Blue Jays GDT: *ALCS GM 4* vs CLE | Tues, Oct 18 | 4pm ET/1pm PT | Kluber vs Sanchez

[TootooTrain]

EE. Pay the man.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Glad we got two that inning. Finally a big hit from this team.

 

[Bad News Benning]

Why are we chasing on 2-0? should only swing if it's right in your wheel house.

 

[Sniper99]

6 outs to go.

I love hearing Courage being played between innings or breaks. It'd be awesome if the crowd sang along.

 

[dimi78]

People only remember crappy Cecil from around his injury this year. Nobody remembers that he was good in August-October (and very good in September/Oct)



You're only up a run right now. Intentional sacrifice plays basically resign you to getting just 1 additional run and nothing else. Tons of history on run expectancy says that trading an out to move a player (or players) up 1 base translates to fewer runs scored on average in an inning.

I also honestly don't remember the Royals bunting all that much in last year's series. And for this series, the difference in terms of runs which has led to the Indians' wins has been almost entirely via the HR.

It's not about essentially laying bunts down that I'm talking about it's about the fundamentals. That was a fundamental aspect that should have been a no brain decision to drop the bunt. When your team is out of wack from playing fundamental baseball you will struggle mightily in post season baseball do to great pitching that occurs in the post season. Being in tune with fundamentals helps keep when batting to execute when there's a mistake made from the pitching and not being so wildly off balance at the plate and that's been the difference both vs KC and now with Clevelend.

The Jays feast comes when a Pitcher is struggling. They're a notorious 1 inning big inning team and that doesn't jive in the post season.

 

[The Nemesis]

Results are different than intentions.

But people don't just criticize the results. They criticize the intentions. People whine "oh why don't hte Blue Jays play small ball? You can't live and die by the HR. You can't just wait for the big thunder to come. You have to push the envelope. You have to run. You have to manufacture. You have to just keep moving the chains."

Cleveland is scoring runs in the same way the Jays generally have. But people don't notice that because they're too busy lauding them for playing small ball and manufacturing runs and generally ascribing things to the Cleveland offence that haven't really been the root causes of the runs we've seen. The difference in this series hasn't been contrasting approaches. It's been contrasting results. Which means that the problem for the Jays hasn't been approach, it's been execution.

 

[Suntouchable13]

They are only outscoring us 9-7 and yet we're down 3-0, possibly 3-1. Don't give up, this series can turn on a dime towards Toronto.

 

[Pi]

Unfortunately this means we probably don't burn Miller today and will see him tomorrow. Still, winning today is obviously the most important thing.

We don't have to hit against Miller. We just have to crush the starting pitchers so Miller doesn't matter.

Only chance we have at a Game 7.

 

[Canada4Gold]

We don't have to hit against Miller. We just have to crush the starting pitchers so Miller doesn't matter.

Only chance we have at a Game 7.

Hopefully we don't see Miller tomorrow either. We hopefully can crush Merritt

 

[King Mapes]

But people don't just criticize the results. They criticize the intentions. People whine "oh why don't hte Blue Jays play small ball? You can't live and die by the HR. You can't just wait for the big thunder to come. You have to push the envelope. You have to run. You have to manufacture. You have to just keep moving the chains."

Cleveland is scoring runs in the same way the Jays generally have. But people don't notice that because they're too busy lauding them for playing small ball and manufacturing runs and generally ascribing things to the Cleveland offence that haven't really been the root causes of the runs we've seen. The difference in this series hasn't been contrasting approaches. It's been contrasting results. Which means that the problem for the Jays hasn't been approach, it's been execution.

I find the difference is on the bases. They advance a base when they have the opportunity. Like last game the running start off Stroman. Martin drops a ball that barely gets away but not paying attention and advance a base. We haven't done stuff like that. Other than that, we've hit similar, pitched similar.

 

[LeafsMonster]

Great job grilli. One more inning to go.

 

[King Mapes]

Martin almost trips on his helmet

 

[Del Preston]

Oof, that could have been ugly with Martin and his helmet.

 

[Ropesman]

We have seen this jays teams get hot over 4-5-6 game spans many times, and if this is a sign of the offense getting some swagger back and turning it around then the jays have a pretty good chance at making history. That's only if our bats get into one of those scolding hot streaks.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

But people don't just criticize the results. They criticize the intentions. People whine "oh why don't the Blue Jays play small ball? You can't live and die by the HR.

Flawed or not flawed ...
It's all the Jays have.

I wonder if there are any stats about ....
Does a Homer Heavy lineup work well in the Post Season ? (Toronto, Boston).
vs.
Balanced Lineup (Indians).

or ... Do "Homers" dry up in the post season ?

The Royals did win last year.
Hard to hit homers in the larger NL parks.

 

[Suntouchable13]

I always thought that the Jays at least win 2 of 3 at home regardless.

 

[Ropesman]

I find the difference is on the bases. They advance a base when they have the opportunity. Like last game the running start off Stroman. Martin drops a ball that barely gets away but not paying attention and advance a base. We haven't done stuff like that. Other than that, we've hit similar, pitched similar.

I don't think we are capable of doing so, we only have pillar and zeke right now who have any sort of speed. We have guys off the bench, but when it comes to our regular order we are fairly slow IMO.

 

[Pi]

Hopefully we don't see Miller tomorrow either. We hopefully can crush Merritt

I'll be happy if we can send this back to Cleveland. At least it would show that they didn't give up down 3-0. Game 6 with Happ vs. Tomlin should favour us.

 

[The Nemesis]

It's not about essentially laying bunts down that I'm talking about it's about the fundamentals. That was a fundamental aspect that should have been a no brain decision to drop the bunt. When your team is out of wack from playing fundamental baseball you will struggle mightily in post season baseball do to great pitching that occurs in the post season. Being in tune with fundamentals helps keep when batting to execute when there's a mistake made from the pitching and not being so wildly off balance at the plate and that's been the difference both vs KC and now with Clevelend.

The Jays feast comes when a Pitcher is struggling. They're a notorious 1 inning big inning team and that doesn't jive in the post season.

I've already shown that the idea that Cleveland is winning because of "fundamentals" or small ball or whatever you want to call it is pretty much false. They've won because they've gotten over half their runs via HR and basically all but 1 from a combo of walks, Toronto screw-ups, and "looking for the big hit" innings.

And KC basically singled the Jays to death last year. That's maybe a bit closer to "fundamental" baseball, but it's still not like they stole and sacrificed their way around the bases. They just got a ton of hits to drop and a bit of help from fielders choice plays and wild pitches

 

[Canada4Gold]

Score a couple more so we don't have to use Osuna

 

[TootooTrain]

I find the difference is on the bases. They advance a base when they have the opportunity. Like last game the running start off Stroman. Martin drops a ball that barely gets away but not paying attention and advance a base. We haven't done stuff like that. Other than that, we've hit similar, pitched similar.

Other than the Donaldson dash ofcourse.

 

[King Mapes]

I don't think we are capable of doing so, we only have pillar and zeke right now who have any sort of speed. We have guys off the bench, but when it comes to our regular order we are fairly slow IMO.

This is true. Zeke could certainly do it. Pillar doesn't get on to do it

 

[PM]

This game completely killed afternoon productivity at the office. Especially now that we are winning

 

[HamiltonNHL]

I just want to say ... ***k MLB and these 4pm start times.
How lame.

4pm tommorrow too.
Lame.

I see the priority is getting American teams playing in prime time even if they are out West.

Lame.

 

[Mitchy]

Zeke!!!!