If you want evidence of how confidence and running hot can impact a baseball team (or any professional sports franchise or athlete, for that matter), find the Bottom of the Ninth from Toronto’s Tuesday game against the Miami Marlins.
Since you might not be able to find it, let’s set the stage.
In the Top of the Seventh, rookie reliever Roberto Osuna, who has been pretty good all season, left a fastball out over the plate and Giancarlo Stanton, the premier power hitter in baseball, did exactly what you would expect the premier power hitter in baseball to do with a fastball that hung over the plate, depositing it in the seats for his second home run of the game and 21st of the season.
It’s the kind of painful mistake that could shut down a team on a losing streak or struggling to find consistency. But when you’re running hot and have won six-in-a-row (at the time), it becomes a bump in the road that just stands as another obstacle you’ve got to overcome and that’s exactly what the Jays did.
Just as they did on Sunday to cap their three-game sweep of the Houston Astros, Toronto got a runner on base to start the bottom of the ninth when Josh Donaldson singled to right. After Jose Bautista struck out, Edwin Encarnacion stepped up to the plate and promptly deposited the first pitch of he saw over the fence in centerfield before jogging around the bases with his imaginary parrot perched on his arm.
The following day, the Jays collected a 7-2 victory to earn their eighth straight win and second consecutive series sweep.
Those are things that happen when teams are in a groove. You may not want to believe it, but momentum and confidence are two massive factors in sports and the Jays have an abundance of both right now, which is why those close games that were ending up as losses earlier in the season are turning into come-from-behind victories.
Guys don’t press as much. They see the ball a little better. They believe they’re capable of pulling it out – not in a ho-hum, “Yeah, sure, we can still win this” kind of way, but a legitimate “We only need a couple, so let’s go out there and get’em” sense and then they go out there and do exactly that.
Things are clicking. The offense is rolling. The pitching staff has been markedly better in June than it was in the first two months of the season and what’s even better is that the hottest team in the majors still has room to improve.
Devon Travis and Michael Saunders are still on the sidelines, the bullpen could still be better and the Jays have assets that they could theoretically move if they believe – as they should as of right now – that the American League East is up for grabs and they’ve got as good a chance to win it as anyone else.
Grabbing Jonathan Papelbon from the Philadelphia Phillies would be alright, but only if “The Fightins” pay a sizable chunk of the remaining money that is owed to the former Red Sox closer over this year and next. Perhaps the wiser move would be landing another arm for the rotation and allowing rookie Aaron Sanchez, who has been good of late, but inconsistent overall this year, to move back to the ‘pen where he was lights out after coming up last season.
For now, the team is calling up Phil Coke, the veteran lefty who was signed a couple weeks back and sent to Buffalo; he’ll be available tonight when the Jays kick off their three-game visit to Fenway Park.
They’re a game over .500 for the first time in a long time and only a game-and-a-half back of co-division leaders New York and Tampa Bay, who play on the road at Baltimore and at home against the Chicago White Sox respectively this weekend.
Whether the winning streak lasts through the weekend or not, this run of success should create lasting confidence in the clubhouse since they’re getting it down without a couple of key pieces.
Summertime at the Rogers Centre should be interesting.
