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	<title>Toronto &#187; Jays</title>
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		<title>Recap: White Sox 3, Blue Jays 2; Jays Fall Just Short in Series Opener</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/06/24/recap-white-sox-3-blue-jays-2-jays-fall-just-short-in-series-opener/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jun 2016 03:58:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Dika]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White Sox]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=4117</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Two of baseball’s promising young starters were on display in the series opener at US Cellular Field tonight in Chicago. Aaron Sanchez turned in a strong start once again, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits in six innings. Despite allowing 9 men to reach base, Sanchez was not hit hard and continued to induce ground [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Two of baseball’s promising young starters were on display in the series opener at US Cellular Field tonight in Chicago. Aaron Sanchez turned in a strong start once again, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits in six innings. Despite allowing 9 men to reach base, Sanchez was not hit hard and continued to induce ground balls (9 ground outs) at an elite level. Sanchez&#8217;s 23-year old counterpart, Carlos Rodon, struck out 8 Blue Jays and scattered 6 hits and 2 runs over 5.2 innings of work. A Josh Donaldson error in the bottom of the 7th inning led to a Todd Frazier RBI single that would be the difference in the game. Despite a 9th inning rally that saw the Blue Jays load the bases with one out, David Robertson was able to nail down the game for the White Sox, striking out Edwin Encarnacion and getting Michael Saunders to pop out.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>Todd Frazier’s 7<sup>th</sup> inning RBI single off Jesse Chavez was the difference in the game and the highest value play by WPA, increasing the White Sox chances of winning the game by 19.6 percentage points.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The lowest play of the game by WPA occurred in the bottom of the 9<sup>th</sup> inning when David Robertson snuffed out the Blue Jays rally by getting Michael Saunders to pop out to shortstop Tim Anderson. The Jays had loaded the bases on a Darwin Barney walk, Ezekiel Carrera single and Josh Donaldson infield hit when Robertson was able to retire the meat of the Jays order – striking out Encarnacion before inducing the infield fly off the bat of Saunders. The play reduced Toronto’s chances of winning the game by 23.1 percentage points.</p>
<h3>Sanchez Hits A Milestone</h3>
<p>After throwing 6 innings tonight, Aaron Sanchez surpassed his 2015 regular season workload of 92.1 innings pitched. While we’ve continued to hear Blue Jays’ management stay on message that Sanchez will be moved to the bullpen at some point in the future (when is not clear), he’s making many people who follow the team dream on ways to keep him in the rotation. The longer we see Sanchez take the hill and pitch like one of the top starters in the American League (where he ranks 14<sup>th</sup> in starter ERA), the harder it is to swallow that Sanchez won’t be taking the ball in the first inning down the stretch and potentially into the playoffs. Six man rotation? Month long All-Star break? There’s got to be a way to keep Sanchy out there.</p>
<h3>Ryan Goins: Outfielder</h3>
<p>Tonight’s game saw infielder turned “super utility” player, Ryan Goins, playing left-field after pinch hitting for Junior Lake. While many assumed that Goins would be sent to the minor leagues when Devon Travis returned from injury, Goins has remained with the big club, and taking on defensive assignments in the outfield. With Michael Saunders playing at DH, Goins remained in the outfield for the rest of the game. Goins made a strong throw to third base after Tim Anderson tagged up on a fly ball in the 7<sup>th</sup> inning, but didn’t appear to set himself to throw before making the catch. Anderson would later come around to score. Goins is a good defender at both second base and shortstop but with so little experience in the outfield, the Jays will be relying on him to figure things out on the fly.</p>
<h3>Balks A Plenty</h3>
<p>Both the Blue Jays and the White Sox were called for balks tonight &#8211; Drew Storen for Toronto in the 8<sup>th</sup> inning and Carlos Rodon for the White Sox in the 6th. Despite being called for balks, both Storen and Rodon appeared to do nothing out of the ordinary and neither situation involved deceiving a base runner that was looking to steal a base. While the enforcement of the balk rule is often debated and rarely understood, neither factored into the scoring and Bob Davidson was not involved in any of the calls on the field.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>Toronto’s series with the White Sox continues tomorrow afternoon (2PM EST) when RA Dickey takes the mound opposite Miguel Gonzalez. Gonzalez is the least intimidating (stuff wise) White Sox starter the Jays will face this weekend and the righty struggled earlier this season at the Rogers Centre, where he surrender 5 runs and 11 hits in 5 innings of work against the Blue Jays.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Red Sox 4, Jays 2; Token David Price Pun</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/16/recap-red-sox-4-jays-2-token-david-price-pun/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/16/recap-red-sox-4-jays-2-token-david-price-pun/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Apr 2016 23:02:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Church]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Angel Hernandez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Josh Donaldson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Umps]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=1564</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Reunions can be bittersweet, can&#8217;t they? The Jays faced last year&#8217;s trade deadline acquisition David Price, and ended up losing. The Red Sox&#8217; new ace was excellent, starting to earn that big money contract they lavished on him in the off-season. He struck out eight over seven solid innings, with just two earned runs. Marco Estrada wasn&#8217;t quite [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Reunions can be bittersweet, can&#8217;t they? The Jays faced last year&#8217;s trade deadline acquisition <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=54694">David Price</a>, and ended up losing. The Red Sox&#8217; new ace was excellent, starting to earn that big money contract they lavished on him in the off-season. He struck out eight over seven solid innings, with just two earned runs. <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/p/47658">Marco Estrada</a> wasn&#8217;t quite as good, striking out three and allowing four runs over six innings, with all the runs coming in one unfortunate inning. A couple of infield singles in the third inning both plated after a <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=67248">Xander Bogaerts</a> home run. After <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=32570">Jose Bautista</a>&#8216;s first inning RBI, when it seemed like the Jays might plate a few runs against Price early, they were unable to mount much offense. The Red Sox benefited from a balanced attack, as every starter except <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=70430">Mookie Betts</a> reached base.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>With the Blue Jays leading 1-0 in the bottom of the 3rd, Xander Bogaerts came up to the plate with two runners on base. He promptly parked a ball in the seats above the Green Monster, giving the Red Sox a 3-1 lead. This was the pivotal play of the game for the Red Sox, as going from a deficit to a lead increased their chances to win by 26.1%. It gave the Red Sox a lead they made stand up for the remainder of the game.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays were trailing 4-2 to open the 8th inning, and Ezequiel Carrera got a bunt single, bringing Kevin Pillar to the plate. The much-maligned leadoff hitter grounded into a double play, lowering the Jays&#8217; chances to win by 13.1%, and snuffing out the best chance for a rally in that inning.</p>
<h3>DAVID PRICE IS REALLY GOOD</h3>
<p>Anyone who watched the Jays&#8217; exciting run to the postseason last year isn&#8217;t surprised by how good David Price is. Even with the Jays&#8217; reputation as a lefty mashing squad, Price settled into a good rhythm after a rough first inning. After <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=56185">Josh Donaldson</a> (&#8220;getting his&#8221;, as he promised) tripled, and Jose Bautista doubled, the Jays weren&#8217;t able to sustain much against the Red Sox&#8217; new, expensive ace.  Price mixed speeds and locations well, keeping the Jays&#8217; struggling lineup off balance, and also benefited from a generous strike zone from umpire Angel Hernandez, as we will review shortly.</p>
<h3>THE STRIKE ZONE WAS REALLY BAD</h3>
<p>Hernandez is not a historic favorite for the Jays or their fans, and there were more than a few examples of why today. There were several calls that benefited Red Sox pitcher David Price, a player who does not need the help:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Call hurts <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a><br />Strike 1 should be ball 1<br />Top 1 Price vs Donaldson<br />8% call same<br />2.9in from edge <a href="https://t.co/JxNn5iUUqC">pic.twitter.com/JxNn5iUUqC</a></p>
<p>&mdash; BlueJays Strike Zone (@BlueJaysUmp) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJaysUmp/status/721429670701490177">April 16, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Call hurts <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a><br />Strike 1 should be ball 4<br />Top 4 Price vs Bautista<br />0% call same<br />5.4in from edge <a href="https://t.co/v8TLvQnm5p">pic.twitter.com/v8TLvQnm5p</a></p>
<p>&mdash; BlueJays Strike Zone (@BlueJaysUmp) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJaysUmp/status/721446741296463872">April 16, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Call hurts <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a><br />Strike 3 should be ball 3<br />Top 4 Price vs Donaldson<br />28% call same<br />1.6in from edge <a href="https://t.co/7dPSNk7Y6b">pic.twitter.com/7dPSNk7Y6b</a></p>
<p>&mdash; BlueJays Strike Zone (@BlueJaysUmp) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJaysUmp/status/721446404594475009">April 16, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>And, the cherry on top of the bad strike zone sundae, in the 9th inning, with flame throwing closer <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=58350">Craig Kimbrel</a> on the hill for the Red Sox:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Call hurts <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a><br />Strike 3 should be ball 4<br />Top 9 Kimbrel vs Bautista<br />12% call same<br />2.4in from edge <a href="https://t.co/aJz1fm9SYf">pic.twitter.com/aJz1fm9SYf</a></p>
<p>&mdash; BlueJays Strike Zone (@BlueJaysUmp) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJaysUmp/status/721469208459153409">April 16, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Balls and strikes aside, the largest issue for the Jays is still lurking.</p>
<h3>TREND TO WATCH</h3>
<p>12 games in, and the Jays continue to scuffle on offense. This is a surprising development for a team that was the best offense in baseball last year, scoring 891 runs, an average of 5.5 runs per game. They&#8217;ve scored four or fewer runs in eight of their twelve games. While the Jays&#8217; pitching has been better than expected, it hasn&#8217;t usually been enough to overcome the drought. The core of the team (Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=31564">Edwin Encarnacion</a>) have continued to be great, but they&#8217;ve gotten very little outside of those three and left fielder <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/card/card.php?id=48766">Michael Saunders</a> (who had the day off today).</p>
<h3>UP NEXT</h3>
<p>Tomorrow&#8217;s day game kicks off at 11:35 ET, and features two starters who&#8217;ve begun the season well. The Jays will start hard throwing righthander Aaron Sanchez (1.38 ERA in two starts) against knuckleballer Steven Wright (1.35 ERA). Wright faced the Jays in his only prior start of the year, allowed one earned run and striking out five over six and two-thirds innings. Sanchez, despite having two excellent outings, has yet to record a win this season.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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