ryley on April 2 for 15 minutes when he had the chance to visit the team in the dugout at the ’Dome. After hitting a two-run, seventh-inning home run off of Tampa Bay starter Wade Davis, Arencibia cried.

“I shed a few tears after that home run because it was for him,” Arencibia told reporters after the game while holding a photo of him and Ryley together. “It’s killing me. I have nieces and nephews, and anytime something like that happens, it’s tough.”

Later, on his Twitter feed, Arencibia kindly and thoughtfully wrote: “Great win but its a game … We played this game for one person tonight RJM! RIP little buddy! Will never forget that smile!”

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April 26, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Days 23-25: Messin’ with Texas

Look at what a few runs and solid starting pitching will do.

Jose Bautista went deep again and Corey Patterson swatted a three-run shot during a six-run fifth inning that put an end to the Jays’ two-game skid. Kyle Drabek (2-0) went six innings, allowing three runs and lowering his ERA to 3.30 in a 6-4 win over the tough Rangers (14-8). Refreshingly, Toronto fans didn’t have to sweat out a win for a change.

A few more like this and someone in marketing will have to think about this: Hustle. Heart. Homers. Hallelujah!

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April 23, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Day 22: John McDonald for prime minister

blue jays at skydome

Should we stuff the ballot box for Johnny Mac on May 2?

This country needs a great leader — why not a guy named John McDonald?

The Jays’ blue-collar second baseman was inspirational on Good Friday, smacking his first home run of the season in the 11th inning to deliver a 6-4 victory over Tampa Bay at the ’Dome. Yeah, it’s nowhere close to building a railway across the nation like his namesake, but considering our options, the 36-year-old from East Lyme, Connecticut just might be the one who gets your vote. He wouldn’t need much to make a move in the polls. (Becoming a Canadian citizen first might be a good idea, though. Or maybe if he just says he likes it here that’ll be enough.)

McDonald’s homer — which came on an Adam Russell sinker that stayed in the middle of the plate — keeps the Jays (9-10) in second place in the AL East. He drove home Juan Rivera who miraculously managed to get a hit. The homer also rewards McDonald’s teammates for playing tough yet again — it was their seventh come-from-behind win of the year — and sends a not-so-bad crowd of 23,192 home happy.

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April 21, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Day 20: A homer and a d’oh!

jp arencibia toronto blue jays

J.P. Arencibia homered on Wednesday night.

J.P. Arencibia did his best impersonation of Forrest Gump on Wednesday night, running and running and running. First time around that was great. Arencibia hit his third home run of the season — and first since Opening Day — and trotted around the bases coolly to pull the Blue Jays a run closer to the Yankees in the second inning. Then, after striking out in the fourth, Arencibia walked in the seventh and seemed to get happy feet during the Jays’ 6-2 loss to AL East leaders.

Travis Snider singled to right field and Arencibia went first to third, which would’ve been a great piece of base running if Edwin Encarnacion, who had doubled earlier in the inning, hadn’t been given the stop sign. Encarnacion didn’t go home and Arencibia didn’t pick up the signal. Both Blue Jays ended up on third; Arencibia was tagged for the second out of the seventh. Instead of a potentially big inning, the Jays ended up with just one run — when Jayson Nix singled home Encarnacion — and trailed 5-2 at the ’Dome. They couldn’t replicate the heroics from Tuesday night and fell again to two games below .500 (8-10).

Reliever Frank Francisco, making his season debut, gave up a homer to Mickey Mantle, er, Curtis Granderson in the ninth for the Yankees’ final run.

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April 20, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Day 19: Smackin’ That Mo

Few things in life are sweeter than beating the Yankees. Watching Mariano Rivera disintegrate in the ninth inning just makes victory all the more delicious.

The Blue Jays rallied from two runs down against the major league leader in saves to send Tuesday’s game to extra innings and then pulled out a 6-5 win, their biggest of the season.

Travis Snider, who needed a hit as much as Charlie Sheen, ripped a 1-0 fastball to the right-field gap off of Ivan “No Need to Call Me Super” Nova, scoring Edwin Encarnacion from first base with the winning run. J.P. Arencibia joined the mob as the Jays congratulated Snider as if he had just lost his virginity. It wasn’t far from the case. Snider had been down-right impotent, going 0-for-6 and seeing his batting average plummet to the level of Kate Moss’s weight. But the double in the 10th inning erases a lot of the sting of failure for the leftfielder.

While that’s great for Snider, it was the ninth that the Jays will be happiest about. Mo Rivera entered the game 7-for-7 in save opportunities without allowing an earned run. The Jays (8-9) trailed 5-3 but got to him right away as Yunel Escobar doubled to center field and moved to third on an out by Snider. Escobar scored on a wild pitch that was also ball four to Jose Bautista. Adam Lind followed that walk with a liner into right field that put Bautista on third.

Then it got fun.

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April 18, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Days 15-17: Running on empty

The Boston Marathon is on Monday, the Blue Jays may have been prepping.

They did their best impersonation of Forrest Gump on Sunday, running without care and for no particularly reason it seemed. With none out in the seventh, Travis Snider was picked off when he was caught leaving first base early on a Juan Rivera line drive that was caught by Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. An inning later, Corey Patterson — who’s done some terrific things since coming off the DL — was caught stealing third with two on and one out.

Never mind that the Jays scored their only run on a double-steal in the second. Mistakes are mistakes and these ones were costly.

Of course, you could also say it wouldn’t have mattered if the Jays ran up and down New England in game three of the series. Jon Lester (1-1) wasn’t going to give them much. He went six innings before leaving with a 6-1 lead at Fenway Park.

J.P. Arencibia had a decent day at the plate, bouncing back from an 0-for-4 perfomance on Friday — his last start. The rookie catcher went 2-for-4 and got his average (.308) back over .300, but defensively he was charged with two passed balls as the miscues mounted for the Jays (7-8).

For the second straight day they managed just one run and have to be concerned that they’re the ones who’ve given Boston a pulse. The Red Sox (4-10) have won two games in a row for the first time.

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April 15, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Days 13-14: AL Beast Mode

jp arencibia toronto blue jays

J.P. Arencibia should have a big head. He's hitting .323 as the Jays travel to Fenway Park.

Win one for the JEFfer?

That might be the war cry for J.P. Arencibia and the Blue Jays as they head into Fenway Park, where their rookie manager, John Edward Farrell, was the Red Sox pitching coach for three seasons.

If there’s any extra incentive to latch onto in the next 10 days, the Jays should cling to it like a Barry Bonds’ alibi. They play four games in Beantown against The Best Boston Red Sox Team Ever — who just happen to be 2-9 — before returning home to face the hated Yankees and the Rays next week. That’s nine games against the AL East. If the Jays (6-6) can go 6-3, they should be happy.

Scary thing about the Red Sox is that you know they’re going to bust out at some point. The Jays just hope they wait until next week to do it. Boston is off to its worst start in 15 years. Terry Francona’s team lost their first six games and no AL East team has ever made the playoffs doing that.

Friday’s series opener features two struggling and winless pitchers both with 7.20 ERAs. For the Jays it’s Brett Cecil (0-1) and for Boston it’s Clay Buchholz (0-2). Hmmmm…. think we’ll see some runs?

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