Toronto Blue Jays

[blayze]

I don't trust Hutch period, road or away. His last 2 home outings have not been impressive from what I recall.

Despite his decent home/away splits, the fact that the guy can't handle the pressure of a regular season road game tells me all I need to know about his mental fortitude. If he can't live up to that kind of pressure who knows how he might buckle under the pressure of a playoff game.This is the right decision - Hutch was never going to start a playoff game in my books, might as well get everyone on the same page today so the pitchers know where they stand.

The real question is whether we run with Stroman or Buherle as the 4th pitcher...

[Zorro]

Darn, a loss to the Braves stings.. But I'm loving Tampa for taking down the Yankees..

[Axeman33]

There it is, Hutch to the bullpen.

Yep, pretty much what I expected.

[bondon]

I never thought I'd say this but thank god for JP Arencibia

I feel so dirty.

Seriously though... the f'in Braves man.... Smoak was really having an off game as far as defense is concerned. He's played the position so well that you don't expect him to make the kind of mistakes he made last night. If he's able to make the pick on Barney's throw it might have been a different story last night.

[2014olympicgold]

They took them lightly. Weren’t mentally there. Time to come back and win 2 in a row now.

[2014olympicgold]

I think taking them lightly might have been part of it, but the bigger issue was zero familiarity with the Braves' starter. Some of the swings against him were complete guesses, and the Jays' batters usually look more prepared against their American league opponents.

The same could be said for Buehrle, but I think he's easier to adjust to, since he's such a soft thrower.

Overall, not a big surprise that they might lose this series - teams with nothing to lose often seem to play very well against contenders.

Jays are really good at tips throughout the game on the pitcher. they are always talking to each other, and the guy on deck is always watching the batter. you'll see Donaldson strikeout, then walking past Bautista say something about the pitcher. The hitting coach is really good at preparing the hitters for the pitchers, and yesterday, it just didn't seem that way.

Maybe the absence of Tulo and Edwin making the lineup human has a bigger effect than we think.

[bondon]

Oh it no doubt has a major difference. You go from having your 4/5 hitters be Encarnacion & Tulowitzki to Smoak & Martin. You go from Smoak and Martin being your 6/7 hitters to Goins and Pillar. A couple of key injuries can really send a roster reeling because it relieves A LOT of pressure on opposing pitchers. The stronger your lineup is from top to bottom, the more protection your top-of-the-order guys have, the better pitches they see. That's why generally when teams are trying to bust someone out of a slump they'll slot them in the 2 spot. Pitchers don't want to put the 1/2 hitter on to face your 3/4 hitters with runners on. That's why in recent years Colby Rasmus got so many looks in the 2 spot (I guess and the fact that he was lefthanded too) and he had probably his best stretch as a Blue Jay in that role.

And I think the fact that this team's roster was so ridiculously strong from the top of the order to the bottom was the reason why we were seeing superhuman numbers from pretty well everyone for a good stretch there. Toss in injuries to two of your more key AB guys and you're definitely going to see a trend down. Taking Tulo out too despite the fact that he wasn't hitting so well is huge because instead of having to throw 8-9 pitches to him every AB because of his amazing plate discipline, pitchers are gonna get an easy out in Kevin-I swing at 3 straight pitches like I'm hitting bombs for days-Pillar. (Sorry, Pillar isn't actually Tulo's replacement, but I hate this guy's plate discipline so I'm just gonna leave it like that).

PS: I personally think Colabello should be getting way more starts than he's currently getting, and you can bring Smoak in as a defensive replacement late in the game if you're up. Colabello's defense at first base really isn't bad at all and in terms of offense it's really not even close right now between him and Smoak. I actually don't understand teh rationale at all playing Smoak as much as he's playing more than Cola. It's not even like the splits are a good reason to do it. Cola is mashing on pitchers on both sides, in fact he's hitting better against righties than lefties in 3x the ABs, but the only time Gibby puts him in the starting lineup is when it's against lefties pretty much.

That's actually been a major pet peeve of mine of Gibby dating back to his last stint as our manager - I feel like he blindly follows the "percentages" with respect to pitting a left handed pitcher against lefties, and sending a right handed batter in against lefthanded pitching.

[blayze]

Am I the only one who was frustrated about "Dirty Sanchez" blowing yet another outing? This is exactly what happened the last time Gibbs tried to make him play 2 innings... he ended up walking the first 2 batters.

They should've sent out Osuna. Sanchez is the new Cecil (back when he was blowing every save opportunity a few months ago).

[bondon]

Since Sanchez has moved to the bullpen he's pitched 21 innings and allowed 4 ER, 11 hits, 5 walks, 12 SO. That's an ERA of approximately 1.72 and a WHIP of 0.76. Those are actually ridiculous numbers

I don't wanna sound like one of the Gibby haters but I think your animosity towards Sanchez is more on Gibbons than anything. Gibbons has to be able to assess how to best utilize his pitching staff. You said it yourself, what happened the last (two now) times Gibbons has tried to make him pitch more than an inning? While keeping in mind hindsight is 20/20, you could even say the same thing about the Beltran bomb against the Yankees last month. With first base open why not put Beltran on? But again, hindsight 20/20 so i'll just stop there.

A lot of the stat geeks and objective-only people that I talk to will argue to death with me that this doesn't make a difference at all, but I think your 8th and 9th inning pitchers have to be exactly that. No more and no less.

Like if anything I don't understand why the team's using Lowe so sparingly.

[blayze]

You're probably right... this one's more on Gibbons. His pitch that yielded the game winning single wasn't all that bad, it was just well hit right into the gap.

But still... dirty Sanchez is on thin ice as far I'm concerned!

[bondon]

While I understand your hesitation, his numbers are actually absurd out of the pen so far. 5 walks in 21 IP is really not bad at all. In fact when you compare that ratio to a lot of the guys in the league that are in the same kind of position that he's in he comes out ahead. Granted it's a much smaller sample size but yeah.

I know though, the control isn't quite there fully yet. Bit of a work in progress. Only time will tell I suppose if he can handle it if we make it to the show.

[blayze]

Lefty/Righty aside, I have more confidence in Lowe, Cecil (never thought I'd say that) and Osuna before Sanchez. Not sure why Gibbons is trying so persistently to mold him into a 2 inning guy given our bullpen depth

[bondon]

Oh my goodness...Ryan Goins. That play deserves a post of its own holy shit. Such range, and what a ****ing throw. That throw was better than Reyes' regular throws with momentum towards first.

Jesus christ what a play just now by Pennington/Goins/Donaldson turning that bloop single into a double play wow.

[2014olympicgold]

Damn, Price’s enthusiasm has me thinking Jays are pushing to the top of his preference list. Every play he was fist pumping the air it seemed like. Before I thought if the Jays threw enough money and popcorn at him he’d stay, but now he may stay based on the team and not just the money.

[The Black Panther]

Damn, Price’s enthusiasm has me thinking Jays are pushing to the top of his preference list. Every play he was fist pumping the air it seemed like. Before I thought if the Jays threw enough money and popcorn at him he’d stay, but now he may stay based on the team and not just the money.

LOL I was wondering if anyone else noticed and thought that.
There is no question the Toronto environment (fans etc) has an incredible effect on people. It's just so tough. One thing I'd hate for sure is having to go through customs 81 more times + a year.