Toronto Blue Jays (86-64) vs New York Yankees (82-67) GDT 2/3

[EMK19]

Yeah hitting with RISP has been really awful for the past week or so, especially when bases are loaded. Albeit a lot of them were with two outs but continuing not to take advantage of these chances is ultimately costly, as we have seen vs Boston and now Yanks. It's also difficult for us to win when two of our main three hitters go cold at the plate on the day (JD and EE before that meaningless solo hr at the end). Big credit to Bautista though, while JD and EE to a lesser extent have slowed down Joey Bats is really stepping up his game down the stretch.

 

Credit to our guys for showing a lot of fight today and wasting away Miller, with a big game out of Stro tomorrow we can still win the series which will put us in a very good position ahead of the finish line.

[burlingtonbandit]

Wow with Kevin Pillar's HR, 2B, 1B, BB he has now recorded 3.2 WAR on the year. Pretty great considering he was thought of to be a 4th OF at best coming into the season (Some people still think thats all he can be apparently)

[Wolf]

Gibbons is an idiot. He really is. Don't like the way he manages the bullpen. Bautista bailed his ass a couple of times in this game.

 

Also, why not use your best reliever there in the 10th? i'm talking about Osuna. They needed a shutout inning there. Lowe is great but Osuna is the best reliever on this team.

[Swervin81]

They need to sweep Tampa, not confident in White Sox

 

Sox have Sale on the mound Thursday. We'll very likely gain half a game that day. Win tomorrow and we likely have a 4 game lead on them with 10 to play on Friday since Sale is pitching Thursday.

[Joe Shades]

Lowe is pitching better Than Osuna right now, Well than than tonite's mess

[intentional wok]

Granting you that Osuna is the best, is Lowe that much of a step down? I don't think he is at all.

 

And just a reminder -- Osuna gave up a home run to Greg Bird just last night. He just didn't have the bad luck of a McCann bunt and catcher interference call to exacerbate things.

[L54]

Hilarious hearing how they made great pitches to get out of jams, THEY PUT THEMSELVES INTO JAMS! i need to just spend the money for Mlb.tv

 

It's well worth the money! I think everyone here who has it would agree.

[thatoneguy]

Gibbons is an idiot. He really is. Don't like the way he manages the bullpen. Bautista bailed his ass a couple of times in this game.

 

Also, why not use your best reliever there in the 10th? i'm talking about Osuna. They needed a shutout inning there. Lowe is great but Osuna is the best reliever on this team.

 

Cecil is the best reliever on the team right now and you'd have to be an idiot to not see it (not that he was available tonight, but that's irrelevant in terms of ranking them).

 

Also, Osuna has been pretty shaky recently and Lowe has been great in general. Even the best relievers get touched up sometimes, look at Miller tonight. Like I said, just plain unfortunate that Navarro's home run didn't come with a runner on base, or I'm pretty sure the roof of the dome would be on top of the CN Tower right now.

[Daniel Labude]

Lowe is pitching better Than Osuna right now

 

http://33.media.tumblr.com/b99b6120d0d79cc7b7cc0e0a67498ec7/tumblr_nrevq98HYM1r4gei2o1_400.gif

[Joe Shades]

http://33.media.tumblr.com/b99b6120d0d79cc7b7cc0e0a67498ec7/tumblr_nrevq98HYM1r4gei2o1_400.gif

 

Before Tonite obviously, Osuna has not been that great last few days

[Joe Shades]

It's well worth the money! I think everyone here who has it would agree.

 

Yeah it is only 9.99 now it seems

[dineke]

Lowe has been great. He just threw one bad pitch tonight.

[intentional wok]

Lowe has been great. He just threw one bad pitch tonight.

 

Agreed.

 

And props to McCann or Girardi or whoever called for that bunt.

 

Also, that JD still nearly made the play is amazing.

[jaysfan2014]

Hilarious hearing how they made great pitches to get out of jams, THEY PUT THEMSELVES INTO JAMS! i need to just spend the money for Mlb.tv

 

Could be a sign the Yanks bullpen trio of Wilson/Betances/Miller is showing signs of fatigue.. Betances is nearing his career high in appearances, after tonight's appearance (68th). And of course, Miller is lucky Greg Bird bailed him out in the 10th.

[EMK19]

Lowe has been great. He just threw one bad pitch tonight.

 

Same with Hendriks. Both him and Lowe have been good thus far and were fine for the most part today even (Hendriks came up big in that inning with ARod and Lowe got burned by a bunt single and a catchers interference), Gotta credit Beltran and Bird for taking advantage of those mistakes and driving them out of the ballpark as well... they seem to be taking advantage of mistake pitches while our guys (especially JD as of late) seems to be just missing them right now, that's been the difference I feel.

[jaysfan2014]

Hopefully Nova's ineptness will cure our offense's struggles tomorrow. We lit him up at Yankee Stadium recently.

[intentional wok]

Whatever happens tomorrow night, the Jays are still in first place and I still get my pay check. Beers are on me.

[nextyear]

I wish fans would stop shouting MVP when Donaldson comes to the plate. Donaldson has said in the past that it makes him feel uncomfortable.

 

By shouting MVP, the fans are basically shouting that Donaldson is better than everyone else on the team; even if it is true it isn't very respectful of all the other players such as Bautista and Encarnacion who have contributed to the team for a few years now.

[Wolf]

Bautista has been the team's MVP the last couple of weeks.

[Trouba95]

Hey Muni, King is doing the GDT tomorrow. Got it?

[nextyear]

I'm so devastated right now...

 

The loss tonight will make a win tomorrow so much sweeter. The game tomorrow has just become amplified in excitement value.

[RealAccountant]

Hey Muni, King is doing the GDT tomorrow. Got it?

 

I'll start one before him. Sucka

[Wolf]

Did anyone from the media asked Gibbons why he used Hutch there in the 9th in a 1 run game????

[nextyear]

I think in reality, the Blue Jays were very luckily to be tied with a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, considering how the Yankees had a runner thrown out at 3rd and another at home.

[EMK19]

I wish fans would stop shouting MVP when Donaldson comes to the plate. Donaldson has said in the past that it makes him feel uncomfortable.

 

By shouting MVP, the fans are basically shouting that Donaldson is better than everyone else on the team; even if it is true it isn't very respectful of all the other players such as Bautista and Encarnacion who have contributed to the team for a few years now.

 

I do think there are some mental issues going on in his head right now concerning off speed/breaking pitches... The way he got crossed up badly by Miller with a fastball with bases loaded today IMO kind of showed that he's getting off from his usual game plan right now of looking for that one good fastball in the at bat. He's apparently taking extra BPs off breaking ball machines before the game now which I think shows the recent slump has definitely played into his head... I actually don't think its anything technical but rather is more mental as most of slumps to already great players tend to be. In that regard, these MVP chants probably don't help with the issue.

[nextyear]

Did anyone from the media asked Gibbons why he used Hutch there in the 9th in a 1 run game????

 

My guess is that Gibbons wanted to see how Hutchison would do from the bullpen in a high pressure situation. Hutchison's poor performance tonight could mean that he won't he on the 25 man playoff roster.

[nextyear]

I do think there are some mental issues going on in his head right now concerning off speed/breaking pitches... The way he got crossed up badly by Miller with a fastball with bases loaded today IMO kind of showed that he's getting off from his usual game plan right now of looking for that one good fastball in the at bat. He's apparently taking extra BPs off breaking ball machines before the game now which I think shows the recent slump has definitely played into his head... I actually don't think its anything technical but rather is more mental as most of slumps to already great players tend to be. In that regard, these MVP chants probably don't help with the issue.

 

Yes, this is another reason. It is putting pressure on Donaldson to get a dramatic hit instead of him being patient at the plate. I wonder if Donaldson could have walked in the winning RBI just by being patient at the plate. Miller seemed to be having trouble finding the strike zone.

[EMK19]

I'm so devastated right now...

 

We have to remember that we've still been good enough to go 12-8 for the month thus far, and during the same period that Yanks have gone 11-9, actually one game worse than us. It's still been a decent month considering some of the flaws that's been exposed, such as the bullpen. I think this month feels like it's been much worse than it really has been due to our increased expectations after an record setting August, and also due to several wasted comeback losses. But that's September for ya. Better that we experience these pressure situations now rather than starting in the playoffs!

[burlingtonbandit]

Lowe has been great. He just threw one bad pitch tonight.

 

His strikeout numbers are way down which is surprising. Thinking he throws the slider too much early in counts. The pitch Bird HRed on wasn't even bad as it was right on the corner of the Kzone but when you throw it too many times a good hitter will adjust.

[Professional Hitter]

My guess is that Gibbons wanted to see how Hutchison would do from the bullpen in a high pressure situation. Hutchison's poor performance tonight could mean that he won't he on the 25 man playoff roster.

 

I think you're right about the 25man playoff roster, I also don't think he gets into another game until we clinch and Gibby wants to rest his relievers.