On April 2nd 2013, at 7:32 pm EDT, Robert Allen Dickey threw out the first pitch of the season for the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays--the team that was destined to not only make the playoffs for the first time since 1993, but also had a pretty good chance to win it all for the first time since that same season. That pitch that R.A. Dickey threw to J.P. Arencibia was the knuckleball, the mysterious pitch that had won Dickey the 2012 NL Cy Young Award for pitcher of the year.
He was the final piece of the puzzle to overhauled pitching staff.
He was the final piece of the puzzle to this overhauled team, that was supposed to go from a near 90-loss team to a 90-win team, maybe even 100. A couple trades, and a few signings later, this team had a shot. The Red Sox were rebuilding, the Yankees were old and hurt. The magic of the Orioles and Joe Maddon would have to give way to reality eventually. This was their chance to go back to the late 80s/early 90s. They were taking it.
But first, the drama. John Farrell went to Boston to pursue his dream job. Mike Aviles was swung our way in the deal, and he was flipped, along with Yan Gomes, to the Indians for Esmil Rogers. Around the same time, reliever Jeremy Jeffress was acquired from the Royals for cash. They also signed Maicer Izturis.
Nothing out of the ordinary. Until, November 14th 2012. The trade that shook the baseball world, and that propelled the Jays from the cellar of the toughest division in baseball, to the the AL East favourites. The Blue Jays traded pitchers Henderson Alvarez, Justin Nicolino, outfield prospect Jake Marisnick, infielders Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria, and catcher Jeff Mathis. The return, was what made them favourites. 60 stolen base man, .300 hitter shortstop Jose Reyes, barely removed NL ERA king Josh Johnson, seasoned vet, consistent 200 inning, double digit win-column, soft tossing southpaw Mark Buehrle, speedy super utility man Emilio Bonifacio, and former Jay John Buck. They signed outfielder Melky Cabrera, who was hitting about .450 before he got suspended for juicing.
This was the just the start of the quest for the perfect team.
Almost a week later, Gibby was back. His second stint with the Jays, he was brought in by Anthopoulos to handle the reins for this ballclub. The players manager was here, and this brought mixed reactions. He was brought in with the same expectations as last time. A talented team, expected to do well. Would he handle it the same way he did the first time? Would he get into altercations with
Ted Lilly and Shea Hillenbrand, um, Brandon Morrow and Adam Lind?? But, the Jays weren't done wheeling and dealing there.
On December 17th, they finished off the off-season by trading for the knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who had gone 20-6 with an ERA under 3, good enough for the NL Cy Young award. They gave up a hefty price however. Top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard, catching prospect
JP Arencibia Travis D'Arnaud, some minor leaguer, and catcher John Buck. They got back Dickey's personal catcher Josh Thole.
Somewhere along the offseason, they signed former Dickey catcher Henry Blanco.
On February 5th 2013, at the state of the franchise, R.A. Dickey was announced as the ace of the staff, the Opening Day pitcher against the Indians.
All we had to do was wait. Wait, for the first great and successful team that had taken the field since Joe touched them all.
But, like that knuckleball, we weren't exactly sure what was going to happen. There's 162 games to play. Let's get started
*******
That first pitch of the season was thrown to the Indians leadoff man, left handed batter Michael Bourn. That first knuckleball of the campaign was inside for a ball. In fact, it went all the way to the backstop. In hindsight, that first pitch of the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays season was a symbol of the things to come.
That first game of the season ended in a loss. Three passed balls by JP Arencibia (his first and only game catching RA) would contribute to an unearned run for Dickey. The only Jays run came with the bases loaded, when Adam Lind grounded into a double play.
That was sign number two.
Falling to 0-1 on the season, the Jays weren't a .500 ballclub until June 21st.
The next game was a loss in 11 innings. Jose Bautista hit the first of his league leading four game tying home runs in the ninth. Maicer Izturis hit the first Jays homer of the season in the second. That was sign #3.
Buehrle's first start was rough, but the offense prevailed in the first win of the year.
They would sandwich a win in between two losses against the Red Sox and the return of John Farrell. JA Happ pitched five innings of one-hit ball in the win. Dickey got lit up in the latter loss, a three homer game for Will Middlebrooks.
The first road trip of the year was a 3-3 split, losing the series in Detroit, winning the series in Kansas. The Kansas series victory came with a big defeat. As Jose Reyes hit a two-run single to put the Jays ahead 8-4 in the first game of the series, he then stole second:
The diagnosis: A severe ankle sprain. In the second week of the season, the best shortstop in baseball was sidelined until the All-Star break. He landed on the 15-day DL, eventually the 60-day DL.
Off season signing Munenori Kawasaki was recalled from AAA-Buffalo, the second year major leaguer barely hit .200, fans screamed for Anthopoulos to make a trade to up the ante. Kawasaki's first game stole the hearts of Jays fans, a sac fly and a walk were part of hit, but eccentricity and passion for the game baseball made him an instant fan favorite.
They would return Domeward bound to split the Chi Sox and drop a three-gamer to the Bronx Bombers. They would head out to Baltimore and New York, and go 1-6, and would have lost if not for a Rajai Davis throw to get a runner at the plate in the tenth; the Jays would go ahead on a bases loaded walk. A series loss to the Red Sox at the dome, followed by dropping the first two to the Mariners, dropped the Jays to 10-21, 10.5 back of the division crown (the first place team was the Red Sox, no less), on just May 4th.
The season was, in essence, over, the Leafs, who had (finally) made the playoffs and were
headed to the second round the laughing stock of hockey (sorry, I had too), were the focus of Toronto sports fans. But then, ever so slightly, the tables began to turn. The Jays stormed into The Trop and split (which is pretty awesome because it's the Trop), and took a series at Fenway. Suck it, Farrell. They destroyed the Giants, and were kinda meh after that. They finished the month 13-15, but after May 4th, were 13-11, which is pretty good if you had watched them in April.
Then, June happened.
Yes. If you can count, or, watched the season and know the number off by heart, that's 11 green games in a row, and that's five games back of first place in the east.
They weren't in last for a couple days (look at the WCGB, omg), but then, as the image shows, red games began when they entered the Trop. And, that was basically it. 2-5 to finish the month, a very good month at that, but they had fallen halfway back to where they started. (The one green game in Tampa was the day Reyes came back about a month early)
July was rough, four games below .500 at the all-star break. The season wasn't quite done yet, but it was looking pretty grim. But, hey, Jose Reyes returned early, and was heating up, Brett Lawrie was back after he pulled a Reyes, and the other streak came out of nowhere. But, they decided to lose the first six games after the all-star break. One of those games, this happened. Look at the score, inning, out, and count.
I know, times are rough.
They won three of four against the Astro's. So, only winning three at home against the Astro's was an indication of the times. And I'm going to stop here. You've probably seen most of these games. I'm just reliving bad memories right now. Basically, August and September were the norm in Jays land. Meaningless. Playing for spoiler (which they did for BAL and NYY, and almost for TB).
Although, I will take us to September 29th, game 162. The Toronto Blue Jays looking to complete the sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, a win for TB putting the Rays into a wild card game/tiebreaker, a loss could mean the Jays ended their season, and, after how the Rays have literally destroyed any hopes the Jays have at any point in a season, it would nice to kind of get some revenge. But, the game turned oh so very Blue Jays. Here's why:
-After falling behind 6-0, and having a starter leave the game early, the Jays would receive three walks in the bottom half of the inning, and not score.
-Kevin Pillar didn't know where the wall was, and ran into it, messing up his timing to make the catch. The ball bounced off the wall, and Escobar scored from first, to make it 7-0. This run proved to be important.
-The Blue Jays make a late comeback attempt, with a 2-run double from DeRosa. JPA had a sac fly (which actually lowered his OBP, lol) a Lawrie RBI double, to make it 7-4. After Sierra walked to load the bases, Lind grounded into a double play. How about that for Deja-vu.
-The Blue Jays would reduce the lead to 7-6, before stranding the bases loaded as Moises Sierra struck out against Fernando Rodney, leaving another three on.
-The Blue Jays lose as David DeJesus snares Goins sinking liner to left, the comeback falling just short.
This game was so 2013 Blue Jays. But, it sure as heck was entertaining.
So, we learned some valuable lessons this offseason. First of all, don't crown the World Series champs, until, you know, the last game of the World Series. Also, play 162 games of baseball. Champions aren't crowned in February. Champions aren't crowned in April. Champions aren't even crowned in September. Champions are crowned in October after 162 games, plus 11 playoff wins. That's the way it is, and, as Jays fans around the world now know, is the way we need to think. This season was one win better than last, yet the scrutiny and disappointment was much greater. The expectations soared, but the Blue Jays didn't. But, not everything was bad. Attendance was up about 500K, and Anthopoulos hinted this team can continue to spend with those kind of numbers.
But, as David DeJesus snared the Goins sinking liner, raised his arms to the sky to celebrate a team that was headed to
the playoffs Game 163, the near 45,000 Jays fans in attendance left with their fancy toques, and had visions of when Carter touched them all almost 20 years ago. That home run, while the most memorable moment in franchise history, was the last time this team was in the playoffs. Eventually, this team will return to the post-season.
Obviously, every season the Jays don't play more than 162 is a disappointment, but this one was more than that.
The 2013 Blue Jays were colossal failure. The quest had failed.
*******
Now, let's dissect JPA, just for fun.
J.P. Arencibia
"I hit for power" JP Arencibia tells Blue Jays analyst Dirk Hayhurst and Gregg Zaun, after doing a charity interview on Brady and Lang in the morning on SN590, and went all
Melnyk on them. The
premediated attack was unleashed, ripping Zaun for his alleged use of PEDs, Hayhurst for being a failed major leaguer, and cited that for them not being worthy to criticize him, despite his horrid play and their position as analysts, who "
don't sugar-coat reality". That outburst made him subject to more fan criticism, creating the popular hashtag "
#JPAComplainsToBeeston". Here are his final numbers:
I'll let that speak for itself. Let that sink in, though. JP Arencibia got on base only 22.7% of his PA's this year. Only three major leaguers of fifteen THOUSAND in over 135 years have been worse. If you can defend that, and think that a major upgrade isn't needed behind the plate, please let me know why.
Options
Lind:
$7M dollar option for 2014, $7.5M for 2015, $8M for 2016, with a $2M buyout option in between seasons.
So, should the Jays bring Lindy back for $7M next year, or buy him out for $2M.
DeRosa
DeRosa had a great season, playing far more than the 50 at-bats they thought he'd get at the beginning of the season. Assuming DeRosa wants to play one more, should the Jays select his $750K option ($25K buyout) in 2014? He was also
Kawasaki's wingman.
Highlights
Kawasaki
Ok, seriously. I really enjoy watching Rajai run. Hopefully, he'll be back.
Lowlights
In summary
This next one symbolizes the season, they dropped the ball this year.
Thank you all for a great season, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this. Please leave some feedback in the comments section, or tweet them to me. Thanks again!
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