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Blair & Barker

One-Run Loss + Around the League with Ryan Dempster

20 May 2026

Transcription

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

10.257 - 35.873 Jeff Blair

All right, welcome to Blair Barker brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving credit to over 4 million Canadians and counting. Game three of the four-game series against the Yankees goes tonight at Yankee Stadium. Trying to find some silver lining here. Cam Schlittler on the mound for the Yankees, who's awfully good. Trey Savage on the mound. for the blue Jays.

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35.893 - 60.871 Jeff Blair

The Yankees, another one, one run win last night at Yankee stadium. And, um, kind of sort of almost the same scenario as the night before you had Vladdy and George coming up, uh, with a game on the line. Um, why do you had to sacrifice fly and, uh, pulled the Jays to within one.

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Chapter 2: How do the Blue Jays' top hitters perform in clutch situations?

61.973 - 81.856 Jeff Blair

Um, We had a lot of people, Kevin and Blue Jays talk, and actually some folks in the office, well, actually, I think it was Mark Buffo, our producer, actually mentioned the same thing, wondering about Ernie Clement and not being at third base in that fall. I didn't make a note of it right away. I don't know if you did necessarily. That doesn't necessarily change anything.

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83.097 - 99.709 Jeff Blair

You know, it moves them a little closer to scoring, which means the game was tied. But you'd rather be tied than losing. Fair. But I don't know if he – I don't know if the ball was like – you know, if he could have made it. I just don't know if the ball was deep enough. I don't know.

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99.729 - 118.024 Kevin Barker

I think the callers to Texas were talking about how far the defender had to move, how fast Ernie is, you know, kind of why he was in the game, right, to hit and run the base as you get on base. That's fair. It's kind of when you're a bad team, you know, you're going through it. Like right now, like the Jays are, it's every little thing matters, right? It's situational hitting.

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118.044 - 128.001 Kevin Barker

We saw that a couple of times from Okamoto, runner on third base, less than two outs. You talked about the base running, moving up. You talk about having a clean inning after your team scores three runs.

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Chapter 3: What changes have occurred for the Phillies under Don Mattingly's management?

128.922 - 143.679 Kevin Barker

Like it's just a collection of a bunch of things, I think, right now that the Jays are going through that. You know, I think maybe if they clean up a little bit, they'd have a better chance of scoring some more runs earlier in the game. So the ninth inning didn't mean as much as kind of it's meant the last couple days.

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143.719 - 156.337 Kevin Barker

I think if you're watching TV here, it's how far the defender had to go, kind of, you know, how far Ernie didn't get off the base, which would allow him to go back and tag up. Ernie's a good base runner. You know, you kind of lose track of what you're trying to do.

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156.417 - 176.079 Kevin Barker

And this is kind of the reality of life is when you're, what are they, six games under .500 and one of the worst teams in the American League. Every little thing matters. And when you're not doing sort of the things that you are expected to do, a lot of the times, most of the time you lose a baseball game, especially Yankee Stadium. And, you know, the Walks killed them last night.

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176.099 - 191.216 Kevin Barker

The Homers killed them. Like it's just, you know, Dylan sort of didn't have the other four that he normally throws with the two that he always throws. You know, pitching ahead, I think he was decent enough at that. It's just the location, glove side wasn't very good. So it's accumulation of a bunch of things, right?

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191.236 - 198.214 Kevin Barker

And, again, when your best hitters are coming to the play, John's done a good job of moving those guys around, getting them up when it matters the most.

Chapter 4: What insights does Ryan Dempster provide on the Padres/Dodgers rivalry?

198.329 - 215.545 Kevin Barker

Just the last couple days. I did think Vladdy's bat was better. George hit a line drive back to the pitcher. The ninth inning, I mean, off a dude that throws a bazillion. That was a tough bat for Vladdy. 102, 102. That's like a bazillion miles an hour. I mean, it's almost like the best swing he's taken in a while. I mean, he had a couple there in a row where, you know, 100 was away.

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215.565 - 227.897 Kevin Barker

101, I think, was middle up. 102, I think that's the one he put in play, right? So, yeah, you know, it was every, I think, swing he took off the 100-mile-an-hour thing, it looked a little bit better. It felt a little bit better.

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228.586 - 244.761 Kevin Barker

So, I mean, again, this is kind of where they're at as a sort of a roster is every single time you get a chance to make a positive play for your team, right now you don't have a choice but to have to make it. Or you can make it and still overcome it.

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Chapter 5: How is Shohei Ohtani performing this season as a two-way player?

244.801 - 248.248 Kevin Barker

Not right now. Like they have to make every single one of those plays, and right now they're not doing that.

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249.072 - 264.718 Jeff Blair

Yeah, and again, much as the case the night before in that 7-6 loss, they did have nine hits. They were all singles. They had opportunities. They strung together, you know, three-run fourth inning, basically stringing together singles and singles and singles. I mean, it was a lot.

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264.698 - 274.017 Jeff Blair

One real good extra base hit there, Kevin, and we might be, well, two nights in a row, one real good extra base hit, and we might be talking about the Jays having won the first two games of the series, despite some of the stuff we saw from the pitching.

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274.037 - 289.228 Kevin Barker

Yeah, that's a good point, but I still think they swing at so much stuff at the play. It's real hard to string together extra base hits. That's why John has said multiple times that you need to get your pitch. Stop chasing the pitcher all over the zone. That's easier said than done when you're struggling. You're not winning baseball games.

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289.569 - 292.054 Kevin Barker

You know kind of the part of your schedule that you're in.

Chapter 6: What concerns are there about the Blue Jays' performance this season?

292.315 - 308.637 Kevin Barker

Players are paying attention to that. They know who they're about to face, and you're going to get more into your division now. You know, your division's not what we thought it would be, but it's still in your division. You know, you need to just start to play a little bit better. You squeeze the bat a little tighter. You start chasing things. You know, when you want to slug, what do you do?

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308.657 - 323.174 Kevin Barker

You don't let it travel. You go out there and get it. That's kind of what you see, and you see them chasing a little bit more than they chased last year. So, yeah, I mean, the fourth inning was good, right? They stringed together hits. They had four hits and three runs. I think the bullpen, we didn't give credit for them. I don't think we did that on Jay's talk either.

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Chapter 7: What factors are affecting Dylan Cease's pitching effectiveness?

323.535 - 328.641 Kevin Barker

Mack O'Leary, Flew Hardy, and Varlin held the deficit. That's kind of what you do, right, is –

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328.621 - 355.607 Jeff Blair

Give your lineup a chance. John has talked about that a lot last year, about what he wanted from his bullpen. Just hold serve, as he would say it. Hold serve and let the offense get a chance to catch up. We do have the Blue Jays lineup for the game tonight. Already? Yeah. Springer, Guerrero, Varsho, Okamoto, Pignango, Clement, Sanchez, Valenzuela, Jimenez with Trey Savage on the mound.

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356.178 - 365.311 Jeff Blair

I'm just trying to compare that. That's basically the same as last night, is it not? Ernie's back after strep throat, right? Ernie's back, Davis Schneider.

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365.331 - 367.754 Kevin Barker

I mean, Cam's got three really good fastballs.

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Chapter 8: What is the current state of the American League and playoff race?

367.774 - 383.215 Kevin Barker

That's what it is. You're righty, you're going to get a slider. You're lefty, you're going to get a curveball. But it's mainly power with velocity. I mean, that's kind of the same thing, Kevin. It's three different haters. It's one going one direction with the sinker. It's one going the other way with the cutter. It's an elevated four seamer. It's...

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383.195 - 399.95 Kevin Barker

Kind of the north and south game with the east and west with all kinds of power. And then you're tunneling off whether you're righty or lefty, that slider and that curveball. I mean, he's a handful. He's a giant human who extends the ball almost seven feet. It's almost like he's dropping the ball in the catcher's glove. So, you got to get it going.

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399.99 - 415.998 Kevin Barker

Again, I get back to that bad blood he had last night facing the 100. That's kind of the best swings he's taken in a while. I mean, it's almost like he knew it was coming. He knew it was coming. You're ready for it. You get it down a little sooner. Looks like he's standing a little taller. Catching it out front, he was thinking more about moving the plate.

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416.178 - 432.022 Kevin Barker

You know, not that plate, the plate out in front of it. Just sort of lines everything up. Yeah, just sort of lines everything up. Looked like, I mean, he hit a line driver right off a dude that throws that hard. So, maybe you can build off that. Right now, it's just the little things that you got to start gaining some momentum with. And maybe that's one of them.

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432.062 - 452.827 Kevin Barker

George's bat in the ninth inning was really good, too. So, just so happens it didn't work out in that moment. But, you know... It's time. You know, you look at all them – and you know what's a miracle? And I was looking this up before I came in here. It is a miracle because they're 8-16 on the road. I'm not trying to be negative here. I'm just speaking the truth. They're 8-16 on the road.

452.847 - 465.882 Kevin Barker

They're 4-10, one-run games. They're 11-1⁄2 back of the race. Brightside is their only two back of Texas in the third wild card spot. There's only two teams in front of them. You look like five days ago there's like seven teams in front of them.

465.902 - 489.612 Jeff Blair

It's bizarre. I mean, they – Well, we talked about this a little bit last night. It's like there's two teams in that league are just... I mean, they're just barreling away from everybody else. And then there's kind of the mushy middle. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing. It does kind of feel... It kind of feels a little bit like last year in a way when you look at the standings in that. But...

491.65 - 515.332 Jeff Blair

But it doesn't. People are saying, well, you know, it took them a while to get going last year. It took Vladdy a while to get going last year, et cetera, et cetera. It kind of sort of feels that way, but it's feeling less and less that way. You know, I guess is the way I would put it. What did you make of Dylan Cease last night? Two home runs given up. That is what he gave up.

515.353 - 540.003 Jeff Blair

He had one home run given up. All year, he'd gone seven innings in his three previous starts, seven innings in three consecutive starts previously. As you pointed out last night in Blue Jays talk, didn't seem to have glove side command. Caleb made the point he thought that maybe – They could have done a better job of incorporating his pitches earlier in the game. I think he wanted to.

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