AL East Round Up: Memories Edition

2 of 6

Welcome to this week’s AL East Round Up!

Major League Baseball Origins Committee and MLB Advanced Media have started quite possibly the coolest collection in baseball history. In fact, it is a collection of baseball history itself. Mark Newman of MLB.com explains that they are gathering

“Baseball Memory Lab is a repository of those stories that are unforgettable to each individual and worth preserving for future generations. It is the public’s collective statement on baseball’s importance, combined in one place with rich archival research, including baseball’s origins and its growth.”

Fans can go to

BaseballMemoryLab.com

and share their memories and stories of baseball and find how baseball has impacted so many others.

Think about it: perhaps there are many kids out there who are getting swept up in the excitement of Canada’s only team being in first place! Maybe there is a young girl who Jose Bautista tossed a ball to at the end of an inning. Maybe a young boy witnessed the drama of Jose Reyes scoring from 2nd on a ground out. Imagine the excitement and lifelong passion that has been sparked in these young hearts and minds.

This week will be stuck in my memory as the one where the Blue Jays jumped their way into first place atop the American League East. For weeks I’ve been saying that someone HAS to pull away from the pack in this division. I am thrilled that it looks like it might be the Blue Jays who do it. Let’s take a look at how the toughest division in professional sports played out this week.

Standings:

Toronto Blue Jays- 28-22
New York Yankees-25-23 (2GB)
Baltimore Orioles- 24-23 (2.5GB)
Tamp Bay Rays- 22-28 (6GB)
Boston Red Sox- 20-28 (7GB)

Toronto Blue Jays

I fit feels like a long time since the Blue Jays have been perched atop the AL East, it is because it HAS been a long time. According to Gregor Chisholm at MLB.com, the last time the Blue Jays were in first place was when they were half a game up on the Yankees…FIVE years ago! May 23, 2009 was the last time Blue Jays fans could point to the fans of New York or Boston and gleefully mock them. That’s a long time. Feels good, no?

Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The Blue Jays have ridden 10 wins in their last 15 games right to first place. This streak includes a SWEEP of the Red Sox IN Fenway Park! Despite having a revolving door for a roster, they have managed to leap frog their stagnant rivals.

Over the last week, the Jays have received some brilliant performances from all over. Drew Hutchison (#HutchShow) out dueled Yu Darvish down in Texas! He tossed a 3 hit shutout for his 3rd win of the season. Anthony Gose has come up and started using the abilities the Blue Jays traded for.

Live Feed class=inline-text id=inline-text-5

MLB Power Rankings: Predicting the best free agent each team will sign /

FanSided

Opening World Series Odds for Every MLB Team in 2023 (World Champion Astros Not Favorites to Repeat) Betsided

MLB Best Bets for World Series Game 5 (November 3) Betsided

MLB Weather Report for Thursday, November 3 (What's the Forecast for World Series Game 5?) Betsided

MLB Probable Pitchers for Thursday, November 3 (Who's Starting in World Series Game 5?) Betsided

When are the MLB Awards Announced? (Candidates for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year) Betsided

He is getting on base and using his speed to help the ball club in more ways than

Colby Rasmus

was able to do before he hit the DL with his tighty righty hamstring. The bunts he laid down in Texas, and again in Boston, for singles were things of beauty! Fans must be wondering if he is starting to force his way onto the club for good. His defense has never been in question. Maybe regular playing time is what he needed to turn things around. Who knows, with more maybe we won’t see plays like the

THIS

as he gets used to Rogers Center’s walls.

Edwin Encarnacion has brought out the chicken wings with extra sauce this week. He had two games in a row with 2 homeruns. His homerun and RBI totals are starting to pile up and fans are forgetting his slow start to the year.

Mark Buehrle is continuing his surprising season. He has moved to 8-1! His ERA is a crisp 2.16 having only given up 16 earned runs all season. Believe it or not, Jays fans are seeing arguably the best Mark Buehrle. His ERA since joining the Blue Jays (3.66) is lower than that of his time with Miami (3.74) or Chicago (3.83). I know, it’s not MUCH better, but still.

A Celebratory Brett Lawrie High Five goes out to Rob Rasmussen who created a very special memory of his own when he made his MLB debut this week. His task? Oh, you know…retire David Ortiz. No big deal. Here’s the clip of a moment Rasmussen will remember forever:

In case he’s faded form your memory, Sergio Santos has started his comeback from his forearm strain. Gregor Chisholm tells us that he engaged in some “light tossing” on Wednesday. It makes it easier to forget the memory of Santos’ Adventures in Closing since Casey Janssen has come back to shore up the back end of the bullpen.

New York Yankees

This might be a week the Yankees would like to forget. The memories of the dynasty created in the 1990’s seem even further than you’d think. This team is banged up and aging, which is not a good combination. They’ve slipped into 2nd place and show no signs of hope as far as I can tell. Considering the financial investment they’ve committed to, this might be a season they’d like to forget. Yes, I will admit it is VERY early in the season. But, as Blue Jays fans know: “It’s early” can only be used for so long.

Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Well, C.C. Sabathia is out for 6 weeks…at least. However, Bryan Hoch shares that Joe Girardi expects the big lefty to be able to come back and produce this season. Of course he would say that. My question would be: Why would he need to say that? If you’re going to announce that he’s out for 6 weeks, why add that you expect that he’ll bounce back THIS SEASON? Unless Girardi is just saying that the knee shouldn’t be an issue when Sabathia does return. It’s just…doesn’t him saying that put doubt in your mind? It does mine.

If I were a Yankee fan (Hey, I said “IF”) I would be able to block Sabathia’s knee form my memory for a bit because of Masahiro Tanaka‘s brilliant foray into Major League Baseball. Except, that memory might cause some pain. This week the undefeated start of Tanaka was spoiled by the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night. That’s right, the Cubs! I’m just going to let that sink in…

Carlos Beltran has joined Sabathia on the DL. A bone spur will keep him out of action for a while. Shawn Kelly was attempting to return to the bullpen, but he suffered a setback in his rehab. Then, Brian Roberts gave himeself this “forget-me-not” foul ball off the knee cap:

The Yankees can’t afford to lose any more guys, even if it is Brian Roberts.

Luckily, Derek Jeter is still making his Fairwell Tour. He stopped through Chicago and had this to say about some of the White Sox:

Man, what a classy guy! Seriously!

Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles looked like they were going to make me eat my words when I repeatedly say they were a surprise contender. I didn’t think they had what it takes to win the division. I think that even less now.

The fall from first place to third has not been kind to the O’s. With the exception of Chris Davis, this has been a week they might like to erase form their memory.

Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

The loss of All Star catcher Matt Wieters does not look good. In fact, it is so not good that the Orioles traded for help behind the dish. MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli tells us that the O’s acquired Nick Hundley from San Diego. You know it is not looking good for a quick return when the team has to make a trade. Manny Machado is also nursing a stiff groin. Stop giggling! The Orioles are just hoping that it is over quick. They still have the memory of playing without him fresh in their minds.

The O’s might be remembering the conversation they had when they decided to sign Ubaldo Jimenez. I wonder if they wish the could step into time machine and have a do-over. His latest disappointment came in a 9-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Think they’re upset that Jimenez rejected their qualifying offer? Just look at his year thus far as laid out by BaseballReference.com. Then try and erase it from your memory.

Wow. That’s what $50M bought the Orioles.

Let’s go back to the young kids. Remember I mentioned the spark baseball can create in young kids? Well, Chris Davis was doing his share of creating memories. He gave out a lot of souvenirs this week. In fact, he went off on Tuesday night. He gave out 3 keepsakes in one game against the Pirates:

Tamp Bay Rays

Celebratory Brett Lawrie High Five to 2B Cole Figueroa as he recorded his first MLB hit on Thursday:

He’ll have that memory forever! Hopefully, for him he’ll have another opportunity some day. When that day is may not be so clear as Ben Zobrist is set to come back after dislocating his thumb according to David Adler of MLB.com.

Adler also gives us this: According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Rays and A’s played the longest one hitter in MLB history! The length of the game was clocked at 3 hours, 53 minutes! Wow!

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Rays have Alex Cobb back from the DL and Jeremy Hellickson is close too. With the boost these two could provide, the Rays’ deficit in the AL East may not be so bad.

Check this out: According to Bill Chastain of MLB.com, the Rays entered play on Friday having scored in just 4 of the previous 48 innings. Being that they won (1-0) on Friday in the bottom of the ninth against the Red Sox, that streak reached 56 innings! This is shaping up to be an offensive season they might like to forget. Check out the info from BaseballReference.com:

That’s just not enough to compete in the AL East. Sorry.

Boston Red Sox

I think part of what makes this recent streak by the Blue Jays so enjoyable is that it comes during a huge losing streak by the Red Sox; a streak the Blue Jays had a hand in when they swept their way through Fenway Park. Oh, did I mention that already? Well, how about this: at the end of play on Saturday, the Red Sox were in the midst of an 8 game losing streak. 9! And, they were 8 games under .500. The memories created last October are starting to disappear.

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In an effort to give their team a boost, the Red Sox signed Stephen Drew. I’m not going to harp on something that has been talked about enough. But, I will say this: It’s not enough to help. Sorry.

In other news…Ian Browne of MLB.com tells us that Shane Victorino has hit the DL again with his own tighty righty hamstring (see Colby Rasmus). This is already the 2nd time he’s been on the DL dealing with this. *sad trombone* Seriously, I would never mock someone for being hurt. I certainly don’t wish him ill. but, with him on the DL, I think the Red Sox are missing out. That makes me happy. As well, Both Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz did not fair so well against the Blue Jays. These two were supposed to be the anchor of a good starting rotation. The offense was supposed to hit and score a bunch of runs. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

But, it is. If you think the Rays numbers were bad, check out this gem from BaseballReference.com:

They are near the bottom in, well, almost everything. It is why they are struggling thus far. It is why I smile. It is why I send text messages to my friend and taunt him. Because I can.

This is baseball. You never know what is going to happen; how things will play out. And, like Sportsnet’s Buck Martinez ALWAYS says, ‘That’s the beauty of baseball. You always get another chance. There’s always another game tomorrow.’ There will always be an opportunity for new memories. New Stories.

Home / Toronto Blue Jays News