Series Preview: Blue Jays Look to Ground Astros

There seems to be signs of life in dem dere Blue Jays. Washington was supposed to be one of the elite teams in all of baseball this year..the vaunted rotation, the deep lineup…and they are. Luckily for the Blue Jays we ran into a less than stellar Max Scherzer and some guy named Taylor Jordan and there you have it: 2 of 3. They continue to score runs in bunches. They still lead the majors in runs scored with 283 which is 31 more runs than the next highest scoring teams: Texas  Rangers and….Arizona Diamondbacks??? They have still given up 248 runs so the pitching is still an issue but it seems to be coming less of an issue as the days go by. It is a long season and the likes of Drew Hutchison and Mark Buehrle seem to have turned a corner.

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The Astros are still leading the AL West comfortably at 5.5 games over the Angels and Rangers. Can the Astros keep things going? Collin McHugh has come down to earth a little bit and the offense is worst in the league in terms of batting average. It should be interesting to se how Colby Rasmus is received…and Jake Marisnick for that matter. As I looked at some numbers for this preview the one that stuck out was that Rasmus hit only .226 at Rogers Centre for his career. All power, no hit as evidenced by their league leading 75 homers. If you played all your home games in Minute Maid Park what do you expect?

May 30, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher

(41) pitches to the Minnesota Twins in the 1st inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Game 1: Roberto Hernandez (2-4, 4.92 ERA) vs Aaron Sanchez (4-4, 3.88 ERA)

The man formerly known as Fausto Carmona is definitely using the term fill-in admirably. If there were more choices I don’t see Hernandez being a part of this rotation. His GO/AO started out amazingly well around 3 but it has dropped to half that number over the last 7 or 8 games. He is slowly starting to implode on himself and the Blue Jays did get to him for 4 runs in 6+ innings last time out. This game should be decided based on his mound opponent.

Aaron Sanchez was the only Blue Jays starter that didn’t face the Astros in that ill-fated trip to Houston. He has been putting up better and better numbers and has been keeping his walks to a minimum the last 5 starts. He doesn’t have any gaudy strikeout numbers and he doesn’t have the best WHIP but what he does have is an approach that is being fine tuned and the catcher to help usher him into the dog days of summer with nothing but confidence. He is routinely able to pitch to his max pitch count-wise and if he is able to get his curveball over a bit more it will help his fastball even more.

May 31, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Drew Hutchison (36) pitches in the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Game 2: Brett Olberholtzer (0-0, 3.24 ERA) vs Drew Hutchison (4-1, 5.26 ERA)

Olberholtzer is hoping to give the bottom end of the rotation a shot in the arm after missing the season with a blister problem. 2013 was a great beginning for him but 2014 was just ok as he gave up a copious amount of hits (170 in 143.1 innings). If he can even find a happy medium between his first two seasons he will definitely give the Astros a shot in the arm slot. So far….still waiting for that shot (.364 BAA and 1.93 WHIP).

Hutch has been up and down and up and down. There are instances where he dominates…like the 4-hit complete game 8 strikeout shutout against the White Sox two starts ago. There are instances where he is middling to ineffective like his start against the Twins. He is learning in the majors much like Sanchez has been doing and the upside is great. If he can keep himself in control and stop giving up the big hits he will be great behind Sanchez and Marcus Stroman (and Jeff Hoffman?).

Jun 2, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher

(43) throws to the Washington Nationals during the fifth inning in game one of a double header at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit:

-USA TODAY Sports

Game 3: Collin McHugh (6-2, 4.33 ERA) vs R.A. Dickey (2-6, 5.33 ERA)

After a 7 run shellacking at the hands of the San Francisco Giants on May 12, McHugh  has been decent. He still sports a rather ordinary .275 BAA. He kind of falls in the same line as Overholtzer.  a pretty good 2013 season and a sub-par 2014 season due to injury. If he could be somewhere in the middle, McHugh could be a very good number 3 in the rotation. He has the capabilities of more but until he is able to show that there will be some hesitation to anoint him anything but an average big league starter.

Dickey is on the decline. Sure he has a complete game this season but more often than not he is giving up runs in spades. He is lucky to have the run support he does. Funny thing is his BAA against isn’t too horrid (.263)  and his WHIP is average (1.34) . He has given up the second most homers in the AL (12) and has a penchant for giving up runs with runners in scoring position (16.10 ERA). IF he can stop giving up the run scoring hits then he will be fine. This Houston team may be the right start.