Starters
Toronto Blue Jays
| Hyun Jin Ryu - LHP | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1.89 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 19.0 | 15 | 1.05 |
Cleveland Guardians
| Logan Allen - LHP | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 6 | 3.31 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 103.1 | 100 | 1.34 |
Lineups
Cleveland Guardians Lineup
| Pos | Batter Name | Bats | AVG | HR | RBI | OPS | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1B | Kole Calhoun | L | .267 | 2 | 9 | .733 | 0 |
| DH | Jose Ramirez | S | .279 | 20 | 69 | .836 | 20 |
| LF | Oscar Gonzalez | R | .224 | 2 | 11 | .585 | 0 |
| RF | Ramon Laureano | R | .214 | 7 | 28 | .647 | 9 |
| 2B | Andres Gimenez | L | .240 | 12 | 46 | .696 | 21 |
| SS | Gabriel Arias | R | .203 | 8 | 16 | .624 | 2 |
| 3B | Tyler Freeman | R | .252 | 1 | 7 | .650 | 3 |
| PH | Bo Naylor | L | .205 | 5 | 16 | .670 | 1 |
| CF | Myles Straw | R | .239 | 1 | 24 | .604 | 15 |
Toronto Blue Jays Lineup
| Pos | Batter Name | Bats | AVG | HR | RBI | OPS | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LF | Whit Merrifield | R | .289 | 11 | 57 | .744 | 23 |
| DH | Bo Bichette | R | .317 | 18 | 62 | .839 | 3 |
| 1B | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | R | .268 | 19 | 74 | .781 | 4 |
| RF | George Springer | R | .254 | 16 | 52 | .718 | 17 |
| 2B | Davis Schneider | R | .406 | 4 | 8 | 1.357 | 0 |
| C | Danny Jansen | R | .223 | 15 | 50 | .750 | 0 |
| 3B | Matt Chapman | R | .249 | 15 | 50 | .771 | 3 |
| SS | Santiago Espinal | R | .215 | 2 | 19 | .582 | 2 |
| CF | Daulton Varsho | L | .219 | 16 | 47 | .665 | 15 |
How are others thinking about this team? I’m splitting a little because as much as I want the Jays to make the playoffs, I sure wouldn’t bet on it. All the talking heads on the Blue Jays/rogers media yesterday were highlighting the upcoming streak of 15 games against sub .500 teams (that started last night), including 4 teams last in their division and 3 teams with the worst pitching in MLB (I think, about that second point). The stated aspiration by Buck Martinez and others was to go 12-3. Personally, I think 10-5 is ambitious. I’ve reached this point though where I want to de-emphasize prediction of the Jays because it’s draining my enjoyment of watching Jays baseball, in addition to the dearth of runs. I also think the players’ morale is seriously falling right now.
I hope we see some lineup changes today. Getting out homered by Cleveland this year is such a clear indication that our offence is insufficient. Maybe Springer leading off, Whit sits, Davis Schneider and Cavan Biggio take 2B and 3B as it makes the most sense. I might prefer Belt at 1B and Vladdy DHes. I’m feeling badly for Vladdy, who’s slumpiness at the plate seems to be driving his fielding down. I think it might help manage everyone’s frustration if Vladdy could be temporarily lowered in the order, to return once he has a good performance, but who’d take his spot? I feel we’re approaching a kind of stalemate where our key pieces aren’t working and we don’t have alternate moves to make, so we keep playing the same hand to the same result, and everyone’s getting sick of losing and a feeling of futility. I think trying new things, where possible, to inject some life into this team is the best hope. Ross talking to the media the other day (why?) and saying absolutely nothing but that he has confidence in this team doesn’t help with the stalemate feeling
Whit’s still in the lineup, but with Bo DH’ing at least schneider and espinal are in there.
Yeah! Bo DHing is probably not the ideal way the team or Bo wants to try to bolster the lineup, but I’m glad we’re doing something differently! I’m glad Schneider’s in - he deserves it and we need it. Interestingly, it was the Guardians iirc that poured water on the red hot Jays after they beat the Red Sox recently. This’ll be a big game for Espy to prove himself on both sides of the ball. I’ll be rooting for him all game 🥰. I hope KK’s alright, given his absence from the lineup
Lefty on the mound for Cleveland, only LHH for us is Varsho, but that’s just to keep him in the outfield. It’s either him or Kiermaier, and so far this year they’ve gone with Varsho more than not against a lefty.
The team is definitely frustrating to watch right now. I feel like you’re right about 10-5 being an ambitious ask over this run in the schedule, but anything less will be a failure and we’ll just fall further out of a wildcard spot. We are definitely between a rock and a hard place right now. The lineup just needs to figure it out. I feel like Guillermo Martinez should be under more of a microscope. Obviously the players are ultimately responsible for their own results, but Martinez should be able to help out slumping guys more than he has been. It seems like he has the backing and respect from within the clubhouse and management though, so maybe we really just have to trust the process.
Roughly a month left in the season. Now is the time to get hot. We haven’t gone on a good run all season really. We need everyone clicking at the same time and soon.
I agree that falling short of expectations on this easy streak will be the nail in the coffin for our playoff odds. If we don’t make the playoffs, I think Ross and some hitting coach will likely get fired in the off-season (not that I necessarily agree). As a fan, it’s tiresome hearing the Blue Jays have dozens of coaching staff and FO people weighing in on all decisions and so a single hitting coach, for example, can never be singled out as responsible. Maybe it’s time to de-emphasize that crowd-sourcing of opinions philosophy if it undermines accountability and isn’t producing winning results. I heard that Aaron Judge has his own personal hitting coach. Why doesn’t Vladdy?