Toronto Blue Jays pitching, a look back at this week

I will preface this by saying, yes, this is a small sample size. This may or may not mean anything. This could just be a blip in a long baseball season that is bound to have a small stretch like this. But, that said, I really like the numbers from the last 7 days of ball.

It was a busy week playing games everyday. Tough games against tough teams. They played Seattle, L.A., and Houston. While the team went 3-4 it is really encouraging to see what has happened, despite the record.

The Blue Jays starters all ate innings. The bullpen was left to pick up a couple innings a game (at most) and stayed rested. I’m sure it was a nice break from having to pick up 5+ innings almost every game.

If this stretch can continue it will give the Jays a shot to win most nights. While I know that is not realistic, I can dream though can’t I?

7 days of pitching

Those numbers are a welcome sight. The Todd Redmond spot start is the only blip in that picture. Drew Hutchison and Marco Estrada both gave up 4 runs on 6.2 and 7 innings of work. Mark Buehrle gave up 3 runs on 7.1 innings. R.A. Dickey tossed a complete game giving up 4 runs. Aaron Sanchez tossed an average of 7 innings per game giving up 5 runs on a total of 14 innings. Those are all winnable games. Especially with the Blue Jays offense being able to put up runs in bunches.

While their combined ERA is not great, yeah I know I’m being optimistic, it is bad. With a mark of 4.31 over this stretch it still puts them in the bottom 1/3rd of the league. The good news here is that their WHIP is a very good 1.15. Without digging too deep into the numbers it is pretty clear that home runs seem to have been an issue. Each gave up at least 1 while R.A. Dickey gave up 2. Runs are coming across but base runners are being limited.

As a direct result of those starts, the bullpen was only required to pick up 2-2.1 innings on average. Including the game that Redmond pitched only 4 innings. With 15 total innings pitched by the bullpen and only 3 runs against, they have a sparkling 1.80 ERA. The numbers that really shine through are the 18 strikeouts and only 2 walks. Those are numbers I can really get behind. It translates to 10.8K/9 and 9K/BB. Those are elite numbers and it is unrealistic to expect that going forward. But again, it’s a trend that I like seeing.

The starters haven’t been all-stars but the key here is that they are going deeper into games. They are limiting the base runners and keeping the Blue Jays in games. It is a long season and we are only 2 months in. If this can continue the Blue Jays could make a push in the AL East. While I still think they are in need of a solid #1 starter this could buy some time until a deal is made.