Sept. 18-20: Blue Jays vs. Red Sox Series Thread

[T@T]

Damn. KC ties it with a 2 out 2 run homer in the 9th.

[Sylvanfan]

Tigers win in 12. Jays one back now.

[Hemi-Cuda]

A few months ago you would have had to pay me to sit through an entire baseball game on TV. Now here I am actively listening to the Jays game on the radio as I drive home from work, and fist pumping when I hear Goins hit a triple. Special team indeed

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

A few months ago you would have had to pay me to sit through an entire baseball game on TV. Now here I am actively listening to the Jays game on the radio as I drive home from work, and fist pumping when I hear Goins hit a triple. Special team indeed

Bandwagoner!

[savemedrzaius]

A question for you guys...Who do you think is the best opponent for the Jays in the first round? Who do they match-up best against?

Part of me doesn't want the Jays to win top spot in the AL because there is a good chance they might have to face the Yankees in the first round. Facing the Yankees in the playoffs scares me. I'd rather them play Texas in the first round.

What about you guys?

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

A question for you guys...Who do you think is the best opponent for the Jays in the first round? Who do they match-up best against?

Part of me doesn't want the Jays to win top spot in the AL because there is a good chance they might have to face the Yankees in the first round. Facing the Yankees in the playoffs scares me. I'd rather them play Texas in the first round.

What about you guys?

I want to face the wild card.

Whomever it is between NY, Houston, Minnesota, and Anaheim will have burned their ace in order to make it to the ALDS. The Jays having Price, Stroman and Estrada facing their #2, #3, and #4 guys will make it tough for them to beat the Jays.

Plus we would have home field advantage throughout, which is always huge. Skydome is a mashers park and we have the best offense so it be better for us to have that.

The AL won the AS game so we'd get home field in the World Series if they advance that far.

[Jason14h]

The jays haven't lost 4/7 since the trades

I doesn't matter who we play. They are all dead

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Geezusss....don't look now, but over the last 7 games Ryan frickin' Goins of all people has the best batting average at .320. The best OBPs are Bautista and Encarnacion, followed directly by Goins and Pennington. Also, Pennington has the team's 4th best slugging percentage. I know it's only a 7 game stretch, but that's pretty impressive numbers from 2 guys that were though of as defensive specialists only and pretty much a black hole on offense.

[V]

We can't play the Yankees in the first round anyways, the way I understand it. First place means we get home field advantage throughout, which is what we really want.

[browna]

Minus a sweep of the Bo Sox and Mets sweeping the Yanks, putting the Jays up by 6.5, that series Monday to Wed is massive. Never count the Yanks out.

My first true understanding of choking in pro sports was as an 11 year old in 1987. Flames coming off a Stanley Cup appearance, then dominated the regular season and then lose to the Jets in R1. Then in the fall, the Jays have a 3.5 game lead with a week to go and lost 5 straight to lose the division to the Tigers on the last day.

Positivity though. A Jays series win here and a Mets series win has the Jays 5.5 ahead at least going into that series. Tanaka got knocked around last night too, which is rare for him.

[Jiggy_12]

I would love to face the Twins, nothing about that team scares me.

Next choice is the Yankees.

Then the Astros

Then the Rangers. Scary scary team right there.

[Jiggy_12]

Originally Posted by V

We can't play the Yankees in the first round anyways, the way I understand it. First place means we get home field advantage throughout, which is what we really want.

It's actually quite possible to play the Yankees.

If we finish first overall (just 1 game back of KC right now) and the Yankees win the WC game, we would host the ALDS against them.

[Enoch Root]

Couldn't care less who they play.

In baseball, in a short series, absolutely anything can happen. A great pitcher can get hit. AN okay pitcher can be unhittable. A couple excuse-me hits can lead to game-winning runs, or hard hit balls can be outs.

It just comes down to who's hot and how the bounces play out.

All you can do is get yourself there, and set yourself up for success. And the Jays are well on their way to doing exactly that.

[Roof-Daddy]

Yeah, the Rangers have been nearly as hot as the Jays since the Jays heated up.

We've only gained 4 games on them since the Tulo trade, and we've gained double digit games on pretty much everybody else in the AL in that same time frame.

Games gained on AL teams since July 28th:

TEX - 4.0
CLE - 7.5
SEA - 9.5
BOS - 9.5
KAN - 11.0
NYY - 12.5
MIN - 12.5
HOU - 13.5
BAL - 14.0
TAM - 14.5
CHI - 15.0
DET - 15.0
LAA - 16.5
OAK - 16.5

[V]

Hmm, I had read that they can't play in the first round if they're in the same division.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

The jays haven't lost 4/7 since the trades

I doesn't matter who we play. They are all dead

have they lost 3 of 5 because that is how baseball playoffs work in the first round

[whosurnabby]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

I want to face the wild card.

Whomever it is between NY, Houston, Minnesota, and Anaheim will have burned their ace in order to make it to the ALDS. The Jays having Price, Stroman and Estrada facing their #2, #3, and #4 guys will make it tough for them to beat the Jays.

Plus we would have home field advantage throughout, which is always huge. Skydome is a mashers park and we have the best offense so it be better for us to have that.

The AL won the AS game so we'd get home field in the World Series if they advance that far.

Normally, I'd hate to face the winner of the WC game because recent history suggests that those are usually the hottest teams (Royals and Giants last year), but the slumping Astros, fatigued Yankees, or mediocre Twins team is a great matchup for the Jays. Unless the Cleveland Indians manages to sneak in that WC game (that's one team that I'd hate to face in a 5 game ALDS), I'm confident about the Jays chances this year.

[Roof-Daddy]

As good as this team has been for 90ish games, it's pretty cool to think that this offense and stellar defense should be pretty much held in tact for next season too. Some good young arms to build the pitching around too, and if AA can do that the Jays should be pretty competitive next season too.

But anyways, I should just keep enjoying this season and not get ahead of myself I guess.

[Dion]

Tulowitzki feels better, no timetable for return

"That's definitely the goal," said Tulowitzki of the two-to-three week window. "But at the same time, any time there's a fracture, you don't want to rush it. I think soon we'll probably look at the fracture and see how it's healing up and go from there."

In the week since his injury, Tulowitzki has visited a specialist in Boston to have work done on his soft tissue, but he hasn't done any baseball activities like swing a bat or field groundballs.

Sleeping has been difficult for him, but otherwise Tulowitzki feels he's made significant progress in his rehabilitation.

"Before I couldn't even move my arm. I have some movement in my arm," said Tulowitzki. "Every day I feel like I'm making strides. I'm definitely headed in the right direction.

"But at the same time, y'know, you don't want to throw a date out there and people to expect you to return and you not be there because you're not ready."

http://www.tsn.ca/tulowitzki-feels-b...eturn-1.363195

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by dino7c

have they lost 3 of 5 because that is how baseball playoffs work in the first round

Since the Tulo trade, they have lost 3 out of 5 once.

There have been 46 games, so there have been 42 5-game sets so far. In those 42 5-game sets, the Jays have:

won 5: 8 times
won 4: 16 times
won 3: 17 times
won 2: 1 time

they are guaranteed to win the next 2 5-game sets (currently 3-1 and 3-0) which would put them at 43 of 44 opportunities