The Toronto Blue Jays announced that they’re going to start Tyler Clippard tonight against the Mariners.
This despite the fact that he only has eight starts total in 678 career appearances. Indeed, he has not started a game in over ten years. The last one came on June 14, 2008 when he was the Nationals. He actually did pretty good that day, allowing two runs while scattering seven hits over six innings, picking up the win. The opponent: these same Seattle Mariners.
Well, not the “same” Mariners. Most of those guys are gone now. Felix Hernandez was on that team. No longer Mariners but still around areAdrian Beltre, Luis Valbuena and Brandom Morrow. Ichiro was on that team too, but I don’t know if you can call him “active” anymore. Even if you leave him out, though, it’s not too bad to have four guys who are still playing a decade after the fact. Anyone know what happened to that Beltre guy?
Anyway, the Jays are starting Clippard because their rotation is a mess, with J.A. Happ being traded and others turning in some short outings leading to bullpen days, either by design or by coincidence. This is another one.
Enjoy your start, Mr. Clippard. Remember: you don’t have to run in from the bullpen. You can stroll in to the dugout during the top of the first and then walk out since it’s the beginning of the game.
