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Chapter 1: What was the Blue Jays' comeback strategy against the Cubs?
Well, Caitlin, I gotta say after Colin Ray came out of this ball game only for the Jays to essentially immediately hit into a double play. Hand up, I will admit that I thought Jay Stock was going to be a quick one tonight, given that we had gotten Bob Kiss for the Jays for most of the day. But my goodness, a monster comeback. Down 5-0, they go up 8-5.
Cubs do get a run back, but an 8-6 Blue Jays win to even this series at one game apiece. Jays now 38-39 on the season. That's some tremendous stuff down by a lot late in this ballgame.
Yeah, you and I were talking before we came on and it seemed like we were going to get kind of a dud of a game, honestly. Like it felt like this was going to be forgettable. You know, the Blue Jays didn't have a hit for the first few innings. And then all of a sudden the game just changed in that eighth inning.
And it actually ended up being one of the more thrilling games of the year, honestly, like it. I know Chris was talking on the broadcast and maybe it is one of those games that turns the season around as they continue to kind of hover around the 500 mark.
I certainly hope it is one of those turning points because I think we've said a couple of times, hey, this is the turning point. No, now this is the turning point.
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Chapter 2: How did Louis Varland perform in his six-out save?
And it does feel like that struggle to permanently break through the above 500 barrier has been one that they've Kind of gotten to either gotten right to 500 or just below 500, which they are right now. And then fallen short after that. So good response because after getting annihilated 16 to 2 in the series opener, you know, it's easy for these things to snowball sometimes.
And maybe it looked like it could have in this game. And it certainly didn't. That's Caitlin McGrath. I'm show Ali. You're listening to blue Jays talk here on the sports net radio network. We're also streaming on sports net.ca and on the sports net app. You can give us a call 4 1 6 8 7 0 0 5 91 triple a triple 6 0 5 90 star 5 90 on your cell. You can text us as well. 5 95 90 name and location.
The people's text line always open standard messaging and data rates may apply before we get to the, the position player part of this, the, the comeback and all the big hits. Okamoto, Vladdy, Kirk, Varshow, all of that we'll get to.
Chapter 3: What role did timely hitting play in the Blue Jays' victory?
I have to say I do love watching Louis Varland on the mound. I mean, this guy comes in for a six-out save, two innings of work today. Base is loaded and nobody out. Only one guy scores. Guy gets on in the ninth and no problem for Louis. He looks completely unbothered as if, you know, it's just he's throwing Dunedin or something like that.
He just looks so completely unbothered by anything that happens, good or bad, really, right?
Yeah.
I got to say, it's one of the pleasures of this team because he has been one of the most dominant relievers, dominant closers in all of baseball for much of the year.
Yeah, and he deserves a ton of credit for being able to step into a tricky situation. I mean, overall in the season, stepping into a tricky situation where Hoffman's struggling, Hoffman kind of gets removed from that closer role. and then you have to step in. That's not easy to do.
We all know the ninth inning is the toughest inning to get through, and as you say, Varlin is a guy that doesn't look like he's phased by anything, so he's kind of the perfect prototype pitcher to go and be able to step into the closer role immediately and just take off running, but...
I think he deserves a lot of credit for being able to do that and to kind of just be that guy, that reliable guy that doesn't get phased by whatever situation gets put in, including getting put into a situation where you got to get six outs and the bases are loaded.
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Chapter 4: How did John Schneider's pinch-hitting decisions impact the game?
And for him to get out of that situation in the eighth inning with just giving up one run, I think that was best case scenario. I mean, obviously, obviously like getting no runs would be best case scenario, but In that situation, we have no out. Bases are loaded. You take the ground out. And that was a close play at second as we saw there. But he came in and just dominated, honestly, the Cubs.
I saw as the ninth inning was happening, he just runs out of the dugout. So he knew he was getting that second inning. And He handled it. Great win for the Blue Jays overall. And shout out to the crowd at Wrigley. There was a lot of Blue Jays fans there, which was kind of fun to see.
Yeah, you could audibly hear on the broadcast, at least here in the studio, we could hear it.
Chapter 5: What contributions did the outfield defense make during the game?
I wonder if you could hear it. You could probably have heard it on the telecast as well, but you could audibly hear Let's Go Blue Jays at Wrigley Field, a place that has its own set of diehard fans and Cubs fans, right? Yeah, apparently. It's pretty impressive for the crowd to travel the way it did.
I think we've heard a lot that the players feed off of that, but no question that's always going to be a factor when you can get that sort of vibe on the road. Adam in Port Elmsley on the text line. Adam texting in to say, great battle back today, but how bad would this season be looking if we didn't have Louis? And then there's another one from Nathan in Ottawa.
Is Louis Varlin the most valuable player on the roster? So few pitchers can pitch so much and so effectively. I mean, if he's not the most valuable player, I mean, he's certainly one of the most important players, right? I mean, when it comes to... how they trust him, right?
And it is funny because they, you know, we've kind of, we've kind of morphed away from, and I think that, I still think they'd be willing to use him this way, but we've kind of morphed away from him being the fireman guy to just, he comes in late game situations and just locks down games no matter what at this point.
Yeah.
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Chapter 6: How did Jeff Hoffman manage pressure in the seventh inning?
Um, as we saw today with the two-inning save. But, yeah, he's been tremendous. I mean, I don't think there have been that many times in franchise history where the best closer in baseball pitched for the Blue Jays. Like, obviously, like, in the days of Tom Henke and Dwayne Ward, those guys were disgusting, as we know. But outside of that, right?
I mean, you know, in the last, what, 20... Like, if you just looked back to the 2000s or maybe even just before that, you know, in the last 26 to 30 years... How many times has it been true that the best pitcher in baseball has been a Blue Jay? Pardon me, the best reliever in baseball has been a Blue Jay. Probably not that many times.
Yeah, I know. You have to think back. I mean, obviously the Blue Jays have had some good closers in recent memory. Jordan Romano, while he was here, he had a few great years for the Blue Jays, but in terms of looking big picture broadly across the American League and across the majors, yeah, I mean... B.J.
Ryan was real good for the Jays that one year in the early 2000s, but...
Chapter 7: What potential changes are expected when Shane Bieber returns?
I mean, I won't pretend to remember the best closers for other teams in like 2005, 2006. But yeah, he's been real good.
Well, it's interesting you bring it up because I was on Blake's show earlier this week and he actually asked me about Varlin and within the context of like... what would a reliever have to do in this day and age to win the Cy Young? And we kind of had a conversation about that.
And I said, well, actually, I was in the room a couple years ago at the BBWA meetings where some members were pushing for a reliever of the year award for the exact reason that relievers, it's almost impossible for them to get Cy Young votes, even when they're having incredible seasons like Louis Varlin is right now and Mason Miller, another guy, having a really great season. And so...
I kind of made the point where like, I don't even know what you would have to do to, to win a Cy Young as a reliever at this point. I think you'd have to like have an ERA close to zero and, and have 40 plus saves or something like that.
Just in this day and age and how, how valuable starters are, but lucky for Louis Varlin this year is the first year that we'll have a reliever of the year award voted on by BWA member. So I think he is going to be a leading candidate for that American league award.
Cause it's, it's going to be like all the other words, ALNL.
Yes.
Right. Yeah.
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Chapter 8: How do the Blue Jays' recent performances affect their playoff chances?
Okay. All right. Well then, yeah. I mean, I would struggle to think of an AL reliever right now who has been more effective because Mason Miller's in the national league. So I, I struggled to think of something.
I think he is. I took a quick look at like, you know, Kate Smith.
I think it was up there for a little while. I don't know if he still is, but I still don't think he's that close.
Yeah. No, I think hands down, Louis Varlin is the most valuable reliever right now in the American League. And I would say at this point in the season, he gets my vote for Blue Jays MVP. Because if I'm thinking of who's been consistent from the start of the season to right now, there's not a lot of guys. I mean, there's been a lot of injuries. There's been a lot of inconsistency.
Even Kevin Gosman, obviously he had a clunker yesterday. I don't hold that against him. But I'm just saying, I think from start to finish, or not finish, but start to this point, where we're at in the season, I think Louis Varlin's been the most consistent player on the team.
416-870-0590, 1-888-666-0590, star 590 on your cell, 590-590, name and location. You can shoot us texts that way, or you can certainly give us a call as well. Let's go to the phone lines, though. Let's go to Eddie in Fort Erie to lead us off. Eddie, what's up?
Not much, Sean. Caleb, how are you guys doing today? Good. How are you? I'm doing well. And you know what? I am enjoying myself right now because not only am I watching the Blue Jays, but I'm watching the World Cup. And next to the NFL, I get excited for that. This is the best time of the year to enjoy both of those sports.
Do you support a specific team in the World Cup, Eddie? Other than Canada, maybe?
Well, I'm also rooting for Uruguay because my mom's from Uruguay, so I'm rooting for them. And I always say, if one wins, we all win. There you go. Yeah. So... I wanted to mention about the game today because I was obviously keeping an eye on that and the match right now between Germany and Ivory Coast. But I really have to give credit for Estrada for keeping the Blue Jays in it.
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