I think it's safe to say I'm im in love with Springer. A game where the top of the lineup does heavy lifting as Vladdy and Springer really seal the deal here. Even beyond them there's a lot of praise to go around in the weekend drudging of the Sox.
The bottom of the order was massive. Dickerson is a nice surprise to throw in there, (Dickerson - Springer - Hernandez is inherently a nice outfield defensively and offensively) as he came up with some good hits, but the likes of Valera, Espinal, and McGuire are the true heroes. They seemed to zero in on the approach that Tampa has with "let's not look to put the ball in play, but rather make the other teams relievers pitch, see their stuff, and keep the at-bat alive." The at-bats they had from what I saw tonight were killer late in the game to get the top of the order back to the plate, and even then each of them is showing to be a capable hitter. Valera has been clutch, Espinal is a stud, McGuire probably had the best week of his life in a two-way sense, just three guys who played out of their minds to make this work.
Still would like to see some consistency with it but Springer but a different kind of clutch the Jays have lacked for a while tonight. The ability to make a big play late in the game. Hopefully this is a sign for the future that they'll keep mashing despite being down in the dumps early. They've got a very real shot at the postseason now, it just comes down to continuing to beat up on the easy schedule, and making games up when they play teams like the Yankees and A's down the stretch. But man, is this an exciting team rn.
