#BlueJays
starter Yusei Kikuchi thinks he’ll be fine for his next start after he left the game with cramps. The biggest revelation was that he said it may have been caused by only getting 11 (!) hours of sleep last night instead of his usual 13 or 14 hours (!!)
Raptors fan/Canadian treasure Joey Votto’s message to Kawhi: ”If you decide to stay in Toronto with the Raptors, I have an unused Presto pass with your name on it.”
#BlueJays
announce that Chris Bassitt and his wife Jessica are donating $10,000 for every win Chris pitches in this season to Jays Care Foundation, retroactive to Opening Day
Just unpack that last RT from Ken. A team that may have been exposed to COVID-19 by another team that has lost half its roster to COVID-19 will isolate, then play another team who was barred from playing in its own country because the gov't was concerned about MLB’s plan to play
Phillies under this plan would return to play Friday against the Blue Jays at Citizens Bank Park - as the visiting team (under a previous plan due to Jays’ inability to play in Canada). Team would be isolated until then, not technically quarantined.
Admit it, we all cried a little at the heart-melting moment when a
#BlueJays
fan handed a young
#Yankees
fan a home-run ball off Aaron Judge. I went down to the left-field stands to find out how the moment happened:
Madison Swanson, Erik Swanson’s wife, shared an update on IG that their son, Toby, who was hit by a car last weekend, is out of the paediatric intensive care unit. She wrote, “we are continuing to take it day by day.”
#BlueJays
#BlueJays
manager Charlie Montoyo met Jordan Romano's mom and dad after the game. Romano's dad told Charlie he gets nervous watching his son pitch. "I said, 'I don't,'" the manager said. "I feel good with him."
The
#BlueJays
coaching staff told players they were having a team meeting this morning. It was just a ploy to surprise Santiago Espinal that he was going to was the All-Star Game. His first call was to his dad. They both started crying
#BlueJays
Ross Stripling just offered a thorough apology for his conduct toward Joe Panik on the field. Said it’s the most disrespectful thing he’s ever done. He said he’s embarrassed and mortified. He apologized to Panik twice and addressed the team after the game
George Springer has decided to not play in the All-Star game. He’s going to use the time to rest his elbow. MLB will announce his replacement a little later this afternoon
#BlueJays
Yusei said he goes to bed around 11 p.m. usually and wakes up at 1 p.m. Anyway, all this means I’ll have to have a full 3000-word feature on Kikuchi’s sleep schedule at some point
Blue Jays held a moment of silence before the game for Julia Budzinski, daughter of first base coach Mark, who tragically died on Saturday. She was 17.
Vlad works hard at practicing his English, especially for public speaking. He takes it really seriously and wants to do it well when he does it. It’s hard enough doing a TV interview and then doing it in his second language. But I thought he did a great job here.
"The key for me is hitting line drives." - Vlad Jr.
We talked hitting with the
@BlueJays
slugger after he became the youngest player ever to receive the Hank Aaron Award.
It just occurred to me that I’m sad Vlad didn’t hit three home runs at the Rogers Centre (in normal times) because
#BlueJays
fans would have all thrown their hats to the field
Listen to
#BlueJays
’ Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and
#WearAMask
"The day that I don't wear the mask, I'm going to feel weird because right now I'm so used to it. I do it for my teammates; I do it for my family. I'm just trying to stay healthy."
Essential follow-up on
#BlueJays
starter Yusei Kikuchi's sleep schedule:
He said he only sleeps for 13-14 hours ahead of his start days. Every other night, he aims for only eight to 10 hours.
Hearing that Nate Pearson is on his way to Toronto, per source. I’m not clear on what a counter move for
#BlueJays
will be if he’s officially recalled today
If we’re doing past sports championships, I request
@Sportsnet
runs the
#BlueJays
1992/1993 World Series, too. I’ve actually never seen either series in its entirety...
Asked about hitting Judge with a pitch and the reaction from Gerrit Cole,
#BlueJays
starter Alek Manoah said “I’m not trying to do that and I think (Judge) understood that. I think if Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past the Audi sign next time”
#BlueJays
called a team meeting at 10:55. Jordan Romano sat down and Tim Mayza, his best buddy, handed him an All-Star equipment bag and said, "You're going to be needing one of these where you're going, and he gives it to me and the whole team goes crazy. It was a cool moment."
Jay Jackson clears waivers and he's assigned to Triple-A Buffalo. He's here in Minneapolis with the
#BlueJays
and is part of the taxi squad, should an injury occur
Admit it, we all cried a little at the heart-melting moment when a
#BlueJays
fan handed a young
#Yankees
fan a home-run ball off Aaron Judge. I went down to the left-field stands to find out how the moment happened:
Let's all remember the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and more teams essentially got extra home games last season when facing the
#BlueJays
in Dunedin and Buffalo. This year, Toronto is getting the same amount of home games as every other team. I think that's fair.
Bo Bichette has gotten off to a dream start to his
#BlueJays
career. But his goal has always been larger than merely making the majors: ‘The bigger picture has always been to be one of the best players that ever lived’:
It’s Vlad’s birthday today and he just got serenaded with a round of “Happy Birthday” in the
#BlueJays
clubhouse while Charlie Montoyo brought out a cake. He turns 23 today 🥳
Not complaining about this middle seat. Just landed in Toronto but the kind
#Raptors
fan in front me me held her laptop up ALL GAME LONG so others could watch. What a game 🙌
Back on March 13, 2020 I flew home early from spring training amid a cloud of uncertainty as a global pandemic was just beginning. Two years later - to the day - I’ll fly to Tampa to cover
#BlueJays
spring training for the first time since 🙌
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is coming up. The
#BlueJays
plan to call him up for Friday. The No. 1 prospect will make his much-anticipated major league debut at the Rogers Centre against the Oakland A’s
Source confirms
#BlueJays
have traded Reese McGuire to the Chicago White Sox for Zack Collins. Collins has an option year left, so I would suspect the Jays won’t open the season with 3 catchers anymore. Does that mean an extra reliever or position player?
Marcus Semien had an amazing year with the
#BlueJays
and I've never seen a player so beloved and respected by his teammates. Good for him, he earned this money
Vlad Guerrero Jr. said yesterday during the game he and Josh Donaldson agreed to exchange jerseys today. Vlad said Donaldson told him to stay focussed and to keep working hard this year. Vlad also said JD was a mentor to him when he was still in the
#BlueJays
organization
My story on 9-year-old Derek receiving Aaron Judge's home run from a
#BlueJays
fan on Tuesday has now been updated with details and photos of Derek meeting Judge today. What a lovely 24 hours this has been 🥰
As everyone has seen by now, an MRI showed there is no structural damage in Bo Bichette’s right knee, per
#BlueJays
manager John Schneider, who described it as best case scenarios. Bichette isn’t in the lineup today but he’s day to day. Still determining if an IL stint is needed
This is terrible and I'll echo what everyone else has said that
@benwag247
deserved far better than this. Ben's a pro and it was awesome getting to know him over the past six seasons. He was dealt an unfair hand, but still did an admirable job. I hope to hear him again soon
The Yankees crowd was loudly booing George Springer and he responded by hitting a two-run home run to left field. (They continued to boo after he did that, too).
#BlueJays
up 2-0
A
#BlueJays
spokesperson just informed the media that there will be no post-game media availability. First-base coach Mark Budzinski is dealing with a personal matter and Charlie Montoyo and the coaches are with him. That's all we know
Confirming reports that the
#BlueJays
have traded for relievers Anthony Bass and Zach Pop from the Marlins for infield prospect Jordan Groshans, per a source
#BlueJays
Ross Stripling just offered a thorough apology for his conduct toward Joe Panik on the field. Said it’s the most disrespectful thing he’s ever done. He said he’s embarrassed and mortified. He apologized to Panik twice and addressed the team after the game
#BlueJays
’ Cavan Biggio on the Tatis 3-0 swing: "I'm going to take Tatis's side on things. Even with the offensive game that is nowadays, I know 7 runs is a lot of runs but still, in my opinion, no lead is really safe until you get really far out there, so I like the aggression."
Catching up on sharing some videos from yesterday. Here’s
#BlueJays
top prospect Ricky Tiedemann throwing to Danny Jansen, with Alek Manoah looking on.
#BlueJays
manager Charlie Montoyo texted Tellez upon learning of the Brewers trade: "I told him I'm happy for you, I will miss you but I'm happy for you. It's a fresh start, go crush the National League. That's what my message to him was. I love Rowdy Tellez, as you guys know."
Very touching to see the
#BlueJays
writing JB on their hats tonight in honour of Julia Budzinski. Would be a nice touch if they were able to get JB uniform patches to wear for the remainder of the season, too.
Charlie Montoyo joked he wants to sing O Canada whenever Jordan Romano comes into the game. “If you see me moving my mouth, that’s what I’m doing.”
#BlueJays
Adam Cimber strikes out the side in the ninth and
#BlueJays
win 4-0 over the Royals, second win at home. But, really, we're all winners because that game was 2 hours and 19 minutes.
Alejandro Kirk is the most beloved man in Toronto right now. He's getting cheers from the crowd here, just as he walks to the bullpen to warm up Manoah
#BlueJays
Important
#BlueJays
update. Jordan Romano has gotten good feedback on his Mary Brown’s chicken commercial but he hasn’t yet seen it. (It only plays during games). I asked how many takes it took and he said not that many. He just went for it.
#BlueJays
unveiled their new player development complex today to the media. Mark Shapiro said it’s a building the club is incredibly proud of, reflects their organization values and to be a resource to “help build a championship culture and help drive elite performance."
After all that’s happened this morning around MLB, I’m reminded of this quote from Dr. Gerald Evans, the chair of the division of infectious diseases at Queen’s University, from a story I wrote a few weeks ago about the
#BlueJays
and the MLB plan:
Pittsburgh Pirates release statement from team president Travis Williams to announce they’re looking into the possibility of hosting
#BlueJays
home games at PNC Park
#BlueJays
will require proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result for all fans, staff and guests aged 12+ entering Rogers Centre beginning Sept. 13, for the final 12 regular season home games of the season
I could barely finish asking my question before Alek Manoah said, "yes," he's pitching in the All-Star Game. He said he hopes Dusty Baker puts him in early so he can throw to Alejandro Kirk, who is a starter
#BlueJays
#BlueJays
manager John Schneider on how the team should approach this next stretch of 15 games against sub-.500 teams, “There’s no time to wait at all. We got to do it right fucking now.”