It was a fine how’d you do for Curtis Granderson.
After almost singlehandedly leading the Toronto Blue Jays to victory in their opening salvo against the mighty Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night, Granderson arrived at work at Rogers Centre on Wednesday – only to see he was not in the starting lineup for the second game of the set.
Actually, Granderson – only about the world’s most accommodating baseball players – was expecting it, despite hitting the walk-off home run that won it in the 10th inning some 24 hours earlier.
Boston was starting lefty Eduardo Rodriguez and Granderson, a left-handed hitter, doesn’t usually draw starting assignments against southpaws.
Under those circumstances, Toronto manager John Gibbons usually calls upon Steve Pearce to patrol left field, as was the case on Wednesday night.
Without Granderson’s presence in the Blue Jays lineup, the Red Sox were able to come back to record a 4-3 victory. The series rubber match is Thursday night.
In the on-again, off-again world in which Granderson resides, this is all well and good. And he is still collecting an annual salary of US$5-million whether he sits or plays.
“I understand the flow of the game and the situation,” the 37-year-old former all-star said earlier on Wednesday about his platoon duties. “I knew before [Tuesday’s game] I wasn’t going to be in the lineup. So there’s the understanding and the learning process of how the organization and the team works.
“We have a really good idea as to outfield this year, what’s possibly going to be taking place. And understanding that, even though I’m not in at the beginning of the game, there’s a good chance I might get in there.”
Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez pitched well, with eight strikeouts over six innings. He allowed two runs off three hits.
He turned a 3-2 Toronto lead over to the bullpen in the seventh in which Danny Barnes promptly served up a two-run home run by Mookie Betts that provided Boston with its winning margin.
Before the game, Gibbons provided medical updates on two of his injured starters.
He said third baseman Josh Donaldson, having now missed 11 games with right shoulder inflammation, is now playing long toss in Florida and will soon graduate to throwing to bases. He is expected to be playing in minor league games very soon.
As for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who has yet to play a game this year after being hampered by right foot issues, he is ready to resume “light” baseball activities before the end of the week.
Although some were skeptical when Toronto general manager Ross Atkins went out and signed Granderson to a one-year free-agent deal to an already aging team after being cut loose by the Los Angeles Dodgers, his arrival has been a bit of a godsend.
Along with driving in three of the runs in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over Boston and throwing out the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the ninth on a nice throw from left, Granderson now has three home runs to his credit and 12 runs batted in.
He is also hitting a hearty .321 – not what many were expecting from a veteran whose production by the end of last season was such that the Dodgers did not add him to their playoff roster.
The big question about Granderson, who faded badly toward the end of last season, is can he continue to contribute at the same high level as the season wears on?
Granderson, in typical fashion, tends to wax philosophical when discussing the quirky nature of the game and his role in it. Just what constitutes not playing well, Granderson asks?
“Would it be hitting over .300?” he said, trying to answer his own question. “Well a lot of teams have a lot of guys not hitting .300 so are all those guys not playing well?
“So again, it’s that fine line of understanding what do we consider to be good versus the bad. Is it just the average or is the guy also walking, is he playing defence, is he hitting guys over? Is he doing things that aren’t necessarily being quantified by the one big number that always happens to be up on the scoreboard. I think that’s part of it.”
On a busy night on the Toronto sporting calendar, Yangervis Solarte lifted his sixth home run of the season, to the second deck in left, that moved the Blue Jays in front 3-2 in the sixth.
That was about the only big mistake Red Sox starter Rodriguez made. He allowed three of the Toronto runs on six hits through 6⅔ innings.