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Especially since the Blue Jays did just about all their damage in the second and third innings in a Thursday matinee at the Rogers Centre and, with Chris Bassett holding the quite good Phillies to one run on five hits through seven innings in the rubber match, the rest just felt like wadding.

Somehow the Jays have scratched, scrabbled and occasionally stubbed their way into second place in the rather phlegmatic American League East and, as of this writing, dug their nails into the third wild-card spot.

Of course it is just early June and way too soon to be scoreboard watching, but it鈥檚 still worth appreciating the grace notes of a 9-1 kapow delivered to the visitors. Most dulcet of all was a two-run kaboom to centre by Bo Bichette in the second frame, his eighth home run of the season聽鈥� keeping in mind that he had zero home runs at the end of April.

With a single in his first at-bat, Toronto鈥檚 absolutely entrenched leadoff batter extended his season-high hitting streak to nine games, going 12-for-36 (.333) with two doubles, one triple, four home runs聽鈥� including that pinch-hit four-bagger in the ninth last week against the Texas Rangers 鈥� and 10 RBIs. His 1.112 OPS with runners in scoring position has him ranked third among qualified hitters in the AL, trailing only Aaron Judge and Junior Caminero.

All that and Bichette was in a weirdly terse mood when he finally emerged for his post-game confab as teammates started heading for the bus on getaway day, with nine road games on tap.

鈥淧laying as a collective,鈥欌�� shrugged Bichette of how the team had prevailed over Philadelphia and the admittedly sadsack Athletics before that, but also rebounded from a couple of absolute stinkers.

鈥淧icking each other up, playing good ball,鈥欌�� continued Bichette, who was also the beneficiary of five hits from the bottom of the order on an afternoon when manager John Schneider went whole hog on right-handed batters, which left the likes of streaking Addison Barger out of the starting lineup.

Although not a great fuss has been made about it, Bichette has taken Toronto鈥檚 offence by the collar, an emphatic U-turn from his miserable聽鈥� injury-wise, hitting-wise聽鈥斅� 2024, looking very much like the Bo everybody has come to know since 2019: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 where I鈥檝e been for every year of my career except for one. I got knocked down, that鈥檚 all I can say. Just trying to be myself again.鈥欌��

But coming to the plate with runners on base has been simpatico, while ensuring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sees better pitches behind him: 鈥淚t鈥檚 been our whole lineup, everybody鈥檚 been doing well.鈥欌��

Peeling the cover off the ball in some of those hard smashes, perhaps some velocity gained by thickening of muscles through the thighs: 鈥淚 think I鈥檝e been hitting the ball hard all year, squaring the ball up. I鈥檝e typically hit the ball hard my entire career.鈥欌��

Which was a mild eyeroll for a reporter. But mostly he wasn鈥檛 keen to chat as the team rolled out of 海角社区官网from a 6-1 homestand, Minneapolis-bound聽鈥� and three playoff teams in a row as opposition.

So let Bassitt pick up the Bo-ball and plump for his teammate.

鈥淗e鈥檚 so composed,鈥欌�� observed the veteran pitcher. 鈥淗e can get mad every once in a while at certain at-bats. But overall I just think he鈥檚 not (changing) a single thing day-to-day in his approach, and his understanding of the game is way more than most hitters.鈥欌��

That鈥檚 a pitcher鈥檚 perspective on hitters, of course.

鈥淲hen he鈥檚 locked in the way he鈥檚 locked in to hit fastballs really hard to right, right-centre, you can鈥檛 really get him out with off-speed. So, I don鈥檛 really expect anything else from Bo. I have very, very high expectations for him. He鈥檚 just living up to my expectations.鈥欌��

Pass the encomiums to Schneider, commenting on 鈥淧eak Bo鈥欌�� of the moment: 鈥淗e鈥檚 been consistent all year, even since spring training. The power has been really nice lately. Even his outs seem to be hard.鈥�

The stupidity of the 海角社区官网brass not extending his contract thus far聽鈥� because last year was an outlier聽鈥� only reinforces the grim likelihood that Bichette will take his leave of 海角社区官网when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. It hardly bears thinking of.

鈥淟ast year was tough for him, between performance and health,鈥欌�� said Schneider. 鈥淵ou can never really count him out when you鈥檙e talking about a guy who鈥檚 going to compete and try to be better. It鈥檚 just Bo coming back to his normal offensively, he鈥檚 that talented.

鈥淭o have him performing well and feeling like himself is when we鈥檙e at our best.鈥欌��