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Chapter 1: What happened in the 9th inning of the Blue Jays vs Yankees game?
Pretty similar loss Tuesday to the one on Monday. The Blue Jays are down 2-0 in this four-game set to the New York Yankees as that number in the games behind column in the American League East swells and swells. Of course, in the American League, as far as the wildcard goes, the Blue Jays are not necessarily running out of time. My patience running a little thin.
JD Bunkus, who was just in here a second ago, his patience certainly running thin, and I'm sure yours is as well. The Blue Jays get a lesser start from Dylan Cease. Last night, he gives up five, has some trouble with the walk, has some trouble with the long ball for the first time. this season. And then in the ninth, the Blue Jays have an opportunity to get something going.
They have George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. due up. Stop me if you heard this one on yesterday's show. They are not able to come through. So a lot to dissect here. Later in the show, we'll have Eric Kratz on. We'll see what the national perspective on these two teams is like. We'll go all around baseball as well.
We'll also talk to Michael Clare, author of We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball and international baseball writer at MLB. But to start, we got to dissect This loss that has the Blue Jays, you know, kind of desperate today against maybe the best pitcher in the American League, just to salvage a series sweep to help us break it down. It's Joe Sittle of Sportsnet. Joe, how we doing, buddy?
What could go wrong, Blake?
Yeah. Did you get a bit of a, I know the, how they got to the ninth inning was much different yesterday than the day prior, but a bit of deja vu call in that ninth inning last night.
Yeah, well, when you have your two big boys coming up, we can't ask for anything better. And, you know, with Vlade being moved up to the two spot, there's a reason why teams put their best hitter up there. It's because he's going to come up more often, and it's going to be a lot of times in those situations. So they had Springer and Vlade there, and they just didn't get it done.
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Chapter 2: How did Michael Clair's new book relate to international baseball?
I don't think Springer and Vladdy are near what they are capable of. I think we'd all agree on that and certainly not where they were in terms of last year's levels. I don't think anyone's expecting Springer to be a 950 OPS guy this year, but they're expecting more. And I mean, we've heard all about the fractured toe and how he's good to go. And I still just don't think he's right.
I can't imagine breaking my toe and then coming back and not favoring it in some way. So no excuses, but I think we'll see a better version of George Springer as the season moves on and I think he heals up some more.
Yeah, and he hadn't quite found his groove before the toe just yet.
Chapter 3: What are the concerns regarding Dylan Cease's performance?
And, you know, he's a guy who's taken a little bit of time to ramp up and find it in the past. So, yeah, maybe that reset the timeline for that. With respect to Vlad, Joe, you've had to break down Vlad's swing and mechanics and, you know, where he's at in the box a bunch of times over the years. And last night, look, he... He hit a sack fly. He didn't hit the heck out of it. He scored a run.
I guess you could say he did a job, but in that scenario, you're probably hoping for more. It was another hit list night after he had gotten a couple over the last couple of games. I know you've done this on the broadcast, so apologies to make you repeat it, but kind of at a high level, what are you seeing with Vlad right now?
Well, I think I'm just coming to a conclusion after all of these years, Blake, and rather than breaking down the actual mechanics of his swing and the minutiae, which you've done a number of times over these last number of years, as you referred to, I think the simplistic form of it is that he's got so many moves in his swing, you know, the toe tap, the hands come down, the leg goes forward, everything.
There's a lot going on. When all of that is synced up, it's October Vlade.
Chapter 4: What insights did Erik Kratz share about the Blue Jays' current struggles?
Now, that's hard to do for six months because when everything's synced up, you can be on the fastball, you can be on the breaking balls, you're identifying pitches better, you're not chasing, and that's why he is such a special, special talent because he takes his walks, doesn't chase tons, doesn't strike out, also hits for high average and can hit for power.
All of those things, that's what makes him so special. But... How many months a year can you do it? And we're going through it again right now. It's just this is when it's not in sync. And you can see it. I think this stretch is probably easier for the average fan to see.
I mean, if there are some people at home watching that are just average baseball fans that are watching a baseball game, they'd probably watch this at bats and say, this guy's one of the best hitters in the league or in the world. This guy was an October hero, really? Because he's so off with the moves. Can you refer maybe sometimes I think we can say, you know, Tampa's pitching was so tough.
I don't doubt at all. And this is lineup wide that teams are focusing a little bit more on each hitter. And it doesn't matter if your last name is Guerrero, Springer or Clement or Jimenez or Varsha, whatever it is. I think teams are probably, they know what the Toronto blue Jays did last year and they know all about their offense. So they've probably done deep dives in everyone.
And they're spending a little bit more time on each individual on their hitters meetings before series. Are they pitching them differently? I think at times you could say that maybe for Vladdy, he's getting pitched away a little bit more. Now that doesn't mean they don't come in because we've seen them run fastballs in there and jam them on several locations.
But he's just so in between and caught. And I always say the two bad words for hitters are...
you know being late and rushing like those are just two bad things and i think that's what we're seeing a lot of and i wish i could just say start earlier and be ready earlier if it was that easy i think it happened by now i think we have some pretty good respect for the blue jays hitting coaches and what they did last year so it's to get that individual to make that adjustment and because it's vladimir guerrero jr it just still befuddles me that he hasn't figured it out a month and a half into the season
But he hasn't. And will he? I would be if I were a betting man, I'd put a lot down. He's going to figure it out and he's going to get hot. But the consistency is probably what's going to prevent him from being that MVP caliber player and just a good hitter at the top of the Blue Jays lineup.
Yeah. There's two, there were a lot of great points there, but two especially good ones are you made the point of like, what if you were a casual baseball fan? What if you're like a Yankees fan who has only seen Vlad against the Yankees over the last couple of years and saw him in the ALDS. And then you see this version for two games.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of injuries for the Blue Jays roster?
You're probably like, what the heck? Or, you know, you tuned into the playoffs and then the WBC. And now you see this. The other thing is, um, You know, he has been getting worked away a lot. They've been out of the zone against him a bunch. But you mentioned that teams have tried running in on. There was that big 3-0 swing on Friday night on a sinker that ran in at the hands.
And it was a bad swing decision. But that set an alarm bell off for me that like 3-0.
trio a pitcher was okay coming inside with a fastball you know to to get a strike and risk that kind of what's historically been like a nitro zone for Vlad if you get a kind of middle in fastball so they're definitely pitching them differently but that one kind of set off a bell that maybe it was a mistake but it was also a little bit of well they're not maybe they're pitching them away and stuff but they're not it's not quite the level of fear it's just this is working right now maybe
And again, going back to those words, when you're late and you're rushed as a hitter, if I'm the catcher and that's the scouting report, what am I going to do? I'm probably going to rush some fastballs in on them. It was a few years ago right here at Yankee Stadium. Remember the two-home run game off Garrett Cole? He cleared 96 or 97 out of there on the inside part of the plate.
That's when he's at his best. That's what he's capable of. But can you sync all that up? And again, I get back to all of the moves in his swing. You're not going to ask him to change his swing. It's what's been so successful for him for so many years.
But it's just so frustrating, I'm sure, for everyone, hitting coaches, coaches, Vlade himself, fans, everyone watching that he can't sync it up and time it up and get back right away because, boy, do they ever need him right now. And, again, they don't need the 950 OPS George Springer. They don't need the 950,000 OPS Vlade.
But if these guys can just kind of be who they're supposed to be, that would really help this lineup. And that's not even talking about the rest of the guys down the rest of the lineup.
Well, here's a Chris Black stat for you, and obviously Vlad and George Springer are guys you expect to hit this stat, but the Blue Jays are the only team in all of baseball with nobody posting an 800 OPS right now. Not a single player in the lineup. Pinango ducked below it last night. If anyone has one, it's not qualified. But Varshow kind of the high watermark at 784.
And obviously having a good week or so here for Varshow. But this does, obviously, we're going to focus on Vlad. We're going to focus on Springer. Those are the top two guys in the order. Two games in a row, they came up in the ninth in big spots. But there is, you know, underneath those two guys, there's kind of a team-wide gap.
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Chapter 6: How are the Blue Jays managing their line-up with key players injured?
So when you look up and down the lineup, you know, is there a common thread like that, that Again, and again, it's the same hitting coaching staff as last year, so nothing's too, too different. But is there, you know, any sort of common thread you see in the poor at-bats that the team's having kind of one through nine?
Well, first of all, I usually like your Chris Black stats, Blake, but I wish you didn't present that one to me this morning. Yeah, now I've got to delve into the numbers a little more before tonight's game and revisit that one. Yeah, it is up and down, but when your big boys aren't doing it, you need all of the complementary pieces to really be contributing.
But again, we're not necessarily seeing it. Dalton Varsha's getting his hits. You could say he's swinging the bat really well lately, but where's that bump? Remember, I mean, the power that he provided yesterday Of course, last year was a smaller sample because of his injury. But, man, he had some serious thunder in his bat.
And going into this year, I'm one that says, hey, whatever his average is, whatever, doesn't matter to me. But if he can hit his 25 to 30 and play that gold glove defense in center field, what a great player. That's where his value lies. Well, we're not seeing it. We saw his swing change a little bit. And you can say it's working, and it is. And that's great. He had some big hits again last night.
But, man, I missed the thunder, especially with that right field portion here at Yankee Stadium.
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Chapter 7: What are the expectations for the Blue Jays as the trade deadline approaches?
Up and down the lineup, again, when I talk about other teams and game planning for hitters, well, yeah, I'm sure they're spending, you know, Andres Jimenez. He's not a big crusher. But, I mean, he's had his moments. He's had some big hits with runners in scoring positions, some two-strike hits. So I think the feeling is like, wow, he's really swinging the bat well. But in actuality,
not necessarily the numbers are kind of being Jimenez like, but I mean, they're probably still spending more time on a guy like that. How does he beat us? This is what we're going to do. And I'm just saying probably teams are attacking hitters weaknesses a little bit more effectively. And for Jimenez, it seems to be like up and out over the plate there.
Spend more time on guys like that but more so to it feels maybe this is just my bias watching but because maybe the hitters are making it feel that way too.
It feels like pitchers are executing their pitches and I say in it during the race and the two race series because I have so much respect for their pitching but they're really executing pitches like when Rasmussen was running the sinker in and all right. He was running it in there. When he was firing that cutter slider thing, he's got away. He was right off the edge of the outside.
And it just seemed like guys were all 102 all the time. That's what it feels like when you're not hitting. But I would say that hitters are going to have to figure something out here because if they're attacking your weakness, Farshow did it, I think, early in the season. They were pounding him in, up and in.
And I think it finally got to a point where if you don't hit that pinch, they're going to just keep doing it. Well, he started clearing a couple out of there. And when you do that, you're going to force them to another area. And there's that cat and mouse game we talk about all of the time.
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Chapter 8: What strategies can the Blue Jays employ to improve their performance?
Bottom line is most hitters in your lineup, your big boys at the top, can handle more things. They can handle, they can cover more pitches from velocity to spin to the off speed, in, out, up, down. As you get down the lineup, that's what separates the better hitters from the average hitters and then maybe your bottom of the order type hitters. They just can't handle as much.
So when pitchers attack their weaknesses and execute, they're really in trouble.
Yeah, it's a great point. It's a tough one.
I was one of those.
Yeah. Oh, by the way, with the Rasmussen thing, get ready for more of that because Schlittler is like, what if Rasmussen threw four miles an hour harder, six miles an hour harder? It's the same three fastballs and three different movement patterns and three different quadrants, but it's like 97. So best of luck.
The weekend will be easy, though, right?
Surely, surely there's no Paul Skeens on the docket or anything like that. Joe, two smaller ones around Varshow. So Varshow comes up with a big hit in the ninth. He gets a single that... kind of sneaks through or it's a little bit of a weirdly placed one. The first question I have for you is, and look, Ernie Clement comes into that game. He's the almost strep throat.
He's not a thousand percent looking back at the camera where we can see kind of everything, the high cam of the footage look like maybe there was an opportunity for Ernie to also have tagged on Vlad sack fly, in which case maybe he scores on Varsha's infield single. Did you get a chance to go back and take a look at that? Or did you get a good look at it live?
I got an okay look at it live because you're acting in the moment. And as you know, doing things live, it's very different than going back after and taking a look. And when I did go back after, could he have advanced?
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