So, have we recovered from yesterday’s loss?
I was wrong about Eric Lauer starting today. The Jays are going with Paxton Schultz instead, making his first MLB start. He made seven starts for the Bisons last year. I’m expecting that they aren’t thinking he’ll go five innings. He’ll be in opener mode.
And Bo Bichette is out with ‘lower back tightness’, and is day-to-day.
Erik Swanson will get one more outing with the Bisons before, potentially being brought up to the Jays.
Andres Gimenez will play with Dunedin for the next two days. And then they decide the next step in his rehab.
I got an email from the people at Vice.tv telling me about a series called ‘The Grudge’, which has an episode about Jose Bautista and Rougned Odor. It will be available tonight at 10:00 Eastern. I’m not sure where we can watch it in Canada yet. Prime carries some Vice programming, so I think it will likely be there, but I hope to find out by tonight.
They just emailed me saying that it won’t be available in Canada. Such is life.
They sent me a link to see it early, and it is a good retelling of the story that we know well now. Bautista hit a series-winning home run and had an epic bat flip, which the Rangers pretended to be mad about, but really, they were mad that they lost. Whatever Jose did, they would have reacted the same. But, of course, the show can’t say that.
The Jays are playing the A’s at Rogers Center next. In July, they play in Sacramento for three games (one is a day game in the heat, which I think will be uncomfortable). I thought of going to see what games are like in the minor league park in Sacramento, but I’m not going to the States right now.
But Sam Blum did go to a game there and wrote about it for the Athletic:
So, yeah, there’s no getting around that fact (that is a minor league park). From a medical cart malfunction when the New York Mets were in town, to Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler calling the mound “terrible,” to A’s manager Mark Kotsay not challenging a potential run-scoring play because he couldn’t see down the left field line, this is not exactly the ideal baseball environment.
At the same time, the atmosphere is lively, and, if you take away the ugly dynamics, actually pretty cool. The lawn is full of people spread out like it’s spring training. Kids run around in the playground attached to the ballpark beyond the right field wall. As the national anthem plays and the first pitch is delivered, the brutal heat settles into a calm and comfortable evening as a breeze drifts in off the adjacent Sacramento River. It is Major League Baseball like you’ve never experienced.
The Athletic also has a story on Jays’ prospect Gage Stanifer, who has become much better with the help of contact lenses (and better mechanics).
He walked 50 batters in 60 innings last year. This year, 12 walks in 26 innings and a 0.65 ERA in Dunedin. He’s moved to Vancouver now.
Gage Stanifer had undergone vision tests before, but nothing like this. He wasn’t reading out progressively smaller lines of letters or following a moving finger. Instead, the Blue Jays pitching prospect sat in a chair during his 2025 spring training physical, asked to put on a pair of goggles and relay the order of three shining lights.
He should’ve seen green, red and blue flashes, but couldn’t pick up a single one. As Stanifer wrapped up the annual vision test, he was asked to stay behind. That’s when the command-challenged prospect was told he had astigmatism, an imperfect curvature in one of his eyes. The fix was simple — he needed glasses.
Tonight’s lineups. Varsho is in the leadoff spot. I’m not sure that’s a plan with an on-base average of .227. He’s followed by Santander. Okay, then. Well, we won’t have to worry about RISP.