NEW YORK -- Let¡¯s start with the good news. By the time you¡¯re reading this, the Blue Jays have already made it to the airport and left New York.
Everything else from the past three days against the Mets falls into the other category. The Blue Jays were swept, with Sunday¡¯s 2-1 loss at Citi Field the rotten cherry on top, and scored just three runs in three games. Forget how cold and wet Boston looks this week, the Blue Jays will be thrilled to see its gray skies.
Back at .500 now after an encouraging, 5-2 start, there¡¯s nothing complicated about what the Blue Jays need to do here. Their rotation has been excellent, which Bowden Francis continued Sunday over 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball, but this offense hasn¡¯t done enough. Three runs in three games won¡¯t get you anywhere.
¡°Our pitching is doing a really good job. We need our offense to step up,¡± said Anthony Santander. ¡°We have to stay confident, because it¡¯s still early, and find a way to score runs.¡±
What makes this even more frustrating is that Toronto isn't getting suffocated by dominant pitching performances. Yes, the guy on the mound deserves some credit, but the Blue Jays simply aren¡¯t capitalizing on big spots with runners on base.
David Peterson walked five batters Sunday, for example, but the Blue Jays weren¡¯t moving anyone over. Their only run came when Andr¨¦s Gim¨¦nez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. We saw during Toronto¡¯s opening homestand how this can work when everyone is clicking and each section of this lineup is barreling momentum into the next, but it¡¯s difficult to make this work without power.
¡°I think the at-bats are good. We¡¯re doing a good job against starting pitchers,¡± manager John Schneider said. ¡°Until the home runs come, you¡¯ve got to get the big hit. Whether that¡¯s with two outs, one out, whatever it is. Those will come, those will definitely come.¡±
They¡¯ll need to come soon when the Blue Jays land in Boston. They¡¯re tied for the fewest home runs in Major League Baseball this season with five, and those have come from Gim¨¦nez (3), Tyler Heineman (1) and George Springer (1). If you had that in your office pool going into the year, you¡¯re either a psychic or a liar.
That group is missing the top three in this lineup, which is supposed to be the engine of it all. Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Santander haven¡¯t joined the party yet. It¡¯s been particularly noticeable from Vladdy, given the never-ending narrative of his potential negotiation and the sheer amount of pressure leaning on his performance this season.
Guerrero was the man at the dish with runners on and two outs, facing Edwin D¨ªaz, but cracked his bat and grounded into the final out of the game. He soon took care of the rest of that bat, snapping it over his right knee as he walked off the field.
¡°I think his swings were a little big at home at times,¡± Schneider said, ¡°but he¡¯s getting closer and closer. With him, he¡¯s so damn talented that you¡¯re just waiting for that one game that makes you say, ¡®OK.¡¯ He¡¯s still gotten his hits and he¡¯s hitting the ball hard, but it¡¯s about not trying to do too much. At home, I saw him missing fastballs up for the first time in a while.¡±
Some of this power needs to come from the platoon matchups the Blue Jays are chasing, too. The bottom half of the lineup will be used to max out those advantages with someone like Davis Schneider or Will Wagner. The Blue Jays are trying to use Schneider as their lefty masher, but he¡¯s started the season 0-for-10 with six strikeouts. Mixing and matching can expose advantages, but it can also be challenging for players bouncing in and out of the lineup.
By now, we¡¯ve seen the Blue Jays look good and look bad. We¡¯ll see plenty more of both the rest of the way, but power is going to dictate what that balance looks like.
This lineup is built to hit for power, and on nights that doesn¡¯t happen, like Schneider says, they need to find the big hit. This weekend in Queens is what it looks like when none of those things happen.