Blue Jays (Berrios) vs Orioles (Kremer): 7/30/25, 12:35pm

[Masterbather]

10 minutes ago, Omar said:

When the Jays get decent pitching they can go on a heater.  This doesn't apply to every team but in the Jays case, when their bats are healthy the balanced attack is tough to beat.  They can really wear on the opposing starter.  July has been a fun month for Blue Jay fans.  I believe they will run away with the East regardless of the trade deadline acquisitions.  My concern is who will show up in a short series in terms of starters come playoff time.  Kind of a crapshoot based on history.  Berrios, Gausman, Bassitt....they can equally s*** the bed in a playoff start.  

Well that has been my argument for a few years now. We haven't had a playoff ready rotation since 2022 when Manoah was at his best, Gausman was at his best with Berrios and Stripling on the back end.

We have a bunch of mid rotation starters at this point. All capable of a nice start here and there, and all capable of s***ing the bed here and there.

 

[Brownie19]

7 hours ago, Grant77 said:

Interesting conversation. Why can't we be focused all of the time? I wish I knew the answer to that one. They hire sports psychologists for a reason. That's a clear sign that teams thinks there is more to performance than physical skill and variance.

It's one of those things that seems heavily based on life experience. I haven't played high level sports, but I'll relate it to my more high pressure musical performances. When I am prepared and focused, I perform better than when I am distracted and unprepared. Your experience seems to be that life is more a random series of events that are unaffected by preparation and focus, which I can accept.

I prefer to apply Occam's razor in this instance, rather than get too philosophical. Bassitt didn't perform well and he said that he was unprepared. It may not be the reason, but that's the simplest and easiest explanation here. Chris Bassitt is perhaps my favourite player because he's candid and authentic. Call me naive, but I believe what he says in his interviews. I definitely understand what you mean about the bro culture, especially in hockey.

I think that's all fair Grant.  It is a very interesting topic and yes, organizations have professionals to help with this.  I think my question (point?) is whether players have any control over it or not.  

I mean obviously if they go out drinking the night before, stay up until 4 am before a start, or simply skip all the preparation they typically do - then yes, that's in their control, but I just doubt that happens much these days (certainly not nearly as much as it used to).  It is interesting that Bassitt said he wasn't prepared enough - I didn't hear that, but would love to have heard him explain that more.  Was his routine interrupted?  Was information not available? Did he just slack off?  I'd love to know.

Personally, I'd just be quite surprised if Berrios didn't do everything in his control to be prepared and focused for today's game.  Could there have been factors outside of his control that impacted his focus?  yes, for sure.  Or this might just have been part of his inconsistent profile, which seems to be part of baseball. 

 

[Grant77]

5 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I think that's all fair Grant.  It is a very interesting topic and yes, organizations have professionals to help with this.  I think my question (point?) is whether players have any control over it or not.  

I mean obviously if they go out drinking the night before, stay up until 4 am before a start, or simply skip all the preparation they typically do - then yes, that's in their control, but I just doubt that happens much these days (certainly not nearly as much as it used to).  It is interesting that Bassitt said he wasn't prepared enough - I didn't hear that, but would love to have heard him explain that more.  Was his routine interrupted?  Was information not available? Did he just slack off?  I'd love to know.

Personally, I'd just be quite surprised if Berrios didn't do everything in his control to be prepared and focused for today's game.  Could there have been factors outside of his control that impacted his focus?  yes, for sure.  Or this might just have been part of his inconsistent profile, which seems to be part of baseball. 

 

I'm curious if they heat had any effect and the guys weren't ready to deal with that. It's something we haven't really seen this season. I think it's fair to say that we had an uncharacteristically large amount of defensive miscues and mental lapses. It wasn't just Berrios.

[Brownie19]

8 hours ago, Grant77 said:

I'm curious if they heat had any effect and the guys weren't ready to deal with that. It's something we haven't really seen this season. I think it's fair to say that we had an uncharacteristically large amount of defensive miscues and mental lapses. It wasn't just Berrios.

I'm sure it played a factor - especially at the tail end of a 14 games in 13 days.  

[max silver]

On 7/30/2025 at 11:07 AM, Brownie19 said:

We probably need to empty the farm system to be serious contenders.  Bye bye Trey, Arjun, etc.

You can't start Berrios in the playoffs and I don't really want to start Bassitt either.  Need a 1B closer and need another bat to remove Ernie from the starting lineup.  Then you need Kirk and Springer to come back at full strength and not lose a beat post conky.  

This run has been really fun.  Loved it, but we're probably pretenders at this point.

WTF man the team loses a series and now you're back to full on Debbie Downer mode?