David went seven, gave up only three hits, no runs, with three walks and seven K’s in the Jays 6-0 win over the Yanks on Saturday afternoon at the Bronx. Dave pitched well in the matinee. Didn’t run into much trouble. He threw 110 pitches, 71 for strikes and 39 balls. Wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty doggone good. Justin Smoak helped supply the runs with a grand slam in the sixth. Troy Tulowitzki added a solo shot in the seventh. Catcher Russell Matin had an RBI single in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the seventh, David walked Chase Headley with two outs and Didi Gregorius, a fine young shortstop for the Yanks, singled to right to put runners on the corners. But David got Brendan Ryan to pop out to first and end that threat and the bullpen for the Jays took it from there.

The Yankees broadcasters, it was the only broadcast I could get, said that David’s velo on his fastball was 95 on average in 2010, then it dropped to 93.5 in 2014, but now it’s back up to 94.5. That’s amazing; a pitcher gets better velocity on his fastball the older he gets. Just shows how hard David works out, and works on his craft. His change up is a really good pitch for him, too. He’s now 11-4 with a 2.35 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP with 34 walks and 156 K’s. He was bringing it 95-96 on Saturday and the change up was really clicking. His cut fast ball that comes in at 90-91 is tough too.

Those strikeout numbers have been very good lately for David. He struck out 12 Orioles on July 18th, a 3-0 Tigers’ loss; he struck out seven Mariners in a 3-2 loss to them for the Tigers; he struck out nine Rays, but lost 10-2 and that was right before the deadline when the trade rumors were running rampant. For the Jays, He struck out 11 Twins in a 5-1 Jays victory on Aug.3rd, last Monday night. And then Saturday he may not have had his best stuff, but he really knows now how to battle through it. He’s matured so much as a pitcher. He’s a veteran and he’s an ace. The Jays swept the Yankees over the weekend and moved to 1 1/2 games back of them in the AL East. They’re 61-52 and the Yankees are 61-49, three ahead in the loss column, but the Jays have at least six more with the Yankees.

They lead the wild card by a 1/2 game over the LA Angels. They face the A’s this week, tomorrow through Thursday. David will not pitch, but Sonny will on Thursday. I’m struggling with this one, but the A’s were my pick for the Series the day before the season started, so while they’re in real danger of missing out on October baseball, they did take three of four from the AL West first place Astros at home over the weekend. They had a 3-1 lead in the top of the ninth yesterday and gave up a three run homer to Colby Rasmus, that put them behind 4-3, but scored two in the bottom of the ninth for the 5-4 victory. The A’s bullpen has really been their Achilles Heel all year, but the acquisition of Danny Valencia, who is playing third now, has been huge. He was the reason the A’s took three of four from the Astros. His bat was phenomenal. He hit a home run and the walk off game winning single with  two outs in the bottom of the ninth after Josh Reddick had tied it at 4 with an infield single that hit the pitching mound and bounced away from the pitcher and first baseman. It was a big deal for the A’s to take three from the ‘Stros, who are legit.

I gotta pull for Sonny. Kendall Graveman, who is the A’s starter tomorrow night, came over from the Jays in the offseason. Valencia was designated for assignment by the Jays and the A’s picked him up last week. It was a huge pickup. I don’t know if the A’s have any shot of making the postseason, it’s not totally over, but they have some great young starting arms led by Sonny and a good young team. They are 9 1/2 back of the Angels for the second wild card spot, and they have 49 games left. They’ll need to win close to 37-40 of those games to get in the postseason. But I do like this group and Billy Beane is planning for the future with a possible new stadium in Oakland. He’s going after the younger, talented minor leaguers now. It’s a change in strategy for Beane, who has usually gone after veterans who have the run producing or pitching metrics. I like it.