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	<title>Toronto &#187; San Francisco Giants</title>
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		<title>Recap: Giants 5, Blue Jays 4; Care for Some Shrimp Tepera?</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/11/recap-giants-5-blue-jays-4-care-for-some-shrimp-tepera/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 00:33:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jenn Smith]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Toronto Blue Jays, who entered today one game above .500 and 3.5 games out of first place in the AL East, sent Marcus Stroman to the mound looking for their first series sweep of the season. Standing in their way, however, was San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner. Neither starter was sharp, and the Jays had [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Toronto Blue Jays, who entered today one game above .500 and 3.5 games out of first place in the AL East, sent Marcus Stroman to the mound looking for their first series sweep of the season. Standing in their way, however, was San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner. Neither starter was sharp, and the Jays had their first scoring opportunity in the top of the first when back-to-back singles by Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista and a walk to Troy Tulowitzki loaded the bases with two out. MadBum struck out the struggling Russell Martin to end the threat, and nothing came of it.</p>
<p>The Giants went out in front in the bottom of the second inning when Gregor Blanco doubled to right field to drive in Brandon Crawford from second base. Crawford, who lead off the inning with a single, had reached second base when Troy Tulowitzki booted a potential double play ball off the bat of Conor Gillaspie for his fifth error of the season. The Jays got one back in the second when Donaldson and Bautista both walked and Donaldson scored on an Edwin Encarnacion ground-out.No runners crossed the plate again until the bottom of the fifth, when Stroman gave up back-to-back singles to Denard Span and Joe Panik, followed by a walk to Matt Duffy to load the bases with none out. Both Span and Panik would come in to score, giving the Giants a 4-1 lead that, frankly, seemed insurmountable given the Jays&#8217; offensive woes in 2016.</p>
<p>The Blue Jays had a golden opportunity to tie the game after Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion both singled and Tulowitzki was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out. After a sacrifice fly by Russell Martin, and a pinch-hit single by Justin Smoak to bring the Jays to within one, Ryan Goins (pinch-hitting for Darwin Barney) flied out to centre field to end the inning. In need of some last-chance heroics, the Jays tied the game when Michael Saunders took Santiago Casilla deep in the ninth inning. The two teams would trade opportunities in extra innings until Ryan Tepera served up a four-pitch bases-loaded walk to Buster Posey in the bottom of the thirteenth inning to end the game.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>Trailing 4-3 in the top of the ninth, Michael Saunders led off the inning with a solo shot to tie the game, providing the top play of the game by WPA (.363).</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The Giants nearly walked it off in the bottom of the tenth when Drew Storen gave up a single to Brandon Crawford and hit Jarrett Parker with one out, followed by Gregor Blanco reaching base on Tulowitzki&#8217;s second error of the game. But, Storen dug deep to strike out Brandon Belt, who provided the bottom play of the game by WPA (-.175).</p>
<h3>Pitchers at the Plate</h3>
<p>The joys of interleague baseball and playing by the National League&#8217;s rules provided fans with two particularly entertaining moments today- seeing Marcus Stroman with a bat in his hand (he went 0-for-2 but did hit a long fly ball just short of the warning track), and R.A. Dickey pinch-hitting late in the game (though he failed to get a bunt down).</p>
<h3>Troy Tulowitzki</h3>
<p>Though his offensive struggles have been front and centre in the &#8220;what&#8217;s wrong with the offense?&#8221; narrative, Troy Tulowitzki&#8217;s atypical shaky defense added another cause for concern regarding the all-star shortstop. With two errors on the day, Tulo now has six errors in his last fourteen games. Multiple theories abound &#8211; perhaps his eyesight is failing, or his offensive woes have him so wrapped up in his own head that it&#8217;s now impacting his fielding abilities. Whatever the cause, one hopes he figures it out very soon.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>After a much-needed off-day tomorrow, the Blue Jays will head to Arlington to take on the Texas Rangers, whom they got the best of at home during the first week of May when the Jays took three of four games in the series. The Rangers, who are 6-5 in their last eleven games, gave their lineup a bit of a different look on Tuesday when they bumped the struggling Prince Fielder to the five-spot. The Rangers are the one team against whom the Jays played a laugher when they put up twelve runs two weeks ago, so here&#8217;s hoping the Jays&#8217; bats can get it going once again.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Blue Jays 4, Giants 0; San Francisco Hapless Against Blue Jays Ace</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/11/recap-blue-jays-4-giants-0-san-francisco-hapless-against-blue-jays-ace/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 05:15:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Dika]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[While Buck and Pat couldn’t quite determine whether or not AT&#38;T Park smelled like Garlic Fries, the Blue Jays rode another strong starting pitching performance to victory on Tuesday night. Troy Tulowitzki provided the bulk of the offense, hitting a solo home run, RBI double, and a sacrifice fly, while JA Happ continued his hot [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While Buck and Pat couldn’t quite determine whether or not AT&amp;T Park smelled like Garlic Fries, the Blue Jays rode another strong starting pitching performance to victory on Tuesday night. Troy Tulowitzki provided the bulk of the offense, hitting a solo home run, RBI double, and a sacrifice fly, while JA Happ continued his hot start to the 2016 season, pitching 8 2/3 innings of shutout baseball against a Giants team that has struggled to score runs of late. While Happ doesn’t appear to be following the same pitch mix that led to his second half improvements in 2015, he continues to find success. Much to the enjoyment of fans, he is also working at a much quicker pace when on the mound.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game By WPA</h3>
<p>Tulowitzki’s second inning home run off Matt Cain provided the only offence the Blue Jays could muster through the first six innings of the game and the top play of the game by WPA. Tulo’s home run into the left field bleachers increased the chances of a Blue Jays’ win by 12.5 percentage points.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game By WPA</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays made good use of their strong infield defence when Denard Span grounded into a double play during the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out and runners on first and second, the Giants were mounting their first legitimate scoring threat of the game when Ryan Goins and Troy Tulowitzki turned a <a href="https://twitter.com/BadNewsJays/status/730234618226606080" target="_blank">gif-worthy</a> double play to stop the threat and decrease the Giants&#8217; chances to win the game by 15.5 percentage points.</p>
<h3>Best Rotation in Baseball?</h3>
<p>After another strong start by JA Happ, a Blue Jays’ rotation that was viewed as a potential achilles heel in 2016 has been one of the best in baseball. Through the first 34 games of the season, the rotation ranked 5<sup>th</sup> in baseball with a 3.26 ERA. Given the offence’s failure to hit like they are capable of, and the bullpen’s inability to hold the razor thin leads they have inherited, the Jays have their starters to thank for their ability to play .500 baseball through the season’s first five weeks. No one expects the starters to keep up the pace they have set early on, but if we have underestimated the gains Marco Estrada and JA Happ have made, or the potential of Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, the Jays won’t have to worry very much about the starting pitching. At least until August when Stro and Sanchy hit their innings limits.</p>
<h3>Stymied Again</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays offence has made a habit of being shut down by some very surprising opposing starters in the past two weeks. Ross Stripling, AJ Griffin, and now Matt Cain are just a few of the soft throwing, back end starters that have been able to keep what should be an extremely dangerous Blue Jays’ offence at bay. Coming into play tonight, Matt Cain had an ERA of 7.84 and a 6.1 K/9 through six starts. While Cain is the type of pitcher that the Blue Jays offence should be able to tee off on, Cain was able to hold the Blue Jays to two runs while striking out seven over eight innings. It’s too early to think the offence isn’t going to figure it out, but it is a bit puzzling to see this specific type of pitcher giving Jays hitters fits.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays finish their three game set with San Francisco tomorrow with Marcus Stroman (4-0, 3.60 ERA) taking on Madison Bumgarner (4-2, 3.14) in the premier pitching matchup of the series. The 12:45 PM local start time (3:45 PM EST) will make life a little bit easier for Jays fans located in the same time zone their favorite team. After dropping two of three to the Dodgers over the weekend, a series sweep would put the Blue Jays two games above .500 heading into a four game weekend series in Texas that begins on Thursday.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: Blue Jays 3, Giants 1; Sanchez&#8217;s Solid Start Salvages Still Sputtering Sluggers</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/10/recap-blue-jays-3-giants-1-sanchezs-solid-start-salvages-still-sputtering-sluggers/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2016 05:18:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dave Church]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Blue Jays had their first trip to a National League park this season on Monday night and came away victorious, beating the San Francisco Giants 3-1. Jake Peavy, who had scuffled to start the season, was not especially sharp in this outing either, laboring through five innings, allowing five hits and five walks. The Jays, [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Blue Jays had their first trip to a National League park this season on Monday night and came away victorious, beating the San Francisco Giants 3-1. Jake Peavy, who had scuffled to start the season, was not especially sharp in this outing either, laboring through five innings, allowing five hits and five walks. The Jays, however, were unable to make him pay too much, only scoring three runs and stranding seven while the Giants starter was on the hill.</p>
<p>Aaron Sanchez was fine, going seven innings, allowing only one run and three hits, and striking out five.  Sanchez did struggle at times with his control, walking five hitters, which is something we haven&#8217;t seen as much of so far this season. But the Giants, lacking regular catcher Buster Posey, also struggled with runners in scoring position, getting only three hits, and managing to leave eight runners on base. Gavin Floyd pitched a clean eighth, and Roberto Osuna locked it down for his seventh save of the season.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>With one out in the third inning, Peavy walked Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion strode to the plate. He blasted a home run to left field, giving the Jays a 3-0 lead. These two runs proved to be the difference in the game, and at the time increased their chances to win by 18.4 percentage points.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>In the seventh inning, Sanchez was clearly running out of gas, allowing a single and a walk. With two runners on base, pitching coach Pete Walker came to the mound to buy time for the bullpen, and Joe Panik was clearly going to be Sanchez&#8217;s last batter. The Jays&#8217; hurler managed to get the Giants&#8217; second baseman out, getting him to ground to third base. Ending the inning decreased the Giants&#8217; chances to win by 6.8 percentage points.</p>
<h3>Stranding Runners</h3>
<p>The offense had a bad day with runners in scoring position, leaving eight men on base. Twice they stranded the bases loaded on Giants starter Jake Peavy, in the first and fifth inning, only scoring a single run in the first.  Thankfully for the Jays, Edwin Encarnacion contributed in the traditional Jays&#8217; way, smashing that home run to left in the third inning.</p>
<h3>Sanchez Gets to Seven</h3>
<p>Sanchez&#8217;s progression into an excellent starter has been well covered by this point, and his outing tonight marked the third straight outing (and fifth of seven starts) that he threw at least seven innings. For a Jays rotation that lost Mark Buehrle and David Price, to have Sanchez (and other starters) throw deep into games &#8211; and throw well &#8211; has been an excellent development, and kept their team afloat while the offense continues to find itself.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>Another late game for the east coasters tomorrow, with a 10:15 ET start time. J.A Happ (4-0, 2.50 ERA) takes the hill for the Jays, with Matt Cain (0-4, 7.84) going for the Giants. Happ has been excellent in his six starts so far this year, having gone six innings in each of them, and having allowed more than two runs only twice. Cain has struggled so far in 2016, having allowed six runs in three of his six starts, and throwing fewer than five innings in three as well.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Go West, Young Man: Giants Series Preview</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/09/go-west-young-man-giants-series-preview/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2016 15:33:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[BP Toronto Team]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays @ San Francisco Giants May 9th &#8211; May 11th Written by Mike Passador and Molly Tissenbaum The Blue Jays will head to the coast to take on another NL West opponent after dropping two of three at home to the LA Dodgers. Chalking up yesterday&#8217;s game as another &#8220;One That Got Away,&#8221; Toronto boards the [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2 style="text-align: center">Toronto Blue Jays @ San Francisco Giants</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: center">May 9th &#8211; May 11th</h3>
<p style="text-align: center"><em>Written by <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/author/michaelpassador/" target="_blank">Mike Passador</a> and <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/author/mollytissenbaum/" target="_blank">Molly Tissenbaum</a></em></p>
<p>The Blue Jays will head to the coast to take on another NL West opponent after dropping two of three at home to the LA Dodgers. Chalking up yesterday&#8217;s game as another &#8220;One That Got Away,&#8221; Toronto boards the team charter to San Francisco with a record of 16-17 where the 17-16 Giants will be waiting for them. This series should make for another interesting set of matchups on the novelty factor alone. The last time these teams faced each other was 2013, with the Blue Jays winning three of the four games, two coming at each venue. The Jays got two wins from R.A. Dickey and one from Ramon Ortiz while Tim Lincecum out-dueled Josh Johnson for a 2-1 San Francisco victory in the other game.</p>
<h3>Pitching Matchups:</h3>
<h4>May 9th – 10:15 PM ET</h4>
<p><strong>Aaron Sanchez vs. Jake Peavy</strong></p>
<p>Sanchez continued his incredibly strong start to the 2016 season against Texas his last time out, yielding three runs on seven hits in seven innings while walking two and striking out five. Sanchez currently holds a 2-1 record with a 2.82 ERA and 34 strikeouts against only 12 walks. Control was the core issue facing the young right-hander, and to this point he has done a good job limiting walks. Getting ahead of batters will be key, as doing so allows Sanchez to draw from his entire arsenal of pitches. When ahead of batters, Sanchez likes to use his curveball more (RHB/LHB: 27 percent/34 percent as opposed to 3 percent/5 percent when behind in the count) to try and generate grounders or swings and misses while his sinking fastball becomes the weapon of choice when he falls behind. Early strikes will be necessary in order to keep the Giants&#8217; hitters off balance. Sanchez has never faced any member of the Giants&#8217; roster, so it will be interesting to see how quickly they can adjust to the speed and movement on his pitches.</p>
<p>Opposing Sanchez will be Jake Peavy. The long-ago Cy Young winner has struggled so far, entering the game with a 1-3 record and a nice, round ERA of 9.00. The veteran starter had a horrendous last outing, giving up six runs and five walks in only two innings of work. Working primarily with a fastball / sinker / cutter / curveball mix, Peavy has generated 25 strikeouts on the season, with his cutter and an infrequently-used slider producing the greatest percentage of whiffs. We may see more sliders than normal thanks to Toronto&#8217;s right-heavy lineup and early strikeout troubles. While the slider is shown only to righties, Peavy will use a changeup to great effect against left handed batters. Beyond the cutter, Peavy doesn&#8217;t have much in the way of a strikeout, so perhaps the Jays&#8217; bats will get a reprieve in that regard. In six starts, Peavy has also surrendered 6 home runs, so Toronto&#8217;s big bats could very well connect for a dinger or two on Monday night as he works through early struggles. In the last five years, Peavy has faced Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion the most often among current Blue Jays, with Bautista hitting .308 in 13 at-bats and Edwin hitting .250 in 12.</p>
<h4>May 10th – 10:15 PM ET</h4>
<p><strong>J.A. Happ vs. Matt Cain</strong></p>
<p>Despite being an underwhelming addition at the time, Happ has proven to be a key cog in the Blue Jays&#8217; season. Through six starts, the Illinois native is a perfect 4-0 with a 2.50 ERA. After giving up only one run on five hits in seven innings against the Rangers, Happ&#8217;s stretch of surrendering three runs or less stands at 16 straight starts going back to last season. As outlined in <a title="J.A. Not Happy With The Status Quo" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/05/02/j-a-not-happy-with-status-quo/">this post</a> by our own <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/author/joshuahowsam/">Josua Howsam</a> and <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/author/chrissherwin/">Chris Sherwin</a>, Happ has continued his strong play since returning to Toronto by making a series of positive changes between stints that point to sustained success. Happ is working to generate ground ball outs early in the count, while changing his approach to work the top of the zone when he gets batters to two strikes. The mechanical adjustments Happ made with the Pirates have stuck, and he has increased his usage of curveballs and changeups while introducing a totally revamped cutter. He has been huge so far with the offense scuffling, and the Jays&#8217; front office has to be thrilled with their offseason acquisition.</p>
<p>Opposing J.A. will be right hander Matt Cain. The last time these two starters faced off at AT&amp;T Park, Matt Cain threw a perfect game. While the Jays are in relatively little danger of succumbing to the exact same fate, Cain might have an outside shot at racking up 14 strikeouts again. Jokes aside, Cain, like Peavy, has struggled so far. He is 0-4 with a 7.84 ERA in his six starts. Cain relies primarily on a four-seam fastball and a slider, mixing in a changeup against lefties. His fastball is a fly ball pitch, while his slider generates a tremendous amount of ground balls. Beyond the aforementioned changeup, Cain&#8217;s offerings don&#8217;t often result in swings and misses. Off to the worst start of his career, the righty will look to get back on track after giving up eight runs on ten hits against Colorado in his last start. Troy Tulowitzki might be happy to be back on Pacific Time, as Tulo has slashed .328/389/.672 with five home runs, 10 RBI and seven walks against Cain in his career.</p>
<h4>May 11th – 3:45 PM ET</h4>
<p><strong>Marcus Stroman vs. Madison Bumgarner</strong></p>
<p>Marcus Stroman was dubbed the ace of the Toronto&#8217;s new-look pitching staff in the offseason and has lived up to expectations in the role so far. The last time we saw Stroman toe the rubber, he pitched seven innings of two-run ball in shutting down the mighty Dodgers. While his 4-0 record looks the part, a 3.60 ERA doesn&#8217;t really do Stroman justice, as many runners he&#8217;s left on base have come around to score thanks to a faulty bullpen. His 60.5% ground ball rate is tops in the majors, and while his low strikeout totals raised some eyebrows in the early going, he has notched 17 K&#8217;s in his last two starts. If he really has put together his elite ability to generate ground balls with the stuff to get strikeouts, the sky is the limit for young righthander. Stroman also insists he can handle the bat, and he&#8217;ll get a real test in that regard on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Clayton Kershaw&#8217;s scheduled Friday start at the Rogers Centre was pushed back to Saturday, depriving us of an ace vs. ace matchup. For the disappointed among us, this series&#8217; finale should be a nice consolation prize. While he isn&#8217;t the best pitcher on the planet, Madison Bumgarner certainly makes the short list of contenders. The man they call &#8220;MadBum&#8221; is 4-2 with a 3.14 ERA and a whopping 55 strikeouts in 43 innings in 2016. With largely a fastball / cutter / curveball mix, odds are that if Bumgarner throws it, batters swing and miss.  The only exception is Bumgarner&#8217;s lightly used changeup, which he throws exclusively to right handers. This matchup could spell danger if the Jays can&#8217;t get their bats going (and probably will either way), as Bumgarner sports a career 8.8 K/9 but an 11.5 K/9 mark in 2016. One faint sign of life could come from a selective approach at the plate, as Bumgarner&#8217;s K/BB ratio is only 3.93 after he was above 5.0 in each of the past two seasons. Whether or not Toronto hitters can squeak out some walks could go a long way in determining this game. Building on an earlier theme, perhaps a return to his old NL West stomping grounds will awaken Tulo. In 33 at bats against the Giants&#8217; ace, the Toronto shortstop has delivered a .379/.455/.655 line with two home runs and five RBI.</p>
<h3>Additions and Subtractions</h3>
<p>Brett Cecil is out on paternity leave, but will rejoin the club in the next few days. A corresponding roster move will be made in advance of the series, and we will update this post as soon as it is announced.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE: </strong>Ryan Tepera has been chosen to take Cecil&#8217;s place during the San Francisco series. Normally Tepera wouldn&#8217;t be allowed to be recalled as he hadn&#8217;t been down for the minimum 10 days, but because Cecil is going on the paternity list, Tepera is allowed to rejoin the big league squad.</p>
<p>There haven&#8217;t been too many roster moves of late coming out of San Francisco, but they did recently select the contract of RHP Alberto Suarez. He is taking the place of Vin Mazzaro, who recently had one of the worst outings in history, giving up nine runs (seven earned) in just one third of an inning against the Rockies. Interestingly, it may not have been the worst outing of Mazzaro&#8217;s career. He once allowed 14 earned runs to score in just 2.1 innings, giving up 11 hits and three walks.</p>
<p>The Giants also recently welcomed Joe Panik back into their lineup. Panik has missed six games with a groin injury.</p>
<h3>Keep an Eye On</h3>
<p><strong>Kevin Pillar</strong></p>
<p>Kevin Pillar won’t be looking forward to leaving Roger’s Centre for AT &amp; T park, as he was 11/26 on the home stand, including a game winning home run on Friday night. He is still susceptible to right-handed sliders, to the matchup with Peavy should be interesting. He will also once again be platooned in the leadoff spot with Michael Saunders, so look for him atop the lineup on Wednesday against Madison Bumgarner.</p>
<p><strong>Pitchers Hitting </strong></p>
<p>With the games moving to the NL parks, the DH will no longer be in play. Not only does that mean that Justin Smoak will find himself once again on the bench with Edwin Encarnacion at first base, but it also means that pitchers will have to pick up the lumber and take some hacks. The Blue Jays pitchers <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/728965181305442304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">took their batting practice hacks</a> during the weekend series with the Dodgers, so they hope to be able to help their cause during the series. On the San Francisco side, Madison Bumgarner isn&#8217;t exactly your typical pitcher hitting. He has started off slowly in 2016, but in 2014-2015, Bumgarner put up a slash line of .252/.280/.469 and has hit two career home runs against Dodgers ace, Clayton Kershaw. The battle between he and Stroman should be very entertaining.</p>
<p><strong>The Blue Jays Bullpen</strong></p>
<p>Coming off yet another blown lead, there&#8217;s a good chance we could see Drew Storen removed from the primary setup role. Not only does he have greatly diminished velocity, but he has struggled with command, walking the leadoff hitter in back-to-back outings. Based on early season performance, it seems likely that if such a demotion happens, Gavin Floyd could reap the benefits. The former starter has been excellent out of the pen this year with a 2.03 ERA and a 15/3 K/BB ratio in 13.1 innings.</p>
<h3>Probable Lineup</h3>
<table style="background-color: #ffffff;border-collapse: collapse;border: 1px solid #000000;color: #000000;width: 100%" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">
<h3>Blue Jays</h3>
</td>
<td style="text-align: center">
<h3>Giants</h3>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">1  Michael Saunders &#8211; LF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1 Denard Span &#8211; CF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">2 Josh Donaldson &#8211; 3B</td>
<td style="text-align: center">2 Joe Panik &#8211; 2B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">3 Jose Bautista &#8211; RF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">3 Matt Duffy &#8211; 3B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">4 Edwin Encarnacion &#8211; 1B</td>
<td style="text-align: center">4 Buster Posey &#8211; C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">5 Troy Tulowitzki &#8211; SS</td>
<td style="text-align: center">5 Hunter Pence &#8211; RF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">6 Kevin Pillar &#8211; CF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">6 Brandon Belt &#8211; 1B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">7 Russell Martin &#8211; C</td>
<td style="text-align: center">7 Brandon Crawford &#8211; SS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">8 Ryan Goins &#8211; 2B</td>
<td style="text-align: center">8 Angel Pagan &#8211; CF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">9 Pitcher</td>
<td style="text-align: center">9 Pitcher</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><em>via <a href="http://www.rosterresource.com" target="_blank">Roster Resource</a></em></p>
<h3>Final Thoughts</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays will be looking to right the ship as they head west to take on the Giants. The inability to get timely hitting has been exasperated by a struggling bullpen. The Jays need their starting pitchers to continue to go deep into games, but they also need the bullpen to be able to hold a lead. The marque match-up will come Wednesday when the Jays send ace Marcus Stroman to face Giants ace Madison Bumgarner. The Jays have, at some point this season, shown that they have all the pieces they need to be successful, but now its time to put all those pieces together to win ball games.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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