Marcus Stroman won't stop tweeting; 2019 Vlad Guerrero Jr/Blue Jays thread

After of week of watching Brooks Robinson at third, the Jays look clueless in the field tonight.

Really nice reunion/anniversary of the '92 team at today's game, with one omission that initially baffled me. Seemed like everyone was either there in person--not just Winfield and Carter, but Alfredo Griffin and Rance Mulliniks--or on video. No Alomar, though, and no mention of his name on video, no even when they ran his HR off Eckersley (one brief image of him hitting it and raising his arms). And post-retirement, Alomar had a lot of continued involvement with the team.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/2022/08/24/roberto-alomar-not-invited-to-blue-jays-30th-world-series-anniversary-celebration.html

I literally don't remember that at all--did it generate comment here? I must have heard about it at the time.

I might have missed him, but I don't think I saw Jimmy Key in the stadium or on video either.

Meant to mention: instead of a ceremonial first pitch, Timlin and Carter reenacted the last out of the '92 Series.

Well hopefully key just couldn’t make it and isn’t actually a serial killer that the jays have managed to keep under wraps

Who's this Ohtani guy? Good pitcher!

Lol. Was just explaining to my mom who he is - her mind was sufficiently blown

This team is exasperating.

They (including Buck Martinez, his old catcher) had Stieb in the booth yesterday for a couple of innings. It was so funny: he says he's still haunted by his pitch selection in those almost-no-hitters (lost three on the last batter, I believe, including a perfect game). Normally you'd assume the player's just joking around, over-dramatizing, but I really think he is! His recall of what he threw, and what he now thinks he should have thrown, is so precise. Basically, he said he used to fall in love with his slider, and should have thrown many more fastballs than he did.

rough series : /

“Exasperating” is the perfect word for them. They click and kill it for a while, then they look like a AA squad for a bit until I stop stealing their game feeds; then it’s back to epic one-run wins for a spell.
The Orioles - the *fucking* Orioles - will have caught up to them by September at the rate this is going.
They need to rehire Montoyo and then fire him again. This is the only way.

I'm at the game tonight...missed Stroman by a day--damn, that would have been fun.

oh - that's too bad. i could see Stroman totally spinning a 9 inning masterpiece against his old team!

Good game last night, although--don't hate me, Thermo--we left after 9. My friend lives in Caledon, I had to get back to St. Marys; I probably would have stayed myself, but I was parked above Queen and rain was imminent.

Anyway, they were absolutely listless till Springer's diving catch, and Jansen's HR was a jolt. They've got 19 games left with the Rays and Orioles; they really have to win almost all of these Cubs/Pirates games.

I’ve soured pretty hard on Stroman over the years - but that was a pretty touching moment between him and that kid before the game today. And it’s fun to watch him pitch again I must say

Bradley Zimmer's back; all is well.

My girlfriend and I just had a massively confusing convo about where Bradley was playing in the outfield

sounds like jays fans have basically overrun PNC park this weekend; i'm glad *someone* enjoyed seeing the pirates clinch their 26th losing season out of the last 30

mookie will you accept the 'i will not shave until the pirates have a winning season again" challenge?

nah, i'd just end up trodding on my beard

I shouldn't, I guess, but I felt sad seeing Dave Parker tonight. Didn't know about his Parkinson's. Along with Reggie, probably the most exciting player of the '70s.

yeah.

obviously he had a weird and benighted career, but when i was a kid willie stargell was the guy everyone loved and dave parker was the guy everyone wanted to be like

it's been nice to see the pirates honor him. one of the few things they've done well recently.

When I say "I shouldn't," don't want to leave the impression that means "because of all the bad things he did." I meant more that it's part of life, and pitying people in general is not good--he seems to be handling it well.

I’m more than a little nervous about this series. If the jays fuck this up, they’re out of the playoffs

You know Bradley Zimmer's back, right?

I sometimes defend Pat Tabler for his on-field intuition, but he actually just said this (talking about Cavan Biggio): "What's a good slugging percentage, .400? He's just under .400, coming into this day, at .392."

Nice job by Bichette jumping in there just as Gausman was about to lose it (over a balk call).

The Orioles' organist needs to learn a second song.

Lol. My gf was just saying that same.
Glad we got the first game. Feeling much more relaxed now that they can’t be swept!

For I think the first time all year, Bichette is really in a groove.

Gausman has been leading Fangraphs' WAR for pitchers for almost the whole year (he just slipped into second). If he weren't a Jay, and I never saw him, I'd probably be posting about how silly that is. But seeing him regularly, he really does give up an inordinate number of cheap hits--bouncers between infielders, flares, etc. The BABIP against him this year is .372! So while I think ranking him as the best pitcher in baseball is a slight overstatement, he's definitely much better than his WHIP or ERA (which is pretty good anyway).

orioles don't have an organist! it's just a sound clip

I checked that online, but I guess I read the capsule links too quickly--they were proposing an organist at one point.

For I think the first time all year, Bichette is really in a groove.
― clemenza, Monday, September 5, 2022 4:47 PM

Please note the time of this post.

Lol. Too bad he won’t get a shot at 4. Also shame he couldn’t get a proper hat trick treatment

Ok. I guess he will get a shot. No idea why they’re still playing in this shit weather on the back end of a double header, but here we are.

I was all set to send hate mail to Zimmerman if he had walked him.

That was a quality day of baseball!

(Aside from the sketchy umpiring).

One thing I don't get is Bichette's base stealing. Last year, he stole 24 in 25 attempts; this year, 9 out of 16. Has he gotten stupider or slower? I would have thought at his age, that would be relatively steady year to year.

Noticed that too and can offer no explanation

Trevor Richards kind of looks like Eminem. HE KIND OF PITCHES LIKE EMINEM, TOO.

I'm no Kevin Barker fan, but I agree with something he said a couple of weeks ago: why does Vlad need all these DH games? Tonight is his 28th! These games should go to Springer, with Jackie Bradley Jr. in CF. If Springer gets hurt out there, the Jays won't get anywhere.

Game would be tied if Richards hadn’t been pitching.

so... wtf is Baker's problem? any idea why he spent half his appearance glaring into the jays dugout? kind of felt like an over reaction – but the hell is dude's issue?!

baker gets a little begrudged sometimes

The past five minutes have really shown Pat Tabler's limitations. Dan Schulman brings up the fact that the Jays are one of the worst high-leverage teams in baseball, then asks Tabler if he has any possible explanations. First Tabler needs high-leverage explained. Fine--at least he's honest. Then he says certain guys can "slow the game down," something he says constantly; he says it three times here. Then he starts talking about Tony Perez, and basically says Perez was a proven clutch hitter (who knew how to slow the game down). I want to make fun of this--even I, a guy who's generally sympathetic to old-school stats, knows that Perez had all those 100-RBI seasons because he had a million guys on base--but I won't; Perez's career high-leverage numbers are, as it turns out, noticeably better than his medium- and low-leverage numbers. In any event, I imagine it's hard for Schulman during exchanges like these.

tbf schulman was once in a booth with john kruk *and* curt schilling and sort of made it work. and he's also worked with dick vitale in college basketball. obviously it's not ideal but he's the absolute best

yous should hang on until marcus stroman is available to do colour imo

Clem: I was thinking the exact same thing! Although, when I think of a guy who’s a great clutch hitter, I actually think of tabler. Tho I wouldn’t expect him to bring himself up!

Also: what a solid 8 there from Manoah

Baltimore's getting crushed, Seattle's got Atlanta (eight-game winning streak) tonight, Gausman pitching--great opportunity.

This is what the Jays have gotten from the catcher position this year:

.282/.356/.451, 21 HR, 65 R, 72 RBI

Jansen now has 12 HR in 156 AB.

I’m glad with Moreno up they are DH’ing Kirk more; Jansen is just such a better catcher.