April 27 Blue Jays 7 - Red Sox 1

As I was writing my last post about Saturday's game, the Blue Jays were playing in this one.  Dickey looked great, the bats were firing, and the bullpen looked back to form.  Being the superstitious weirdo I am (I once watched a game on the can for good luck) I actually considered waiting until the Tuesday game against KC to write this one.  With it actually being a great game though, how could I wait!  Here's yesterday's breakdown:

Blue Jays 7  Red Sox 1

Click here for explanation of LI WPA and WE

Raise of my Jack filled boot: Steve Delabar (30.9%).  Lindy, take note on what a powerful beard looks like there bud.

My boot in yer arse: Jose Reyes (-8%)

Lineup Contribution: 8.6%

Pitching Contribution: 41.4%

Highest Leverage AB:  Jonathan Diaz lays down a sacrifice (or gives up an out, or whatever....) in the third inning with no one out and moves Josh Thole to second base.  (1.58)

Highest Leverage Opponent AB:  David Ross flies out to end the seventh inning stranding runners on second and third.  At this point, the Sox were only down by one.  (3.92)

Average LI: 0.87

Highest Impact AB:  The Melk Man delivers in the third with a double to score Thole (11.5%)

Highest Impact Pitch:  After a great quality start for RA, he starts to struggle and gives up a double to Xander Bogaerts that moves Will Middlebrooks to 3B (16.2%)

 

Average WE: 0.70

	pLI	WPA
Jose Reyes	0.79	-0.08
Melky Cabrera	0.68	0.09
Jose Bautista	0.55	-0.05
Edwin Encarnacion	0.68	0.02
Juan Francisco	0.41	-0.03
Brett Lawrie	0.57	0.17
Josh Thole	0.59	0.02
Jonathan Diaz	0.71	-0.03
Moises Sierra	0.67	-0.02
		0.09
RA Dickey	1.05	0.10
Steve Delabar	1.87	0.31
Esmil Rogers	0.04	0.00
		0.41

Quick notes:

SP Lines:

Dickey:  6.1 IP, 5H, 1ER, 0BB, 6K

Lester:  7 IP, 5H, 4ER, 0BB, 7K

Dickey finally looked back to form again, at one point even retiring ten in a row.  That coupled with the fact that the right call was made to give him the hook as soon as he started struggling made for an excellent outing.  Dickey didn’t walk a single batter for the first time ever as a Blue Jay.   

DICKEY FACE!!!!!

 

The relievers that came in (Delabar and Rogers) also did not issue a walk.  Amazing what can happen when you’re not issuing free passes.

Dickey bobble head also brought in a crowd to watch this one, with a paid attendance of 45,260 (sellout).

It’s been absolutely wonderful not having to worry about our catcher position this year.  Navarro has been an incredible upgrade over JPA for sure, but also, Josh Thole has been an excellent improvement on himself.  Thole is batting .550 after yesterday’s game (11/20) and hasn’t allowed a single passed ball this year.

Speaking of improving on themselves, how about Melky!  He is currently tied with the franchise record for hits in March/April with 39.  The record is shared with Hillenbrand ('05) & Shannon Stewart ('01).

Well now isn’t that just the perfect lead in for our mainstay comment…..  Bautista and Melky continue to roll leading the league in walks and hits, respectively.  Joey Bats is the only player in the MLB to reach safely in every game this season.

Bautista made us sweat in this game going 0-3 and then hitting a grounder up the middle.  The ball was bobbled and initially scored an error, but later changed to an infield hit making it 25 straight games to reach safely.  That means the streak survives!   Only 4 more to go for the team record 29 Joey Bats! #josewatch

As pointed out to me by @cjhurst12  the Jays became the first team ever to have 6 Dominican born players in the starting lineup, ESPN story hyper linked.

Joey Bats requested the line-up card after the game and had The six Dominican players in today's lineup sign the card.  Bautista plans to send it to the Dominican Baseball Museum.

Jays are now back to .500 (5-5) in the best uni's in the league, the blues. 

The Jays broke their 4 game losing streak (12-13) and will roll into KC tomorrow at 6:10 MST.  Dusty Chops will take the mound, insulin pump loaded (6.88) to take on KC’s MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT of the off season, Justin Vargas (1.54).