DENVER – The thin air in Denver can wreak havoc on a pitcher’s repertoire, and his mind, which is why the Toronto Blue Jays tried to game-plan for that. Breaking balls at the edges of the strike zone, misses off the plate since they won’t do what they usually do, instead getting what veteran Clayton Richard describes as "random, bizarre movement."
For the same reason, pitchers must trust what they feel in terms of mechanics and release point more than what they see lest they start making unnecessary adjustments. Then there’s the fertile ground in the huge outfield at Coors Field that turns routine outs into hits, a factor in some way more important than how the ball flies.
"You have to make sure you’re mentally tough enough to not let those things bother you," says Richard.
Having pitched at Coors seven times previously, six of them starts, to a 12.71 ERA, Edwin Jackson was certainly aware of the joint’s many perils, what the Blue Jays were preaching, and about some tweaks to his pitch usage they wanted him to make.
None of it mattered as the Colorado Rockies lit into him – skip to the next paragraph if you’re the queasy sort – for 10 runs on 10 hits and three walks in 2.1 innings in a 13-6 demolition of the Blue Jays. Six of those hits came off his slider, which had been his most effective pitch this season, opponents batting just .143 against it coming in. Four came off the cutter he’d primarily relied on to this point and cut down on Friday. The last came off the four-seamer he upped the usage of, to no avail.
The Rockies were merciless.
The Blue Jays, on the other hand, are desperate, which is why they acquired Jackson from Oakland about two weeks ago. But since a decent five-inning, three-run debut May 15 at San Francisco, Jackson has been hit harder each time and he’s delivered fewer and fewer innings.
How much more rope can they give him with an already beleaguered bullpen?
"I don’t know," said manager Charlie Montoyo. "I just know he has good stuff and maybe his next outing will be a good one."
If they had a plethora of options, they could consider moving on from him. They don’t. They’re barely able to cover 27 outs as it is – at least it’s only 24 on nights they lose on the road! – and they won’t risk overexposing a double-A prospect like Patrick Murphy or Yennsy Diaz.
And forget triple-A Buffalo. Look at the ERAs there and try not to barf. I dare you.
So, unless the Blue Jays want to go out and get a reliable innings-eater – they checked in on James Shields before getting Jackson but there was no traction – the front office is essentially content with leaving its rebuilding club to drown in the ocean.
Just wait until Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez are traded, too, which is why, to a degree, giving Jackson more time to figure things out makes sense. It was just a year ago that he posted a 3.33 ERA over 92 innings for Oakland, and even if his FIP was 4.65, who’s saying no to a 4.65 FIP in this rotation right now?
"I won’t lose confidence," said Jackson. "I know what I can do and what I’m capable of doing. It’s just a matter of doing it and I haven’t been doing it the last few starts. It’s a matter of continuing to work, continuing to have confidence and continuing to know you can come out and get outs."
The heart of the issue is the same as it was last season, when they dealt ace J.A. Happ away at the deadline and didn’t get an arm back in return – there’s little to no organizational pitching to time with the hitting. Since then they’ve added Trent Thornton from the Houston Astros in the trade for Aledmys Diaz, but no one else who could become a core piece in the near future.
Buying pitching isn’t simple and trading for it is costly, too, but at some point the Blue Jays are going to have to make something happen. It will be negligent if there isn’t more young on-the-cusp or already-in-the-majors pitching in the system by the end of the trade deadline.
In the interim, they’ll be subjecting their developing position-player core of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Brandon Drury and Rowdy Tellez to ongoing beatdowns like this one. The Blue Jays are now 7-22 in their last 29 games, all but one loss coming in a dismal May, and a season-high 15 games below .500 at 21-36.
Things are going quite badly then, unless the motivation for 2019 was to get a top-five pick in the 2020 draft. If that’s the case, my bad, you’re well on your way, Blue Jays.
Either way, the coaching staff and the current crop of players are left to try and do the best they can on a daily basis, and find little victories anywhere they can. Like Gurriel relaying the ball to Freddy Galvis who fires it home to cut down David Dahl at the plate. Like two hits for Biggio. Like Davis working a pair of walks, collecting a single and making another great catch in centre field. Like Guerrero slamming homer No. 6 over the wall in centre and prompting the droves of Blue Jays who made the trip to Coors to chant "Vladdy, Vladdy."
Friday, the challenge was both the altitude and the Rockies. Randal Grichuk, who hit career homer No. 100 and delivered a sacrifice fly, had played at Coors nine time previously and remembers feeling the thin air "the most during BP, running around, but also running in from right or centre and leading off an inning. You might have 10 seconds to go to the plate, it definitely takes the wind out of you, a lot more than normal."
Right now, though, the only thing thinner than the Denver air for the Blue Jays is the pitching in the system.
from Sports - Sports Canada - Google News https://sprtsnt.ca/2W62Nc3
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June 01, 2019 at 11:24AM
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