Toronto (73-52) at Pittsburgh (52-73), August 18-August 20

[Madvillainy2004]

27 outs 0 runs after the Springer lead off homerun might be the worst game of the year

[Randle McMurphy]

Carapazza faced controversy after a game on July 1, 2016, between the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians. Blue Jay fans booed Carapazza in response to calls made during the 2015 American League Division Series.[5][6] Carapazza went on to eject Blue Jay players Russell Martin, Edwin Encarnacion, manager John Gibbons, and called 9 Jays out-on-strikes, compared to only 1 of the visiting Indians.[7]


Oh yeah, he still holds a grudge. Doesn’t excuse Schneider for not even saying a word all game though

[Randle McMurphy]

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And 3 of those games last week took some crazy luck to win. They've been playing pretty bad baseball for a while now.

[brwnman]

That 9th inning was over as soon as the ump decided to take the bat out of Bo's hands. There was no hope after that.

[Mehar]

Not going to win many games when your two MVP's Varsho and Kirk went 0 for 8. Barger went 0 for 4 also, and his production has fallen off also the past 10 days or so. He should have not been hitting second today.

[Randle McMurphy]

That 9th inning was over as soon as the ump decided to take the bat out of Bo's hands. There was no hope after that.

8th was over too after a very similar call to Barger.

[Randle McMurphy]

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This front office is truly a disgrace. Reward Lauer's great performance all year with a trip to the pen and reward Fisher's phenomenal year out of the pen with a trip to AAA.

Fisher has the 2nd highest WAR for a RP behind Little this year for the Jays, absurd decision and whoever made it should be fired.

This is how you destroy clubhouses.

[JCP11]

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This front office is truly a disgrace. Reward Lauer's great performance all year with a trip to the pen and reward Fisher's phenomenal year out of the pen with a trip to AAA.

Fisher has the 2nd highest WAR for a RP behind Little this year for the Jays, absurd decision and whoever made it should be fired.

This is how you destroy clubhouses.

I don't think it's the case here. Fluharty would be the obvious candidate here but they need lefty arms. It's not an easy decision and everyone knows it. Guys are coming back from injury and there's not a lot of clear cut candidates for demotion. Yimi, Sandlin and Santander might come back, what happens then?

[Randle McMurphy]

Read on Twitter

This front office is truly a disgrace. Reward Lauer's great performance all year with a trip to the pen and reward Fisher's phenomenal year out of the pen with a trip to AAA.

Fisher has the 2nd highest WAR for a RP behind Little this year for the Jays, absurd decision and whoever made it should be fired.

This is how you destroy clubhouses.

I don't think it's the case here. Fluharty would be the obvious candidate here but they need lefty arms. It's not an easy decision and everyone knows it. Guys are coming back from injury and there's not a lot of clear cut candidates for demotion. Yimi, Sandlin and Santander might come back, what happens then?

Why do they need Fluharty for the next 2 weeks if Lauer is in the pen now?

And if any one of those guys come back, it will be during the expanded rosters in September anyway.

There is no justification for demoting one of your best RPs all season in a pennant race.

[JN]

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And 3 of those games last week took some crazy luck to win. They've been playing pretty bad baseball for a while now.

It's actually 8-11, not 7-12.
Neither looks great, but for the sake of accuracy.
It keeps us at least .500 over the last 22 games.

[Raps in 4]

We're cooling down at the wrong time.

[Tripod]

Maybe it's this...

Beiber starts Fri, Fisher demoted for spot
Lauer available in case Beiber struggles
Berrios pitches Sat...then goes on IL Sunday
Fisher brought up...so only misses 2 days
Lauer starts in Berrios spot next time in the rotation

But who knows.

Let's just hope Beiber pitches well...that's what matters 1st.

[Mehar]

Read on Twitter

This front office is truly a disgrace. Reward Lauer's great performance all year with a trip to the pen and reward Fisher's phenomenal year out of the pen with a trip to AAA.

Fisher has the 2nd highest WAR for a RP behind Little this year for the Jays, absurd decision and whoever made it should be fired.

This is how you destroy clubhouses.

I don't think it's the case here. Fluharty would be the obvious candidate here but they need lefty arms. It's not an easy decision and everyone knows it. Guys are coming back from injury and there's not a lot of clear cut candidates for demotion. Yimi, Sandlin and Santander might come back, what happens then?

Yimi is unlikely to come back this year. Rosters expand in September in case Sandlin and Santander can hopefully come back. If you are going to send Lauer to the bullpen, Fluharty should have been the guy to send down instead of Fisher. I know Fisher has not performed well in two of his last three outings, but the guy has pitched well over the course of the year. I would have not sent Fisher down, but front office saw it differently. Maybe they prefer 3 Lefties out of the bullpen for the time being.

[JCP11]

Read on Twitter

This front office is truly a disgrace. Reward Lauer's great performance all year with a trip to the pen and reward Fisher's phenomenal year out of the pen with a trip to AAA.

Fisher has the 2nd highest WAR for a RP behind Little this year for the Jays, absurd decision and whoever made it should be fired.

This is how you destroy clubhouses.

I don't think it's the case here. Fluharty would be the obvious candidate here but they need lefty arms. It's not an easy decision and everyone knows it. Guys are coming back from injury and there's not a lot of clear cut candidates for demotion. Yimi, Sandlin and Santander might come back, what happens then?

Why do they need Fluharty for the next 2 weeks if Lauer is in the pen now?

And if any one of those guys come back, it will be during the expanded rosters in September anyway.

There is no justification for demoting one of your best RPs all season in a pennant race.

It's a fair argument but to say that this decision could destroy the clubhouse is taking it a bit too far imo. A good argument could be made for Fluharty or Fisher. Fluharty showed ice in his veins in a playoff type atmosphere in LA and has been pitching well since, I'm sure the coaches took that into account. Fisher has done well in his role and also deserved to stay. All I'm saying is that it's a tough decision either way because none of them deserve to be sent down. I'm sure the clubhouse understands the situation.

[hyper316]

Expanded roster in like 2 weeks right? Doesn't matter end of the day

[Boogie!]

Cantbelieve we lost series to pirates. 1 run? Come on

[Randle McMurphy]

Cantbelieve we lost series to pirates. 1 run? Come on

Fire them

[DelAbbot]

We're cooling down at the wrong time.

mean reversion at the wrong time

[Lateral Quicks]

At the end of the day, the other guys are more established vets than Lauer. On sheer numbers, it ought to be Berrios going to the pen, not Lauer. That said, if Bieber is healthy, I'd be surprised to see Berrios get a start in the post-season. It will be Gausman/Scherzer/Bieber/Lauer, with Bassitt and Berrios in the pen.

[Randle McMurphy]

We're cooling down at the wrong time.

mean reversion at the wrong time

A worse time would be the end of September/into October though. Maybe they'll heat up again before the end. Or maybe they'll be exposed as the frauds we all fear them to be.