Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the Blue Jays game against the Marlins?
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Jay's Talk Plus on Sportsnet, Sportsnet Plus, and Sportsnet 590 The Fan. Here in Toronto, show alley, Nick Ashbourne here with you. The dulcet tones of one Blake Murphy can be heard later today alongside those of Ben Schulman. Ben and Blake are down at the ballpark today. I'm sure they're down there right now.
They have the call of the rubber match of Jay's Marlins later on this afternoon. Nick, nice to see you. We're back on a Wednesday morning. I just saw you on Sunday, so it hasn't been too, too long. But how are we doing this morning, man?
Excellent. A lot of the time we spend together is in a little broadcast booth or in kind of a darker radio studio. It's rare we get to spend time in a well-lit, like the cathedral that is this studio, a place like this. It's fantastic.
It's a good point.
Chapter 2: How has Jesus Sanchez performed this season?
Like you and I are either seeing each other on weekends or like 2 a.m. in the morning, essentially, right? So yeah, it's a nice change, I would say. Excellent change of pace. So we were just together, like I said, on Sunday for the postgame show. And that was an unfortunate loss for the Blue Jays against the Pirates that saw Vladdy get injured, Cease get injured.
And then, of course, the Blue Jays did lose the series opener to the Marlins just a couple days ago. But yesterday, a much better, I would say, an 8-1 Blue Jays win in which they smashed three home runs off Sandy Alcantara. Not great for the old fantasy baseball score, but that's okay. It does include a grand slam from Jesus Sanchez. The bullpen day looked electric once again.
It's kind of funny to think that the bullpen day has become almost appointment viewing in the last little, maybe the last few turns through the rotation at least. But yeah, not a lot of fault from the Jays last night. Not when you put up eight runs. It was up to me. I would just have them score eight runs every game, but that's probably not going to happen as consistently as I'd like.
But yeah, I can't complain about a lot we saw last night.
Chapter 3: What insights does Spencer Miles provide about his rookie season?
Excellent work across the board. And you mentioned we were there together on Sunday when there was this one moment where Dylan Cease and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. come out of a ballgame at the same time in kind of a one-inning span. And it looked like the Jays' season was in jeopardy. You know, forget that ballgame. Then another disappointing one on Monday.
And so after this four-game winning streak, there was kind of an instant letdown.
This game was a bit of a bounce back, some good vibes all around, as you mentioned, the offense getting going, and not just getting going, but also performing with power, which has been such an issue for the team all season long, is getting that power production, getting that quick strike ability, and to have home runs from Clement and Pignango and Sanchez, that really added a little bit of confidence, even with Vlade on the shelf temporarily right now, that these other guys are able to do that.
Yeah, I'm guessing at some point here, because it's an early game today, which again is why Blake is down at the ballpark this morning. I'm guessing at some point in the next couple hours, we will get a starting lineup because the game will start at just an hour after we finish. And I'm sure we'll hear from John Schneider as well at some point.
So a little bit of a different edition of Jace Talk Plus for you today. But it is a good point on the offense, right? I mean, of course, anytime you score eight runs, I don't care what team you are, you're going to feel real good about that. And I think
I would imagine most times you're probably going to win that ball game unless things go catastrophically wrong for you on the pitching side or on the defense side.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of the bullpen day for the Blue Jays?
But I do think it was also a welcome change for this team on a defensive side of the ball as well.
Chapter 5: What is the current state of the American League according to Chris Rose?
I mean, again, they haven't been on either offense or defense for a good chunk of this season. They haven't been... particularly sharp. At the very least, not as sharp as they have been even last year, right? I mean, we almost joked about the idea that Ross Atkins likes to use the words run prevention so much that, you know, people almost cringe when they hear it sometimes.
But that is an identity of the Blue Jays in, I would say, in the Ross Atkins era, I would think. So... That it hasn't been there for most of the season definitely has not been great, but it's nice to see both those things just ever so slightly start to turn, Nick.
Certainly from an offensive standpoint, great, because the offense has been a problem for a huge chunk of the year, apart from some flashes here and there, but it is nice to see those things start to turn. I said this to you on the weekend, but...
You know, the idea that John Schneider, when asked about how he evaluated the first third of the season, I think the words he used was inconsistent, but trending positively. And again, it does feel like even with the losses to the Pirates and the Marlins in the last couple of games, it does feel like that is starting to become more true by the day, essentially.
There still is an overall positive trend if you go back to even the series against the Tigers. At one point, you had a 7 out of 10 stretch, and now you have a chance to win this series against the Marlins. The defense is an interesting thing to flag because that has been a given in recent years.
From kind of 2023 on, when they got Varshow on board, that has been a huge part of this team's identity, that when the ball is in play, it finds gloves. And a few things have changed that this season, right? So you have Dalton Varshow has just not looked as rangy in the outfield. He hasn't quite been himself.
It's not that he's been terrible, but he just hasn't been that true difference maker in the middle. You look at the other sides of the outfield, the corners, unless Nathan Lucas is out there or Miles Straw, which is often as a sub or facing a left-handed pitcher. You know, you've seen a lot of Pignango, a lot of Sanchez out there.
Those players don't move particularly well or not great defensive outfielders. And then Alejandro Kirk, you know, he is the most important defender on this ball club and missing him for extended period of time.
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Chapter 6: How do the Indianapolis Clowns connect with fans during the Banana Ball World Tour?
As much as Heinemann is... More than Jimenez, you think? I would say so, yeah. Okay. So as much as Heinemann is a good receiver and Valenzuela has shown off the arm at times, this is a near gold glove catcher. And again, I would describe catcher as the most important defensive position.
Chapter 7: What historical context do the Clowns bring to modern baseball?
Missing him is huge. And you can even go to the infield and say Ernie Clement being, again, near gold glove or gold glove caliber third base, moving him to second hasn't maybe been as smooth as expected. It's not like the team has become a disaster defensively, but they went from being... perhaps the best team in the league defensively, to having that not be a massive asset for them.
Yeah, I mean, what, they had the team gold glove, the Blue Jays won, I think, what, each of the first two years it existed, and then they didn't win it the following year, and everyone was kind of... kind of up in arms a little bit. And I mean, they're probably not going to win it this year, barring some monster turnaround. And I mean, it might be too late for that already.
But yeah, it is nice to see things trending more positively. And I say this knowing that, you know, you still need to see Vladdy come back. And then on top of that, hit with some power, some slug, which he had not done for much of the season.
Even though I still think he's having a fine year, you need him to be more than fine, especially in a year where you've lost so many, you know, let's call it like, you know, man games to injury when it comes to players who have been in and out of the lineup, the players you've mentioned like Kirk and so on. And then Cease does give you a bit of a question mark in the rotation.
Even if it seems like the Blue Jays feel relatively confident that Cease won't miss more than the minimum time, which is definitely a positive, you're still missing him for 15 days, essentially, which includes a start against the Baltimore Orioles the very first time you're playing them this season in Baltimore, a place that kind of scuffled over the years, right? So you kind of have...
It feels like you're trending in the right direction. And again, I mean, today's game will go a long way towards that narrative. You lose today's game, you're no longer trending in the right direction. You win today's game, you're still trending in the right direction.
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Chapter 8: What are the upcoming challenges for the Blue Jays this season?
But you look at the schedule coming up here, right? So you got four against the Orioles before your first day off after essentially 17 games in a row, which comes on Monday. But four games against the Orioles starting Thursday. In Baltimore, you continue the road trip against arguably the best team in Major League Baseball in the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta.
You take on the Orioles again here at the Rogers Center. And then before your next day off, you play the Phillies. I know the Phillies have scuffled, but you can't take the Phillies lightly, I would think. And then right after that day off, You play the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs. So it's not exactly an easy road for you to hoe between now and essentially a month from now, right?
I mean, I guess that Cubs series ends on June 21st. So there's a lot of, you know, quote-unquote high leverage games for you to kind of get through. And they're still as positive as things have gone the last, you know, two, three weeks or so. You do have some questions to answer here from a consistency standpoint, maybe, Nick.
I'll spin a little bit of a positive about that because you're right. They don't have a bunch of cupcakes on the schedule. The cupcakes that they had were, to be honest, the Marlins. So we'll see how that goes if they're able to close out that series. The Pirates are an interesting team in terms of their record and talent and where you think that team's actually going to net out.
But the Orioles are a club that's five games below .500 as we record today. And they're also a team that has been brutal from a pitching standpoint. Their rotation ranks 28th in the majors in ERA. So when you're looking at an offense that you're trying to get on track, that you're trying to build some momentum with, facing the Orioles seven times in a 10-game stretch,
could be just what the doctor ordered for that group. There's no guarantees. We've seen the Jays beat up on Paul Skeens and then fall short on the next couple of days. There have been many false starts. Even Vlad, he goes into a two-hole, hits a home run. Okay, he's fixed. It's going to be tons of dingers from here on out. That clearly didn't happen.
So it's no guarantee, but the opportunity is there for the lineup to find a bit of a rhythm that's been elusive so far this season.
Yeah, you're not wrong on the Orioles. I mean, I think you can probably say, who's the best pitcher been for the Orioles this year? Rico Garcia? I mean, probably, right? Who's the best hitter been for the Orioles this year? Leote Tavares? Like, probably. Something close to those two, I would imagine, right? I don't think that's going to go over well in Camden Yards.
So I think you're probably right. Like, don't get me wrong. It's an opportunity that's in front of you. You got to take advantage of it. I just think you, for me, I want to see a little more consistency. And again, you're not going to, I don't think anyone's mind is going to be changed based on what happens in today's ballgame.
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