Mark Buehrle is still pitching like a boss, his latest gem in Wednesday’s 10-0 pounding of the Philadelphia Phillies running his record to 6-1 with a 1.91 ERA in seven starts.
Has the Toronto Blue Jays left-hander ever enjoyed a start like this before?
“At the start of the season it’s got to be the best,” Buehrle said. “Even trying to think of a seven-game stretch going this good and I can’t think of one off the top of my head. That’s why I said I don’t want to ask too many questions, I don’t want to try to figure out what’s going on, I’m just going to roll with it and keep it as long as I can. If I got out there the next seven starts and crap the bed these first six or seven starts ain’t going to matter.”
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Erik Kratz hit his second homer of the season – a two-run shot in the seventh that provided the Blue Jays with some breathing room and a 3-0 lead – and he’s now taken David Price and Cliff Lee deep this year.
That’s one of many good reasons to keep him around, and while the expectation is he ends up the odd man out when Adam Lind gets activated from the disabled list Thursday or Friday, manager John Gibbons suggested that might not be the case.
“I’m not sure if Lindy’s coming back (Thursday) or the next day, but we’ll probably end up keeping Kratz around a little bit,” said Gibbons. “That will help guard (Dioner) Navarro a little bit, and there are going to be some times against some lefties that you’d like to get his bat in there, too. Kratz is a big-league player, he’s proven that. He came up through this system, he was always kind of the odd man out, probably not a whole lot of recognition over here, but he stuck with it, persevered, ended up getting up there first in Pittsburgh and then of course in Philly the last couple of years. He’s a big-league player, if there’s any way we can keep him we’ll definitely do that.”
Lind will take Juan Francisco’s spot in the batting order once he returns but they intend to keep him around as a power bat off the bench and protection for Brett Lawrie at third base. Chris Getz is the primary second baseman and super utility-man Steve Tolleson is the club’s only fourth outfielder, so both are sure to stay, while backup catcher Josh Thole needs to catch R.A. Dickey.
That leaves Kratz as the likeliest to go, unless Navarro is forced to the DL by his quad tightness.
When asked about that possibility, Gibbons replied: “No, no. We can also catch somebody else and DH (Navarro) a little bit, too, against some lefties. Keep him fresh.”
The other possibility is that the Blue Jays go back to a seven-man bullpen.
“Eventually that could be the way it turns out,” said Gibbons. “(Casey) Janssen, hopefully he’ll be back maybe this weekend, then of course we’ll have to make a move there. That’s the way to do it, that’s the way our team is strongest, and hopefully it gets to that point.”
Lind (back) played all nine innings at first base and went 1-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored on rehab in single-A Dunedin’s 6-3 win over Clearwater.
Janssen threw a scoreless inning for double-A New Hampshire in a 6-0 loss to Binghamton. He allowed a hit and struck out two, and is expected to pitch in a couple more outings this weekend before activation.
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John Gibbons says the club’s plans to use a sixth starter this month are out the window in the wake of Brandon Morrow’s injury.
“Part of that was getting J.A. Happ in and giving Marcus Stroman a look because he was pitching so well,” he explained. “But when Morrow goes down, Happ slides in and we were still able to bring Stroman in. Right now we’ll just leave it at five.”
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I had a chance to speak with Pirates GM Neal Huntington over the weekend in Pittsburgh. Uber prospect Gregory Polanco is giving the Pirates plenty to think about right now.
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Brett Anderson recently tweeted this about the soon-to-be-released Million Dollar Arm:
The likelihood of 'Million Dollar Arm' being good is about the same as me throwing 200 innings.
— Brett Anderson (@BAnderson_30) May 5, 2014
I had a chance to see an advanced screening this week, and the Rockies should be excited about the 200 innings they can expect from the oft-injured left-hander.