Toronto Blue Jays vs. Tampa Bay (Devil...cause they are the devil) Rays

[whysoserious]

I questioned Wilner on that tweet mentioning the Jays lost 6 to start September followed by a 12-1 streak. He says sure and no one saw that coming for that team. It's false to keep equating it to anything positive. What about a team that starts a losing streak and keeps losing, do we just dismiss that?

That team in 93 never had a month under .500 and the 6 game losing streak was way more of an anomaly than this team struggling at a variety of times this season and now going in to this funk.

[The_Hater]

Things we've learned this series:

Navarro is not the magic potion to fix Estrada. Whoever is catching has had nothing to do with his success the past 2 seasons.

If you put Goins on the roster, Gibby will always find an excuse to play him over superior players.

Gibby will always mystify with his choice of both who to pinch hit for and who to pinch hit with. It generally defies logic.

Bo Schultz is terrible.

[The_Hater]

Offense, defense and pitching have all decided to fold at the most crucial time.

Never seen this coming just three weeks ago. This is a major collapse for this team that was good for the majority of the year. When this team needed him the most- Mr. No Hometown Discount Jose Bautista has been terrible the past two weeks. He will be lucky to get half of what he demanded in the free agent market. Jays should let him walk after the year.

Lucky to get half? It's much, much worse than that for Jose.

Jose wanted $150 million and he's not getting anything close to $75 million. Right now his market value is likely 2 years and $25/30 million if not 1 year at the qualifying offer. If I'm the Blue Jays, I'm considering him at 2 low paid years but as soon as a team offers a 3rd year I let him walk.

[Mehar]

Offense, defense and pitching have all decided to fold at the most crucial time.

Never seen this coming just three weeks ago. This is a major collapse for this team that was good for the majority of the year. When this team needed him the most- Mr. No Hometown Discount Jose Bautista has been terrible the past two weeks. He will be lucky to get half of what he demanded in the free agent market. Jays should let him walk after the year.

Lucky to get half? It's much, much worse than that for Jose.

Jose wanted $150 million and he's not getting anything close to $75 million. Right now his market value is likely 2 years and $25/30 million if not 1 year at the qualifying offer. If I'm the Blue Jays, I'm considering him at 2 low paid years but as soon as a team offers a 3rd year I let him walk.

I was being overly generous. Jose Bautista will be in for rude awakening. I agree with you on his current market value.

[JaysRule15]

Seems like everything fell apart after that series we had in Camden Yards. Team hasn't been the same since.

[LLJ]

[RalphWiggum]

Offense, defense and pitching have all decided to fold at the most crucial time.

Never seen this coming just three weeks ago. This is a major collapse for this team that was good for the majority of the year. When this team needed him the most- Mr. No Hometown Discount Jose Bautista has been terrible the past two weeks. He will be lucky to get half of what he demanded in the free agent market. Jays should let him walk after the year.

The Jay's probably offered him something in the 4 year 80 million range. When the best offer he gets is in the 2 year 20 million range he's going to be kicking himself in the ass.

This is what happens when older athletes are delusional about their value beyond their mid 30s. I'd be losing my mind if I lost out on 60 million on my last contract.

[The_Hater]

I questioned Wilner on that tweet mentioning the Jays lost 6 to start September followed by a 12-1 streak. He says sure and no one saw that coming for that team. It's false to keep equating it to anything positive. What about a team that starts a losing streak and keeps losing, do we just dismiss that?

That team in 93 never had a month under .500 and the 6 game losing streak was way more of an anomaly than this team struggling at a variety of times this season and now going in to this funk.

The Cubs are going to win close to 105 games this season and they went 12-14 in July.

Kansas City went 11-17 in September last year on their way to winning the series.

This is baseball where even the best teams have bad streaks. No doubt the timing sucks but bad streaks don't last forever.

[whysoserious]

The Cubs are going to win close to 105 games this season and they went 12-14 in July.

Kansas City went 11-17 in September last year on their way to winning the series.

This is baseball where even the best teams have bad streaks. No doubt the timing sucks but bad streaks don't last forever.

The question is is the bad streak an anomaly vs what the team regularly does? Which is why mentioning the 93 team in the first place has 0 relevancy but that's where Wilner usually likes to go. Pick one positive event that somewhat aligns keep the positive spin going.

As I mentioned, that 93 team never had a losing month (I say that now because it's what I originally stated, upon review they were under .500 in July and had a rough stretch to start July) and the 6 game losing streak in September followed by 12-1 streak.

The 93 team has 0 impact on what's going on here. I fully acknowledge that things balance out over 162 games. Bad streaks happen and ours is happening at the worse possible time. At the same time this team was under. 500 the first month and now this plus various stretches of struggling play throughout the year. I'll also acknowledge that this years struggles throughout the season is fresh in our minds vs. things that could have happened in 93.

My issue with him goes back to cherry picking small things to spin positive while ripping any caller that calls in and ranting on twitter to anyone that replies to him.

[The_Hater]

The question is is the bad streak an anomaly vs what the team regularly does? Which is why mentioning the 93 team in the first place has 0 relevancy but that's where Wilner usually likes to go. Pick one positive event that somewhat aligns keep the positive spin going.

As I mentioned, that 93 team never had a losing month (I say that now because it's what I originally stated, upon review they were under .500 in July and had a rough stretch to start July) and the 6 game losing streak in September followed by 12-1 streak.

The 93 team has 0 impact on what's going on here. I fully acknowledge that things balance out over 162 games. Bad streaks happen and ours is happening at the worse possible time. At the same time this team was under. 500 the first month and now this plus various stretches of struggling play throughout the year. I'll also acknowledge that this years struggles throughout the season is fresh in our minds vs. things that could have happened in 93.

My issue with him goes back to cherry picking small things to spin positive while ripping any caller that calls in and ranting on twitter to anyone that replies to him.

I think it's an analomy. This team was in 1st place on September 1st and between a terrible first 7 weeks of the season and August 31st they went 59-33. Now they're 3-9 in September. They picked a terrible time to play bad baseball but they were the best team in the AL for the 3 1/2 months prior to this slide.

Fans just don't see this in the NBA or NFL or NHL. Baseball is a game where contenders lose 9 out of every 20 games so there are always going to be streaks of below .500 baseball. Right now the Jays are awful but things can turn around quickly. I mentioned the Royals last post. 11-17 in September. 4-0 in October and then they won 3 rounds of playoffs going 11-5 to win the series.

[Lateral Quicks]

Really sorry to have missed this one. I'm sure I would have been entertained by our grand total of two hits on the day.

Also, can we stop using Dermody in close games, Gibby? And can we just stop using Loup altogether? We have expanded rosters Gibby, you aren't being forced to use crappy relievers even if your starter only goes 5.

[Geddy]

I can't really single out Jose for being bad this season since he has been in and out of the lineup so often. The injuries and time off can easily mess up a hitter's timing.

[Skin Blues]

It's an anomaly that we can't score runs. I don't think everybody forgot how to hit all of a sudden.

The bullpen has been bad though, as well as the usage of the bullpen. We need to stop using Cecil for one or two batters per game. We have to lean on him and give fewer important innings to our september call-ups and scrubs. I don't want to see the ball in Ryan Tepera's hands, or Feldman, when it matters. I don't care what hand they throw with, Cecil is simply a better option than them. We need to use our top relievers as much as often in close games.

[Dan2087]

Im normally pretty positive when it comes to this team and don't normally do this but...time to PANAC

[Raptor_Guy]

It's an anomaly that we can't score runs. I don't think everybody forgot how to hit all of a sudden.

The bullpen has been bad though, as well as the usage of the bullpen. We need to stop using Cecil for one or two batters per game. We have to lean on him and give fewer important innings to our september call-ups and scrubs. I don't want to see the ball in Ryan Tepera's hands, or Feldman, when it matters. I don't care what hand they throw with, Cecil is simply a better option than them. We need to use our top relievers as much as often in close games.

It's not as much of an anomaly as people are making it out to be though, this team has been bad at hitting for most of the season. They were bad in April and May and they're still 26th in hitting since the all star break. The problem is when our starting pitching isn't outstanding it's way more noticeable.

For example, at the beginning of August the Jays scored 10 runs over the span of 4 games vs Houston and broke a record for most strikeouts in a series. But they won 3 of 4 games and no one cared about the hitting. If they did that now with the starting pitching we've been getting, they would lose those games and everyone would be up in arms about how bad the offence was.

[Xaos]

we better go 6-4 or better in these last 10 games if we have any hope of tasting the playoffs!

If it comes down to a one game play off game I want Happ starting for us. Not too confident with Sanchez right now. His last outing wasn't great.

Here's my preference for our starting rotation.

1) Happ
2) Sanchez
3) Stroman
4) Estrada

[BramptonYute]

Oh ****, we're choking.

[zilby]

How stupid is it that the **** Orioles are a game back of the Sox and still in the pennant race

[Raps in 4]

Embarassing...

[Raps in 4]

I do think the team is done at this point. They aren't better than the other teams in the race and they are struggling in all aspects of play so it isn't just the pitching, or the hitting, or the defence, it's the whole team.

They were the fourth best team in baseball before this monumental collapse.