I am pretty sure today’s first inning was the worst defensive inning the Blue Jays have played all season, featuring five defensive mistakes, only one of which was counted as an error;
Bautista drops a ball that was firmly in his glove (counted as a double, which is technically correct but really it should have been caught)
Goins falls down on a chopper he should have caught (counted as a single, absolutely should have been E-4)
The play on which Choo scored featured three mistakes:
Colabello threw too early; he should have tagged first, getting the out there, and then thrown home.
Martin then threw too early, and wide.
Donaldson should have caught the ball anyway.
Donaldson hit a home run to halve the lead, at least, but right now this team is steering towards the golf course.
I didn’t see the top of the second but according to MLB.com here is the sequence of plays so far:
Odor walks.
Giminez grounds out 1-3. Odor advanced to third.
How the hell did Odor advance to third on a groundout to the pitcher? Is there anyone left on the field who has not screwed up? Why isn’t there an error assigned?
Went out for lunch to see the Rangers score 2 in the top of the 1st. Jays looked a little sluggish. But lucky for them, Josh Donaldson was cleared to play as he got one back in the bottom half. I expect Stroman to settle down now.
ETA: yeah I couldn’t believe Goins didn’t get an E on that play. Dude, you’re on turf! How do you misplay that hop?
It was a high bouncer over the mound. Stroman made a good play, or so say the radio announcers. Trouble was that both Tulowitzki and Donaldson went to make the play, and so no one was left to cover third. Sutcliffe blames Tulowitzki…
Stupidest Thing I’ve Heard a Baseball Announcer Say
(paraphrased, but I think I have the gist)
Bob Costas: “Rougned is not the most common of names, I’m sure we can agree. But he has a brother in the Texas farm system with THE SAME NAME. What are the odds of THAT?”
I’d have to see the replay, because it depends on where they were positioned.
Helpfully, Texas has cheerily given back two unearned runs. HJowever, the official scorer is presently counting only one of the runs as unearned, but he’s wrong, they both should be. (Tulowitzki’s run has to be unearned because he reached on an error, and Colabello’s run has to be unearned because the inning would have been over on that play without the error.) Perhaps today’s official scorer is Stevie Wonder.
Now there is a coaching visit to the mound immediately following Hamels inducing a GIDP, because of course that’s when you want to visit your pitcher, right after he gets the batter to ground into a double play. Stupid’s in the air at Rogers Centre!
ETA: Also the guy running MLB.com is drunk. The Jay error is described as “Martin (1) Missed catch.” Martin was the guy who THREW the ball, dude.
ETA2: They did fix the unearned run thing; now the Colabello run is unearned.
Stroman has indeed settled down, retiring the Rangers in order in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and got out of the 6th with a 2 out walk and single. Pitch count is at 82. See how deep they let him go if he cruises through the 7th.
It looked like a mistake by Donaldson to me. The ball was straight up the middle. It was a tough play for Stroman and 2B, SS and 3B all converged on the ball. JD needs to be holding the runner at second on that play, but with the way that the game was over I think he fell victim to “be the hero” disease.
