To What Extent Does Your Life Revolve Around Alejandro Kirk? (The 2023 Blue Jays Thread)

You can watch the play here (right side at the bottom):

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/red-sox-vs-blue-jays/2023/07/01/717547/final/wrap

I'd probably normally agree with you, especially with the Jays so anemic offensively--it's not like they wouldn't go on to lose in extras. I was just impressed with Buck's not atypical clairvoyance.

otm

It was a bad decision by Bichette. The ball arrived and the catcher had time to get a sandwich and coffee before Bichette got there. Buck OTM.

I watched this play live & about a million times since like it’s the Zapruder film. The consensus online seems to be:

- 3rd base coach initially waved Bichette home
- Bichette ran for home but missed when the sign changed/decided to go for broke anyway
- Think he was out anyway if he tried to go back to third will probably get caught in a rundown?

So, focusing a micro lens on this particular game-ending sequence … Did you, Bo, see Rivera make the stop sign at third?

“Yeah, I saw him,” said Bichette, who had a solo blast in the third inning, his team-leading 15th home run.

That actually wasn’t entirely clarifying.

“I mean, I knew the situation. If we could score a run, I needed to be aggressive and get there. But I also know that the ball was hit to their best thrower. I kind of assumed I’d be stopped but I didn’t really see anything.”

What are you saying exactly, Bo?

“I was ready to go. I assumed I would probably be stopped because of who it was hit to. Didn’t really see anything to tell me either way.”

Bichette is simply not the sort of person who would throw anybody under the bus. He takes groundballs with Rivera before every game. If he didn’t see, he didn’t see, or there was nothing to see, or Rivera in that split-second was betwixt arm-wheeling Bichette home or holding him up. In that fraction of confusion, the blink of an eye, Bichette ever so slightly stutter-stepped, rounding third. That might have made the crucial difference, though he thinks not.

“I think I was out either way.”

“It’s a fine line because you want to be aggressive against a really good pitcher because hits are hard to come by,” Schneider continued. “At the same time with how hard Vladdy hit that ball, I think that it makes it a really tough decision to send the guy there. So I think looking at the video — I looked at it briefly — I think Luis’ hand was up and Bo’s hauling ass, Bo’s trying to score, so it’s a bang-bang play. It’s really nobody’s fault and you’re not going to say it’s on Bo or it’s on Luis. You know what I mean? It’s a play that happens really quick and just didn’t go our way.”

Sorry! A new angle has emerged, just looks like bad baserunning decisions from this angle?

Alex Verdugo silences the Rogers Centre.

Alex Cora had some heavy praise for him after the game… “He's one of the best, if not the best, defensive right fielders in the American League.”

79th percentile OAA. 94th percentile arm strength. pic.twitter.com/jIRy2mUGbs

— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) July 2, 2023

Jays liked what they saw from Manoah last time out so much, they promoted him to Double-A; he'll take the mound for the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 15 minutes.

This Pat Jordan book I've been reading reminded me of another possible parallel to Manoah: Steve Blass. After the Huyek-Kison chapter, the next chapter skips forward to the '71 World Series and Kison's breakthrough. Blass was phenomenal that Series--two CG wins, 7 hits, 2 runs, surefire MVP except for that guy the Pirates had in RF--and he was great again in '72, finishing second in the Cy. In '73, he couldn't throw a strike: 88 IP, 84 walks. More of the same to start '74, and that was it--gone forever.

The big difference, Blass was 31. But it was such a memorable instance of losing it overnight, it gets this in his Wikipedia entry:

A condition referred to as "Steve Blass disease" has become a part of baseball lexicon. The "diagnosis" is applied to talented players who inexplicably and permanently seem to lose their ability to throw a baseball accurately. The fielder's variant of "Steve Blass disease" is sometimes referred to in baseball terminology as "Steve Sax syndrome".

Notable victims of "Steve Blass disease" include Rick Ankiel, Mark Wohlers, Dontrelle Willis, Ricky Romero, Daniel Bard.

Romero, of course, gets mentioned a lot here.

Love this from the same Wikipedia entry: In House, MD season three, episode 21, Dr. Gregory House thinks that Dr. Eric Foreman has gotten the Yips from killing a patient in the previous episode. He briefly explains the condition and says that Dr. Foreman has lost his confidence. In his explanation he mentions, by name, Pittsburgh Pirates’ World Series champion Steve Blass as having suffered the condition.

The Season 5 episode of Northern Exposure “Blood Ties” features an explicit reference to Blass during a discussion of Dr. Joel Fleischman's sudden inability to hit a vein while attempting to draw blood.

In season 1 of Prison Playbook episode 14, the main character, Kim Je-hyuk, is attributed with Steve Blass disease when trying to make his comeback in baseball.

Crisis averted! (Kidding at both ends of that statement.) Pitched five stellar innings: 3 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts, 1 run.

Ugly loss yesterday. 0-7 against the Red Sox this year.

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/astros-legend-jose-altuve-drops-subtle-hint-about-a-future-with-the-blue-jays

Posting that not for the Altuve speculation, which seems kind of farfetched to me, but for this: "If we could dream big, adding Altuve to the already potent Jays’ lineup would definitely bring them to the next level."

"Already potent Jays' lineup"? Jesus, what universe is this guy living in?

Manoah's coming back and will start Friday in Detroit.

I don't know--I'll stop short of saying "smacks of desperation," but this really seems rushed to me.

tbf facing the tigers isn't terribly different from facing a triple-a lineup

question is can he handle even a AAA lineup

The situation is optimal--on the road, weaker team--but the whole idea to me is to let him string together maybe three solid starts in a row. I know it's about mechanics, but it's about confidence, too.

Didn't click that yesterday's rainout would mean a doubleheader today...Berrios and Lynn are both working on 1-hitters after six.

picked up a much needed 1.5 games on the Yankees and Houston today

must-see tee-vee tonight. I'm pretty certain Alek will be either completely dominant, or an unqualified disaster

Bad timing coming off a doubleheader where they used nine pitchers. I'm sure they'd like to get him out of there after five, even if--maybe especially if--he's pitching well.

i agree, there'll be a quick hook regardless

I would absolutely take him out now. Five good innings, 7-1 lead, something to build on.

I was ready to call for Schneider's head when Manoah went full on Baez; walk him, next guy hits a HR, now it's 7-3 and you have to pull Manoah mid-inning. Happily, worked out...Another HR for Mitt Wherrifield.

John Schneider has now been #BlueJays manager for 162 games, going 94-68. That is the 5th-best record in the Majors since his debut on July 13, 2022.#NextLevel pic.twitter.com/DAlM1pz168

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) July 7, 2023

Found that surprising. Definitely doesn't feel that way.

Eeyore!

I can't complain but sometimes I still do.

I suspected this might become a story when it (almost) happened:

https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-brandon-belt-on-bunt-attempt-to-break-up-tigers-no-hit-bid-were-trying-to-win-a-ballgame

Honestly, it's such a non-story--Belt was right, not even close.

I just don't have the concentration to wade into anything this detailed, but an analysis of Vlad's disappointing season:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/vlad-jr-makes-history-with-derby-win-but-hes-coming-up-short-elsewhere/

I'm down for Saturday's game--looks like we'll get Zac Gallen. Jays are countering with one of their busiest pitchers these days, TBD.

[my post disappeared, i'll try again]:

xp it's a hopeful article - increased chasing/whiffing, may need to pull more. and his fielding is becoming a liability. but if i read correctly, Vladdy's fly balls are going for outs at a rate unprecendented in the Statcast era. Safe to assume more fly balls will land/leave in the second half.

The radio people have been saying all year that he's hitting the ball hard according to advanced metrics, but with nothing to show for it. Even though I don't care about that stuff (or FIP) in the here and now--an out is an out is an out, a run is a run is a run--I do take it seriously as predictive, the idea that things eventually even out.

Possible exception: Kevin Gausman. His BABIP in 2022 was historically high, .364, so the assumption was that he was just pitching in bad luck. This year it's .337 (and for his career, .318). So there seems to be something about Gausman himself that leads to all those ground-ball singles.

Totally lucked out for tomorrow: Gausman vs. Gallen. So, based on past experience, look for a 9-7 game.

(I would have been just as happy to see Manoah's home return, but they're not pitching him this weekend.)

Damn--no Gausman, Bassit instead. Hopefully the one who doesn't give up four runs in the first inning.

Over 42,000 today, huge crowd. We were up in the 500s, so whatever was going on with Gallen in the early innings--three umpire/coach conferences around the mound--I still don't know if it was physical or ball-doctoring related. Non-stop talk with an old high school friend, but there was a game, a couple of home runs, Belt missing first base with his foot, and the Jays won. We were too late to get some hideous-looking shirt being worn by hundreds of people.

his pitchcom was velcroed to his mitt and it kept flying off!

I'm going tm, 2nd of 2 Kikuchi games for me. and they're 2 for 2 in the TD patch era

Chance to sweep, exciting. Inflation has made its final stop: Blue Jay programs, $5 since practically the change in stadiums, I think, are now $6. (Smaller page count all the time, I bet.)

Up 3-2 when I left for a walk--missed a lot, I see, but the sweep is big. Starting to think that the division is a possibility (knowing full well that the second you start think that, a tailspin is imminent).

Would this make me happy?

https://www.mlb.com/news/marcus-stroman-rumors

Of course! If it ever happened, I would, just to be consistent, urge both him and Manoah to delete their Twitter accounts, or at the very least not spend a single second worrying about Keith Hernandez and Shohei Ohtani and the New York Mets, but this rotation would be something else.

I usually expect these things to go lightly, but this one's actually a touch harsh--there are a few guys I'd rate a notch higher.

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/2023-blue-jays-mid-season-report-cards-with-letter-grades-position-players

left the game yesterday up 3-2 in the 8th bc all the clamour gets to me after a while. missed 7 runs! but they won, so all good

Would love to have Stro back! And personally I'm all for displaying their opinions on twitter if that is their wont. Baseball needs more personality

Point taken, but I just think Twitter's a distraction. When Stroman tweeted in defense of Manoah, I got that; in a way he was defending himself, since they're so much alike. What I didn't get was him weighing in on Keith Hernandez not wanting to give Ohtani his number if it came to that...it's not even your team! You're pitching great, contending for a Cy even, and you're going to pick a fight with Keith Hernandez in 2023? Supposedly Stroman thrives on stuff like this, but I'll note that his Hernandez tweet was June 29, and his starts on July 1 and July 6 were his worst in over a month. Manoah was doing that earlier in the year, getting into social-media scraps. Can't see that it did him much good, and I also question whether it helps Stroman.

Give me Marcus Semien any day.

Playing tennis, so (thankfully) missed it, but five walks and zero strikeouts for Manoah in three innings--sounds gruesome. The fact that they didn't start him against Arizona made me wonder how confident they actually are right now.

I was down for yesterday's game--should have known to not buy tickets exactly five days apart, so Bassitt again (who was great). The game felt like it took less time than getting out of the underground parking and onto the 427. They're within 4-1/2 of the Rays and Gausman's back on Saturday. My hope: land another starter and shut down Manoah for the season.

Got a reliever instead (or until):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cabrege01.shtml

A lot of strikeouts, a lot of walks.

Whether or not you agree with Schneider taking out Kikuchi in the 6th last night--one out, single, leading 1-0; 5 hits, 1 BB, 8 K to that point--he may have a problem on his hands. Read this three days ago:

https://jaysjournal.com/posts/blue-jays-pitchers-reportedly-unhappy-with-manager-john-schneiders-quick-hook

"...it appears as though some Toronto Blue Jays pitchers have expressed their frustrations with manager John Schneider" is a little sketchy, but last night couldn't have helped. I remember something James wrote once about clubhouse dissension, something to the effect that when players start saying "We'll show them," it's a good thing if "them" refers to the owner/GM, but a bad thing if it's the manager.

Yesterday, bad; today, brutal. If Teoscar really does want to come back here, like, don't sink us before you do.

Out all day, pretty sure I wouldn't have watched anyway...They're very lucky to get out of there with a win. Just from the boxscore, don't see a lot to be encouraged about re Manoah.

Knowing I will pretty much guarantee a meltdown inning in the next couple of nights, Jay Jackson so far: 14 IP, 4 hits, 3 BB, 13 K, 1 run. He was the pitching hero last night.

He's been amazing. with Green hopefully coming around soon and Genesis looking effective so far, the bullpen's looking not bad.

Looking forward to Ryu, early reports so far are very promising!

Doesn't get much worse than last night, which I unfortunately was tuned in for. Two infield hits mixed in there, one because of a bad hop.

I watched that meltdown last night as well...

7 run lead today going into b9th, do Jays fans feel safe?

123, nevermind!

We're supposed to believe professional athletes have the ability to never carry over bad thoughts from one day to the next; I don't, so I fully expected them to get trounced today.