With a 20% chance of precipitation in Kansas City tonight, the above picture is a computer-generated look at what we presume Mark Buehrle would look like during a rain delay.
Or it’s him celebrating after pitching a perfect game with the White Sox.
Either way, he’s going to put his 2.16 ERA on the line tonight, and try to avoid a sweep against yet another beatable team, the Kansas City Royals.
Last night, the Jays failed to get anything going against the fire-throwing Yordano Ventura, and Drew Hutchison pitched 7 innings in a losing cause. But he pitched 7 innings. Thank God for small miracles, Lana…
Admittedly, I didn’t watch last night, because, you know…
Now that (ignoring blowing the 22-point lead in the 4th) is a team that knows how to close out a game.
Anyway, this morning, the Jays made a few necessary moves in order to improve the roster.
The Jays called up Anthony Gose and Steve Tolleson to replace Moises Sierra and Jonathan Diaz.
The DFAing of Sierra should shock nobody, as he was hitting well below .100, and generally looked pretty clueless at the plate. If anything, he made Ryan Goins look relatively competent, and that simply shouldn’t be.
Diaz being demoted also doesn’t come as much of a shock, because, while he was competent in the field, that is simply not a good enough reason to be on a Major League roster.
Speaking of guys arguably not good enough to be on a Major League roster, the 30-year-old Tolleson has 54 games of Major League experience (hasn’t been up since 2012), with a .225 career average, but 9 out of his 27 career hits were for extra bases! So, it looks like we have ourselves a new #6 hitter!!
Or, just a platoon partner for Chris Getz – oh, what a scary duo that is.
Gose’s promotion makes some sense, as he’s a defensive improvement over Sierra, and after Melky Cabrera was beaned in the leg last night (he is day-to-day with a bruise), Gose will start in left tonight.
How Gose does in his second promotion of the year will surely become the subject of podcast fodder this weekend, especially given how Colby is hitting .202.
TONIGHT’S LINEUP
1. Jose Reyes SS – Needs to get going at the plate
2. Chris Getz 2B – So it’s come to this, huh?
3. Jose Bautista RF – 8 homers in April – not bad!
4. Edwin Encarnacion 1B – Couple hits last night
5. Dioner Navarro C – I don’t care about his start – you don’t go from 5 years on the bench to hitting 5th…
6. Juan Francisco DH – Drove in a big run last night
7. Brett Lawrie 3B – Back in after getting the night off
8. Colby Rasmus CF – Gose has been promoted and Getz is hitting 6 spots up – time to soul search
9. Anthony Gose LF – Nice and low in the lineup, no pressure. Perform.
Time to buckle down and get the offence and pitching together. A pitcher’s stadium like Kauffman should be a favourable spot for Buehrle to have a bounce-back game from his stinker against the Red Sox.
Jeremy Guthrie gets the start for the Royals. He’s a not-very-good pitcher whose ERA looks a lot better on a team that plays at a pitcher’s stadium. The 236 hits he allowed last season were a career-high.
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