8:16PM Eastern
The Blue Jays got another outstanding performance from a starting pitcher, but this time they added in a big game from the offense and strong work from the bullpen, and as a result, their four-game losing streak is history.
Brandon Morrow was the star of this one. Eschewing the go-for-ground-balls philosophy that led him to a fine 3.71 ERA and an even better 1.125 WHIP over his first four starts, Morrow just reared back and blew away the team with which he started his professional career. He threw six innings of five-hit shutout, inducing only five ground balls, but striking out nine while not issuing a walk. The fastball that had been sitting at about 92 miles an hour over his first four starts was suddenly coming in at 95 to 97 on the radar gun.
It was the first time that Morrow has ever made a start and not walked anyone.
He was outstanding, and I have to wonder if it was less about no longer wanting to get quick resolutions to at-bats in order to lower his pitch count and stay in games longer (he threw 104 pitches in his six innings) and more about just wanting to shove it up the nether regions of the Seattle Mariners, the team that drafted him, rushed him to the big leagues and then jerked him around for four years before trading him to Toronto. We shall see his next time out when he faces the Angels, I guess.
Amazingly, Morrow was at his absolute best in the big spots, just as he was in his last start in Kansas City. Morrow held the Mariners hitless in seven opportunities with runners in scoring position – the only time one of those runners even advanced 90 feet was when Kelly Johnson dropped a Miguel Olivo pop-up with one out in the 5th to put runners on the corners. Morrow struck out the next batter.
Three of the last four times the opposition has had a runner on third with less than two out, Morrow has struck out the next batter (the other one was a pop-up), and he has retired each of the last 16 hitters he’s faced with a runner in scoring position.
As for the bats, well, the slumbering ones seem to be waking up a bit – Adam Lind was 2-for-3 with an RBI double and a walk after getting what should have been a big RBI single against a lefty Friday night and Jose Bautista hit a rocket right through M’s third baseman Kyle Seager to go with his 8th inning ground-rule double that was sliced to right field. Edwin Encarnacion – whose bat has not been slumbering at all – had a big night, with a sacrifice fly early and a Grand Slam late that put the game away. The five-RBI night gives Edwin 19 ribbies for the season, in just 21 games, which is a pace for 147 on the season. Not bad for a guy who so many BlueJaysTalk callers last year said had to go because he just couldn’t drive in runs.
Speaking of The BlueJaysTalk, here it is, for your listening pleasure:
The series with Seattle wraps up on Sunday afternoon with Henderson Alvarez taking another shot at his first win of the season, facing lefty Jason Vargas. If the Jays’ season pattern holds, they’ll win – and it will be the second of a four-game winning streak that will be followed by four straight losses. Have to take the bad with the good, right? We’ll be on the air with the pre-game show at 12:30PM Eastern for a 1:07 first pitch – join us, won’t you?
Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness 590. Edwin Encarnacion is hanging out @Encadwin.
Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!
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15 Responses to “That’s How You Do It”
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Great game (we were there) and a well needed win. Watching Morrow todaywas awesome! Sorry we missed saying hello in the booth when we came up to see Uncle Tom (you were already on). Brought our 3 yr old Emily to her 1st game ever – it was so great! Love listening to the Fan!
MW: It was nice to see you – you can always wave!!
- Kara HealdWoo Who!!!!
- PisanoHi Mike,
2 questions on Brandon Morrows performance today.
I know that the Jays have been working with Morrow to increase his ground ball outs and pitch count. Just wondering why they would have gave him the go ahead to go back the “old Brandon Morrow”?
Amazingly he still got 2 ground ball outs pitching like the the old Brandon Morrow. Even though he went back to his old ways, do you see some changes that he instituted to create those 2 groundball outs?
MW: I gave my opinion on why he threw the way he did in the blog post on which you’re commenting. As for him getting two ground balls outs, that’s not amazing at all. Even at Morrow’s K/9estness, he still got several ground balls per game.
- JesseTwo comments Mike.
Which Morrow do I like? Today’s Morrow. I’d rather see a Morrow with 10 strikeouts over 6 innings than see a Morrow with ground ball outs giving up home runs. The goal is to win, and I think Morrow is more effective and feels better being the power arm that he thinks he is. A 97 mph fastball just blows by the hitter. A 92 – 93 fastball up in the zone or just missing its target ends up as a double or in the seats. Just my opinion of course, but I think a finesse Morrow is just ordinary right now. Maybe the finesse Morrow a year from now will be just as good as the power Morrow is today. We *know* that the power Morrow is just fanfreakingtastic, and I’ll take that.
How much do I like Edwin? There’s no reason to believe that he will not do as well as he did as a Red, or as well as he did as a DH last year. His stats at 3B were significantly lower and when the Blue Jays recognized that, he excelled as a DH. I’m now thrilled that no one claimed him on waivers in June 2010 and that Oakland let him go in the off-season between 2010 and 2011. So, yeah, I’m thrilled that the Blue Jays believed in him. Let’s hope he can keep it up.
And one other thought. We can only hope that Lind and JoeyBats are picking up their batting game. Just like you keep chiding the callers for short term negative performance, a one or two game surge does not mean that their game is picking up. We need to see the trend.
But certainly, a much better performance today over the last four games, absolutely.
MW: That “ordinary” groundballer Morrow was before Saturday had an ERA of 3.71 and a WHIP of 1.13, both of which would be career bests for him over a full season.
- Tim in Niagara FallsJust a thought. With the need for an impact bat to protect Bautista. Would it not be a good idea to pursue Bobby Abreu? He is naturally a long ball hitter and can play the dh role as well as some field. Short term of course. It beats having little other than Encarnacion being able to hit behind Jose. It may also give a little relief to Jose knowing there is more.
MW: Abreu is naturally a long ball hitter? He hit eight home runs last season.
- daveThe starting pitching continues to impress this week. It’s not surprising that the Jays have the league’s 4th-best starting rotation when Morrow and Romero both have sub-3.20 ERAs and sub 1.100 WHIPs.
Interestingly, Alvarez is WHIPping the AL to the tune of 1.03.
Were you surprised as I was on the pitch Encarnacion hit for the GS? That didn’t seem like a bad pitch by Iwakuma – he pitched it low and away but Encarnacion just seemed to dig it out and smash it.
Stat question: what do you think of this new “DER” stat they have on mlb.com? Defensive Efficiency Rating, I believe. It basically seems like the BABIP of defence, i.e. the percentage of balls in play a defence converts into outs. For what it’s worth, Toronto leads the AL in DER.
MW: It’s swell, but like every other defensive metric, there are a lot of holes in it.
- Adrian, co-alumnusWhere can I get a Mike Wilner bobble head? Nice snag at the game the other night, btw. Not quite as smooth as the guy in the restaurant catching Eddy’s blast, but impressive none the less.
MW: Thanks. No one can get my bobblehead, there are only two in existence.
- Duluth Puttin' Hutshove it up the nether regions. Got to love it.
- Matt in BCHi Mike,
This is something that has bothered me for years. Why is Ichiro Suzuki allowed to display his first name on the back of his jersey, when every other player in MLB must use last name. The rules of basebal clearly state:
1.11 (a) (1) All players on a team shall wear uniforms identical in color, trim and style, and all players uniforms shall include minimal six inch numbers on their backs. (2) Any part of an undershirt exposed to view shall be of a uniform solid color for all players on a team. Any player other than the pitcher may have numbers, letters, insignia attached to the sleeve of the undershirt. (3) No player whose uniform does not conform to that of his teammates shall be permitted to participate in a game.
His uniform does not conform to his teammates. If I was an opposing manager, I would wait till a critical time in game, and show him the showers. Can you explain why this is allowed ?
MW: He petitioned, and was given permission. Why does this bother you so much?
- Bob“Eschewing the go-for-ground-balls philosophy that led him to a fine 3.71 ERA and an even better 1.125 WHIP over his first four starts”
I am happy to see Morrow abandoning the “pitch to contact” strategy that led to just 12 strikeouts in 26 innings, and to 7 homeruns allowed.
A ridiculously low BABIP of .190 in his first four starts is what greatly contributed to the improved “efficiency” that allowed him to average 6.2 IP per start rather than the 6 we are accustomed to. Such a BABIP was not going to continue, and neither was the resultant “efficiency”. Nor the WHIP.
Morrow is who he is, a flyball pitcher whose chief weapon is the strikeout. The improvement he needs to make over last is with regards to his performance with men on base (his splits were ridiculous). He doesn’t need to morph into Kirk Rueter to be effective. Hopefully that thinking will be forever abandoned.
MW: I hope he never morphs into Kirk Reuter. One Woody is enough.
- Curious GeorgeIf he got 18 outs, and 9 were K’s, and 5 GO that means that 4 were AO. That’s not exactly eschewing a GO strategy, that’s a very good percentage.
MW: 5/18 is a very good percentage?
- MarkI much prefer this Brandon Morrow as well, for all the same reasons that Curious George posted. Very good to see him have this kind of start.
- Doug DMike,
There is no reason to believe that the Baltimore Orioles this year cannot make the same transition Tampa Bay Rays made from 2007 to 2008 to play meaningful ball in September. In fact there is more reasons to believe that Toronto will finish behind Baltimore this year as Toronto appears to like to fall into these serious offense slumps and play from behind, Mike you would probably call it persevarence I call it playing with fire.
It appears that Baltimores core players like now one of probably the top 5 centre fielders in the game Adam Jones and One of the top ten catchers in the game Matt Weiters have really come into their own offensively and defensively. Furthering the arguement, power bats like Chris Davis who hit 36 Home runs a few years back in Texas, and Wilson Betimit are great additions to the offense
especially in that hitters ballpark. There are great arms out of the pen like Jim Johnson, Pedro Strop and Darren O Day, who have hurt the jays. And a decent rotation Led By Hamel and Chen who are off to fantasic starts. The back end of the rotation may be weak but one of the best catchers in the majors behind the plate in may be able to help the back end of the rotation along. Good catchers often times says alot
about good pitching. It did for the Yankees, Boston and Tampa Bay.
It’s easy for you to say that Baltimore is going to finish last as you did in 2008 with Tampa, simply because of the previous losing year(s). With a new GM a proven coach that’s been around the MLB forever and a new infrastructure of talent with a strong offensive core. Baltimore I believe is for real, not to mention that buck’s team two season’s ago had the second best record down the stretch only behind phillies at 34-23 which I think gave the organization an idea of what needed to be done for future success. 2012 may be the manifestation of the late success of 2010.
MW: Wow, you sure take April results seriously!
- ThomasI had a chance to meet a charming woman who has unfortunately passed away who played Women’s Industrial League in Toronto and had a tryout with the AAGPBL during the war. Pity you couldn’t have met her. She was a “back”catcher, a term commonly used in this country long before you were born. Oh yes and forgive those who pronounce Sergio’s name as S”an”tos. They probably got it from listening to Buck Martinez. Maybe you should correct him too, though I suggust you slip in a mouthguard first.
Like your Sunday tweeter, a whole lot of us “Get it!”
MW: I know you do, I’m hoping that soon enough a lot more of you will!
- Marion SamuelThere is a lot of debate regarding the effectiveness of Morrow’s “new” vs. “old” approach. My thoughts are that he was productive pitching-to-contact. However his increase in innings pitched did not outweigh the dramatic decrease in his strikeout rates. To have greater value with the “new” approach, I feel one needs to get into the 7th,8th and 9th inning; he only made it as far as the 7th twice. What are your thoughts as to what approach makes Morrow most effective?
MW: I think there’s a happy medium between the two – something that allows him to get deeper into games by getting quicker resolutions to at-bats, but big strikeouts when he needs them. I think he showed good signs of developing that sort of form over his first four starts, but it still needs to be refined.
- Shawn F