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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good God. Hang on for a minute. My doohickey here isn't working here. Give me a sec. It is Blair and Barker. Once I get my doohickey working, everything will be good. I've got to keep pushing this thing in and out and in and out and in and out to make it work. What? Oh, I do. It's the hole this dude doesn't fit in. Jays and Braves, first of three games tonight. What the hell is it called?
Is it called Truist Field or Truist Park? You got it. Park. In Atlanta? Yeah. Kevin Gossman on the mound for the Blue Jays. Bryce Elder for my Braves. You knew that was coming.
Yeah.
We'll be joined, by the way, by Alex Anthopoulos, president of baseball operations and general manager of the Braves.
Feeling pretty good about himself, huh?
You think? Well, I mean, his team is the best team in baseball right now. It should be. It's the best the Braves have had. Best record, most wins, I should say, they've had since on June 1st. And considering they're playing a third-string catcher and they've had some injuries this year,
And considering they're playing in the National League, which, as we've already said, has really got it going on this year, it's a pretty good accomplishment.
Yeah, you've got to look pretty deep to try and find something that they don't do well.
Yes, indeed. You've got to do some digging.
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Chapter 2: What are the keys to the Blue Jays' bounce-back game against the Braves?
You've got to shovel some stuff.
You really do. They've got a bunch of dudes who know how to drive in runs.
Hey, apparently we have the Jays lineup. Let's show the folks the Jays lineup already. Springer, Lucas, Guerrero, Varsho, Clement, Penango, Okamoto, Jimenez, Valenzuela behind Kevin Gosselin. As good as it gets. That is... That's all she's got. That is it. I mean, I don't know what to say. There we are. All right. That looks like a winner to me.
We'll see you in Blue Jays talk following the game. That'll be fun. Winning edition. Winning edition of Blue Jays talk. Well, I mean, you got the right dude in the mound. Bounce back, start. What has to happen? What has to happen for Kevin Boswell?
Well, he's got to throw more strike once. What'd he throw? 45% last time on the season, 62%. So you get it closer to 62%. And I read some stat today, which is pretty interesting, that the Braves lead baseball in runs scored when the leadoff hitter gets on. Huh? So when the leadoff hitter. So they're cashing in runs. Basically, like 52% of the time. So I'd start there, right? Strike ones.
Obviously, the fastball everybody ever talks about because, you know, he's got two pitches. That's the top of the strike zone. That's the bottom of the strike zone. He throws, obviously, more strike ones. That'll get more swing and misses. That'll get him chasing a little bit more, which is a big deal. He's gotten the fifth most swings at pitches out of the zone with 207.
That's a big deal, right? How do you get that? You pitch ahead. You get sort of elevating the fastball. You establish strikes with the fastball up and down. Then you get them starting to chase the split finger. And if you want to throw a slider to righties, you can do that. So, you know, I'd do that. Get the leadoff hitter, throw a strike once. Maintain your velocity throughout your start.
He'll give them a chance. Now, he may not go out there and shut down the Braves because that's some heavy lifting, but I think he'll hold them at bay long enough to give the lineup a chance to do whatever the lineup's going to do.
Further to the Braves.
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Chapter 3: How is Kevin Gausman's performance impacting the Blue Jays?
too was on one of those heaters. Yeah. Yeah. So you got a bunch of things that you're going to have to try and overcome. But if you're Kevin, I think throwing strike one is very important. Obviously, it's important for everybody. But when you only have two pitches, it's really important. You want to get more swing and misses. You want to get less foul balls. You kind of start there.
Getting the leadoff hitter out to your point, reading those stats out is a big deal. You know, and sooner or later, the Jays got to score runs early. They're one of the worst teams in baseball.
Well, funny that you mentioned that because lo and behold, I do happen to have those numbers right in front of me. The Blue Jays are averaging 1.45 runs scored in the first four innings of games. That's the second worst in baseball. Do you know who the worst is?
Padre.
Yeah. Odd. In some ways, it almost looks like they're similar teams. Right? Fernando Tatis is scuffling. Vladdy's scuffling. I don't know if Tatis is scuffling. He's scuffling in terms of home runs. I'd be lying if I said I could tell you what his batting average was or anything like that, but he's got one home run for the year.
Yeah, it's a good test for the Jays. It's to tell you where you're at as a player. You know, you've got to play a clean game. You've got to clean up some of the sloppiness when it comes to base running and on the defensive side. You got to make the plays when you're supposed to make them.
And giving up the three-run homer and thinking you're going to come out of Atlanta winning games ain't going to happen. So you're going to have to control the walk. The walk is huge. You know, we saw a bunch of that. You can do it. It's one thing doing it against the Orioles. It's another thing doing it against this team. You're going to get beat. Don't walk, people.
When in doubt, throw it down the middle. I mean, you know, still a round thing with a round thing. You know, chances are you're going to keep it in the yard. I mean, you may give up a hit, but at least you're not giving up a walk.
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Chapter 4: What is the current state of college baseball according to Jensen Lewis?
Walks just sort of kind of get the ball rolling in a direction you don't want it to roll in. They do little things. I like your ā I'll take my chances with Kevin on the mound. On the road, used to that. Been good in Atlanta, pitching on the road there.
I'll take my chances with Kevin any day. I mean, I just will. It's kind of, you know, it would have been nice to have a healthy Dylan Cease so he could run out Gossman, Cease, and Savage maybe in this series or whatever it would have been. That would have been nice to run your top three out there against Atlanta. You are getting Chris Sale on Thursday, who has been awfully good as well.
It's Bryce Elder tonight, Grant Holmes tomorrow, and then Chris Sale. But at this point with the Blue Jays, I mean... No disrespect to the Blue Jays. At this point, I almost don't look at who the opposing starting pitcher is. I just don't because I don't. Until I start seeing. Now, that's not fair because they scored runs. That's not fair. They scored runs against Baltimore.
I'm going to take that back because they did. I thought they looked better offensively against Baltimore. We've talked about this. They should have won at least three of those games. So they looked a little better against Baltimore, but of course the quality of pitching they're going to be facing right now is in this series. And that Braves bullpen is a three-headed monster.
We never talk about Raycel Iglesias. Pardon me. Anytime we talk about closers, you look at Iglesias, you look at Suarez. Anybody heard of Didier Fuentes? You seen what he's doing?
Filthy.
Seriously. They've got... There's like a three-headed monster in the back of that bullpen. And they're getting their starting pitch. Some of their starting pitching back healthy now. So, I mean, it's... Yeah, they're a good team.
Still baseball. Still, you got to go out and do the little things to be good teams.
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Chapter 5: How should the Blue Jays approach their series against top teams?
You know, you don't look at stats. You only do what you can control.
I'm surprised that in that division... What was I looking at? In that division, the Braves have had sole possession of first place. All right? Sole possession of first place since April 8th. At April 8th, they went up half a game. They were 9.5 up on May 5th. They are currently 9 up. So they were 10.5 up on May 22nd. So basically, the closest anybody's gotten to them
is may 18th they were seven back or they were seven up yeah they have lost i'm trying to think how many times they've they may not have let me just see here two losses in a row twice they've lost two games in a row yeah
Yeah, they're a good team. This is kind of where you need your best to be your best. Like your lineup, the names that we've all been talking about all year. I mean, it's June.
Does it mean anything to you that this is Vladdy's historically his best month for home runs?
Mean anything at all to you? Absolutely. You know, I think this is kind of when all the parts come together. It gets a little warmer outside. He's had a big ā he's had enough run with trying to get the foot down on time.
It's going to be warm in Atlanta.
Trying to figure out, you know, what not to swing at, which is a big deal, right? I mean, I think he's used now to seeing slider down and away, hard in. You know, the moving sinkers in, that's what he's going to get tonight. I mean, he's going to get sinkers in and sliders away. I mean, that's ā There's no secret going in if you're Vladdy how they're going to try and get you out.
It's just I think this month is kind of when, you know, it takes him a couple of months to figure out all the parts, how to get it lined up, how to get the direction moving in the right way, get his mindset right, stop trying so hard, all the things that turn Vladdy into whatever Vladdy's going to turn into. So hopefully, fingers crossed, man, this is time. No?
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Chapter 6: What challenges does Vlad Jr. face this season?
Seventh in extra base hits on his team. That's embarrassing. I must be fair about it. What's his OPS in May? 623? I mean, you just can't make this stuff up. Seventh on the team in extra base hits. They should be 15 under .500. with who they don't have and what he hasn't done. I don't want to say that 300 thing's soft, but, boy, you're getting to that point where you can have that conversation.
We talked about empty calories in the past. I don't know what that means. I just know he's had the ball over the fence. Empty calories. It means it's not, you know, it's like junk food, basically. Baseball's version of junk food. That's a terrible analogy.
I think it's a great analogy. All I want him to do is drive in 100 runs. It seems like he's not even going to come close to that. You know what kind of ā the next four months, he'd have to be out of his mind to do that.
There's ā I just ā yeah. I mean, I'm at a loss. We talked about Vlade for a long time. I said maybe he's a slow starter. Maybe that's the way it is. Maybe that's the way it's going to be.
You know, I dropped that on a coach, one of the coaches for the Jays. He looked right at me and said, it's hard to say that when a dude's hitting .300. Well, okay, that's... And how do you argue against that? I argue they need him to do other things than hit 300. That's how I argue. They need him to be a run producer.
When Bo left, reality was he needs to step up to the plate and start driving in more runs. I mean, that's reality of life. You can't ask a 37-year-old to have back-to-back career years. You just can't do it. I mean, it's impossible to ask a guy to do that. But you can ask your 27-year-old who did more than special things in playoffs. You can ask that. That'd be, you know. Nice to ask.
Again, we've had this conversation over and over and over again. Now that June, I would think just because of those numbers you read. 37 homers, 35. Yeah, it's a lot of homers. That's a lot. It's all the parts kind of adding up, timing of getting the foot down and start not to chase guy all over the strike zone. That's what it is in June.
If he limps out of June, then you got like a five alarm fire if he's limping out of June.
I think so. Some people are already there. You know, not every fan is jumping up and down with Vladdy, with Vladdy's year. Not every fan of the Blue Jays.
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Chapter 7: How can the Blue Jays improve their early-game performance?
Don't really. So, you know, this is a good little test for Vladdy to go up and think maybe right center, get to a little bit of a bigger finish. Hopefully that happens. To beat teams like this, I think it's heavy lifting to ask six or seven days to go out and do a bunch. This is kind of when you need your guys to hit a three-run homer occasionally. And hopefully they do that.
Kevin gives you a good start. You turn it over to the right guy in the pen. So, you know, the worst manager in the sport, don't screw it up. Where did that come from? You yelling and screaming at me before the show started.
You were the one that yelled and brought it up. No, no, that's not. I didn't yell. You said somebody DM'd you. No, it's not somebody. It's more than one. You gave John four and a half out of five, which was an obscenely easy mark. You yelled at me. You got to try to get a line, won't you? I wish I'd had you at the University of Manitoba. I wouldn't be doing this. I'd be doing something else.
But, I mean, four and a half out of five, that's an obscenely easy mark. Is it? I was a little harder, 3.75. Then he said, that's straddling the fence. That's halfway. And I go, dude, in what world is 3.75 half of five?
It's basically straddling the fence. You really didn't know what grade to give him, so you just made up one.
So people would yell and scream at you. What, did you put deep thought into four and a half? Yeah, yeah. What did you do? You pulled out your calculator and you factored the Vorp in and whatever the hell it is, you know, and you were like figuring it out and I got to do this and you put your khakis on, your all analytics stuff and boop, four and a half.
Yeah.
You pulled that out of the same place I pulled my 3.75.
I think I'm in the small group of people that thinks he's done a good job this year.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of potential trades for Tarek Skubal?
Yeah. It is like, it's like, you know, I feel like the, just rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
Yeah, I don't think it's to that extreme. You know, I think you are way, way, way. I mean, you could go hold up signs on the street. You could do that. I kind of like talking about the Billy Jays and the American League East and the American League.
I'm not complaining about the job. I'm just saying that it's like, you know, I got to either go on a nine-game losing streak or go on a six-game winning streak so we can have something to talk about. I guess that's what I'm getting at.
Okay, so that's funny you brought that up. Which one right now do you think they have a better chance of doing?
They're too good. They're not going to go in.
Other than the Braves.
The Braves are going to be heavy lifting going on a six-game winning streak. When you've got this starting pitching and Cease is going to be back in his next streak, you're not losing. You're not going to go in a four- or five-game losing streak. The problem is you may not go over a four- or five-game winning streak. That's the thing. It's five and five. It's three and three.
It's two steps forward, one step back, one step back. You just can't figure out whether they're any good or not. Yeah, and it doesn't help that the rest of the league stinks. At the same time. Yeah. I don't know. Are they... I mean, I'll say this. They're playing down to the league. You know? I mean, they're not an outlier here. But that's a good question.
I don't think that they're a team that is going to lose a lot of games in a row. Because the pitching is... The pitching on balance is good. Yeah, I guess. It's top third in some categories. You know, it's top three in others.
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