Haven't posted since May 24--very productive summer...Sportsnet has been running a seven-part series on the history of the Jays the past couple of months, The Blue Jays Way. I'll just cut-and-paste some notes from Facebook here, where I've been following along; will update after next week's episode, the finale.
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Two episodes into The Blue Jays Way, and it’s been more or less as good as I’d hoped it would be. Like Ken Burns’ Baseball, which aired during the ‘94 strike, it’s a welcome respite from the here and now if you’re a Jays fan.
Almost every key player is getting duly commemorated: episode two is centred around Steib and Bell, lots of interview time with Moseby and Barfield and Whitt, general agreement that Henke’s arrival in ‘85 was crucial to finally winning in ‘92, and--wasn’t sure how they’d handle this--acknowledgement that Alomar remains their greatest player ever. There has been, I’d say, one guy they’ve shortchanged: Jimmy Key.
I understand the disproportionate amount of attention given to Stieb: he was the best pitcher in baseball from ‘82 to ‘84, and he could easily have won all three A.L. Cy Youngs during that window. (The ‘82 vote was especially egregious.) He’s a great interview subject, and the subplot of his three 26-out no-hitters before finally getting one is irresistible. But here’s how he compares to Key from ‘85 (when Key becomes a regular part of the rotation) to ‘92 (when both move on to new teams):
DS - 93-65, 3.48 ERA, 1.265 WHIP, 1.54 K/BB, 3.97 FIP, 23.5 bWAR
JK - 112-76, 3.38 ERA, 1.179 WHIP, 2.42 K/BB, 3.66 FIP, 30.6 bWAR
Key across the board. He was also--and surely the makers of The Blue Jays Way know this--the subject of my greatest made-up lyric ever, back in I’m not sure which issue of Radio On:
Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, can’t you see?
Sometimes your change-ups hypnotize me
And I just love your Cy Young ways
Guess that’s why you’re out there every fifth day
I don’t know--I may have drifted off for a minute and missed him, but I don’t think he’s been interviewed yet, and if he’s been mentioned, it couldn’t have been more than once or twice.
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Part 3, covering '92, was quite good. I thought initially they were going to commit the unforgivable faux pas of overlooking the acquisition of Cone at the deadline--to me, on par with getting Winfield, and more important than signing Morris--but they saved that for his start in the World Series. A lot of mythology surrounding Morris--glad Stieb deflated his 20-win season by pointing out how much run support he got. (Stieb obviously not a fan of Morris to this day.) Barely recognized Ed Sprague. Two guys I'd forgotten about: Candy Maldonado and Derek Bell. (Barry Bruner pointed out to me on ILX that the Key-Steib comparison over eight seasons is unfair to Steib, who was out for most of '91 and '92 with back trouble; from '85 to '90 they were as close to dead-even as could be.)
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Part 4 covers 1993--good year, as you may have heard. Three stories I think the episode shortchanges, or misses altogether:
1) There’s mention of the Jays’ unprecedented 1-2-3 finish in the batting race--Olerud, Molitor, Alomar--but nothing on Olerud’s flirtation with .400, which was easily the biggest Jays story midway through the season. He was still at .400 after the team’s 107th game on August 2. (Olerud finished third in MVP voting, although he was ahead of the winner Frank Thomas in WAR, 7.8 to 6.2. Griffey had both beat at 8.8.)
2) No mention that Ward, the team’s new closer, had arguably the greatest year ever for a Jays closer: 45 saves (still a team record), 2.13 ERA.
3) After being one of the main stories of E3, Jack Morris is barely mentioned (if at all). He was still with the team--had a miserable year and didn’t pitch in the playoffs.
Things I’d forgotten: 1) Dick Schofield was the starting SS before he got hurt and Tony Fernandez was reacquired; 2) Toronto’s Rob Butler was part of the team, including two AB in the WS; 3) Lenny Dykstra’s epic G4 (Jays won 15-14): Dykstra had a double, two HR, a walk, a stolen base, and scored and knocked in four.
Two of the best interview clips: 1) Todd Stottlemyre, still haunted by something else I’d forgotten, his run-in with the Philadelphia mayor; 2) Devon White (probably the best interview subject across the four episodes) talking about Rickey Henderson, how he’d question Henderson about when he planned to run: “Rickey just run.”
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Episodes 5 and 6: Almost finished…the highlights of E5 (call it “The Wilderness Years”; forget what the actual title is) were Delgado, as effusive an interviewee as Devon White, and--a surprise--Vernon Wells, who’s ready for a career in standup. His incredulous deadpan in describing the details of the Shea Hillenbrand (I remember that one) and Ted Lilly (no recollection at all) blowups was pitch perfect. Outside of Delgado, especially the season where he was chasing a Triple Crown, I paid very little attention to the Jays during these years (1995-2014). There was always stuff to follow elsewhere--usually some otherworldly (i.e., PED-fueled) hitting performance--but the Jays were just overmatched by the Yankees and Red Sox (and later, by the Rays)…E6, of course, was devoted to 2015/2016, the details of which everyone knows by heart. Russell Martin was probably the best interview there, and nice to see Marco Estrada, Aaron Sanchez, and Ryan Goins, all integral to those teams (surprisingly, no Marcus Stroman; I’m sure they went to great lengths to track down Munenori Kawasaki, but evidently still living on some other planet). The captioning was often a source of amusement--at one point, Rougned Odor was identified as Al Gore.
That was then: talking about the 2015 lineup, Estrada said he didn't much care when he gave up a couple of runs, he knew the team would respond with five or six of their own. It's just so exhausting to watch this year's model try to eke out the three runs that might conceivably put them in a position to win.
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