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Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:31 pm**

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/ ... ers-centre

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:42 pm**

CZAR85 wrote:http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/6837424/baseball-toronto-blue-jays-suspicion-again-stealing-signs-rogers-centre

"Not too easy, is it?"

From the visitors bullpen at Rogers Centre in Toronto, an American League pitcher screamed at Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista as he took his position late in a game in the spring of 2010.

"It's not too [f------] easy to hit home runs when you don't know what's coming!"

Sure thing, unnamed pitcher, that's why it takes Jose an amazingly whopping 2 extra AB's to hit a HR on the road compared to at home right?

Edit: I guess they were talking about 2010. Regardless, **** him.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:45 pm**

I'd like to think that if the Jays were stealing signs, they'd be playing better than .500 ball.

Non-story at best. ESPN trying to sensationalize something all over again.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:53 pm**

I'd love it if 8 fans would paint "fastball" on their chests and sit in centre field for at least the first inning of the next Yankees game. Then stand up randomly to piss off their bullpen.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:21 pm**

A mysterious man in white relaying signs from the outfield haha

Maybe this uniform would make sense!

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:27 pm**

Such BS

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:35 pm**

Lol, this (non) story is on their homepage now. **** ESPN.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:36 pm**

Joey Bats has better numbers on the road so it's a non issue. Canadian readership must be down at ESPN, hence the article.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:45 pm**

What a bunch of bull from ESPN. Typical New York/Boston bias.

Just because those teams probably got beat they act like a bunch of sore losers, and bring up baseless accusations. I would love to see ESPN show the home-road splits for home runs hit by other teams. I wouldn't be surprised if most teams hit better at home than on the road.

Either way I always thought ESPN was full of **** and this just proves my point.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:46 pm**

jparencibia9 jp arencibia
Just read the dumbest article on ESPN about us getting signs? I'm hitting 200 and we get signs at home, that makes sense? #clowns

jparencibia9 jp arencibia
Teams/pitchers need to accept when we kick their ass in the rogers centre n not give excuses... Looks like we had verlanders signs #nohitter

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:48 pm**

Well done, JP.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:48 pm**

I would like to know why Wells, Overbay, Patterson, etc have not come out in public and said we steal signs if we are doing it.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:49 pm**

I don't do the twitter thing but if anyone wants to contact the writer:

http://twitter.com/#!/AmyKNelson

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:57 pm**

Amy Nelson is a (Please Use More Appropriate Word) to publish all that on hearsay without any evidence whatsoever. Nobody is even allowed to sit in center field directly its all blacked out. Even if there was someone back there its 400ft away you really think you can catch what signs they flashed? Give me a break get a real story..f*#*# her. Should spam her twitter account.

Amy K. Nelson is a staff writer for ESPN.com. She can be reached at Amy.K.Nelson@espn.com and on Twitter at @amyknelson. Peter Keating is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and can be reached at Peter.J.Keating@espn.com and on Twitter at @PKStatsBlog.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:59 pm**

LBJSeizedMyID wrote:Joey Bats has better numbers on the road so it's a non issue. Canadian readership must be down at ESPN, hence the article.

No he doesn't. Joey Bats has much better numbers at home in 2010 and 2011 (less so in 2011).

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:01 pm**

It's very shoddy journalism and contains nothing in the way of evidence, but I find it amusing.

Whenever I go to a game next, I'll be looking for the man in white. :lol:

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:07 pm**

Going by the timing it still wouldn't work. First off I don't think the person would be sitting there with a pair of binoculars, so if there were someone then he would be getting signs relayed by someone watching on a tv.

So the person sees the sign on tv, then has to relay to the guy in the seat. The guy in the seat then starts to spaz out, which the batter has to notice before the pitch comes. With the concentration that batters have I don't think they would hit anything if they were paying attention to some guy in the stands.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:09 pm**

Randle McMurphy wrote:It's very shoddy journalism and contains nothing in the way of evidence, but I find it amusing.

Whenever I go to a game next, I'll be looking for the man in white.

The article does provide some statistical evidence. Am I the only one who read the article without my thick rimmed homer glasses on?

But only the Blue Jays, and not their opponents, got a home run boost in Toronto. When the Jays were on the road in 2010, they hit home runs in 4 percent of plate appearances in which they made contact, compared with an AL average of 3.6 percent. At Rogers, their home run on contact rate soared to 5.4 percent, which is a home-field advantage seven times the magnitude teams typically enjoy.

I'm not saying that's concrete proof in any way, but to say they provided 'nothing in the way of evidence' is not correct. Hell the Oakland story alone is enough to say they had SOME evidence. Unless you think those players were just telling bald faced lies? I would say a guy lifting his arm up prior to every off-speed pitch, and not prior to every fastball, is a pretty good indicator of something fishy.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:11 pm**

rkid wrote:Going by the timing it still wouldn't work. First off I don't think the person would be sitting there with a pair of binoculars, so if there were someone then he would be getting signs relayed by someone watching on a tv.

So the person sees the sign on tv, then has to relay to the guy in the seat. The guy in the seat then starts to spaz out, which the batter has to notice before the pitch comes. With the concentration that batters have I don't think they would hit anything if they were paying attention to some guy in the stands.

It doesn't have to be tv. It could very well be someone somewhere else relaying the signs. That would be less conspicuous then someone with binoculars also being the signal man.

And the Oakland story did go over the noticing thing - the guy was positioned to be above the pitcher. What this doesn't account for is the guy needing to be in a different spot for righties and lefties.

Posted: **Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:13 pm**

JP's responses are rather awesome.

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