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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
All right, Kevin Barker.
Chapter 2: What were the highlights of the Blue Jays' loss to the Phillies?
Well, the Blue Jays lose 7-4 to the Philadelphia Phillies tonight. A couple, I think, of easy-to-say dominant talking points out of this particular game. The numbers, as always, 416-870-0590, star 590, 1-888-666-0590. The text line is always open. It is 590-590. Kevin Barker, I've got two doors for you to walk through. Door number one, Max Scherzer. What's next for him? Door number two...
Vladdy hitting into that double play in the ninth inning and Vladdy in general. Only thing people are talking about tonight. What do you want to start with?
Door number one.
All right. Max Scherzer gets his 33,500th career strikeout. Kyle Schwarber gives up a first-inning home run. Kevin, five runs allowed, three and a third innings. Velocity dropped noticeably at the end of the game. Kevin, the Jays are 1-5 in Scherzer starts this year. And tick-tock is, I guess, the way I would put it. We don't know when Shane Bieber is going to be back.
But right now, I got to think, frankly, Spencer Miles plus opener is probably a better option than Max Scherzer.
Yeah, it's fair. Maybe you could throw Adam Macko in there too, right? Or Adam Macko, yes. Yeah, now whether they'd want them to start or not, who knows? I know Petey is very creative about how he's matching up and who he's starting and who's following and who's the bulk guy and all those kind of things. They're very comfortable about going about that. But you can't abuse that.
What are they, fifth in the innings pitch out of their pen, Jeff? What, four of the six starts that Max Scherzer's had this year? He didn't go four innings. You just can't do it anymore. Like, their team offensively is not good enough.
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Chapter 3: What does Max Scherzer's milestone strikeout mean for his future?
They play sloppy baseball a lot. They need their starter to give them a bunch. And when the dudes are not giving him a bunch, you've got to move on. And I think it's close. Maybe you give him one more. You know, it looked to me like he was laboring. I know he called Petey out one time to basically say, give me a break.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
It's just like those are just things.
That's not a good sign. I mean, I'm sorry that's not a good sign.
It's not. So you just need to figure out things that just are not working for you right now. The problem with Max is he's killing everybody else. And when you start killing everybody else, you've got to make decisions. You've got to fix the problem. And I would think that problem has got to be fixed sooner or later. He's the first ballot Hall of Famer. There's no question. But right now he's not.
And you have better options. Yeah, and, you know, the last thing, and I don't think Max Scherzer wants this to just turn into a victory lap either. I have too much respect for him. But, boy, you know.
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Chapter 4: Why is the Blue Jays' offense struggling against certain pitchers?
Telling your pitching coach to come out because he needed a blow and then giving up a home run, like two pitches later or a pitch later, whatever it was. Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, the Jays, if the Jays are going to go where they want to go, obviously they need more out of Vladdy. But, I mean, they just can't have passengers when it comes to the pitching staff. And right now,
Max Scherzer, God love him, the passenger in this team. And it's dragging down everybody. Thank God they got an off day tomorrow with the Yankees coming in because it's dragging down the pitching staff.
Yeah, he's got below average secondary stuff. The slider's not very good. The changeup arm speed's not very good. You know, most of the time that thing's got lane. It's got a little sank to it. That doesn't. When can you throw his curveball? Like, if you need to get an out against a tough lefty, what's he throwing, Jeff? I don't know, Cap. What's the answer to that?
I don't think anybody else has got the answer to that either. And God love him. He's the first ballot Hall of Famer. It's they're in wind mode now. It's not a process anymore. You can throw that word out the window. Like now you're affecting everybody else. And when you do that, maybe that guy's not on the team.
Maybe this is where the GM needs to do some heavy lifting and start trying to make a major move to solidify kind of that spot, right? Where they're giving you more innings to where you don't have to give your, your bullpen the fifth most innings pitched in the sport.
Yeah, but Kevin, you want Ross to get a middle-of-the-order hitter. You want Ross to get a back-of-the-bullpen arm.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Vladdy's performance in the ninth inning?
You want Ross to get something else for the rotation. I mean, you just can't do all that. You can't. You're not going to do all that.
Well, he needs to do something. He needs to do something. Why? Because they're not a very good team right now. That's why.
We just finished this afternoon talking about how decent the pitching was. I don't think pitching is the issue here. They've got to score some runs. The issue with the pitching right now is that they're trying to figure out a way to tell Max Scherzer that he needs to stop pitching. I mean, that's basically where we are. I mean, I'm not going to candy coat it any other way.
I mean, hey, I'm a Hall of Fame voter. He's got my ballot. He's down there as the first ballot Hall of Famer. There's no doubt about that. He's got nothing left to prove to anybody. He has certainly not to himself. And, you know, that to me is, that's, they'll take care of their pitching.
But in order to take care of their pitching, they need to come, they need to have basically a come to Jesus moment with Max Scherzer. And that has to be pronto. That has to be pronto. There's no other way to put it.
Yeah, and they don't hit homers either, which, you know, just doesn't help the other problems that they're having.
No, today no extra base hits today.
That's tough.
Very bizarre base running.
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Chapter 6: How are the Blue Jays handling the return of rookies in their lineup?
Run with your head down. When you're the trail runner, you always got to run with your head up. Where are you going? I love that dude, but that's a mistake.
Yeah, it was a mistake. And, you know, they did have a run already in at that point in time. And then, of course, we talked about the ninth inning. Vladdy hits into the double play after George leads off with a single against Johan Duran. And, I mean, Vladdy – First inning, nice bit of hitting, gets a single, draws a couple of walks after that, and then I mentioned the double play.
hitting in the number two hole tonight with George Springer leading off. The Jays running out four rookies in the middle of the order to start the game. Okamoto, you can call him a rookie, but say four guys in their first year in the majors, Okamoto, Pinango, Valenzuela, McAdoo, and you're right. I mean, they have Ernie Clement hitting third. Ernie Clement can't hit third.
Ernie Clement's having a fine year. Ernie Clement's not a top third of the order hitter. He's just not. So I'm with you. I mean, they do have to do something in this lineup. And getting Alejandro Kirk back on Friday will certainly help. That's a start.
But it cannot be – yeah, the pitching, they got – I think they can figure out their pitching on their own with what they have in the organization. I don't think there's anything in the organization that's going to help them offensively, frankly, even if Barger comes back, whenever that is.
God, we were talking about with Barger and Kirk in the lineup, we still thought they needed another hitter. At the start of the year. So that's kind of where we are. 4-1-6, 8-7-0, 0-5-90, star 5-91, triple 8, triple 6, 0-5-90, 7-4. The Blue Jays have lost the Phillies. The Phillies taking two of three games in this series.
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Chapter 7: What strategies should the Blue Jays consider for their upcoming homestand?
A crowd of 35,733. Second time in three nights the Jays have been below 40,000. It is the second smallest crowd of the year. I wouldn't read anything into that, but... There you go. It is the second-smallest crowd of the year. Russ in New Jersey, you're on Blue Jays Talk.
Good evening, guys. I'm trying to watch the basketball game, which is a blowout, but a couple things. Number one, Barker brought up the fifth-most pitch innings. And remember something else. You know, they pitched, they went deep into the playoffs last year, and a lot of guys have a lot of innings on those arms.
And, you know, those innings in the playoffs are not, you see a guy pitch one inning with the concentration that you need and all that goes into every pitch in the playoffs. That takes a toll on a guy, and you hear guys years later, I just pitched too much. So, like you guys said, the starters have to go deeper into games. There's nothing to talk about.
Now, I'll tell you a quick story, and I'll say it before the Yankees series. I was at the Baltimore game two weeks ago, the Thursday night game. I called you, the 2-1, the basket game, where I'm going to walk to forcing the winning run. And a lady sits down to me, she's about 55, and she's a Blue Jay fan sitting right in front of me. And she goes, you know, starts talking to me.
I say, my name is Russ. You can't be Russ from Jersey. I said, yes, I am. And she starts talking. She said, you made one phone call last year that I'll never forget. It was after they were 19 and 10, and they were going to play the Yankees four games. And all these people in Toronto call up, well, maybe we'll split the series. You know, we got to at least split the series.
And I'm going, you know what?
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Chapter 8: How does the current pitching situation affect the Blue Jays' playoff aspirations?
Why can't we be a winning team and talk about maybe sweeping the Yankees? Now, I know it's a big thing to sweep a team, and it's very hard, and no one expected it last year. But you know what? They don't have Aaron Judge in the lineup. You're playing the Yankees. And last year, you didn't have Bo Bichette for those four games. You're playing the Yankees in Boston six games. Go 5-1.
Get this back to .500. And let's make a season of it. But the offense that you guys said has to start getting extra base hits. And Barger, though, is a left-handed. They're going to have a hard time against lefties because they have all these. Even when Barger comes back, he's another left-handed hitter, you know, in the lineup. So, like I said, go five and one in the next six, and I'll be happy.
Russ, I got to ask you, because I know you're a longtime baseball fan. I know you're a collector. You're a big fan. What do you do with Max Scherzer? Be honest with me.
I listen, you know, everybody we've watched this. You remember at the end of Steve Carlton's career, at the end of Tom Seaver's career. And, you know, guys try to hang on for as long as they can. You got to go. You got to go to him and say, listen, you're not helping this team. You're just not helping this team. And I can't pitch you. Now, is Bieber going to be – I just look quickly.
I didn't watch the game, obviously, but he didn't pitch well in that game. But, yes, you can't – you know, we're trying to win a – you know, trying to go to the playoffs and deep into the playoffs. We can't have – we can't have – You know, you not hitting, you know, not pitching well. So, you know, I think you guys are right.
I don't even think one more start, but you want to give him one more start. But you got to go to him, and I think he'll understand. Like you said, he's accomplished everything. He knows he's not pitching well. He knows he's not giving them a chance to win. So I don't think the conversation is that hard for the Blue Jays to have with him.
Russ, I appreciate the call. And, you know, I think if – really good points. And, Kevin, you know, I've got to think, you know, and I'm not privy to this, but I've got to think that when Max and the Jays got together in spring training and Max decided he was going to come back, they have to have said okay.
I mean, I would think they would have had to say this, knowing the way this front office works. And I mean this as a positive. I'm not saying this is negative. They must have said okay. But what is the process – If it doesn't work out, what's the process? How do you want us to handle this if it doesn't work out and your career is over? Surely to God they've had that discussion.
They had that discussion before they brought him in. I mean, you would think they would.
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