Blue Jays' Devon Travis primed for leadoff role
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No one should be shocked in the least if Devon Travis doesn't pop his head up at the top of the Blue Jay lineup card someday very soon.
It always has been on the agenda to get his bat more involved once he shook the rust off after being on the sidelines for the better part of a year.
There was certainly no rust on that bat on Sunday when he ripped a two-run home run 411 feet to left-centre against Baltimore Orioles starter Chris Tillman, then hit two more doubles before the day ended.
Just 22 games into his return, Travis has found his groove. He has a seven-game hit streak and in his last six games, he is hitting .545 (12-for-22) with hard contact. Six of those 12 hits have gone for extra bases. He also has driven in seven runs in that span.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons deflected talk of Travis getting a more prominent role in the offence after Sunday's game, but he has talked in the past about finding a spot a little higher in the lineup for his second baseman.
Travis cares little about where he hits, but there is one place that makes him speak hushed tones of awe.
"For me, it's pretty cool seeing Tulo next to me in the lineup," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Blue Jays middle infield is quite a thing, with glovemen Darwin Barney, Ryan Goins and Troy Tulowitzki working alongside Travis.
"We've got four guys that could play every single day," said Travis. "It's really a pleasure to be around these guys and seeing them every day, getting to learn from them and just seeing how they go about their business."
THE BATS AWAKEN
Over the course of their last 30 games, the Blue Jays offence has been on a red-hot pace reminiscent of the way they went about their business in 2015.
On May 18, the Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays in Toronto, sending the Jays to their fifth straight defeat, a season-low four games under. 500 at 19-23.
Since that day, the Jays are 20-10 and the offence has been a major reason. While the pitching has been more or less consistent all season, the Jays offence has been averaging 5.8 runs per game over their last 30. In that span they have hit .260 with a .340 on-base percentage, slugged .490 for an OPS of .829. They also have hit 55 home runs.
GIVING IT BACK
Most of the Jays spent Monday at RattleSnake Point Golf Club for the 21st annual Jays Care Golf Classic.
The event raised more than $850,000 that will be part of the $5.2 million the Jays Care Foundation will spend across Canada in 2016 to positively impact over 65,000 Canadian children and youths.
HELLO, STRANGERS
The Jays' next 30 games will have a very different feel than their last 30.
From now until the last week of July, the Jays will not see any of their American League East rivals until the Baltimore Orioles come to Toronto for a three-game series July 29-31.
In the meantime, the Blue Jays will play 30 games against teams that currently have a winning percentage of .483.
"Not that that means anything. Any team can win any given night," Gibbons said.
What he's looking forward to is a break from the meatgrinder of the AL East, where every game is played with such intensity.
"What happens is that every pitcher knows every hitter and every hitter knows every pitcher," Gibbons said. "There are no surprises. If a guy is off that night then he's going to get beaten up. It works the same way for us, too.
"In the games we play in the East, even if you build up a little lead you always want more because so often, it's not enough. It will be a bit of a nice break to see some teams we don't get to play as often."
