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Blair & Barker

Keys To a Mid-May Turnaround with Joe Maddon

13 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the Blue Jays' recent game against the Rays?

10.848 - 24.468 Kevin Barker

All right. Welcome to Blair and Barker, brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving credit to over 4 million Canadians and counting. I feel oddly fired up today.

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24.988 - 25.629 Jeff Blair

For what?

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25.649 - 26.19 Kevin Barker

I have no idea.

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27.652 - 32.739 Jeff Blair

Well, you look nice. I look nice? Yeah, you do. You got to look the part sometimes, you know?

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Chapter 2: How did the Blue Jays' five-run seventh inning impact the game?

32.78 - 38.777 Jeff Blair

You look good, you talk good. You got my Ajax Amsterdam t-shirt on? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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38.797 - 39.018 Kevin Barker

You know?

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39.418 - 47.275 Jeff Blair

Just enough to talk about baseball. That's all. Let's do a whole show on soccer. I don't know anything.

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Chapter 3: What role does speed play in the Rays' success against the Blue Jays?

47.295 - 49.239 Jeff Blair

I don't even know how to spell soccer, so it can't.

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49.539 - 49.86 Kevin Barker

Okay.

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49.88 - 51.985 Jeff Blair

Yeah.

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52.005 - 61.711 Kevin Barker

I'm just kidding. We'll do a whole show, two hours, and we'll tell you everything you need to know about why the Jays are going to break out of it tonight. There it is. Break out. I got a feeling.

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Chapter 4: What insights does Joe Maddon provide about the Rays' formula for success?

61.891 - 83.16 Kevin Barker

I got a feeling in my... I got a feeling the Jays are going to break out of it tonight. Bill and Cease against Griffin Jacks, 7-0-7 first pitch. My Rays, 28-13 Rays. Folks, they are a juggernaut. Just give them the World Series already. Against Barkers, 18-24 Blue Jays. After last night's 7-6 loss in 10 innings.

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Chapter 5: Why is it too early for Blue Jays fans to panic?

83.714 - 99.377 Kevin Barker

A game that I thought I saw some positive signs in. And then I did Blue Jays talk, and I came away thinking, That's not true. Not true. Not entirely true. Some positive. Hey, five-run seventh inning. Yeah. Five-run seventh inning. Yohendrik Penango, the man.

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99.897 - 100.138 Jeff Blair

Yeah.

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Chapter 6: How can John Schneider maximize Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s potential?

100.278 - 111.113 Jeff Blair

Gets a good pitch to hit. That's what it's all about, right? You take the pitcher's pitch to get your pitch. When you get it, you don't miss it. Think big part of the field. That's kind of how you have success at the big league level. So that's kind of nice to watch.

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111.133 - 115.139 Kevin Barker

There's one positive. Jay's down 5-0. Score five to tie it up.

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Chapter 7: What adjustments has Dylan Cease made to improve his pitching?

115.219 - 125.054 Kevin Barker

George Springer scored for first on a double. George Springer scored. Which is unbelievable. And two infield hits. Yeah. George was cruising last night. George is fired up.

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125.414 - 127.397 Jeff Blair

Sanchez had a pinch hit double.

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127.417 - 149.865 Kevin Barker

At the end of the day, though, I mean, the Rays did what they are doing a lot of this year. I mean, they're three really good players. Well, Cam and Arrow wasn't great defensively, but they're three really good offensive players contributing, and they just use speed. Taylor Walls just, you know, we did player of the game for Capital One. We do it every Blue Jays talk.

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149.905 - 177.379 Kevin Barker

The first game of this series was Chandler Simpson. The second game of this series was Taylor Walls, a number nine hitter, who just really, I realized this watching the Rays last night in extra innings. They might be the scariest extra inning team in baseball. with their ability with the way they run. They got the right guy on second as a ghost runner.

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177.52 - 179.963 Kevin Barker

They're almost a guaranteed two-run inning on the road.

180.163 - 181.806 Jeff Blair

Yeah, I'm not sure what you're basing that off of.

Chapter 8: How does Joe Maddon view the importance of leadership in baseball?

181.866 - 203.136 Jeff Blair

I know they're a really good team. I know it's been hard for the Jays this year, which kind of made them special last year was whenever the other team needed to do something, make a play, put a ball in play, move a runner, the Jays were real good about not letting them do that. And just early on this year, they've had a real tough time of – kind of tampering that down and not allowing guys.

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203.196 - 221.923 Jeff Blair

It's like the 0-2 fly ball to left field that moved the runner to third in the extra inning. It's just little things like that that they were really good at last year that's just early on here this year. Maybe it's guys trying too hard. Maybe it's just lack of execution. Maybe it's pitch selection. It could be a ton of things.

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221.903 - 237.241 Jeff Blair

But it just seems for whatever reason when that situation comes about that Jays just have a real tough time of sort of executing, making the play, getting the out, forcing the other team to earn the win. And sometimes they don't do that all the time.

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237.381 - 257.586 Kevin Barker

No, I am going to say this, though, too. We always talk about sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other pitcher. I mean, Taylor Walls in that extra inning, taking third base on what was a wild pitch, but not many people go to, not many people try to go to third base on that pitch. No. Just really alert. And what I liked about, and I'm not going to turn this into Taylor Walls love fest.

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257.606 - 271.924 Kevin Barker

Guy got thrown out by Brandon Valenzuela. And sometimes you would think guys might get a little shy in the base pass. Not these guys, not these guys. And I just thought that taking third on that wild pitch. And again, it's not like Valenzuela completely boxed it and kicked it around into the dugout.

271.904 - 280.643 Jeff Blair

Now, we've got to be fair. They are 15 games above .500, so it's a little easier to sort of play with your hair on fire when you're 15 above .500.

280.683 - 287.719 Kevin Barker

That's the thing. I don't get the sense they're playing with their hair on fire. I think it's really controlled.

288.037 - 305.895 Jeff Blair

Yeah, maybe. I mean, you got smaller leads, bigger secondary leads. Ball hits the ground. You're a fast guy. If you get a solid lead, a good secondary lead, a good jump, more times than not, you're going to beat the throw to whatever base you're trying to get to. So, yeah, I mean, they're a really good base running team. They go first to third better than most.

305.915 - 327.978 Jeff Blair

They go first to home better than most. They put the ball in play. They're very scrappy when it comes to that. I mentioned situations, right, where you need a swing and miss and – For whatever reason, they're throwing barrel at the ball. It's a fly ball to left field instead of a swing through. Instead of that runner being at second with one out, there's a runner at third and one out.

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