Tampa Bay Rays (89-54) at Toronto Blue Jays (80-63) - September 13-15

[Mehar]

Had to figure Montoyo would find a way to make a stupid decision in the easiest game to manage all season. There is no excuse to use one of the only 4 good relievers on the roster in a blowout when Borucki is fresh from the minors and could use low leverage work. Ridiculous.

There was no excuse to bringing in Richards. Another idiotic decision by Montoyo. I thought for sure Borucki or even Merryweather would have gotten up.

[The_Hater]

Had to figure Montoyo would find a way to make a stupid decision in the easiest game to manage all season. There is no excuse to use one of the only 4 good relievers on the roster in a blowout when Borucki is fresh from the minors and could use low leverage work. Ridiculous.

There was no excuse to bringing in Richards. Another idiotic decision by Montoyo. I thought for sure Borucki or even Merryweather would have gotten up.

Or Pearson. Or Soria. There are a few pitchers behind Richards in the pecking order. So stupid.

[GoRapstheoriginal]

JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! WOOHOO! HOORAY! ! ! !

(distracted THE RAIDERS ARE PLAYING ON MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!)

[Michael Bradley]

Had to figure Montoyo would find a way to make a stupid decision in the easiest game to manage all season. There is no excuse to use one of the only 4 good relievers on the roster in a blowout when Borucki is fresh from the minors and could use low leverage work. Ridiculous.

There was no excuse to bringing in Richards. Another idiotic decision by Montoyo. I thought for sure Borucki or even Merryweather would have gotten up.

I can understand holding off on Merryweather since he pitched on Sunday (I think) and he might actually be one of the team’s best relievers if he could stay healthy for more than 10 seconds. The only thing I can think of is Montoyo wants to save Borucki for situational use later in this series (facing lefties) and he valued that over logic.

Either way, a win is a win.

[Schad]

Or Pearson. Or Soria. There are a few pitchers behind Richards in the pecking order. So stupid.

I'm confident Valera could have held an eight-run lead in the 9th.

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

[rapz101]

Mariners up on the Redsox after a big 3 run HR...Bluejays playoff hopes are looking up!

[Schad]

Meanwhile, in the NL, the Reds lead the race for the 2nd Wild Card. They'd be the ninth-best team in the AL and would be somewhere around 0% to make the playoffs.

Don't think I've ever seen anything quite like the good/bad split in the AL currently.

[Hottie McShotty]

Everyone's talking about Manoah and Vladdy. What about Teo's 5 hit game? What a dominant performance. Everyone is contrinbuting on this team. That's a calibre championship team! A great team in September is a scary one. Go Jays Go!

[Hottie McShotty]

Had to figure Montoyo would find a way to make a stupid decision in the easiest game to manage all season. There is no excuse to use one of the only 4 good relievers on the roster in a blowout when Borucki is fresh from the minors and could use low leverage work. Ridiculous.

There was no excuse to bringing in Richards. Another idiotic decision by Montoyo. I thought for sure Borucki or even Merryweather would have gotten up.

Or Pearson. Or Soria. There are a few pitchers behind Richards in the pecking order. So stupid.

I'm with Charlie on that move. You never want to give the opposition momentum for the next game by letting them score 4-5 runs in the 9th. Shut them down completely-demoralize them.

[Hottie McShotty]

18 games over .500

who would've thunk it? incredible run..

[The_Hater]

There was no excuse to bringing in Richards. Another idiotic decision by Montoyo. I thought for sure Borucki or even Merryweather would have gotten up.

Or Pearson. Or Soria. There are a few pitchers behind Richards in the pecking order. So stupid.

I'm with Charlie on that move. You never want to give the opposition momentum for the next game by letting them score 4-5 runs in the 9th. Shut them down completely-demoralize them.

Do yourself a favour, don’t post ideas in an attempt to look like your mind understands exactly what Charlie Montoya is thinking. It’s not a good look

[Hottie McShotty]

Or Pearson. Or Soria. There are a few pitchers behind Richards in the pecking order. So stupid.

I'm with Charlie on that move. You never want to give the opposition momentum for the next game by letting them score 4-5 runs in the 9th. Shut them down completely-demoralize them.

Do yourself a favour, don’t post ideas in an attempt to look like your mind understands exactly what Charlie Montoya is thinking. It’s not a good look

Yes, because you're inside Charlie's mind and you know EXACTLY what he's thinking. The team is on a roll right now. Lay off Montoyo and give him some credit for once. He's about to take a Blue Jays team into the playoffs for a 2nd straight year. I don't know too many other Blue Jays managers who've done so.

[Parataxis]

I'm with Charlie on that move. You never want to give the opposition momentum for the next game by letting them score 4-5 runs in the 9th. Shut them down completely-demoralize them.

Do yourself a favour, don’t post ideas in an attempt to look like your mind understands exactly what Charlie Montoya is thinking. It’s not a good look

Yes, because you're inside Charlie's mind and you know EXACTLY what he's thinking. The team is on a roll right now. Lay off Montoyo and give him some credit for once. He's about to take a Blue Jays team into the playoffs for a 2nd straight year. I don't know too many other Blue Jays managers who've done so.

They're not doing it because of Montoyo, they're doing it despite him.

[bluerap23]

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

[I_Like_Dirt]

Do yourself a favour, don’t post ideas in an attempt to look like your mind understands exactly what Charlie Montoya is thinking. It’s not a good look

Yes, because you're inside Charlie's mind and you know EXACTLY what he's thinking. The team is on a roll right now. Lay off Montoyo and give him some credit for once. He's about to take a Blue Jays team into the playoffs for a 2nd straight year. I don't know too many other Blue Jays managers who've done so.

They're not doing it because of Montoyo, they're doing it despite him.

I mean, the whole Montoyo hate-fest is centered around the idea that modern day managers are primarily in-game strategists rather than HR managers that relay strategies from upper management.

If you look at things through the lens of an HR-manager who relays upper management directives to players and gets them to buy in, it actually explains a lot including why management might keep him around and seem to think differently about him than fans. Numerous journeymen have commented on how this team likes playing with each other and has a remarkable positive attitude and doesn't give up which is unlike anything they've seen on other teams.

And it's really not a stretch to suggest his decision-making is far more limited than fans want to believe. It's just an easy excuse that allows for blaming Montoyo. People here are really suggesting that Merryweather or Pearson should have pitched? How do we even know management was allowing for that given how injured those guys have been? It doesn't mean it's the right call but the immediate assumption that everything people here disagree with was Montoyo's decision and anything the team does well was despite him is comical at this point.

[vaff87]

I believe Montoyo is a horrible in-game manager. But I believe he deserves a lot of credit for the way he’s handled difficult circumstances the last two years. We’re a young team, and we’ve had to play in three different homes this year, which no other team has had to do. We’re the only team in baseball that’s had to live in hotels the majority of the last two years. We were the only team without a home field advantage for most of this year. And compared to most teams, we’ve done remarkably well with covid. I definite think Montoyo deserves a lot of credit for how he’s managed that stuff.

[The_Hater]

I believe Montoyo is a horrible in-game manager. But I believe he deserves a lot of credit for the way he’s handled difficult circumstances the last two years. We’re a young team, and we’ve had to play in three different homes this year, which no other team has had to do. We’re the only team in baseball that’s had to live in hotels the majority of the last two years. We were the only team without a home field advantage for most of this year. And compared to most teams, we’ve done remarkably well with covid. I definite think Montoyo deserves a lot of credit for how he’s managed that stuff.

A lot could be fixed if he just handed all the pitching decisions over to Pete Walker and stayed out of it completely, but i agree about the tough circumstances and the players seem to like him quite a bit.

He’s definitely more Cito Gaston then from the Tampa Bay tree he was supposed trained under.

[JTT]

Yes, because you're inside Charlie's mind and you know EXACTLY what he's thinking. The team is on a roll right now. Lay off Montoyo and give him some credit for once. He's about to take a Blue Jays team into the playoffs for a 2nd straight year. I don't know too many other Blue Jays managers who've done so.

They're not doing it because of Montoyo, they're doing it despite him.

I mean, the whole Montoyo hate-fest is centered around the idea that modern day managers are primarily in-game strategists rather than HR managers that relay strategies from upper management.

If you look at things through the lens of an HR-manager who relays upper management directives to players and gets them to buy in, it actually explains a lot including why management might keep him around and seem to think differently about him than fans. Numerous journeymen have commented on how this team likes playing with each other and has a remarkable positive attitude and doesn't give up which is unlike anything they've seen on other teams.

And it's really not a stretch to suggest his decision-making is far more limited than fans want to believe. It's just an easy excuse that allows for blaming Montoyo. People here are really suggesting that Merryweather or Pearson should have pitched? How do we even know management was allowing for that given how injured those guys have been? It doesn't mean it's the right call but the immediate assumption that everything people here disagree with was Montoyo's decision and anything the team does well was despite him is comical at this point.

I’ll go with this to a certain extent, although I do believe that Charlie probably has the freedom in game to do what he pleases. The question then becomes, why does he make those decisions? If you believe that “he’s an idiot” then it might be hard to move you off that point. On the other hand, he’s got one of the top thirty management jobs in baseball on a team that just may have a hIstoric run to the playoffs, and will probably get manager of the year votes for the second year in a row.

So, why does he make those decisions? Why did he pitch Richards when he could have let some other guys who needed the work, pitch?

I’ll go with; he wanted to completely prevent any Ray’s momentum from building or that Richards wanted the work. It did seem odd and it never really worked, but idiotic? Meh

The other point I absolutely agree with is that effective managing is a lot more than just in game tactics.

Anyway, it’s an interesting discussion that I really hope can stay civil.