3 Up 3 Down from Blue Jays at White Sox

We’re really starting to get into the thick of the early dog days of the major league baseball schedule. The Vladimir Guerrero Jr. call-up question has been answered, the true colours of the team appear to have settled in, and the game-to-game specifics are starting to blend together more and more.

Only 116 games to go!

The four-game weekend set against the Chicago White Sox came and went, with the teams splitting the series, though really the series was a lot more like three-and-a-half games worth of baseball.

Here are three positive and three negative takeaways from the series.

3 Up

Vladitoooooo - Perhaps you’ve heard of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.?

He collected hits in three of the four games, including a pair of home runs.

After surviving a week or two of scaring people with a collection of hard-hit ground balls, Guerrero Jr. has started hitting the ball into the air and hitting it extremely far. He hit four home runs this week and the one on Sunday was an absolute beauty.

Pitches thrown that far down and in are not supposed to be hit that far, and they DEFINITELY aren’t supposed to be hit that far by a 20-year old.

This is all of the promise Guerrero presents encapsulated in a single swing, and the kind of home run that elicits laughter and excited clapping from fans of baseball in general. It takes exceptional talent to do this at all, and another level’s worth to make it look so easy.

This is, as they say: The Good Stuff.

Thornton turns in a good one - Trent Thornton has confused even himself at times this season, bouncing back and forth between good and bad performances through his first 10 major league starts.

Sunday’s outing fits firmly in the ‘good’ category, as Thornton turned in six solid innings giving up three hits, walking one, and allowing just one run.

Thornton is going to continue getting his turn every fifth day as the rest of the rotation continues to crumble around him, so these solid starts feel even bigger than they already are. Not only do they help establish to Thornton himself that he belongs at this level, but they also provide needed relief as ‘bullpen days’ and spot starters continue to cycle through and wear on the rest of the staff.

His numbers are only slotting him at a roughly league average level, but that’s a considerable step up from what the two rotation spots after him have provided.

Jansen off the schneid - I’ve made room in the last two editions of this column to point out how little - less than any team in baseball - the Blue Jays have gotten from their catching platoon.

Danny Jansen looked like a man in desperate need of a breakout, and he may have found it in this series. He hit his first two home runs of the season over the weekend, and had four hits combined over three starts against the White Sox.

His batting average (.186) is still sitting lower than he’d like, but he looked more comfortable in this series than he had at any point previously this season. Jansen put up a .247/.347/.432 line in roughly the same amount of time at the end of last season, and has convinced most scouts and prospect evaluators that he’s capable of that level of production on a consistent basis at the highest level.

Here’s hoping this is the start of an upswing, as Jansen continues to navigate his rookie season as a full-time player.

3 Down

Crappy weather - I wasn’t on the road to cover this series in Chicago, but I feel pretty safe making this claim: It looked pretty miserable out there for long stretches.

It rained on and off throughout the weekend, worst of all on Saturday, when rain caused the game to be called off after four and a half innings. Ryan Feieraband notched a complete game purely on technicality, but it left everyone involved wanting more.

The game was called with a 4-1 score in the bottom of the 5th, a decision that didn’t sit all that well with manager Charlie Montoyo.

Ultimately, we’re talking about two sub-.500 teams playing in late May, so grains of salt and all that, but it looked incredibly unpleasant.

No scoring for Stro - It doesn’t seem to matter what Marcus Stroman does in his half of the innings, he is destined to receive as little support as possible from the Blue Jays lineup.

He turned in another steady performance on Thursday, surrendering two runs over six innings. The Blue Jays bats mustered just two hits in support, leaving Stroman with a no decision. He’s received 1.55 runs per nine of support, leaving him basically no room for error to pick up wins.

Having an ERA below three while only picking up one win this season is perfectly indicative of how the first 10 starts of his season have gone.

Sanchez finger issues - See if you can believe this: Aaron Sanchez had to leave a start early because of finger blister issues.

What can even be said about this that hasn’t already been said? It puts a ceiling on how excited you can get over any positive results he puts up, and keeps the bullpen on guard every time he takes the mound.

Sanchez has otherwise enjoyed something fairly close to a bounce-back season so far, but he’s now left two games this season already to check up on his finger health.

The Blue Jays rotation is already a patchwork situation as it is, and having Sanchez as a question mark that could leave any game at any moment is not a luxury their depth can afford. There is already a ‘bullpen day’ regularly scheduled as it stands and there’s no room to add another one, nor is there a reliable option banging on the door to claim a starting spot.

This issue probably isn’t going away, and it makes it harder and harder to trust Sanchez, no matter what the numbers he puts up in between say.

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