Five observations from Blue Jays' Opening Day win
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ST. LOUIS — Very little felt like 2022.
The pitch clocks were ticking, a revamped Toronto Blue Jays lineup was balanced with three new left-handed hitters, and Alek Manoah was struggling.
Safe to say, just like his postseason debut last October, Manoah’s first opening day assignment did not go as planned, as the big right-hander allowed a career-high nine hits, including a pair of home runs that really did him in.
But that offence, though.
The Jays pounded out 19 hits — a new franchise record for opening day — and with lead changes galore they managed to score in all but three innings to ease Manoah’s pain and start the season out on the right foot.
“I don’t get disappointed when we win,” Manoah said post-game. “A win’s a win.”
Here are five observations from Thursday’s opening day win in The Lou.
BALANCING ACT
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Blue Jays
That aforementioned balanced lineup was able to get to St. Louis Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas, too, and it was newcomer Daulton Varsho looking mighty comfortable in the cleanup spot behind George Springer, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Varsho’s first knock as a member of the Blue Jays was a 112.5 mph rocket of a double, quickly showing off the impressive pop from the left side that drew the Jays front office to him when they dealt top prospect Gabriel Moreno away back in December.
The offence is going to be really good again and the lefty-righty balance is going to help keep opposing pitchers out of a groove and force them to have all their pitches working, while also giving opposing managers more to think about in late-game scenarios.
TWO MISTAKES
The regression crowd is going to have a field day with Manoah’s 2023 debut, but don’t rush to judgment too quickly.
With his 2.24 ERA from a year ago not matching Statcast’s expected ERA of 3.31, Manoah detractors have been predicting trouble all winter.
But you were probably going to be disappointed if you had pencilled him in for the same type of ERA anyway.
A sub-2.50 mark is extremely hard to duplicate at the best of times, but Manoah’s debut was about some wobbly command and two bad pitches, rather than any sort of trend.
“I made a couple pitches that kind of stayed over the heart of the plate that left the ballpark,” Manoah said. “That’s just the way the game went today.
“I didn’t get beat on good pitches, I got beat on bad pitches, and that’s an easy adjustment.”
A middle-middle fastball to Canadian Tyler O’Neill was rocked — O’Neill has now homered on four consecutive opening days, so that’s not new — and a hanging slider to Brendan Donovan also ended up over the wall.
PITCH CLOCK MAKES DEBUT
Toronto Blue Jays Alek Manoah
Let’s get this out of the way first: The time of a baseball game does not determine the quality of it.
Opening day could take seven hours and most would be fine with it, but even with the pitch clock making its regular season MLB debut on Thursday, the back-and-forth affair still took three hours and 38 minutes to play.
There were a handful of violations issued and it was mighty hard to figure them out from the press box at times.
The league has debated some sort of announcement system, but that has yet to be implemented.
The most interesting violation came in the bottom of the fourth inning when a Cardinals hitter started in an advantageous 1-0 count because Alejandro Kirk forgot his PitchCom earpiece in the dugout and timed out.
Don’t get things twisted here, I love the pitch clock, but there’s going to be some controversy at times. Book it.
KIERMAIER’S WHEELS
The remixed outfield had a day, with Springer rapping out an opening day franchise record five hits, Varsho contributing his laser double and two RBI, while Kevin Kiermaier chipped in with some savvy base-running late in the game, going first to third on a bloop into centre field.
The veteran made a great read to put himself on third base, giving Vladdy an easy sac fly situation for what was eventually the winning run.
After essentially being one of the stars on a nondescript Tampa Bay Rays team for years, Kiermaier is really embracing his role player situation in Toronto and says he loves hitting out of the No. 9 hole, seeing it as a way to set the table for the big boys atop the lineup.
That’s exactly what happened Thursday.
Kiermaier isn’t going to wow with stat lines, but if he stays healthy he’s going to chip in like this and it’s going to help win a bunch of ballgames.
GOOD AND BAD FOR BO
Bo Bichette Blue Jays
Bo Bichette was an offensive catalyst, which is far from a shock, as the 25-year-old pounded out four hits in six trips to the plate and scored twice.
He needed to blow through a stop sign from third base coach Luis Rivera and get the benefit of an errant Jordan Walker throw to score late in the game, but that’s what this team wants to do — be aggressive.
When it works, it works.
But the issue for Bichette in the opener is one we’ve seen before.
He scattered two throws from his shortstop spot, with one resulting in an error and one forcing Guerrero to come of the first base bag and apply a tag.
It’s just one game, but it’s clear Bichette’s glove at short is going to continue to be a topic, despite his best efforts to improve.
The reason you live with it is because the bat is elite and analytically it makes sense, but it’s hard not to envision a throwing error losing them a big game when the margins are tight.
Internally, Jays decision-makers are hoping for at least average shortstop play defensively, but opening day provided some hiccups in that regard.