Blue Jays Talk
JTP: Blue Jays' Controversial Series Win & Phillies Check-In + John Axford
08 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, what's up? Hope you had a good weekend. It's Jay's Talk Plus. Blake Murphy with you. Jay's take two of three against the Baltimore Orioles. So make it four of seven over the last week and a half against an Orioles team that came in playing pretty good baseball. They'd won nine of 13. coming into this series, and that included the four-game split with the Blue Jays.
So this is the first time they've lost the series in quite some time. Spoke to Chris Bassett on Saturday about some of the things that have been going well and turning the corner for the Orioles. None of the games are what you'd describe as pretty or without drama in the case of Sunday's game, but the Jays take two or three. This is kind of where they're at.
You just got to keep chipping away series after series. They lost 13-3.
Chapter 2: What were the highlights of the Blue Jays' series win over the Orioles?
On Friday, if you missed Tyler Heinemann pitching from the first week of the season when he threw twice, you got to see that for one pitch at the end of that game. Saturday rolls around 6-4 win where they got up pretty early. Jeff Hoffman, shaky moment in the sixth inning, not even the eighth or ninth. But they hang on to win 6-4.
And then yesterday, a bit of a curious play in the infield helps the Blue Jays put a rally together and win 6-4. Although you could point to the Blue Jays defense and say that, yeah, if you don't think that should have been a five-run Jays inning, probably shouldn't have been a four-run Orioles inning anyway. This is why you play out the whole game. They'll now start a three-game set.
Here at Rogers Center against the Phillies, 7-0-7 all three nights, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Christopher Sanchez, fresh off a 50-inning scoreless streak, will start tonight. So things don't get any easier for the Blue Jays. The Yankees are here on the weekend as well. Later in the show, we're going to talk to Todd Zielecki of Phillies.com. He also wrote... a biography of Roy Halladay.
It is Roy Halladay Jersey giveaway tonight.
Chapter 3: What controversy surrounded Gunnar Henderson's tag attempt?
So we'll talk a little holiday. We'll talk a little Phillies. Levi Weaver will join us later as well. But right now, next to me for the first hour is our pal John Axford, 11-year Major League Baseball veteran. How are we doing, John? Doing well.
Had a good weekend just north of here in Markham with my son's baseball team. Won a tournament, so nothing like winning baseball and talking baseball.
This is very dumb, but when I was younger, I grew up in Cambridge, so you drive in on the 401.
to uh toronto and uh sean markham and dustin mcgowan were on the team and that so the highway exit for markham road and mcgowan uh and it was like i don't know if this broke containment but we would refer to sean markham as north of steals okay um yeah anyway very very dumb so you're you're it was your son's birthday yesterday and you guys had a pretty damn good tournament yeah yeah jb turned uh 15 happy birthday um
He started the championship game, went two for two with a grand slam. The team won 10-2 in the championship game. It was a great tournament all around. Other than this, I've got to say I'm a little self-conscious with this weird tan line thing I've got probably going on. So if you're watching me on screen, it's not your... It's not your TV.
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Chapter 4: How is Brandon Valenzuela impacting the Blue Jays' lineup?
It's my head. I have definitely a hat tan. It goes from neck to face to head a little bit differently, I think, on that tan.
Chapter 5: What is the current status of the Phillies and Cristopher Sánchez?
I'm not making it out on the screen, but there's a little glare off the top. That's all right.
Chapter 6: What struggles has Jeff Hoffman faced recently?
There's nothing we can do about that. That's just the fuzzy hair. You'd have to go to Turkey instead of Markham to resolve that one. Okay, so great weekend for you guys. An okay weekend for the Jays. I mean, it's a good weekend anytime you take two or three against a team that's right behind you in the standings.
The team itself was talking a little bit after the game that kind of felt more of a 2025 Jays-style couple of wins there, you know, piecing together rallies, taking advantage of mistakes that the other team makes. What did you make of kind of the, let's put Friday aside because it was a 13-3 gong show that, you know. A catcher pitches in.
Chapter 7: Can Vladimir Guerrero Jr. turn his performance around?
Yeah, and like nobody – it's Monday morning. I don't think anyone cares. It's always a weird thing if the Friday game was interesting because there's been a couple games since then. But the Jays grind out a couple. Did it feel a little bit more 2025-ish? I think so.
I'm curious also if the Blue Jays themselves are sick of hearing about this 2025 identity thing and they're trying to find their own way and – I know the clubhouse has been moving around. We talked about that before. So what are they feeling? What are they trying to do? And if they need to just grind out games to feel like it's 2025 and win games, sure, that's great.
But I'm also just curious if they're like, oh, God, here we go again. Another 2025 comment.
And it's interesting because we talked to Chris Bassett about this on Saturday, and it was through the lens of like... You left. Do you see any commonalities with this team? What would it have been like? And he was very firm that until game one of the regular season, your culture and identity are not being established yet. Unless there's too much turnover year to year, it's a long offseason.
Even spring training doesn't really matter all that much because people aren't locked in the same way. So he was saying that like... The Orioles are only just figuring out. And a lot of that Orioles core has been together all the way up through the minors. But his point was like, it's a reset every year unless you have like perfect turnover.
And Ernie Clement had a quote that I'll read to you here. After yesterday's game, I said, we have a chance to be a great team. It's about nailing things down. And once we firmly figure out our team identity, I think the team has a chance to be better than last year.
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Chapter 8: What insights does Todd Zolecki provide about the Phillies' recent performance?
So Ernie, who was a key piece of that 2025 identity, is not talking as if they need to find that version again.
It's they need to figure out who they are. Their own version. Yeah, I think that is, I mean, definitely well said by Bassett. Every year you're going in, you're trying to figure things out with the team in spring training. You have to wait until the season's going to really establish what that identity is, who you're going to be as a team.
And with the turnover that's happened in the clubhouse, the way guys have been moving around, some of them being the veteran guys that they did bring back, some of them being new veteran guys, guys that you're relying on. Yeah, that identity is yet to be established, especially when you're hovering around 500, you're trying to pick up the pieces, do what you can most of the time.
Yeah, I mean, it's... It is what it is right now. I think they're just going to have to fight through whatever it is they need to fight through until they get the guys back and find that identity.
So as far as identity goes, you felt that last year they obviously had a very – a very specific style of playing. We've heard cam Schlitler talk about it. You know, the bad whipping teams, the death, there were a lot of like big, big games and big rallies that involved like a 12 pitch at bat, a 13 pitch at bat.
Me as a more like, you know, cold analysis guy, the like vibes and identity stuff is not my sweet spot. It's not where I really thrive. So, you know, sometimes I think this is maybe more of a, We as media and fans talk about it a little bit more than they do in the room.
But is there a benefit to, let's put aside any sort of like cultural identity, but a benefit to like this is how we play and this is what a Blue Jays or Brewers win looks like when you have that kind of understanding of what your wins are going to look like? Is there a value to that?
I think so. I think there's been organizations in the past, right, where they're, you know, this is the Cardinals way is a thing you always heard. The Blue Jays way, if this is the identity that they're trying to push across from the coaching side, from the organizational side, that becomes a big part of what they're looking for for players.
That's a big part of what they're looking for for clubhouse, you know, camaraderie and just... clubhouse personalities that you kind of need in there to help fortify what it is you're trying to establish.
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