Blue Jays try to put nightmarish loss behind them
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Version 0 of 1. KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Second baseman Ryan Goins sat alone at a table in the Toronto Blue Jays’ clubhouse late Saturday evening, picking at a plate of steak and potatoes. He had claimed responsibility for the botched blooper that cost his team a game in the American League Championship Series. A teammate walked over, whispered into his ear and patted Goins on the shoulder. Goins nodded, somber but appreciative, beginning the process of shedding heartache. Minutes after their nightmarish loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 2 ended, the Blue Jays started to move on. Even facing a 2-0 deficit against a 95-win team playing its best brand of baseball as it defends the AL pennant, the Blue Jays can carry optimism into Game 3 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Monday night. The Blue Jays may be facing revived Kansas City ace Johnny Cueto, who tossed eight two-run, two-hit innings in Game 5 of the division series. But they already have climbed out of an 0-2 hole in the best-of-five American League Division Series. They will play in the home ballpark in a series that could be defined more often than most by home-field advantage. The battered portion of their mighty lineup showed signs of life in Game 2. “A win under your belt will go a long way,” Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons said. “We’re capable of that. We’re at home. That’s where you’ve got to win. It won’t be easy, no doubt about that. But we get one win out of the way, that can turn things in a hurry.” [Couch Slouch: Baseball’s postseason broadcasts batter the senses] The benefit of home field is often nebulous in playoff baseball. In this postseason, home teams are 12-12. Location should carry more weight in the ALCS. The Blue Jays went 53-28 — including 22-8 in the final two months — at home, and the Royals went 51-30, fourth and sixth best in the majors, respectively. It is not a coincidence. The Blue Jays’ powerful lineup suits hitter-friendly Rogers Centre, and the Royals’ outstanding defense is built for spacious Kauffman Stadium. “I expect them to be loud, and we’re going to try to feed off that, just like Kansas City did over here,” Toronto catcher Russell Martin said. The Blue Jays will need their lineup at full strength, and Game 2’s performance suggested bruised sluggers Troy Tulowitzki and Edwin Encarnacion can perform through injuries that have limited them. Encarnacion, a designated hitter who slugged 39 homers this year, has played through a battered middle finger much of the season. He aggravated the digit in Game 1 and exited. Before Game 2, Encarnacion received a cortisone injection, according to Fox Sports. “The day off might do him some good,” Gibbons said before the game. “But we need him, so he’s in there. He’ll battle through it.” In one at-bat, Encarnacion took a swing and released the bat with his left hand to mitigate the pain. But in the same plate appearance, Encarnacion swatted a 90-mph, 3-2 cutter through the left side of the infield for an RBI single, one of his two hits. On Sept. 12, shortstop Tulowitzki collided with center fielder Kevin Pillar and cracked his scapula. He returned in early October for two regular season games. He entered the playoffs rusty and still compromised by his shoulder blade. Tulowitzki went 2 for 25 with nine strikeouts in Toronto’s first six playoff games. The effect of Tulowitzki’s ailment can be seen in how the Royals attacked him in Game 1. Over the past five seasons, according to the calculation of analytical Web site FanGraphs.com, only 16 major league hitters averaged more damage against fastballs than Tulowitzki. And yet Kansas City pitchers challenged him with a steady diet of heat. [David Price on his odd postseason: ‘I completely get it’] In Game 1, Tulowitzki faced 13 fastballs in the 18 pitches he saw, with Edinson Volquez rifling seven straight heaters at him with two men on base and one out in the sixth inning, perhaps the contest’s most crucial at-bat. The Royals told him they didn’t think he possesses enough bat speed with a bum shoulder to catch up. In Game 2, though, Tulowitzki proved them wrong. He poked a single on a 97-mph fastball from Yordano Ventura and whacked an opposite-field double to the right field fence on a 98-mph fastball. The Blue Jays have dropped Tulowitzki to sixth in the order, and if he can play to his normal level, it would lengthen their lineup. On Monday night, the Blue Jays will hand the ball to right-hander Marcus Stroman, the 24-year-old right-hander they entrusted their season to in Game 5 of the division series. Stroman allowed five earned runs and struck out nine in 13 innings in the ALDS. “He always loves being in the moment,” Martin said, “no matter what the moment is.” The moment for the Blue Jays demands urgency. Twenty-five teams have fallen behind 0-2 in a championship series, and only three have come back to win. But the Blue Jays have erased an 0-2 deficit this October, and they are heading home. “It’s not the most comfortable place to be, but we’re still confident,” Toronto’s Jose Bautista said. “We’re still a great team.” |