ST: Blue Jays @ Rays| Sept 2nd-4th

[Steelo Green]

It feels like the season actually was saved today.

Until tomorrow

[dagger]

More Barnes in future, please Gibby.

Sure, but I thought 2.1 innings was pushing it a bit. He's best in the first inning he pitches, a little less so in the second. No stretched out for more than that. He was a closer at Dunedin, and has a great one-inning mentality. Neil Wagner, though a harder thrower, had the same kind of profile.

[The_Hater]

It feels like the season actually was saved today.

It does, but we'll likely say the exact same thing 10-12 more times this month.

[The_Hater]

Carrera is a nightmare.

Because he made a huge catch? Huh?

[BigLeagueChew]

Carrera is a nightmare.

Because he made a huge catch? Huh?

Because he nearly took out the best or 2nd best centre fielder in baseball when Pillar apparently called for it.

[Lateral Quicks]

More Barnes in future, please Gibby.

Sure, but I thought 2.1 innings was pushing it a bit. He's best in the first inning he pitches, a little less so in the second. No stretched out for more than that. He was a closer at Dunedin, and has a great one-inning mentality. Neil Wagner, though a harder thrower, had the same kind of profile.

Agreed 100%. But Gibby seems to think all young arms are fungible, so he likes to use them for multiple innings. In two of his five outings so far, Barnes has pitched 2+ innings. They've bred him to be a one inning late inning arm, so leave it to Gibby to take him out of his comfort zone. The only time he got touched so far was in his 2 inning outing vs. Tampa in August.

[The_Hater]

Carrera is a nightmare.

Because he made a huge catch? Huh?

Because he nearly took out the best or 2nd best centre fielder in baseball when Pillar apparently called for it.

It was a ball in the gap that Pillar dived for AND missed. If Pillar called for it, which is extremely unlikely considering he had to lay out for it, thank God Carerra continued to make a play on it.

[BigLeagueChew]

It was a ball in the gap that Pillar dived for AND missed. If Pillar called for it, which is extremely unlikely considering he had to lay out for it, thank God Carerra continued to make a play on it.

Was thinking the opposite , that he laid out for it because he called for it first and Carrera didn't hear him. Diving for it without calling it first is just asking for it if thats what happened.

[ldnk]

Well huge outcome in the Boston - Oakland game. Eduardo Rodriguez was pitching a no-hitter with 2 outs in the 8th. Replay overturned an out call into a single and from there Oakland won 1-0 in the 9th.

Jays have a 1-game lead in the division again.

Baltimore also lost to the Yankees.

Jays - N/A
Red Sox - 1.0 GB
Orioles - 3.0 GB
Yankees - 6.5 GB

Baltimore is now tied for the 2nd wildcard with Detroit so no guarantees of a playoff spot for 3rd place in the division.

[The_Hater]

It was a ball in the gap that Pillar dived for AND missed. If Pillar called for it, which is extremely unlikely considering he had to lay out for it, thank God Carerra continued to make a play on it.

Was thinking the opposite , that he laid out for it because he called for it first and Carrera didn't hear him. Diving for it without calling it first is just asking for it if thats what happened.

I'm not saying that I know for certain what happened in their communication but you generally call for balls thst you have a bead on, not those that require a circus catch. Plus you're assuming that Pillar called for the ball when Carerra clearly had a better opportunity on the ball. So how are you so certain that Pillar called for it and not Carerra instead of the reverse? Seems unfair that you immediately threw 100% of the blame on Carerra. Just sayin.

[The_Hater]

Well huge outcome in the Boston - Oakland game. Eduardo Rodriguez was pitching a no-hitter with 2 outs in the 8th. Replay overturned an out call into a single and from there Oakland won 1-0 in the 9th.

Jays have a 1-game lead in the division again.

Baltimore also lost to the Yankees.

Jays - N/A
Red Sox - 1.0 GB
Orioles - 3.0 GB
Yankees - 6.5 GB

Baltimore is now tied for the 2nd wildcard with Detroit so no guarantees of a playoff spot for 3rd place in the division.

The downside here is Boston is starting to get some really good starts out of their entire rotation aside from Wright, the one guy that kept things together throughout the First half. Boston with solid starting pitching is pretty scary.

[ldnk]

Well huge outcome in the Boston - Oakland game. Eduardo Rodriguez was pitching a no-hitter with 2 outs in the 8th. Replay overturned an out call into a single and from there Oakland won 1-0 in the 9th.

Jays have a 1-game lead in the division again.

Baltimore also lost to the Yankees.

Jays - N/A
Red Sox - 1.0 GB
Orioles - 3.0 GB
Yankees - 6.5 GB

Baltimore is now tied for the 2nd wildcard with Detroit so no guarantees of a playoff spot for 3rd place in the division.

The downside here is Boston is starting to get some really good starts out of their entire rotation aside from Wright, the one guy that kept things together throughout the First half. Boston with solid starting pitching is pretty scary.

Yeah, I'm having a hard time seeing the Jays as the division winner, although the Jays could easily go on a tear.

Red Sox/Orioles - 3 in Boston, 4 in Baltimore
Red Sox/Yankees - 4 in Boston, 3 in New York
Orioles/Yankees - 3 in New York
Jays/Red Sox - 3 in Toronto, 3 in Boston
Jays/Orioles - 3 in Toronto
Jays/Yankees - 4 in Toronto, 3 in New York

The Jays "easy" games are 3 against the Rays, 4 against the Angels and 3 against the Mariners (who should probably be out of the race by then)
The Red Sox have 3 agains the Padres and 3 against the Rays
The Orioles have 3 against the Diamondbacks (???) and 4 against the Rays as part of an 11-game home-stand

There are enough head-to-head games that winning the series against the Red Sox, Orioles and Yankees might be enough to win the division but this is likely/hopefully going to go down to the wire.

[BigLeagueChew]

I'm not saying that I know for certain what happened in their communication but you generally call for balls thst you have a bead on, not those that require a circus catch. Plus you're assuming that Pillar called for the ball when Carerra clearly had a better opportunity on the ball. So how are you so certain that Pillar called for it and not Carerra instead of the reverse? Seems unfair that you immediately threw 100% of the blame on Carerra. Just sayin.

I have no idea who called for it, the replay game showed him possibly trying to but it's hard to yell while running full tilt, maybe they both called for it. Also when their is a defensive play near Pillar I usually give him the benefit of doubt since hes the CF and can catch just about everything near him , he goes for them all the time.

If they both called for it and didn't hear each other, Carrera is still a disaster but I mostly said it because they mention Pillar possibly calling for it on play by play. More importantly nobody was hurt and the ball was caught.

[Raps_Swingman]

Many thanks to former BJ Kendall Gravenman for shutting down the Red Sox today. That's why Beaner traded us JD for him....

[Santoki]

Thank god they won so we don't have to hear the "they don't want it" crap that gets thrown out when they go into a mini-slide. I have to assume that anyone that legitimately believes that theory has never played a competitive sport before.

[The_Hater]

Thank god they won so we don't have to hear the "they don't want it" crap that gets thrown out when they go into a mini-slide. I have to assume that anyone that legitimately believes that theory has never played a competitive sport before.

It only makes sense. They spent months crawling out from and ice cold start, made numerous trades to boost the roster, finally gained hold of first place and only then decided that they didn't really want it. Why else would they lose 2 games in a row?

Tanaka going today. My guess is most of the lineup stops trying again.

[RalphWiggum]

Thank god they won so we don't have to hear the "they don't want it" crap that gets thrown out when they go into a mini-slide. I have to assume that anyone that legitimately believes that theory has never played a competitive sport before.

Baseball 9 out of 10 times is not a "try harder" sport. It's not basketball where you can chalk losses up to lack of effort. I wish more people could see that.

[LLJ]

If only Smoak tried harder to want to hit the ball, he'd be a better hitter.

[BigLeagueChew]

Turns out noone called for the fly ball near the end of the 3rd game.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-notebook-pillar-explains-close-call-carrera/

Explanation makes sense. Pretty terrible ballpark if outfielders feel like they need to play that way.