Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Talk about a double whammy.
Bad news came in pairs for the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, as they lost the resurgent Adam Lind in the middle of an ultimately failed attempt to avoid a second straight series loss coming off of their season-best 11-game win streak, this one against the Boston Red Sox:
https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi/status/351410402959167488
In a way that has seemingly characterized the 2013 bluebirds, the removal of Lind in favour of impromptu first baseman Josh Thole (who has no MLB experience at first prior to joining Toronto, by the way) also wound being the final blow that ultimately handed the team a loss, as the catcher’s best impression of Bill Buckner on a routine ground ball with two outs and two on in the ninth inning resulted in a walk-off victory for the Red Sox.
But that can be discussed another time, of course.
The more pressing matter here is obviously Lind, who has been a revelation with a 327/.386/.547 headed into July, and who has served up more than his share of crow for all of his doubters (or believers of his sample size over the past three seasons … depends on how you look at it, really).
Unsurprisingly, the first baseman would like you to know that everything is mostly just fine:
https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi/status/351448886914727936
Considering that he’s had back issues before (though this one is apparently different), it’s probably fair to say that it might be best for any prognostication about the 29-year old being back in action on a day-to-day basis be taken with a fair grain of salt.
Then again, it’s not as though the team or the player could really be affording time off due to injury here, even if there’s nothing they can do about it.
Blue Jays fans who have followed Lind’s up-and-mostly-down career over the last few season will recall that it was also a back injury back in 2011 that interrupted a tear that saw him hit .500/.522/.909 over the first six games in May. In the second half that year? He managed a .589 OPS.
That, of course, would only be an issue if this day-to-day injury isn’t actually that, so … let’s just say that the bluebirds will be hoping to buck their ‘day-to-day actually means 4-6 weeks’ trend with their first baseman, yes?
