Aug. 18-19: Blue Jays vs. Phillies Series Thread

[Antithesis]

Toronto Blue Jays (65-54, conquering Kings of the universe) vs. Philadelphia Filthadelphia Phillies (46-72, literally the worst team in the league)

Probable Starters:

Tuesday @5:00 PM Mountain Time: TOR: R.A. Dickey, 7-10, 3.96 ERA; PHI: Aaron Nola, 3-1, 4.25 ERA
Wednesday @5:00 PM Mountain Time: TOR: Mark Buehrle, 13-5, 3.51 ERA; PHI: Adam Morgan, 3-4, 4.11 ERA

OK, so the series against the Yankees didn't go quite as planned, but it was good to see the Jays fight back in that last game. Really, that was some good baseball, with two solid teams going at each other. I'll enjoy watching 7 more of those!

OOT scoreboard wasn't kind to the Jays last night as a bunch of teams made up a game in hand. As far as I can tell, literally every game ended with the worst outcome. But no matter! The Jays control their own destiny, and they are continuing to play some really sound baseball.

The Jays optioned Drew Hutchison and Aaron Loup down to Buffalo, recalling Ezequiel Carrera and Matt Hague to the pros. Carrera is up to give the Jays a 4th outfielder, giving Gibbons some added flexibility with a series in an NL ballpark. Hague is interesting - he has absolutely mashed at the plate this season and has kind of come out of nowhere (from what I can tell). Expect Hutchison to be back up by the end of the month as the Jays sent him down because the huge number of off days they have coming up means they can go with a 4-man rotation.

Crazy viewership numbers continue to come in for the Jays: 2.03 million Canadians tuned in to watch the game on Friday night, which represents Sportsnet's largest audience ever, for any programming. Apparently, 3.14 million Canadians were watching Tulowitzki's 9th inning AB as well. This is where I'll put the usual anti-bandwagon-shaming statement: fans new and old are welcome and encouraged to post.

Stats time:

Over his career, current Phillies hitters have the following stats vs. R.A. Dicket: 99 AB, 24 H, 2 HR, 31 K, 0.242 AVG, 0.296 OBP, 0.374 SLG, 0.670 OPS
Over his career, current Phillies hitters have the following stats vs. Mark Buehrle : 65 AB, 12 H, 1 HR, 12 K, 0.185 AVG, 0.243 OBP, 0.262 SLG, 0.504 OPS

OK!

BLUE JAYS!

LETS!

PLAY!

BALL!

[Lil Pedro]

Would love to see Tulo get going on this road trip. He statistically hits very well against lefties,many I believe the jays face a few on this trip

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Homecoming already for Ben Revere. I wonder if that will give him some extra motivation in this series.

Tulo should be more comfortable against NL pitching, so hopefully that gets him going again.

Both our starters have strong numbers against the Phillies. I would be genuinely shocked if they struggled against them.

It will be interesting to see how they get guys in the lineup. EE, Colabello, Smoak all play first and Colabello can play a below average LF, but then where does Revere play? Plus, there are now two extra players on the bench. Do we see guys like Donaldson and Bautista get a rest if they end up playing in a laugher? They'll need them fresh down the stretch to take a serious run at the division.

Honestly, if they don't win both of these games against the worst team in the entire league I'll be disappointed.

[bomber317]

The Phillies have been playing well since the All-star break. No longer the pushovers of the first half.

I'm hoping the Jays do not take them lightly, don't take the foot off the gas and go for the blowout wins!

[Antithesis]

The Phillies have been playing well since the All-star break. No longer the pushovers of the first half.

I'm hoping the Jays do not take them lightly, don't take the foot off the gas and go for the blowout wins!

I'm really interested to see how the Jays do in these games; were the struggles they had offensively vs. the Yankees because they were playing a high-end team, or because the offense is in a rut (ala the Angels)?

[Antithesis]

Wow, Mr. First Inning is at it again. 1-0 Jays!

[KelVarnsen]

The bringer of rain!

[The Big Chill]

3-1 Jays! Big hit by Carrera.

[Mightyfire89]

Nice job by Carrera!

What's with Revere since he joined the Jays? He hasn't been hitting worth a damn.

[Antithesis]

Dickey gives one back here in the 3rd but he's been making some great pitches ... and then picked off the runner at 1st.

[Antithesis]

Damn, 2 on, none out for the Phillies in the 4th.

[Antithesis]

... and then gets a double play. Hopefully no 2-out, guy on third hit this inning.

[Caged Great]

Dickey's hasn't been as sharp today. Hopefully a DP is upcoming.

EDIT: There it is.

[Antithesis]

Dickey is definitely not as sharp today. 4-3 Phillies.

[Mightyfire89]

RA having a rough inning.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

This game is frustrating me.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Bases loaded none out. Not good.

[The Big Chill]

This is ridiculous.

[KelVarnsen]

Sigh

[Antithesis]

Not going well at all. Hopefully they can end the inning without too much damage.

[Tyler]

Dammit RA!

[GirlySports]

Ugh

[KootenayFlamesFan]

That could have been way, way worse.

[The Big Chill]

Excellent job by Hendricks to keep us in this.

[JayP]

Ugh, the Phillies get two straight swinging bunt singles and that one can't roll a little less. Frustrating game.

[ben voyonsdonc]

I've always noticed that Buck was always a second ahead of the play in his play call but it has anyone noticed that it seems more pronounced recently?

[The Big Chill]

Mvp!!!

[KelVarnsen]

I love Josh Donaldson!

[GirlySports]

3-0 fastball!

[Antithesis]

Josh Donaldson is the man. MVP!!

[Caged Great]

Josh Donaldson is awesome.

[MyFlamesFirst]

Why in the hell did the athletics trade him again?

[Antithesis]

Edwing!!

[KelVarnsen]

The parrot!

[jschick88]

And here we go. The bats are alive.

[The Big Chill]

Bats are coming alive!

[MRCboicgy]

Put a bird on it.

[Mightyfire89]

Where the hell would this team be without Donaldson? He's been absolutely unreal this season!

[KelVarnsen]

I am tempted to get Donaldson's haircut.

[Tyler]

I am tempted to get Donaldson's haircut.

Probably the only thing I don't like about the guy LOL

[KootenayFlamesFan]

As soon as I sat down for dinner the bats come alive. I guess I should start eating every time the Jays are losing.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

It's great to see Loewen out there pitching. What a fantastic story he is.

[Caged Great]

Why in the hell did the athletics trade him again?

He criticized the team if I recall correctly.

[Trojan97]

This one has had the feel of a loss all night for some reason. If they can hold it together long enough to get out of tonight with a W it will be absolutely massive. Thank you Josh!

[Caged Great]

Tulo needs to get his stuff together soon.

[Tyler]

I'm mesmerized by the dude with the radar gun behind home plate.

Gun up. Walkie talkie. Gun down. Gun up. Walkie talkie. Gun down.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Tulo and Martin both need to get going.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Liam Hendriks was huge tonight. Huge.

[JiriHrdina]

What exactly is the deal with the "stirring" hand gestures the Jays make when they get on base?

[Mightyfire89]

^Buck said during the broadcast that it's a team thing that means "We're cookin' now".

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I always assumed it was stirring the pot or stirring the drink, but I am just guessing.

[Trojan97]

What exactly is the deal with the "stirring" hand gestures the Jays make when they get on base?

There's a horri-bad song called Flicka Da Wrist where the "flicka da wrist" stirring gesture originated. James Harden on the Houston Rockets started doing it this season and it's been picked up by athletes in multiple sports. It refers to cooking crack in the song but obviously the Jays are using it in a much looser fashion. I like it alot better than the previous Lo Vista sign or whatever it was previous as was alluded to by a previous poster.

[Finger Cookin]

Phillies making it look pretty easy so far tonight.

[KelVarnsen]

Sigh

[jayswin]

Rough outing so far for Buehrle. I have full faith in our bats again, so I think we'll be back in this one before we know it.

[KelVarnsen]

This game sucks.

[Machiavelli]

Yikes

[Lil Pedro]

Buehrle just doesn't have his great stuff tonight

[Caged Great]

Might be nice to get on base some time soon.

[Caged Great]

There you go.

[Caged Great]

Come on Rally time, or ground into a DP.

[Caged Great]

Clutch Double by Pennington 4-2

[Caged Great]

Cola gets called out on strikes by a ball that was several inches outside.

[Caged Great]

Schultz doing his best Buehrle impression from the first four innings 5-2.

[KelVarnsen]

This game sucks.

[GirlySports]

Maybe they should have let Buerhle hit

[Sainters7]

Saw the first homer in the inning, went straight outside to flip the burgers. Come back in to see the other one, I thought it was just a replay at first. C'mon man


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[Caged Great]

Probably 2 games back of the Yanks after today. Two big series to come against the other Wild Card leader (Angels) and a team only 1 game back of them as of right now.

Hopefully the bats come back soon.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Really poor showing today from just about everyone. Lots of hitters slumping and the rock solid pitching is starting to wear thin.

Another day off to "think about what they've done", and then hopefully they come back playing some strong fundamental baseball. Getting on base, pressuring the other pitcher into mistakes, timely hitting, playing strong defense, strong starting pitching (at least give your team a chance), good relief pitching (I'd take Loup over Schultz right now), and executing key plays was the recipe for success in that winning streak. Unfortunately, they are falling back into some sloppy ways after the surge of energy from the new additions.

They need to come out ready to play the Angels on Friday. That's a hungry team and anything less than a competitive effort will result in another bad loss.