ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Toronto Blue Jays tried to give Mark Buehrle a storybook send-off, in the event this really was it for the 36-year-old left-hander. Instead, and ironically for someone who spent a career relying on his defence, a couple of errors helped send him to a nightmare finish, with neither the six outs he needed to reach the 200-inning plateau for a 15th straight year, or a win for his team.
A 12-3 pummelling from the Tampa Bay Rays also ensured that the 93-69 Blue Jays wouldn’t finish with the American League’s best record, either, although that didn’t really matter with the 95-67 Kansas City Royals taking care of things by beating the Minnesota Twins 6-1.
Still, there was disappointment with how things played out for Buehrle after he didn’t escape the first in Game 162, although in a refreshing change from the usual gloom at the regular season’s end, the Blue Jays have Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the visiting AL West champion Texas Rangers on Thursday to look forward to.
Games with real stakes await.
“I’m glad this is over with, regardless of who’s got home field, that’s behind us,” said manager John Gibbons. “We can’t beat a dead horse. I think we’re all excited that we’re moving on to the post-season for the first time in 20-plus years. That’s what we’ve got to be excited about.”
Buehrle will be around for the excitement but he won’t be pitching in it, confirming that he isn’t going to be on the roster for the division series after grinding since August with shoulder soreness.
He also dismissed a round of social media speculation that he will retire at season’s end – “Apparently I’m done and what a way to go out … nowadays we don’t have a decision, it’s what people tell us,” he said – but threw his support behind the Blue Jays’ decision to go with David Price, Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada and R.A. Dickey with his typical grace and class.
“They’re going to take it and run with it,” said Buehrle. “I’ll be ready if something happens. Hopefully it doesn’t. But if it does and they need me in the second round or in the World Series, I’m going to be ready to go out and do everything I can.
“I’m disappointed, but they made the right decision. Those guys have been throwing the ball way better than I am so they deserve to be on it. I’m going to travel and cheer my rear end off and hopefully bring this thing back to Toronto.”
Buehrle started Friday and threw 6.2 innings in an 8-4 win that left him at 198 innings.
With Tuesday’s rainout pushing Marcus Stroman off-turn for Sunday, Gibbons decided to give Buehrle the ball one more time, on one day of rest.
“It meant everything to me for him to call me in on Friday and tell me, ‘If you’re feeling OK, go out there,’” said Buehrle. “Sad thing, I felt better today than I did on Friday, better than I’ve felt in the last month, month and a half. This game is crazy. I didn’t feel great on Friday and went 6.2, and today I felt great and they had to take me out in the first inning.
“It’s a weird game but it just wasn’t meant to be. Wish I had another couple of games for an opportunity to get it, but it’s over and maybe I can start another streak next year, if that’s possible. I still haven’t decided.”
The decision to start Buehrle drew criticism in some corners given the game’s possible implications on the quest for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Jose Bautista was among those having none of it.
“He deserved a shot,” the all-star right-fielder said emphatically. “I really don’t want to get on social media or start reading articles about how that wasn’t the right move. I don’t even want to hear it. So I’m going to be the one to step ahead of all of that and say that that man deserved that shot that he got today to get 200 innings.”
As Gibbons explained repeatedly, “it’s a bullpen day anyway, it’s not like we’re bumping one of our five guys, so what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know if we can throw a better one out there than him, to be honest with you,” he added, “we think maybe it’s going to work out perfectly and maybe we’ll get the win.”
The opposite held true.
Ryan Goins couldn’t cleanly field Brandon Guyer’s grounder to second for an error to open the game. An out and two singles later, Steven Souza Jr.’s looper toward the 3-4 hole clanked off Edwin Encarnacion’s glove for another error that brought in the game’s first run, and after a pop up and a bases-loaded walk to Tim Beckham made it 2-0, home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez didn’t give Mark Buehrle a borderline 2-2 fastball to Joey Butler, who sent the next pitch over the wall in centre.
“My teammates were rooting for me to get the 200,” said Buehrle. “Eddie (Encarnacion) was yelling at the umpires and (Russell) Martin was yelling at the umpires – they were trying everything they could think of.”
A Luke Maille double and Guyer single on Buehrle’s 45th pitch brought out Gibbons, who walked to the mound slowly with his head down. The manager patted his pitcher on the back, the pitcher did the same and appeared to thank his skipper, grateful for the opportunity, and walked off the field to a standing ovation from the Blue Jays fans at Tropicana Field, and the players in the dugout.
“Obviously this isn’t the best way to go out, if this is it for my career,” said Buehrle. “But this isn’t going to factor into it. I’m going home and talk to my wife Jamie and we’ll make our decision. It’s probably more my decision. She’s going to listen and give her opinions, but we’ll go home and talk and let you guys know in a couple of months.”
That Buehrle ended up at 198.2 innings this season – failing to join Cy Young, Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry and Warren Spahn as the only pitchers with 15 straight years of at least 200 innings – should by no means take away from his remarkable accomplishments.
The rarity of his consistency and longevity – he’s 95th all-time with 3,283.1 frames – is what motivated the Blue Jays to let him take one more shot at things.
“It’s important to me, it’s important to Buehrle and it’s probably even more important to his teammates that he gets 200 innings for what he’s accomplished,” Gibbons said. “Not many guys in history have done it, and I hope people understand that and respect that.”
Given the absurd criticism the Blue Jays took for using long-spring-training-road-trip lineups in Baltimore in the second half of Wednesday’s doubleheader after clinching the AL East, and in the rainy slop-fest that followed Thursday afternoon, that’s unlikely to happen.
“I’ll take the heat,” said Gibbons.
He shouldn’t have to.
The Blue Jays did the right thing for a pitcher who fully deserved one last chance to get 200. It didn’t work, it happens, and it doesn’t matter in the least – they won 93 games and are going to the playoffs for the first time since 1993.
Even if Buehrle’s final start and the regular-season finale didn’t go the way the Blue Jays had hoped, good times are very much here again.
