Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the Blue Jays' game against the Angels?
All right, Kevin. Well, going into this afternoon's tilt, we were wondering how the Jays would fare against Jose Soriano. He's been off to an unbelievable start. Probably be AL pitcher of the month, I would imagine. Jays managed seven hits off him. But at the end of the day, which I, you know, kudos to them because I think that's more than... More hits than he's given up in a couple of starts.
So kudos to them for that. But at the end of the day, it comes down to Braden Fisher in the Blue Jays' bullpen not being able to get the job done in the seventh inning. And up to that seventh inning, the Angels had been 3-for-17.
Chapter 2: How did Eric Lauer perform and what was the significance of the tape on his neck?
With runners in scoring position in this series, they get a couple of big hits. The big hit, Nolan Shanwell driving in and clearing the bases and essentially the difference in this game as the Blue Jays head home for 7-3 loss. Still won three of their last four games. Still have their first series win. since the start of the season.
But just, Kevin, your thoughts, before we get to the player of the game, your thoughts on something Ben and Chris talked about on the radio, on the broadcast just a minute ago. Do you feel better about this team, where this team is now, than you did a week or so ago?
Yeah, I think some guys offensively are starting to turn the corner, starting to lay off pitchers' pitches, getting their pitch when they get them. They don't miss them, right? I mean, earlier in the season when they did get their pitch, they were missing them, fouling them off, swinging through them.
Chapter 3: What roles did Nathan Lukes and Ernie Clement play in the game?
They're not doing that now. You know, Nathan Lucas is the world. Ernie Clements ain't a big part of the field hitting anything from toe to ear, which is ā You know, very impressive when you just watch the totality of his at-bats. Vladdy looks a little bit better, still really late on the heater.
That's why you saw Soriano today pounding him with a bunch of those, you know, speeding him up, slowing him down. It's not the other way around. But, yeah, I mean, one through nine, I think the at-bats look better. I think they're feeling kind of the way they're supposed to be feeling. Two guys in the rotation at the top of the rotation look the way they're supposed to look today.
Chapter 4: What happened during Braydon Fisher's meltdown in the seventh inning?
one guy in the bullpen kind of carrying the load and there's everybody else so and defensively i think for the most part jeff they're kind of back to i think you know the way we expected them to catch the ball and not hurt themselves on the base running side of it too you know that kind of part of it it's just can you weather the storm get people back so you can make a decent run and kind of just turn into yourself again and yeah i'm with those two guys i think they're
You know, I think they're kind of where they should be right now. Just now you need to go on a little bit of a run. And if you do that, especially when the game's at home, you're supposed to win. 416-870-0590, star 590, 1-888-666-0590. If you want to text us, the text line, it's always open, 590-590. Standard message and data rates may apply.
All right, let's get this started by picking our player of the game. The player of the game is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One, giving Canadians credit for 30 years.
Chapter 5: What are the future prospects for Eric Lauer and the pitching rotation?
Kevin, you're player of the game. Well, I think you mentioned it a couple of minutes ago about Nolan Shonwell. You know, I think he saw his buddy and Mikado with the pinch hit, you know, seeing the seven pitches from Fisher and the three breaking balls. I'm standing over there. I'm thinking to myself, probably not going to get the slider because I'm left-handed.
I'm going to sit on the breaking ball. It just so happened that Fisher left one up. And Shonwell's a pretty good hitter. I mean, you know, he's battling. That whole lineup is actually better than people think they are.
Chapter 6: How is Kazuma Okamoto developing in the Blue Jays lineup?
It really is. I think they have some balance, you know, righty, lefty. I think they got some lefties who, you know, can get the head out, party out front. And I do think they got some guys in their lineup that can use the entire field. Let a breaking ball travel, slap it the other way. A lot of RBIs the other way. So, for me, that's an easy one. It's got to be him.
That is the Player of the Game brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving Canadians credit for 30 years.
Chapter 7: What are the implications of the Blue Jays' current offensive performance?
Eric Lauer got the start. uh, today and, um, five innings, seven hits, three runs earned three strikeouts, two walks. Again, the Velo was down probably two miles an hour from what you expect it to be. Uh, he was pitching. He did have that K tape on the back of his neck. I don't know what that's all about.
Maybe we'll hear from, maybe we'll hear from, uh, from John Schneider, but look, we talked about this a little bit on Blair and Barker, Kevin, and you know, We know that at some point Trey Savage is going to be back here. Maybe not for this homestand, but pretty damn close. Jose Burrios at some point will likely be back here.
Chapter 8: What are the upcoming challenges for the Blue Jays in their next series?
You know, we imagine that at some point Jimmy Garcia is back as well. You know, to me, Patrick Corbin and Eric Lauer are kind of, I don't know if I'd say it's a, it's a fight for a job because Eric Lauer has shown he has some utility out of the Both of them aren't going to be in this team when this team is back to full speed.
And of course, we know that Eric Lauer in his last start came out after the game and criticized the use of the opener. And let's be clear, I think if everything had gone according to Hoyle in the first two games of this series, they probably would have used an opener today as well. Yeah, I think so.
I mean, especially if they had some guys available, you know, their highest leverage guys at the back end of the bullpen, you might see maybe a Braden Fisher leading off them with you. I mean, yeah, it's ā I don't know what to tell you about the, you know, sort of the competition and who they got coming. They've got three number fives pitching after the first two guys.
I don't know how else to say it other than that. They need better starters. They need better quality coming from one of those three. If one of those three is not here and Trey is savage, then when Trey is ready and can give you 80 pitches of a quality variety, I'm sure Trey will be up and taking one of those spots.
Yeah, it just seems to me like with Lowry, you know, he needs his top-end velocity. He didn't have that today. You mentioned, you know, it's down a mile and a half. He needs to hit his spots, which, you know, there's multiple spots there in the third, fourth, and fifth that he didn't do it. He needs arm side run on the heater, which he didn't have a ton of that today.
He needs arm side fade with the changeup. He didn't have a ton of that today, right? The extra gear and the velocity with the fastball adds a little, you know, different when it ā When the changeup's fading, it kind of takes the sting out of the bat. He tried to combat that with the big, giant, slow breaking ball. He battled. He clawed. He fought. You know, he gave him a chance to tie it up.
I guess that's all you can ask. I don't know about the tape. I don't ā you know, hopefully there's nothing wrong with him. You know, hopefully he just woke up this morning and his neck was hurting and they threw that tape on there. But ā
Obviously, there's enough wrong with him that his velocity's down, enough that he had to grind through it and pitch a little bit backwards, which I don't think he likes to do. He gave the old college try, for sure.
Yeah, and we've got to throw this out, too, because his defense has been a topic of conversation, but he also got some defensive help from Okamoto to get out of the third inning on that fielder's choice, because I knew if I didn't say it, you'd be all over me. I mean, he's got a little bit more rhythm at third.
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