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Chapter 1: What was the outcome of the Blue Jays vs. Rays game?
Welcome to Blair and Barker, brought to you by Capital One. Capital One, giving credit to 4 million Canadians in the county. This is our penultimate show in the 2-4 slot. We'll be moving 4-6 on Monday. They didn't tell you that?
No. First I heard of that. I'm always the last one to know. There's a reason.
Drop by the office sometime.
Don't be a stranger. They can text me. I'm good. You don't. I'm hard at work in my little room, Jeff. Hard at work. Huh? You're watching that dumbass football show. No, it doesn't come on until after our show starts, so I never get to watch it. But it's with three dudes who scream at each other for an hour.
That's all right. Anyhow, so we're going to four to six. On Monday, even though Mr. Barker doesn't realize that. It is, in fact.
That's all right. That's good.
One more day of 2-4 after this. Mm-hmm. That is tomorrow when the Jays are in Detroit to open a three-game series against the Tigers. A reminder that that is an Apple game, so it'll be on Apple TV. That's why it's called an Apple game. You'll be able to catch it on Sportsnet 590, The Fan. And... Afterwards, you can listen to Blue Jays talk with Byron Parker. Yep.
We had a winning edition last night. It was fun. My friend, it was good. I'd forgotten how to do it. Yeah. But it's like riding a horse. No, it's like riding a bicycle. Riding a horse is when you say you fall off, you get back on. Riding a bicycle is... Right? Anyhow, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah.
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Chapter 2: How did Daulton Varsho contribute to the Blue Jays' victory?
75 strikeouts lead the AL. Mizorowski is 77. Among qualified AL pitchers this season, Cease is first in strikeout rate, first in whiff rate, second in FIP, second in swinging strike rate, sixth in ERA. 75 strikeouts are the most through a pitcher's first nine starts with the Blue Jays in franchise history.
His .241 ERA is sixth, trailing Roger Clemens, David Price, Calvin Escobar, Kevin Gossman, and Jeff Musselman. We were literally seeing... where we have literally seen one of the best first months of a guy's Blue Jays career.
That's fair. And then you start seeing, like, the seventh inning, and we talked about that on the show last night after the game.
That is crazy. It is nuts.
We just talked about how many strike ones with different pitches he throws, how many different pitches he can throw with strike three. It's how he self-corrects, right? I think that third time through facing Jonathan Aranda yesterday, you know, he was a little overthrowing it. Like, you know, and he was ā He wanted to finish that off. Sure he was. I mean, that's their best hitter, right?
I mean, you're trying to ā and the scoreboard's telling you, you better get frisky with this guy. You better not leave something over the dish.
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Chapter 3: What insights can we gain from Dylan Cease's performance?
And for him to be non-competitive glove side the way he was and then all of a sudden get it back in line, get the better finish after, you know, he had allowed a base runner and ā You know, it sort of went off the tracks there a little bit. I mean, four or five starts ago, they're scoring three runs. They scored one run.
That's the difference, right, in just the self-correcting and now having confidence in all the pitches that he can throw strikes and getting back into counts. I think that's what it is. Strike one's the best pitch in baseball. Always has been. But it's now how he gets back into a pitcher's count that is the scary part. It's no longer 2-0. I'm looking hate her. Uh-uh. Can't do that anymore.
Now it's the little flip-me-over breaking ball. It's the down-and-away change-up that's very competitive. It's the front-hip two-seamer. Like, if he wants to, occasionally he can crowd you with an elevated fastball with some velocity. Like, there's just so many different things he can do no matter what the count is. It's...
I don't know who you give the credit to, but, boy, whatever they're doing, whatever they're saying, whatever he's doing between starts, boy, I got to be honest, right now he is a must-watch. It's just ā it is electric stuff.
And, you know, some guys say you like to sit in a rocking chair out there where it just looks like everything is effortless, and it is just if I get to the finish, basically you're out. That's kind of the way it looks, don't it?
Yeah, it really does. It was just a terrific performance. He's ā I mean, he's just so ā he's so money.
Yeah, they have ā Right now he is. You know, we need to give, I think, them more credit about who they sign for that rotation. Like the last ā ever since they signed Gosman, boy, they have been hitting homers.
I've talked about it a lot. You know, whatever ā and this goes back to before they were going to the World Series. But one of the things this front office has done is when they have made big gambles ā no, they're gambles that haven't. paid off, right? I mean, every team has that. They've had that. Was it Chase Anderson or something?
I mean, you wouldn't call those gambles, but they brought in guys who are less effective than you thought they'd be. You're talking about the people they gave major money to.
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Chapter 4: How does Dylan Cease's pitching strategy impact his effectiveness?
Yeah, the people they gave major money to. There have been very few... I mean, you say Kikuchi, that wasn't a bust necessarily. Well, he left better than he started. He left better than when he started. Yes, I think. You know, they signed Rob, I believe they signed Robbie Ray to a one-year contract, didn't they? Or did Robbie Ray leave after his good year?
I want to say it's a one-year deal.
Anyway, he wasn't here long enough. But they made a good call with him. And then, of course, Gossman, Bassett, and now Cease. And, you know, this is the first year of a seven-year deal for Cease. They signed Dylan Cease to be their ace for the next window of opportunity.
Well, he looks like their ace right now.
And he looks like their ace right now. No, listen, they've done a really nice job when it comes to basically to identifying pitching and building that pitching staff. Yeah. Um, you know, the question is, and, and listen, I've said this.
I still think if they're in the trade market right now, I still think they need to add another arm because there's just, there's too much uncertainty after the first three. Without a doubt.
You can never have too many good arms.
Good arms.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of the Blue Jays' upcoming series against the Yankees?
That's how excited everyone was when this happened. And it's one of those team bonding things, you know? Anything you can do to, especially if you're a rookie like he was last year, to get those relationships with teammates so that you have something in common to fight for beyond the win. I just think there's such value adds to that. It's such a cool part of the psychology of the game.
I mean, Kevin, you can speak to this. When you got along with your teammates, when you feel like you have shared interests.
We can just end the discussion right there. Let's move on. That never happened. Oh, by the way, when you get down to Louisville, don't talk to the Barker guy. He's swirling. He's just going to turn you off against baseball.
It's fair.
I can't argue.
I can't argue. Okay, in a universe, Kevin, where people actually like you.
Do you think that matters, or am I overrating it? No, no, absolutely. You know, baseball is so hard, to your point, Jeff. I think it's a good way just to get away. It gives you something to look forward to. It just sort of makes the tough times easier. Like, it just does. I'm with you. Like, it's whatever. It's their thing. They like it. You know, they can make friends.
Like, it's an easy way to ā You know, look at the card that I got. What kind of card did you get? I mean, how much is that card worth? Just a cool conversation. It gets your mind off of baseball, which is a big deal.
And I think every generation kind of has their thing. Like I know the Jays with Russell Martin, he was big into FIFA, the video game. FIFA, I don't know if it was 2019, but, I mean, he would play it in his locker and other guys would too. And it was just kind of a thing. You know, I think every culture has it. Every generation has that. Chess is another thing.
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