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Chapter 1: What were the key moments in the Blue Jays' 8-3 loss to the Yankees?
Well, Nick, I guess we could just re-rack Jace talk from yesterday because I think I'm going to say a lot of the same things. Another extremely disappointing result for the Jace today in a game where it felt like it was right there for so much of this ballgame. Yesterday, two-run bomb. In the top of the ninth, that loses it. Today, another two-run bomb.
In the top of the ninth, that is the backbreaker, and then more runs being piled on on top of that. Jays lose 8-3 in the series finale. They lose the series as well. They wrap up a nine-game homestand in which they go 4-5, and after today, they are now 34-38 on the season as a result, none of which are very pretty numbers to say out loud.
Not a promising afternoon at the office and quite a grind too, right?
Chapter 2: Are injuries a valid excuse for the Blue Jays' inconsistent run production?
This game went well over three hours and sometimes that is rewarded with the result you want at the end and instead it's just a bit of a draining one for the Blue Jays.
and this loss touches on multiple themes that have gone through the season and one of them was as you alluded to not taking advantage of opportunities and in the four first four innings of the game they had will warren on the ropes there was no question about the first 21 hitters who came to the plate an odd number but that's the number of guys who came on in the in the first four innings 11 of them reached
so more than half of your guys are not creating outs and they were still only able to get a couple of runs out of that situation they just didn't have the home run they didn't have the timely hit they weren't doing anything on the bases to create chaos they weren't getting productive outs that were moving runners around or bringing them home it was sort of station station to station followed by outs at untimely moments and then the second theme is
The fact that the guys at the back end of this bullpen have been worked so hard, partly because the offense has not come through, they've been in so many close games, that in this game we knew going in that chances are Varland and Rodgers were not going to be available. I'm not saying the absence of those two players is...
exactly what happens we know that Varland was in yesterday and he gave up the big home run those guys are fallible as well but they didn't have the players that they wanted to count on in those spots they had to kind of go down the the rungs of trust there and they found themselves in a spot where they're giving up big home runs at the end of the game so there's not
that much positive to take away from this one for the Blue Jays unless your name is maybe Davis Schneider or Spencer Miles or even Jeff Hoffman. But outside of those guys, not a lot of positives here.
That is Nick Ashbourne. I'm Sho Ali.
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Chapter 3: How has the lack of offense affected the Blue Jays' bullpen performance?
You're listening to Blue Jays Talk here on the Sportsnet Radio Network. We're also streaming on Sportsnet.ca and on the Sportsnet app. You can give us a call, 416-870-0590, 1-888-666-0590, star 590 on your cell. You can text us as well, 590-590, name and location. The People's Text Line is always open. Standard messaging and data rates may apply. So four games under .500 now.
And after a win on Friday, it does very much feel like You know, one step forward, two steps back at this point, which I think hits doubly hard, Nick, when you're losing ground on a team in the American League East. Now, again, maybe even prior to this series, maybe there was little chance of catching the Yankees and or the Rays.
Chapter 4: What roster holes need to be filled for the Blue Jays moving forward?
But it's just you look at all the things that are afflict the Blue Jays right now. The power remains a problem. They just often can't rally, right? We're seeing flashes of passing the baton, but certainly not with the regularity with which they did it in 2025. And I mean, you mentioned the early work off of Will Warren. Eight hits, 98 pitches from Will Warren in just four innings of work.
I mean, they had plenty of opportunity. They did get two runs off of him, one of which I would say was aided by some poor defensive work by the Yankees. So, you know, you get like half credit for that run for me. But they just couldn't get anything going against the Yankees' bullpen, a much maligned Yankees' bullpen for the rest of the game, right?
Chapter 5: How crucial is the upcoming road trip for the Blue Jays' season?
I mean, only one base runner total.
after Will Warren left this game until of course Bednar came in in a blowout at that point the game you're down by five runs Bednar probably already warmed up comes in the game gives up two hits and then it gets shut down but I just I don't know there's a text here that I wanted to read to you where is it this one is here it is Keenan from Winnipeg I'm not sure I can think about this team as a potential threat anymore until I see another legit top half of the lineup kind of
kind of bat in it, a better offense would solve so many issues that roll over into the pitching. I mean, I agree with the whole text, but especially that second bit of how the offense would just help the issues that cascade down the list of things we're talking about here.
The pitching staff is just working with an extremely slim margin for error at the moment. And so even if it's giving up five runs in the ninth inning, most times that's going to lose you a ball game.
But even giving up a home run somewhere along the way, the fact that Varland has had to be essentially perfect to close out the games that he has and deliver them a huge percentage of their wins to this point. The lineup does look thin.
It looks thin on a day as well where you're missing Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who did seem like he might have been coming into the game late if that rally had kept going, which is a good sign that whatever the back issue with him is isn't significant. But he also hasn't performed up to the level this season of being that impact bat, even if there's reason to believe he will at a certain point.
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Chapter 6: What were the implications of John Schneider's ejection during the game?
know we haven't seen really the complete lineup you know addison barger is someone who you think of an impact bat he could theoretically be that guy we haven't seen that much of alejandro kirk things are never as bad as they feel at moments like this and they're probably never as good as they feel when you're in the middle of a big winning streak right so i'd be careful with the statements of like this team is this or is not this based on this series which is undoubtedly a poor series for the ball club but
The problem with getting healthy, we talked about in the pregame show, is that you get guys coming back, but there's no guarantee everyone else is going to stay healthy at the same time. So as much as we can say, oh, we'll just wait till the lineup pieces all fit together the way the team imagined them, that could never happen over the course of the rest of the season.
And so I understand why people are pretty disappointed with this offense and not feeling particularly hopeful.
I think, too, the other part of it for me is, and you're right, I mean, you just never know, right?
It's just, I'm not saying, because look, having a fully healthy lineup would undoubtedly make a difference, but I guess the further we get into the season, and I mean, gosh, we're rapidly approaching the halfway mark, like in terms of games played or the All-Star break, either way, either of those two, you know,
terms I suppose usually delineate the halfway point of the season we're getting there we're not quite there yet but we're getting there and I just feel like the closer we get to that part of the season the further away we get from the beginning of the season at the very least I for me the injury stuff becomes less of an excuse I mean I think it undoubtedly I'm not saying you're using it as an excuse it's just I you know it's it's undoubtedly a mark on this season
But the further we get towards the end of the year and towards the All-Star break, the trade deadline, what have you, it feels like you kind of just need more from the guys who are, in fact, in the lineup on a regular basis.
Yeah, I think I would frame the injury discussion more as reason to have belief that this team can be better than it's been thus far. Just the idea that when you have the pieces together,
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Chapter 7: How did the Blue Jays' performance against the Yankees reflect their season's struggles?
even though there's no guarantee they will come together, theoretically you can have respectable offense here. But you're right in that a huge part of the problem with this team is that when you look at the offense, the guys you expect to drive the offense
have not done it and they've not done it for a variety of reasons so Alejandro Kirk has not done it because he has not played as you can see right now I think he's got an OPS close in the mid 800s or 900s through six games or whatever his total on the season is he's doing fine he just hasn't been available Addison Barger is a combination right he basically hasn't been available but when he has been available the numbers aren't very good
And then the two guys who you truly count on to be not just solid or above average, but actually great and line up driving presences are George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And George Springer has been a little bit better recently. But over the course of the season, he's been a below average hitter. He hasn't just been disappointing. He's been below average for all MOB hitters.
That's a huge decline from being one of the best hitters in baseball last year. Even if that wasn't a fair expectation for this year, the drop off is just massive.
Chapter 8: What trade targets could help improve the Blue Jays' lineup?
And then Vladimir Guerrero Jr., as much as he has been competent, he has been above average for the context of all hitters. He has gotten on base. It has not been maybe as much as a train wreck as it's been presented at times. There's still a big gap between what it was fair to expect from him when the season started and what you've gotten.
And so as much as you look up and down the lineup and you see Nathan Lucas, Ernie Clement, Kaz Okamoto, Jesus Sanchez, you know, Hendrick Pignango, all of those guys are actually doing fine. They're all doing relatively well compared to what you would expect from them.
There aren't that many players in this lineup, and Andres Jimenez has really struggled offensively, but there aren't that many players in the lineup you look at in kind of the middle tier of your offensive players who you're actually disappointed with.
The problem is just throwing a lineup together of guys who are all around average, a little bit above, a little bit below is not a very potent group. You need those big time performers to mix in with that and turn it into a long and dangerous lineup. And right now, there's just no one who is fitting that bill. And when Vlade's available again, chances are he'll do better.
George Springer, I still think you're going to see better from him than you have thus far. Kirk is healthy now. Barger's getting healthy. You can believe this is all going to happen, but we haven't seen it yet. And to be honest, we haven't seen anything close to it yet.
So I guess we can have two conversations today, right? And up to the callers in which direction you guys, and texters certainly as well, in which direction you want to take it today.
So far, I think we've taken the macro look at the season, you know, the off tomorrow to probably going to be a lot of this on the network, I'm guessing, between today and first pitch on Tuesday night at Fenway Park in Boston. But we can do that, or we can continue to do that, I should say. Or we can look at the micro, I suppose, of this particular ballgame
I guess to that end, before we go to the callers, I did want to ask you, Nick, real quick. We did speak about intentional walks yesterday because we were talking about what does Schneider, and I mean, he got ejected in this ballgame, so I suppose it was DeMarlo Hale pulling the strings, pushing these buttons towards the end of the game.
But we were talking about intentional walks and bunting and so on yesterday vis-a-vis Schneider. I admittedly am not a huge fan of intentional walks, I will say, but with a runner on second and one out, tie ballgames, Do you think there was any consideration with a base open, quote-unquote base open, in walking Ben Rice with Dominguez coming up in what was still a tie ball game at the time?
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