Jays Bats Go Silent in Sacramento Series Loss

0:00Well, Jeff, I think someone forgot to tell the Jays today was not a Sunday because they sure played like it. Not the finest display of baseball you'll ever see. This was as close to a Muslim game as you can get at this time of year. You already played sloppy baseball to open this series with your ace looking pretty tired. You battled to win last night and then they lay an absolute egg on offense today. Top to bottom, basically every member of the offense was on a Mel Carden in a two nothing lost to the athletics. They lose the series in sacrament of wrap up this road trip. They fall back below 500 at 73 and 74 and they are now one and a half games out of a playoff spot with 15 to go. The results of Guardians O's later tonight, notwithstanding, but boy, that was not a fun game to watch. No, not a great series for the Blue Jays. Two of these three games, I just thought they looked tired.

1:02I'm not saying that as an excuse because I'm tired of hearing how hot it is on the road. It's hot at the Roger Center in the summer, too. One of the things that really bothers me about the discourse, this road trip as I kept hearing how hot it was, too bad. You suck it up. They're not the first team to play in Kansas City in Sacramento at this time of the year. Again, they play at the Roger Center. It's not like that place is always 68 degrees or 70 degrees. So hugely disappointing. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Today, he looked to me like a guy who wanted the season to be over at the plate. I mean, he just did completely non-competitive that double play in the fifth inning is an absolute disgrace. Swinging at a ball, but he had absolutely no chance of doing damage on.

2:02And then, as Kevin Barker pointed out on Blue Jays Central, look, I understand Alejandro Kirk is not a speed demon. But Alejandro Kirk's base running miskew in the fourth inning, to me, was almost as egregious as what we saw from Valyte, just lack of awareness. And it's one of the things that I think frustrates you about Alejandro Kirk, but whether it's his at times inexplicable use of the challenge or just the fact that there are games where he, especially when he's in the bases, where he just doesn't seem aware of what's going on. And it's a hugely disappointing road trip. For me and I, listen, this sucker is going to come down to one or two games at the end of the year. I get it. But if this team doesn't make the playoffs, I think a lot of people will be looking back at this series and going, you know, really, that's all you managed against, you know, against the, against the A's.

3:04Louis Varlant gave it up for what? The second or third time this year, that's going to happen. But to come out today with this type of offensive performance against this type of bullpen, you know, with a manager who's doing absolutely everything, using all his leverage guys, emptying the tank just in the hope, you know, that one of his guys will come through with a clutch hit or hell, any type of hit to do what they did today was, frankly, I was frankly embarrassing. But to me, it's one of the most embarrassing efforts we've seen from the blue jays this year. And, you know, I mean, they're in a position now. They're five and four in this road trip. I mean, seven and two to me was expected. I would have accepted six and three, but five and four is just not good enough that there's no other way to put it. That is Jeff Blair. I'm show Ali. You're listening to Blue Jays talk on sports net five down in the fan. The Blue Jays radio network. We're also streaming on sportsnet.ca on the sports net app as well. They can give us a call for 16870 0 590 one triple a triple six 0 590 star 590 on your

4:10cell. You can text us as well. 595 90 name and location. The people's text line always open standard messaging and data rates may apply. Yeah, like like you Jeff, I mean, yeah, it's going to come down to just a handful of games. I'm not out on the team entirely. I mean, the playoffs obviously still within reach and, you know, the last month and a bit still gives me more hope than this one feeble game. But I mean, Jeff, this is a bullpen game. You mentioned all the buttons that Schneider pushed, right? I mean, it featured Michael Lorenzen for the Blue Jays in the year of our Lord 2026 and the relief staff through the relief staff. First of all, gave them a quality start and also overall held this, this, this athletics team that had basically what their top six hitters on the injured list are just two runs. I mean, the bullpen game top to bottom, I think overall was managed pretty well. But that was just a feeble offensive effort. No matter how you slice it, you mentioned Vlad. And we can get to him. But again, I mean, when you talk about you use the word embarrassing when it comes to the situation of the season, the amounts of games to go in terms of need, that has got

5:11to be one of the worst performances we've seen. And then honestly, I don't talk to you right, the opponent, it's not exactly a great bullpen. It's like a bit that bullpen for the, for the A's overall the season has barely been existent. And then you add in the ballpark, like Sudden Health Park is up there with course field when it comes to park park factors and the ball flying and so on. They did nothing today like prior to today, the A's had exactly one shut out at home this season because of how the balls flies in Sacramento. And now they have two on the year. Yeah. And you know, this just, I mean, let's face it, the only reason this team is still in the playoffs is because so many teams around them stink. That's the only way to put it. I mean, when we look at the American League wild card race, we're just talking varying degrees of suck right now. And I mean, we are. Yeah. There's no other way to put it. And yeah, this was, this was just, this is frankly not acceptable. And I mean, if I was John Schneider or if I was that pitching staff, I'd be really, really

6:16pissed today. And I think, you know, as Kevin pointed out during the seventh inning, boy, it sure seemed to me like any Clement was not overly impressed with the lazy base running as Kevin called it that we saw from Alejandro Kirk and, and you know, those things are going to make a difference. And we saw that for much of this series from the blue jays, where there was bad defense, stupid base running and, you know, the obligatory head up his ass at bats from Vladie. Just not, yeah, I just not good enough, frankly embarrassing. Do you think it ever, it ever matters, Jeff, if, you know, just like this John Schneider, because there's a bunch of texts to this effect. Do, do this John Schneider need to go and, you know, like kick over some garbage cans? Does that mean anything? Do you never care about that kind of stuff? No. No, I don't. I mean, what, Vladie's still going to go up there and, you know, swing it or no cutter or Okamoto's going to go up there and swing it a pitch that, you know, I just got no chance

7:16at it. I mean, this whole thing about, you know, kicking over garbage. It doesn't happen as much as people think it does. Like it just doesn't. I've covered baseball for a long time and trust me. It doesn't happen that much, you know, and, and, and the value of it at, at this point in the season, it's a team that went to game seven of the world series last year. I'm reasonably certain they understand what's at, what's at, you know, what's at, what's at stake here. They're just not good enough. There are games where they are not good enough and there are games where you look at them and go, this is in any other year, a last place team. And again, just by the grace of God and the Cleveland Guardians and the Texas Rangers and the Baltimore, all else and everybody else. That's, you know, the only reason, the only reason the Jays are still in this thing. And, you know, you write the playoff races and over, they come home, they can bury Baltimore, which, you know, it's great to take care of the teams behind you.

8:17It's great to eliminate or effectively eliminate teams behind you, but at some point you have to get into the wild card spot and hang onto it. And they are just, you know, they're just, they're incapable of, they're incapable of being anything other than, than 500. 500 seems to be the ceiling for this team this year. And I think we can pet, we can put it any other way. They're, they're not better than a 500 team. They haven't been all year. And, you know, again, thank God they're in the American League. I had gotten a lot of texts on, I guess it was Monday night when they lost with cease on the mound and, you know, sloppy effort. Ladi wasn't necessarily at his best and let's face it, he hasn't been at his best all year. But, you know, they're talking about a lot of the collars and textures talking about how if Ladi had just, you know, pick the number, right? Five more home runs, ten more home runs. Maybe you're looking at the Jays, even if you lose a series to Sacramento, which is never great, obviously, but you're looking at a team that's probably still what?

9:17Like in terms of flipping a couple of wins here or there, that's probably pretty comfortably in a wildcard spot at the very least with 15 games to go. And yeah, I mean, like, you started with this, this chat by talking about Ladi and I mean, it's almost impossible not to continue to discuss him. And I, I admit Jeff, I'm generally sick of the Ladi discourse because there are only so many ways we can slice this. But it just, it just continues to break my brain, seeing him roll over pitches that are just thrown right down the pipe, right? I mean, bass on the top of the third throws a 91 mile an hour force, he went right down the middle and it was a soft ground out a second, the end the ending. Like even outside of the junk pitches that he's seeing, when guys are throwing him 91 fast, 91 mile an hour fastballs right down the middle, I just don't understand how those balls aren't being sent to Mars. And then you mentioned the double play runners in the corners, one out top five comes to the plate swings at an O O cutter on the edge of the strike zone. I mean, there's never a reason really to be swinging at a pitch like that.

10:18At least not on the first pitch you see, he can, like, you can afford to take a pitch or pitch when it's O O when you're first coming to the plate. And then it's where it's the end of the game. What within the eighth inning, I think it was he sees another pitch down the middle. And I guess a slightly harder fly out, but still a fly out. It's just it's such a confounding baffling thing. And I just, I think I've honestly given up all hope probably a while ago, not just right now because of this one game, but I think I've given up hope on Vlad. He really turning it around here. Yeah, he's not going to turn it around. Yeah, the best thing we can hope for right now is that he closes his eyes and hits a double. You know, maybe once every three games. I mean, that beyond that, there's, there's not much else. There's not much else to say, but that that at bat with men and base. That was the game right there. And boy, to, to, you know, to swing at that pitch, and just against, you're not, you're not facing an elite pitcher.

11:20And for some reason, Vlad, he just seems to have at bats where he's got absolutely no plan. In addition to whatever mechanical stuff is going on, I think we can all, we can all say now that whatever Vlad is doing mechanically hasn't worked all year. And I'm not buying the argument that Jay's don't know what's wrong with him. I, more than anything else, I think maybe Vlad is stubborn and isn't going to make the adjustment. Or maybe there is something physically. It's not preventing him from playing every day because he's still playing in the field. But there's something that is preventing him from making the adjustments he has to make. And look, it's not that he is, it's not that he's stupid. He's not stupid. It's not that he doesn't work hard. We know he works hard. At least we know he takes a lot of batting practice. You know, I'll just say that. But you know, you touched on, on several things, they had a guy in the, they had a guy in the mound in this series going for a side young award against a bad team with a playoff spot right in front of them.

12:25And they just crap the bed in the field they were awful on the base pads. They were awful. You know, again, that's your guy. That is your, that's the guy that is going to be here for another six years based on his contract. He's going for the side young award. Yes, he's not the same pitcher he was a month ago. I mean, I'm sure whatever is happening, the lack of velocity, whether it's semi intentional or the result of fatigue or whatever it is or no, maybe he's got Kevin would say he's been thinking about the side young a lot. And it's, it's, you know, entering into his decision making process in terms of the pitches he throws. Whatever it is, the fact of the matter is that's your dude on the mound. You are obligated. You are obligated to bring your best to the field on the day that the best pitcher you have is on the mound. And they look like they looked like it was April and it was, you know, whoever patch or Corbin on the mound.

13:29And just, just, just not good enough. There's no other way to put it, not good enough. And I'm hoping, I just, I'm hoping we don't get the whole heat stuff and long road trip. That's bull. That's absolutely bull. You went five and four on a road trip again that included stops against two really bad teams. 41687005, dining one triple eight triple six zero five dining star five down your new cell five dining five dining name and location. Those are the ways to reach us today here until seven Eastern Jeff. Let's go to the phones and start taking taking your calls. Let's go to Russ in New Jersey to lead us off here. Russ, what's up today? Good afternoon, guys. It was just disgusting. What happened out there? You know, lose to nothing to those guys. Terrible, but you know, kicking over garbage cans. If it was that simple, I think it would have done it a hundred times. And I can tell you Baltimore, you know, thinks the same as the J's.

14:30If they would've got a junior at a gunner, you know, they probably think they would be in the class. But I still believe this team's going to make the playoffs because I think everyone else is worse. Taxis losing again today. Believe when they just can't score one either and their pictures aren't that good. I really still believe this team has a better chance than the other two to make the playoffs. It might take 79 wins, but I think they still have a chance as bad as they are. Well, we lose Russ. I guess we did. We lost. We can't lose Russ. I know he was on a roll there, Jeff. It was Russ. He was on the roll. Let's try to get Russ back. Can you imagine though, Jeff, if this team made the playoffs with if any nine wins, I wouldn't be surprised. Like I said, I said only half and just at the start of the year or not at the start of the year. I don't want to get myself that much credit. I said only half and just like a month, a month and a half ago that you may see a team make the playoffs with 81 wins. I still think you will. I think 500 gets you into this playoffs into this playoff spot.

15:34You know, the only thing I'll say to Russ is point about Cleveland. And I know that this is. I know that this is just kind of a. I don't have it. I don't have anything to base it on other than the fact that I know what Cleveland's record usually is in September. They're a good September team. Not the same team as they have right now. Jose Ramirez obviously is compromised because of the ham aid injury, but the Cleveland guardians know how to win in September. They just do. So yeah, I'm. Here's what I'll say. Here's what I'll say to Russ is point and let's be clear. They're not out of the playoff race. Like nothing. I don't think anything fundamentally changed between three o'clock this afternoon and whatever time it is now. 530 in terms of the playoff race for Blue Jays. They're still in it. They're always going to be in it. But there's a couple of things that, you know, I'm looking.

16:37I'm looking to and one is and I really believe this. They have to do and I don't I don't think it can happen now, but they had to. They have to rack up enough wins so that those games against Cincinnati at the end of the year are essentially meaningless. So you can give Dylan C. S extra time if he wants. I think that's done now, Jeff. That dream of that is he's gone. I think I'm with you. I I. I'll say this. Let's. I have one caveat I'm going to add right now. I'll have one caveat that I'll add right now is I want to see what Dylan Cease is like in his next outing. If Dylan Cease comes out and pitches well and the Jays win. That's one thing. But if he comes out and looks the way he looked in the last start, that to me is the point in the season of which you can say, OK, this thing, you know, the chances may have evaporated as bad as the wild card is. If Dylan Cease. If Dylan Cease doesn't finish on an absolute role.

17:42I don't think this team. I don't think this team will make the playoffs as bad as everybody else is like I've given up on Vlad. Like I said, I've given up on Vladie in terms of this year. To off the bandwagon, Jeff, I know you you were trying to get Kevin onto the bandwagon. I mean, that bandwagon, you know me. I mean, my bandwagon. You know, I just catch the next train basically essentially right if I'm on one bandwagon. It doesn't work. I wait for another one to come by. It's a Bret Bateman bandwagon. I get on that. I mean, I'm like a fan that way. But I just want Vladie to play good defense and try to limit the number double plays he hits into. I mean, that's that's what I've been reduced to. Yeah, double be nice. But just don't hit into too many double plays and play good defense. And you know what? I'll rely on Nathan Lucas or Ernie Clemander, Josh Smith or somebody else to come through with a big hit. And I got another bone to pick with the lineup today. I don't understand. Okay, George Springer is beaten up.

18:44I get that. Well, he's not too beaten up that he can't make a pinch hit appearance in the game. This I know in an era where the sports science departments have a say in whether or not a guy plays. I get all that like the J's have way more information and the coaching staff has way more information about the health of their players than we do. But if you're going to give a guy a day off and give him a day off, if George Springer can hit in whatever it was the six or seven, he should have been in the lineup for in the first inning. This is something I don't understand. I don't mind giving a guy a day off. And I know people who have heard me are going to say you say this all the time, but it's true. John Gibbons used to give a guy a day off and it was a day off. Leave your cleats in the clubhouse, right? Sitting the bench, cheer your team on. If you want to leave with two outs and then I didn't go ahead and bugger off that's a day off. But to bring George Springer in the pinch hit after giving him a day off.

19:46I just I don't get that. It's something the J's do. And as I said, I know they have more information than we do. And maybe this is old man yelling a cloud. But man, that to me is that's not a good look. I had to win the series. I got a bullpen game. And I know that I'm going to be emptying the tank with my bullpen because I have an off day. But I've decided to hit one of the few guy or I've decided to sit one of the few guys who has at times this year showing an ability to hit in the clutch. I don't understand that. So Jeff, I think we do have Russ. He did call back. So let's get let's get Russ back on the line here. Russ from New Jersey, Russ what's out? You were talking about the many things that went wrong in the series for the blue James. Yeah, like you guys said, it's not Bob Gibson out there. It's not Bob Feller out there. It's some Oakland A guys and he got a hit him. I'll say Ernie Clement criticizing Kirk. Well, whether if he would hit a little better than two 30 or two 20 in his last 30 games, the team might have also scored a few more on.

20:47So every there's a little blame to go around everywhere. But it's pretty sad that after World Series appearance, you're not going to make the playoffs. One of my take 80 81 79 wins. It's pretty embarrassing. Russ, appreciate it, man. Thanks for coming back to finish your finish your thought. Yeah, I just I just go back to this the 79 to 81 win thing. I just for just for the sake of baseball. I know this probably doesn't matter long term, but I just really hope whoever wins the third wild card has at least a 500 record. I know you would Kevin Boce say that. Why? Why do you care? This is the same thing. And I said Kevin, what difference? Somebody has 80 82 wins. That's better than having 81 or 80. I don't get that. It's a down year. I don't make the playoffs. And then I mean, you're going to get probably the white socks in the wild card or maybe used in whoever wins that other division. That's the frustrating thing, right?

21:49You I'll put it this way, whoever gets that third wild card spot, I wouldn't be surprised if they win their first series because they're not going to be playing a good team. That's true. So yeah, the record thing, I mean, it is what it is. And yeah, you know, I just I, whether it's 500 or one game above or one game, I don't care. I just don't care. Make the playoffs, man. Four 1687 005, 90 one triple at triple 605, 90 star 5, 90 on your cell. Let's go back to the phones. Let's go to Jay here in Toronto. Jay, what's up? Hey, what's that think phone using Vance will. In lineup when, especially since he left, sorry, I'm in left. He's been hitting like 100 or so. And especially with guys in runners in school in position, he's not come through at all, literally not at all. So essentially, we should have you. Kirk for catching and then springer for D H instead of using.

22:53Vance well with your talk. You're talking to both me right now, but today specifically, I guess. Yeah, right. Right. Well, not just today, but how has since Heinemann has left, how has. Well, especially one of the score position. I think his feeling has been definitely like 100 maybe below that. And it runs in school position, probably zero. Just lots. Thank you. Yeah, Jay, appreciate the call. Yeah, I guess this was, I suppose, part of the conversation after Heinemann was, I guess, when Kirk was coming back off the IL, Jeff, and they were talking, hey, what are you going to do with Valenzuela? What are you going to do with Heinemann? That was the hot topic. And I guess a part of it was well, if Valenzuela is not going to play every day, it would, in some way, affect his offense. I have to look it up specifically. And I know that numbers in front of me to see what his numbers are running runners in scoring position or at the very least since Heinemann was traded. But yeah, I, you just haven't seen generally Valenzuela in on the field really at all.

23:53I shouldn't say at all, but really as much as you had seen in prior for obvious reasons. Yeah, you know, it's an interesting point. But first of all, I'm not surprised that Kirk wasn't catching today. I mean, you know, after railing about guys needing a rest, day game after a night game or whatever, you know, I mean, I, I mean, I'm sure there, there are, there are reasons behind that. That, you know, that doesn't, that doesn't surprise me. But I think what a lot of people were afraid with that Brandon Valenzuela has happened. First of all, let's, you know, let's just say this. Brandon Valenzuela, he's not, he's not the reason this team isn't scoring runs. I mean, he's value added if anything. And he's still a much better defensive catcher than Tyler Heinemann was. But I think when, when Alejandro Kirk came back, and one of the things a lot of people talked about is, okay, how do you find that balance? Like, how do you ensure that Brandon Valenzuela has enough playing time while you're also accommodating Alejandro Kirk?

25:00Oh, Alejandro Kirk's got a long term contract. He's not going to be the backup catcher. As soon as he is healthy, he's automatically your everyday catcher. So the question then is, okay, how do we try to put Brandon Valenzuela in a position where he can maintain his offense? And I don't think they've been able to do it. I just don't, and I don't know what else they would have done. You're not going to play him at first base because you got Vladie there. You're not necessarily going to D H because you got George Springer there. There's in some ways Brandon Valenzuela is kind of a victim of circumstance. And yeah, you know, I mean, and I think John, when, when Alejandro Kirk came back, John Schneider made the point about, oh, yeah, the good news is we get Alejandro Kirk back. That's great. But we've got a guy who's been performing pretty well for us offensively. Looked to be a bit of a threat. And he just, uh, yeah, he just, he hasn't had enough playing time mainly because I don't think they can find playing, playing time form.

26:07I mean, there's, there's really no other way to put it. If George Springer's healthy, George Springer has to play. And, you know, you're not going to have Valenzuela at first base anyhow, but you had, you've, you've had, uh, Okamoto over first base at times. So I just, I don't think there's any way the Jays could give Brandon Valenzuela the work that he needed with Alejandro Kirk coming back. I think they've tried, I think they've tried their best. I think they've tried to get matchups. But, um, yeah, he's, he is, he's, you know, he's not producing the way he was producing earlier in the year. And you know, it is entirely possible. I mean, I know we fell in love with Brandon Valenzuela. It is entirely possible that he is not yet in everyday catcher. You know, like, I, I think we got to pump the brakes a little bit in what this guy's ceiling might be. He's, he's good defensively. He's a switchheader. I mean, he's got a lot of things going for him. But as long as Alejandro Kirk is here. I don't know how you get him in the lineup.

27:08And, and maybe it becomes easier next year because George Springer probably isn't going to come back. Sure. But then if you have Anthony Santander. That's a thing, yeah. You're going to be probably deaching him. I don't think you want him in the outfield on a, on a, on a day to day basis. So you're in the same situation. Unless, yeah, I mean, I don't know. Do you, do you, do you, do you D.H. Alejandro Kirk more next year? Again, you're getting into the question. Well, how do you do that if you have Anthony Santander? Well, Schneider did say that Santander is going to play the field. So I, I would imagine, I mean, that might just be a this year thing and not a long term thing for the last couple of years was deal. But I have to imagine Jeff that, I mean, they're going to need Anthony Santander to play the outfield at some point. If they're going to kind of flaggle this D.H. spot here. Well, you would think so. You would think so. But, but, you know, I mean, I, Anthony Santander in the outfield. There's, there's, that isn't a goal club outfield. No, you're running out there. And, yeah, you'd be better than Hazoo Sanchez, but anybody would be.

28:08But, yeah, that, that, you know, that's a, that's a discussion for another time. But you can only have so many D.H.s in the team. Like, you can only have so many slow-footed guys on your roster, the guys who can't play in the field. And, you know, we'll, we'll see where the, we'll see where the J's going, going that regard. And, you know, we haven't even talked about Addison Barger coming back next year. If he's, if he's playing in right field, I mean, there's another spot that, you know, there's another bat you have to, you have to accommodate. So, I really think that the J's team we see in 2027 is going to look surprisingly different to the team that we've seen this year. And, you know, I think they're, they're going to be some fan favorites that are probably not going to be here next year, probably going to be moved in the offseason. The J's point about balance whale is hitting. So, Hyman was D.F.A.d mid June. So, if you just go from, let's say July to yesterday.

29:08And, I know a lot of these, if you look at it, there, there are a bunch of complete games in there in terms of how, how long he was in the ballgame for. But there's also almost just as many, you know, he enters into 90, enters into the eighth, he enters into fourth, enters into seventh, what have you, right? So, there, there's a lot of that. But, from the beginning of July all the way to yesterday in 30 games, 77 played appearances, he's hitting 171. And if you even narrow that to August, it's gotten a little sparser because, again, I think he's played actually less. And that also coincides with some of Kirk's really the hottest part of the season for Kirk, obviously. And I'm glad you mentioned. That's the other point. Alejandro Kirk carried this team for a couple of weeks recently. Yeah. So, Chris Black, Blue J's producer just barker and I call him the local khaki. Which I think he likes. I think it's probably. And it's fitting because he is the local khaki. He's like a king of khakis anyhow. From Chris Black, and I do appreciate this, in 38 games since Tyler Heinemann was DFA, Brandon Valenzuela has won home run, three RBI and an OPS around 500.

30:14There you go. Jay was pretty spot on. Let's go to Sam and Brampton. Continue taking your calls here on Blue J's talk. Sam, what's up today? Good afternoon, gentlemen. So we all were. I can't push, glad, down the line. If it's a punishment, what if we change the narrative? What if we know that we are a contact team like what we did in the World Series. And say, hey, buddy, we're going to put you and the other slugger around five and six. Okay, we'll put in fifth and the contact guys. You guys pick who the contact guys are, but the contact guys will go one before. And we go from there so that at least the contact guys can knock each other around the bases. And then you got OK to really punch it and. And Vlad, you will. He's the other home run here. I'll hang up and see what you guys think. Thank you. I mean, look, the whole of Ladi, where he hits the order discussion is something we've got. I think we've had that discussion every

31:14which it's talks since the beginning of the season, Jeff. But I will say to go back to something I brought up with off the air with you a couple times. But I don't necessarily think that moving a guy, let's say it's fifth, right? Because fifth is is hitting literally in the middle of the order in terms of nine batters. I think I don't really view it. For me personally, I'm not a ball player obviously, but I've never viewed that as that should being that being a demotion or a punishment. You know what I mean? Like being the five hole hitter is still in a, you know, again, using air quotes, a run producing spot. It's just, I don't know right now. It's doesn't seem to be working bad in him third, for example. You know, we've asked John Schneider, we've asked him about it every Friday, every Friday and John's response and the backdrop to this again is John knows Vladi better than anybody. It's entirely possible. Vladi wouldn't hit six. John, John come out and say, hey, Vladi will do whatever will make the team better. Yadda, yadda, yadda. That may not be entirely true.

32:15Which is a good thing. I don't want, like, John doesn't have to tell us all the state secrets, right? But he knows it makes Vladi tick more than anybody else. So, and, you know, John's other response to the question is always, well, I don't think we can be the best team we need to be. Or I don't think we can be at our best without Vladi hitting third. What he's telling us is he doesn't have enough good hitters on his team to do that. You know, I love the idea of contact, but, you know, as much as I love what Brett Bateman and Nathan Lucas have done and, and, maybe, Miles Straut, like, let's just, we gotta pump the brakes a little bit, a little bit on that. So, yeah, I, I, I just think I think it's a non-starter. I think it's, I'm with you. I, you know, I've never understood, like, to me, a demotion is you're dropping it down to the, to the eighth or ninth spot.

33:16Right. That's a demotion. And there's some guys who like to hit, I mean, I covered Larry Walker. Larry Walker would not hit cleanup. He wanted to hit third. Three was his lucky number. And he just wanted to hit third. That's all there is to it. Worked out pretty well for Larry Walker. It worked out pretty well for Larry Walker. But my, my, my whole point is, putting Vladi in the sixth spot to me doesn't accomplish anything. He's still gonna go up there and swing at the same damn pitches. And you know what? The bottom third of that order. That's not where the J's are losing games a lot of the times. I mean, you know, that, that to me isn't the necessarily the issue. It's, it's just that Vladi isn't, for whatever reason, Vladi isn't capable of, he's, he's incapable of hitting the ball hard in the air. Whatever the mechanical reason is, physical reason, whatever. He's incapable of hitting the ball in the air. He's gonna do that hitting first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth. He's gonna be the same guy.

34:17So, yeah, I, I, I understand the fans point of view. And again, we've asked John Schneider that all the time. And I know he gets asked about a pregame. I know he gets asked about a postgame. I know in the off the record conversations around the batting cage. It is a topic of discussion for everybody. It's just not happening. 416-870-0591 Triple H, 605-90 star 590 on your cell. Let's go back to the phones, Jeff. Let's go to Gary right here in Toronto. Gary, what's up? Hey there. How are you? Good. How are you today, Gary? Doing all right. So here's, I got a different perspective, at least I think anyway. So, the year before last, before the, uh, Jays did their, uh, World Series run. They finished last. Did they not? It did. Okay. So last year, I, I'm not a team of destiny kind of thing, but everything that needed to go right for the Jays went right.

35:21I mean, they're, uh, they finished first. They, they had the timebreaker. Um, and, uh, they, they got home runs from people that they normally don't get home runs. So they, they were kind of like a team of destiny. I remember watching them last year going, I can't believe that just happened. I can't believe that just happened. Maybe this year is kind of back to the norm. Maybe yeah, Gary, appreciate the call. Thanks for joining us. Listen, I, I, I do, I, I kind of get that take Jeff just because I one hand, you know, if, if you're including this series, this season pardon me, and then you look all the way back to 2024, you know, 74 wins and 24 obviously 94 wins last year. And now here we are 73 wins. We'll see how many they wrap up with this season. But I think for me, if I, if I look at the whole picture, dating, let's say if we go back to just after the pandemic, right. So 2021 all the way to now from 2021 to now, it is 91 wins 92 wins 89 wins. Then yes, a really bad season in 2024. Gosh, that was a terrible year to do.

36:24J stock, but it's 74 wins 94 wins in the on route to the world series. And now here we are in 2026. I actually think like the sample size for me, I'm curious, are you lean on this is generally that they have been a pretty good team more often than not, even if they haven't gotten over that hump. I do agree with Gary in the sense that everything that needed to go right for them, whether it was health, whether it was big swings and big moments, big pitches and big moments guys having, if not career years, having very good years, all of that happened on route to game seven of the world series. And then the luck around out. And you know, they only want to relit again, game seven, but that's certainly true. But I don't know if I had to go so far to say, hey, this is just who they are now. They're bad ball club. I respectfully disagree. You don't go to game seven of the world series by fluke. You just don't. So, you know, lay that to rest. That does not happen. You know what the similarities between 2024 and this season are in 2024, boba, shed played 81 games this year. He's with the met.

37:32That's the similarity between 2024 and 2026. It's got nothing to do with them over achieving. You know, we may it's entirely possible. And I know, Bozier in New York has not been that great. I think what is he right now? He's under he's under one war and he's played 143. I think he's heated up. I think the last month, but over the course of the whole season. Yeah, it's nothing great. Yeah, he's got what he's got. Well, he's still got more home runs and Vlad. So, it's a low bar. So does everybody else. Yeah. But that's my point. I think we underestimated Bo's importance to this team and Bo's importance to Vlad. But I'm not I'm not buying into the overachiever narrative. They didn't have Anthony Santander all last year. They didn't have both for a lot of for for some of the playoffs because he was hurt and he was hurt down the stretch. You know, they went to game seven of the world series last year because they put the ball and play a lot. They really pressured teams and they got by and large really good pitching.

38:33They're still getting really good pitching this year. The similarity between 2024 and 2026 and I will leave it to other people to determine what this means. But the similarities between 2024 and 2026. That's you only got half a year at a bone 2024. And you. And as I said, you don't have a bow this year. I think it's that simple. 41687005 Dinyone Triple A triple 605 Diny star 590 on your cell. Let's go out West Jeff to Curtis and Alberta joining us here on Blue J's talk Curtis. What's up? Hey, good evening gentlemen. How are you doing? Good. How are you doing? Well, one thing I would like to bring up for everybody out there is the Blue J's historically in a place where you can see the blue J's. In April are really seem to me to take things quite slack and easy. You hear excuses like all the blue J's are slow team, Gladys a slow team in May, a direct quote from the manager.

39:37We didn't get go until the third week in May in June. It's like historically Guerrero hits his most home runs in June. My point is if this team would have won seven games in the first few months, where would they be sitting out in a playoff spot. We need to as an organization take the beginning of the season way more serious because they all count. So what would you say, okay Curtis, I just going to jump in here. So what makes you think they're not taking it seriously what they're not working hard enough in spring training. Like I'm just interested like what would you do? Because that's a pretty that's a pretty significant basically you're saying is that this team comes out of spring training not ready and that they don't take the first month seriously. That's a pretty serious allegation what I'm saying. I think they just coast at a spring training. Look at the record in April Jeff. Look at you guys even told us yourself. Oh, they're a slow start and team.

40:38You know, like look at the record in April the last four years. And see how that team performs in April. And I don't know what it is. I don't know why it is. But if I know one thing, if this team would have won seven more games, every game wouldn't be a must win and people don't got to go up and down this roller coaster. And you could manage things a lot easy right now. They look absolutely desperate. Okay, when they put in George springer in at the end of the game to pinch hit. They are desperate. I can't disagree through there. Curtis, appreciate the call. Thank you for the call. I do wonder, Jeff, I mean, when Curtis talks about the coasting out of the gate, I just, I, again, I'm glad you asked him what, you know, what, what to suggest that because I don't, I don't think I've personally seen. I don't know if you have I've personally seen anything specific that suggests there playing lazily or not ready. I mean, maybe I know what, what had been suggested earlier, I guess it earlier in the season and other teams have talked about this as well was, you know, do deep playoff runs.

41:44Have any sort of effect and even if it does, I'm not sure that's necessarily an excuse, but yeah, I just, I'm not sure I've seen them take games in April and May, any less seriously than they took in June, when you talk about flipping seven games, I mean, you can, you can in theory pick any seven games you want. Yeah, and you know, and again, then, you know, and I hate to say this, but you know, you've also got it. And this is like I hate, I understand what Curtis is saying, but, you know, realistically, you've also got to look at who those wins are against like it is entirely possible seven more, we can say seven more wins, but it depends who they were against right and and it's just so I'm not, I get his point. I'm not necessarily. I don't know if I'm necessarily buying into it, I think there's, there is a tendency to look at things in sports as being predestined right like man, if, if so and so had only done this, then the next guy up, he hit a double man, if he had done this, he would have scored well, not really because if you're on base, it changes the pitch, the pitcher is going to throw a change is a lot of things.

42:53So I think we need to kind of get over this idea that there's there's there's there's there's so much stuff, you know, that that's that's predestined. Look, I think there's something to the longer season. Yeah, and I know and Kevin would say well, they've got all these trainers and these sports therapists and everything and you know it's not like these guys are going away and you know drinking beer and smoking cigarettes for three months and then coming back and rolling into into into need. But I do think there is a little bit of an element of fatigue that comes into play and I think we're seeing that with Ernie Clement. Ernie Clement's just played a lot of baseball for a guy who, you know, a guy who broke into the majors, let's say it as a bench guy. I had no point in early in an Ernie Clement's career early in his career, were we going, my God, this is going to be an all star second base. We just weren't anybody who says they were as flat out line. So I do think there's something to that. You know, the world baseball classic.

43:57I used to think that might be a thing, but I tend to think that I tend to think that may have more impact on pictures than position players. I think I'm with the idea that you're going from pitching in a grapefruit lead game in front of 12,000 people in clear water on a Tuesday afternoon, the pitching at Dodger Stadium two days later in front of 50,000 people against, you know, the Korean team or against the Japanese team. I think there might be something there for pictures. I don't necessarily buy that for here. Just because why do you look great in the WBC? He was also saying that man, this guy looks like he just rolled over from the world series. Like he looks like he's ready to go. And then the regular season started and it was just. Well, you mentioned our in house, khaki, Chris Black. I mean, Chris had a great thread on Twitter earlier in the year about the guys glad he was facing. And now I mean, we all made a lot about like him hitting a torch to double off Paul schemes and I mean, look at Paul schemes this year, although we were excited about it at the beginning of the year, but the other guys glad he was hitting off of were guys that are probably never going to see majorly baseball, right?

45:09But I don't know. I'm kind of with you. I do think that the WBC probably has more of an effect on pictures because all of a sudden you're ramping up your arm in a way you probably didn't necessarily expect when it comes to you mentioned it like situation in clear water versus middle of middle of Houston and when the Dominican Republic or in town, for example, right? So yeah, it's going to be it's going to be interesting seeing how how they mitigate that. I mean, I think I heard not sure what podcast it was, but I think Max Muncie, the Dodgers Max Muncie, not Sacramento's Max Muncie, but he was talking about the amount of baseball team like that's played over the course of many seasons and how it just has to have an effect on your body and on your mind. I mean, look, maybe that's a part of this. You mentioned Ernie and the effect on him, Jeff. I mean, he's had a rough go and the post all star break. It's even worse if you narrow it down to the stretch from August 1st to now. I mean, at the end of the game, there was some text here about this as well, but even in a micro sense today, John leaving Ernie Clement in there at the end and he pops it up pretty quickly, but you know, with Sanchez and keys on the bench.

46:15It's not necessarily an indictment of John Schneider. It's just knowing that Ernie Clement has struggled. I wonder if down the stretch here of Josh Smith continues to hit pretty well. I wonder if you see more days off for someone like Ernie. Not this year. No, I mean, they're going to ride or die with Ernie. I will say this though. I thought it was interesting. It was so interesting. I can't remember the game. I want to say it was in the Kansas City series. I think it was Caleb made it a point that I thought was interesting and I hadn't really thought of. But the more I thought about it, the more I agree with Caleb, I don't think Josh Smith is in here as a guy who's going to just fill out the roster until the end of the year. Look, at some point Ernie's going to need to get paid. And I think getting a guy like Josh Smith in here was an indication that the organization kind of has a better handle on what Ernie is.

47:20And I'm not blaming Ernie for the year by any stretch of the imagination. But you know, he has, I mean, John had to sit him for his defense earlier this year. And to his credit, you know, he bounced back and he's been better. He's been better defensively. But I, I wouldn't be surprised if they look at Josh Smith as the next Ernie Clement. And I don't know what that means for Ernie Clement in the off season. Yeah, I really love Ernie Clement. Everybody loves the commercials. I mean, God knows you see enough of them. But I think the organization is telling us something and bringing in bringing in bringing Josh Smith, Josh Smith in. And I, this gets back to Curtis's point about the overachieving and I wanted to address it because I didn't want to be that dismissive. I mean, guys did overachieve last year Ernie Clement overachieved last year. There was nothing to suggest that year was coming from Ernie Clement.

48:20But yeah, I, I, I think there's, you know, I think the Jays have found some things out about some of their players this year, good and bad. And I fully expect that there will be significant moves made in the off season. I mean, as much as you can make a significant move, you know, given what the labor situation appears to be. I think there will be really significant moves this year in the off season. And I need to get back to this. I'm glad obviously looking back on hindsight now, we should all be thanking our lucky stars that Kyle Tucker didn't sign. Because that would be, that would be, you know, we should, but the fact that the Jays pursued him to the degree they did. I think shows you what the front office thought about their lineup. I don't think they're surprised by this. I think they're disappointed by it. I think they may be a little surprised at the extent of the offensive fall off.

49:29But I don't think they're entirely surprised that so much of what worked last year hasn't worked this year. I did want to get to one last thing before we hit a quick break here, Jeff, and we'll hear from Schneider on the other side. We'll hear from George Springer on the other side as well. I thought George had a day off. Hey, look, they asked George to interview. He had a day off. That's why he did the interview, Jeff, because he only had to play for one in. Essentially, come on, man, give the guy a day off. Give him a break. No, honestly, that's sad. That's sad. Anyhow, I digress. That's the old sort of baseball writer in me. I'd want to talk to George Springer today. You know what I mean? I'm fine. We'll do it. But it's like, he had a day off. He came up and made a pinch hit appearance. Anyhow, that's just me. Well, you mentioned the overachieving for Cement. I wanted to wrap up on this before we hit that break. But last year, Ernie, let's see. So he hit a he drove in 50 runs. He had 50 RBI. He had scored 83 runs. He had nine home runs in 20, 20, 25.

50:31You ran a K percentage of 10 point 10.4 and he had a batting average of 277 slucking percentage of 398. So on the horse on the course of the whole season, the regular season, I should say in 20, 25, you know, WRC plus of 98. So 100 is average. So he was just like just slightly below average. Right? So if he was a 2% worse than the average player in 2025, but your point about expectations. They were virtually no expectations for any Cement in 2025. It's funny because this year his statistics overall are obviously a little worse, but they're not that much worse. I mean, 50 RBI in 2025, 46 in 2026, nine home runs last year, nine home runs this year. He had a 277 batting average last year, 273 this year, you know, 398 slucking percentage. It's a little worse this year, 382 WRC plus 90. So last year he was 2% worse than the average player this year. And this includes a really ratchet stretch since the All Star break. He is now like I'm using air quotes here, Jeff. He is only 10% worse than the average player.

51:33And I think I'm pretty significant drop off. And now look, and a huge part of this, I think I actually think the biggest part of this is his defense, right? The defense is where I think this is large leads. He's large. He's seen the largest drop off on offense. And again, with this really horrible fun. He's been in. He's actually still been roughly the same guy. It's just the defense has not been as sharp. And I think when you're when you're all of a sudden, you're not getting the same offense from last year, you're getting worse defense this year. That's when it becomes a problem for me. Yeah, and any and I get back to the fact that Ernie was not Ernie was a valuable piece last year. This year he sort of because of injuries. And he became a bit of a core and and I'm going to give him credit for this and because of his postseason performance. He kind of played himself into a position where a lot of people looked at him as being a core core part of this team. But yeah, I don't want to make clear when we have these discussions. The J's are where aren't where they are because of Ernie Clement's no offense of performance.

52:34Valence Waila or Lucas. Yeah, or Lucas has been. Yeah, I know. I mean, those guys are all I keep using the phrase. Those are guys are all value added. They where they are there where they are because of Vladie Springer and to a certain degree to a certain degree. I considered it and I include myself in that in that group. I mean, I wasn't surprised when Vladie signed that long term contract that they didn't resign bow. You know, and at the time I thought to me it kind of made sense. It made sense for both to try it to test the free agent market to get a contract that paid him a lot of money and also gave him a little bit of wiggle room wiggle room in terms in terms of options.

53:49To me, it was it was a smart contract for both of us. I probably would have done the same thing in his position. But I don't think that the addition of Kazo Komodo necessarily offset what bow did for Vladie. Maybe right. I mean, I go back and forth on the bow thing, Jeff, just because you know, like they're they're big boys. Like you imagine they would be able to figure it out. Right. Like it's not like bow is Vladie's security blanket. Right. But at the same time, maybe maybe there is something intangible to having both of these guys in the same clubhouse together. And I think I wouldn't have bought that at all until the meds came back here and bow cried in front of the media. Essentially when he was when he was talking about what is time here meant to him and talking about Vladie and all these things. Like that genuinely shocked me based on everything we've we've learned about both senses career began basically. I mean, you know, one of the things that I know about both and from talking to people around the team, bow was one of the few people who could tell Vladie to get his head out of his ass and Vladie would respond to it. That's it. And, you know, yeah, that's only got a certain amount of value. I get that. But, you know, I think

55:10I think we need to kind of look at Vladie a little more differently, a little differently. Like the thing I'm taking away from this year is he he may not he may not necessarily he may not be your guy. He's a good player and he's a good player in a good team. And, you know, he'll I think I'll have a rebound next year and he plays good defense and all that stuff. I keep using this, you know, the Scotty Pippin Michael Jordan thing and I know I'm I'm aging myself. But I kind of wonder if maybe he isn't that really, really, really really good complimentary police piece to again. He may be the Robin to a Batman. It's possible. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I'm just I'm putting that out there and that may get to the caller's point about some of Vladies earlier seasons, right? The good year in the minor league ballpark.

56:12But then I roll it over to the World Series and I just seeing what he did in the World Series and seeing how he looks now is just inexplicable and just shocking. That is Jeff Blair. I'm show Ali. Let's take a quick break here, Jeff on Blue J's talk on the other side. We'll hear some post game sound and we'll also check out the text line, which I've neglected. So we'll check out the text line 595, 90 and go back to the phones 416 8705 91 AAA triple 605, 90 star 590 on your cell. Again, you're listening to Blue J's talk show Ali, Jeff Blair here with you on silly top of the hour on sports net 590, the fan. All right. Welcome back to Blue J's talk on sports net 590, the fan. The blue J's radio network as well show Ali, Jeff Blair here with you for another 20 minutes or so. 416 8705 91 AAA triple 605, 90 star 590 on your cell 595, 90 name and location. Those are the ways to reach us via the phones on the text line as well, taking lots of your calls and certainly lots of your

57:27text as well. Go back to the phones back to the text line in a sec, but let's first Jeff go to the standings what presented by bet 365 home the five run early payout must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly. All right. So let's look at some of the games that are, I mean, there are not a lot of games that are in the books yet today because our game was one of the earlier ones, but beyond the J is losing to nothing to the athletics. There was a seven to win for the Detroit Tigers. I guess, I guess Jeff, we can still count the Tigers in this. I don't know where you're where you're at on Tigers, Mariners still being included in the standings watch these days, but I hate the man. I hate the Mariners so much that I just do on principle for a variety of. Just leave them out. Just because I would just leave them out even if they held the wild card spot. That's just me though. Well, they are, I believe they have up at 32 lead, top of the ninth inning and two outs in the top of the ninth inning in Seattle. So see if they can hang on to this one run lead runner on second with two outs and in Seattle.

58:27Oh, I don't know the play now, but actually well, that's very impressive,퍼 on the ground, it's kind of fabulous. From the key point where B to the first. No, the Lee once was an eighth to throw off hisOL the down with three outs out of fiveót again. And that's just a Baltimore. Then the blue Jays will be two back. If they lose to Baltimore in Baltimore, then the Jays will remain one game back. The Yankees are going to play the Rockies later on tonight. The Rays will play the Braves, the White Sox. So I think you're kind in this right now because of how tight all the divisions have gotten. They're going to take on the pirates tonight. And that's about it. So with the, that in mind, this is what the standings look like in the wild card Yankees Red Sox Guardians, still wild card one, two, three, the blue Jays are 73 and 74. They are, like I said, a game and a half back. The Rangers are currently also a game and a half back, though. If the Mariners close things out here, the Rangers will tumble to two back. They will not gain any ground.

59:27The Orioles, again, before they play are four back. They are 70 and 76. The twins are 69 and 77 after they lose today. They are five back. And then you have the Mariners and the Tigers as well. But yeah, we're starting to get to that point of the calendar here, Jeff, where I mean, with 15 games to go for the blue Jays, things are starting to get a little tighter when it comes to who's still in the race when it comes to the standings watch. Yeah, listen, it's the Jays have kind of found themselves in a position you never want to be in where you're, you're, you're sort of, you know, you're on life support and you're sort of at the mercy, mercy of others. And now the good thing is there's about what six teams in that in a similar category. But yeah, it's, that's what I said, it's, yeah, I, I understand after a game like this, it's easy to be emotional. Look, and I texted Caleb during the game and said, I feel like punching somebody. Now the good thing is nobody was home with me. So I understand, you know, I put myself in that category where sometimes

1:00:32you get overly frustrated and overreact. And I mean, the thing is, yeah, they're, they're, they're not out of the playoff spot. But again, that coming off of this road trip, they should be in the wild card spot. I guess that's a way I would put it. I expected them to be in the wild card spot at this point, not, you know, maybe only half a game up a game up, but I expected that everybody else would be chasing them. Yeah, I did too. I'll be completely honest. I did as well. I didn't think we'd be talking on September the ninth about them being maybe two games out of a playoff spot. I thought we'd be talking about them being the very least in contention with the Yankees and Rays for the division title, essentially, right? So here we are. And the reality is it's very different from expectation right now. Before we go back to the phones in the text line, Jeff, let's hear a little bit from the, the principles in this one. We'll first hear from John Schneider, the skipper, who had a pretty short availability with the media.

1:01:39Just some quick at bats and then, you know, had chances with guys on it didn't get it done. That was it. It was, you know, a frustrating way to end up. Otherwise, pretty good road trip, but I just didn't get, didn't get hits with guys on. And, you know, a couple of just misses there, laid with George and Vlad, but other than that, just didn't really impact a whole lot of much. Fifth inning was probably one of your better opportunities. So as you reach for Vlad, like, would you like to see him be a bit more patient, a bit more selective in the situation? I think, and yeah, in every situation, not just him, everyone, you know, when you kind of have some traffic out there, it's just getting a good pitch to hit, you know, I think that, you know, no one wants to do that more than Vlad. And a lot of times, him or anyone, it's just kind of waiting for, waiting for a pitch you can do a little bit more with. Understanding the circumstances of today, just how do you feel about the energy level of tribute teams? I thought it was fine, you know, again, this is a tough place to play here. It's a ninth game of a tough road trip and it's definitely a different atmosphere here, but I thought the guys were ready to play and just didn't get it done today, you know, not making excuses for where we're playing or who we're playing, but definitely tough here on 12 o'clock game, nine out of nine,

1:02:42two. So we should play it a little bit better, but you got to, you got to regroup tomorrow and look forward to being home. It's on that 48 hours of rest for you guys. What do you think that can do for you? There's a lot for everyone, you know, position players for sure that have been out there, you know, it's been hot everywhere we've been, they've been grinding. And it's good for the, it's good for the guys in the bullpen, you know, especially after a day like today where you're using a lot of guys, but I think just mentally, you know, taking a deep breath and understanding we still have a lot of meaningful games left to play and thankful to be playing back at home. So I think it's good for everybody. Yeah, I think it does, you know what I mean? It's a, it's a long road trip this time of the year out here, you know, and yeah, I think it kind of gets you back to normal, get an off day at home, slipping in your own bed and, and planning for our fans. There you go. That's John Schneider speaking to the media. He mentioned it was hot Jeff. You like that? He went out of his way to mention the heat. You know, I always, not being in the stadium. You know, I, I, I'm saying to

1:03:46myself, okay, you got to pull, pull back a little bit on the whole, you know, heat thing because you're not in the stadium. You don't know how hot it really was et cetera, et cetera, but I'm not going to do that because it's hot everywhere. I mean, and I got news for everybody with global warming. It's going to be hot or next year. I can pretty much guarantee that next September, she's going to be stinky hot someplace. So yeah, yeah, I'm not really buying that. And you know, and as for the bad atmosphere, to me, it's like the drop without a roof. And from what I heard in TV anyhow, the fans that were there, most of them seemed to be blue jays. Yeah. So I, you know, I, it's September. You're in a race-free playoff spot. You are the defending American league champions. You shouldn't need the quote unquote atmosphere on the road to, to, to, to, to motivate you.

1:04:47A you just shouldn't. Let's also hear a little bit before we go back to the phones and back to the text line from George Springer who had a taxi day. Give the guy a day off show. Come on. Let's, let's hear from Springer. George John mentioned he's giving me a couple days because he kind of danged up right now. He's shared just what you're going through physically. Uh, no. Um, I'm just doing everything I can to be available. Um, it's, it's September. It's been a long year. I think for everybody. So it's one of those things where I'm doing everything I, I can to be available. And we'll see what happens. Understanding he only had one at that today. When you were watching the game, what do you think made it difficult for you guys to generate offense? Um, I mean, I thought we hit some balls hard. I, I think all the guys did a really good job of kind of, you know, in out, up, down, um, you know, and made some good pitches. You know, what when they had to I thought it was a good trip. You know, obviously we came out, uh, believe it was five and four.

1:05:48You know, whatever it is, um, which is always good. So, you know, obviously, you, you want to win every series and, you know, you would have, you want to have the best record possible. Obviously, at, at this point in time, but for us to, you know, to, to go positive on a trip, um, is big. Obviously, it's not from winning. What needs to happen? I mean that, I mean, I don't, I don't think anybody cares how much about stats or any of the scoreboard stuff is caught and win. I mean, everybody knows what's at stake. Um, and that's what really all that matters. From mental standpoint, how much does the next 48 hours of knock? What an offer of reset? Yeah, I mean, obviously, this is a long, you know, this is, but, you know, a nine day, uh, or, you know, 11 days for us on the road. So to, to get home, you know, have an, uh, an off day to go back into a big series, um, is, is huge. Yeah, I mean, it's huge. I mean, we're, we're right there. You know, all you want is a chance in September. And

1:06:52this team is going to be playing, you know, some meaningful baseball over the next 15, 16 days. So, you know, go out and play and think everybody in that locker room is, you know, believes in each other and, you know, under, you know, kind of understands the, the mission and, you know, knows what has to happen. That is George Springer speaking with the media after, uh, yeah, other than is that bad? Yeah, I was going to say he was, uh, he spoke to the media for about two and a half minutes. I think that's probably like three times as long as that won AB. He, he, he had at the end of the game, you know, his last answer they're talking about all you want is a chance in September. This team is going to be playing some meaningful baseball. You know, I thought that was interesting. Jeff only because I had a conversation, uh, right before his, the start against the Mariners with Scherzer. And, uh, you know, he was generous with his time. Shout with him, spoke with him with a dugout for the pregame show for, for about 10, 15 minutes. And the first thing he said to me when I asked him, Hey, I mean, how do you celebrate a big time accomplishments like the innings pitch you, you reached in the top 10 strikeouts. Uh, how do you celebrate that amidst the season? That's

1:07:53been kind of touch and go. And he said, and he said, he said almost word for word, the exact same thing. Like the thing that Springer mentioned in terms of all we want, the best thing you could want as a baseball, baseball players to be playing meaningful games down the stretch. Now, I'm sure they didn't anticipate it being on this side of 500. I'm sure they anticipated being the shape of it, looking a lot different. But I guess that is just again, it may be it is a canned response to a certain extent, but yeah, I just, it is something that the vets at the very least seem to parry pretty frequently. Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, that's what they should be saying. I mean, those are those are veteran things to say, right? In any interview. Um, yeah, meaningful games. It's true. I think though I'm sure Max's take on meaningful games would be trying to get first place in the American League East or trying to, you know, increase our lead in the in the wild car spot. I mean, they are meaningful games, but there's meaningful games. And then there's meaningful games, I guess is the way I would, is the way I

1:08:57would put it. But yeah, listen, you got a chance. That's not a bad thing. And as I said, whoever gets at third wild card spot, you know, I think they got pretty good shot at knocking off at when in that first series. I wouldn't surprise me at all. Yeah, there's a, you know, big jump between that and winning the American League. But, you know, with the, if, if Dylan Seas writes the ship a little bit and given what we've seen from Jose Soriano, you know, if the J's make the first, make the wild card round, I'd take them over whoever they're playing. And I would frankly do that probably with the Texas Rangers, not sure about the Orioles, but I'd probably do it with the Rangers. I definitely do it with the Guardians. So yeah, I get with their both, I get with their both saying. And, you know,

1:09:57credit to them for saying that. But yeah, at this point in the year, one of the things I, I know as a having covered a lot of baseball is a lot of the quotes in September kind of they kind of start to sound the same because people have not only have they played too much baseball, they've had too many questions thrown their way by this point in the year. So they start going for the easy answers. 416-870-05-91 triple-A triple-A-605-90 star-5-90 on your cell. Let's go back to the phones, Jeff. Let's go to Ryan right here in Toronto. Ryan, what's up? Gentlemen, how are we today? You know, it could be better, I guess. Yeah, amen to that. First I'll start off with, have you guys ever seen Godfather 3? You know what? I unfortunately I have. It's not a great move. This is your wheelhouse. This is a show's wheelhouse. So I'm just going to say awful movie guys. He's the movie name is seen. The same is seen where I've already told them I think I'm out.

1:10:59Then we pull the movie back in. Well, this Blue J's team is the exact opposite of that. Every time they pull the movie back in, they push me back in. That's how it feels watching this baseball team, and it is, I don't even get it. It's like being in a toxic relationship. Like every time things start to smooth out, we're feeling good. You know, we had a couple good weeks and maybe we went on a couple good movie dates. I'm like, communications getting better. I don't even feel bad taking her home to mom this week for supper. It's a great week. Then she turns around. Does some nasty business and you're just like, what, what are we doing? Sure, it's half my fault. They're still being involved in the situation, but there's zero accountability coming down there from the other end. I want to give an example of this. Ross Akins have been the general manager for a decade here. No one has ever had that amount of time to screw up and fix it and screw up and fix it and screw up and fix it. Okay. Like that's, he's so lucky to have that opportunity with Mark Shapiro. I hope he knows that.

1:12:05He remiss the playoffs by one game in 2021. It's the greatest offense I've ever seen with my two eyes. They overdo it. They overcorrect that situation. Then since they've overcorrected that situation, it feels like they haven't even tried to go back the other way kind of on it. They've banked too much on the likes of a Vladimir grow junior or a George Springer to be God again in his 36 year old season. Maybe that wasn't going to happen. I think that's delusional to think that it was going to happen. There's simply just wasn't enough done to fix this line up this year. Even say Vlad is hitting 300 with 30 home runs and 100 RBI's right now. This team is still underperforming. Just flat out, still underperforming with everyone doing what they're doing. There's so many parts of this lineup that need to be addressed. It can't just be the hope of Blue Jays fans filling that stadium anymore. It has to be what you're putting on the

1:13:06field and the work you put into this lineup filling the stadium. I'll tell you what, man, that stadium will empty out real quick in a couple of years. If you guys continue to do this and continue to just hope Vlad is going to be that guy. I don't want to say he's not that guy, but dude, he's not that guy. He's great defensive baseball player and a wonderful fit hitter on every baseball team in the league. He is no more than that. He is no less than that. This year, he's quite a bit less than that and makes me sick. I'm like stomach to watch it every day. But let's just throw him out in the third spot of the lineup and hope it works, I guess. I don't know. There needs to be something done. There needs to be some sort of form of accountability and that's not just firing a hitting coach. It's got to be deeper than that. There needs to be like real systemic changes made, whether we make the playoffs or not. This was a joke of a season and someone needs, I don't know how I'm going to say pay, but someone needs to take accountability for the lack of their ability to do their job. Like clearly, to people doing the job right now,

1:14:11writing this team aren't doing a great job because it's literally a roller coaster of what we're going through every year. Whether they're great or terrible or great or terrible, or we just make it or we're not even close. I got to tell you, you know what? That sounds like about 27 other MLB teams at the exception of the Dodgers. That's given excuses. No, I'm saying I don't want to be like, let me finish, but I was going to say further to your point, the difference is that this is a team that has run a high payroll every year. Yeah. And you know, I'll say this for Ross. I mean, first of all, the management style of this organization, I mean, you're right. Ross has been here for a long time. Mark has been here for a long time. He's going to be here for a long time. That's just, and that's kind of the way baseball is now. There aren't a lot of general managers who get, you know, they don't get fired as quickly as they used to in the game, which is, you know, something that I think is probably,

1:15:14probably requires a little more time to explain. And I'm not entirely certain why it is. I think, frankly, I think it's because a lot of teams now are owned by corporations or, you know, are owned by groups of owners. So you don't have that one person who lives and dies with the team, the way, for example, George Steinbrenner did. And so I think that explains why you generally see more longevity. But your point about Ross is interesting because, you know, first of all, he has, as much as you can publicly take an accountability for this. I mean, he's essentially come out on Blair and Barker and interviews, other interviews in the media. Granted, I wish he would do more of them, but that's another story. And he has said, hey, this is on me. This is on the organization. So I don't, I don't buy the lack of accountability thing, but I do think, and I'm thinking specifically of the way the Jays course corrected after they lost that playoff series to Seattle with Springer and Boe colliding on that play. I do think that sometimes the

1:16:21organization has, organization has shown in the past a tendency to overcreate, or overcorrect. But they've also shown a tendency to alter course again. I know, I know I'm not, the answer isn't satisfying, isn't satisfying the caller. And I love the toxic relationship. I'm going to actually be using that call probably in Blair and Barker too. But yeah. And as far as the, you know, George Springer and the, and the contract goes, I know this about professional sports in general, you don't want to count on the dude in the final year of a five year contract. You just generally don't, especially when that fifth year falls when the guys in his, in his thirties, like you just don't. Every long term contract that has been signed for the most part stinks in the last year. I mean, you're lucky if it's only the last year that it stinks. You know, a lot of times they

1:17:21stink in the last three years. So, yeah. But yeah, I listen, I love the call. Yeah, Ryan, it's funny. Talk about roller coaster. Ryan and I had a conversation last night after a late night edition of G's talking. It was all extremely positive, which is why I always love talking to Ryan Jeff. Oh, I love that. And I am with you, by the way. I mean, a godfather's three should not have been made. Yeah, I think that's probably the, I mean, it's just tough to follow up like two of the greatest movies ever made with godfather three, right? I mean, that's, that's a rough one. Even for, I don't know how you feel. I, I'm okay with the sequel. I never like having a sequel to the sequel. Sure. In any movie, that's fair. I just don't think it's necessary. I didn't really think that it needed to be a trilogy. I would have been fine with not getting a third shot on the movie, but I, what I digress. Yeah, I look, I think it's funny to do the evaluation of Ross Actons, right, Jeff, because you know, you look at the moves he made this past year. And now they did offer that big deal to Kot Tucker and they were rebuffed because he went to the Dodgers. And like you said earlier, it's a really good thing they did not sign that deal. But I mean, look at the other big moves they

1:18:23may, they signed Dylan C's, they signed Tyler Rogers and Kazumoko Motto, all three of which have been arguably three of the best players on the team this season. And at the same time, and there's a texture from Tyler and Barry, I thought was interesting. They kind of ties into this. Tyler and the text line saying, I believe the blue jays hires higher ups expected Santander and barger to be in the line of this year. Those guys complemented with Vladie Kirk and Okamoto. You would have expected at least 50 more home runs this year. They didn't simply, they simply didn't just hit enough home runs and weren't good enough to be a single machine and beat everybody. So perhaps like that was a part of this being a rye. And I don't think you could have foreseen at least the barger thing. I'm not sure you can have foreseen that given that he got injured twice effectively. But the Santander thing, maybe they could have foreseen that a little bit more given what happened post world series. But I mean, that's a part of this as well, I would say. When it comes to evaluating what Ross Hackens did from an offensive perspective. Yeah, absolutely. Those are both those are both great points. I don't think anybody didn't expect that as in barger to be to be in the line-up every day in this team. And yeah, you know, the jays seem to be, they seem to think they had a

1:19:29pretty good handle and where Anthony Santander was. And certainly there were expectations he was he was going to going to contribute this year. You know, and that's you can argue about having misplaced faith in Anthony Santander. You can maybe look back at that and go maybe the jays should have sort of tried to put themselves in a position where they didn't even really have to rely on Anthony Santander. And then if he was healthy, you know, you worry about across that bridge when he comes to it, right? If all of a sudden you show up in Anthony Santander is healthy and you've added another hitter and barge yourself. Okay, now we can figure how do we figure this out? May have to trade somebody may have to have somebody move position, but you can figure that out. Having more options is better than having fewer options. So yeah, that is a, you know, if I, I mean, if I had to have any criticism of what the front office did this off season,

1:20:33it would be I think they put too much faith in Anthony Santander. Sure. And they definitely had too much faith in Jeff Hoffman. Now to their credit, they pivoted off that pretty quickly. But those are two things that I think, you know, you can criticize the organization for, but you know, by and large, Ross's like Ross's big moves have been, have been pretty good. And some of his minor moves have been pretty good as well. Jose Soriano is a terrific trade. The pitching has been pretty strong starting pitching the very least under Ross. It's just, it's kind of funny. It's almost like the maybe not quite the opposite of Alex and Thopolis, but I always thought one of things and Thopolis was really good at even and you see what the brave's to is that he was always really good at identifying power bats to help him out in a pinch. And it's kind of we're having like the mirror image of that conversation with Ross. Yeah, exactly. Where Alex was very good at sort of seeing the bigger picture involved in putting a good lineup together. You know, and, but,

1:21:40you know, I've also got to say this, you know, there was a time where Alex wasn't exactly the bell of the ball in this city. Yeah, that's true, too. Yeah. I mean, I can tell you for a fact, I know that there were discussions about firing Alex. I listened to the Jeff Blair show at that time. I remember. And it's, you know, that's kind of where we are. But I do like, I find the point fascinating about about general managers. And I just, I do think there seems to be more of a trend towards being patient with general managers in the game now. Then, you know, then, then we've seen in the past. And I think a lot of that has to do with how front offices manage up. Does the wild card being extended have to do with that, too? It's got it, right? Certainly. Because I can go to my owner and say, we're game out. And now, you know, my owner might look at me and go, yeah, but your three games under 500. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. We're game out. We're getting extra revenue. You're getting extra gates. So that's also that's absolutely also a point.

1:22:41You know, the wild card is not only has the wild card made, I think made baseball more interesting, but it's certainly prolonged the careers of more than a handful of general managers. Well, Jeff, we solved it all. We solved it all today. I don't even know. I think we should just not do blue jays talk until the final until the final the final series of the season because we've solved everything. There you go. There you go. Even movies. Yes. Godfather three should not exist. There you go. Jeff Listen, I wish was was under a better circumstances for you and I, but this was fun. Yeah, it was a lot of fun show. Always a pleasure. Thanks, man. That is the great Jeff Blair. I'm show alley. We got a bounce blue jays baseball brought to you by your local family on Crownless control centers in centerville and Sussex Corner, New Brunswick, protect your vehicle with Canada's number one rust protection. Find your local Crownless control family at crown.com. Four Jeff Blair, Eric Smith, Chris LaRue, Derek Brandeo, Nick Blackmore. I'm show alley. That does it for us. We are at a here day off tomorrow. Blair and Barker back at it for their regular

1:23:41four to six times slot and then B&B have jays talk on Friday with the Orioles in town as well. I'm back on the weekend with Nick Ashmore down at the Roger Center. Have a great night everyone. We will talk to you later.