Masterbather

Leave him in Cleveland, give him a few hundred bucks for hotel and bus fare back to whereever the f*** he came from.

Going to his best arms in game 1 when Stripling was cruising was the first mistake, whatever I just watched in game 2 was simply incredible. Whether he did it out of sheer incompetence or to prove a point doesn't matter. I've always felt that people vastly overweigh the importance of managers, but this guy's really bad, he's really bad. The amount of dumb in his decision-making over the past couple of years is actually remarkable especially for somebody who gets paid to do it at the highest level. I generally do not call for the manager's head, but he needs to be gone. This team should not be barely above .500. Kicking away these winnable games in this division is killer.

I'd like to know the details of what he did before saying much. I think there is a difference between punishable behaviour and cancellable behaviour. This is the Blue Jays essentially cancelling Alomar. There are levels to bad behaviour and I'm curious to see where this goes. This is an incident that happened several years ago, I don't know what "several" means yet, but the bar on what is cancellable and what is punishable has changed mostly in the last couple. I'm not saying it's wrong to fire him, it's probably the right call, looks like he obviously did SOMETHING, but to try to erase him, I need to really know more. I will say that I don't pretend to love the people the athletes are, because I have no clue who the f*** these people are, I celebrate their accomplishments. I've never told myself that Alomar or anybody else was a saint. If we were to abandon every player that has ever portrayed objectionable behaviour towards women, or ever made a racist, sexist or homophobic comment, or more likely thousands of them, we should just burn the HOF to the ground and any mention or monuments those players have around baseball. It's tough to retroactively apply todays standards, even to just a few years ago because so much has changed and is changing regarding attitudes, norms and severity & breadth of punishments even if the rules and laws themselves have not really changed. I hope more details come out about this.

Might have relief potential if he ever gets some command. Given that consistent command is generally the toughest part of pitching, I'm not too optimistic. Dude is DOA pitching like this in the American League East. Jansen is intriguing though.

Yeah, I get the Martin connection, but I'm not prepared to sell out to that notion. I consider Liriano a big unknown in these playoffs. Quite frankly, he wasn't looking too hot in that game before he got plunked.

Given that the extra pitcher was insurance against Osuna's status, and Osuna does seem okay, I assume we put a position player (Pompey?) back on.

I'm starting to think Travis is made of glass. Hopefully Liriano's results come back clean. Still don't trust him as much as most people seem to. It's like everybody wants to forget his struggles for the vast majority of the season in favour of a few nice outings lately. Nonetheless, between him and Loup, I'll take my chances with him any day.

We don't know which David Price will show up either, so that's something of an unknown. I'm rooting hard for Cleveland, but that Sox lineup...damn.

They still might. They need two Wins out of Kluber (which is still unlikely) and a miracle somewhere else. Who knows, maybe the miracle is tonight?

I can see him pitching games 1&7, or even 2&7 in a series. I really don't think there is a strict innings limit anymore, just rest in between starts is what they will value now. If he gets 6 days, I think they are good to go. If there were really being that cautious with him, why even announce him as a game 3 starter? If you are only going to pitch him 1 game, why not wait and see how things shake down in the first 2? What if you can beat them in 3 or 4 games without him? You could've avoided using him in this series completely.

I remember hearing the same thing, but these things can easily go out the window if there is a realistic shot at the World Series. Quite frankly, I think their plan for Sanchez clearly went out the window a long time ago. They backtracked on the bullpen thing almost immediately after having so much conviction about it for almost the entire season to that point. That doesn't mean they'll be reckless, they are clearly trying to watch out for him to an extent here, but I think it's clear they have wavered from their earlier and much stronger stance.

If you assume that the powers that be wouldn't allow Sanchez to start more than one game, I don't really know what else you could've done except to flip Happ and Estrada. I'm pretty indifferent either way really. Maybe put Liriano in there, but he might be more valuable in the pen right now.

The Sanchez thing might be coming from up top. Gibbons might not have had a choice there. If that's the case, this makes sense while having Liriano available in the pen for whenever he's needed, and I'm sure he will be needed a couple of times in this series at least.

It seems every time Stroman is on the mound, we're asking more and more of him.

Dropped fly ball obviously a momentum shifter, but no Cecil is what really finished us.

I remember when he snapped. That was fun.

Seconded.

I don't even remember when I started posting on the old board. Must've been right around the time JP took over. Been in a few battles over the years over there. Who can blame any of us? With the baseball we were forced to endure most nights, it was a great place to vent. There have been some lean years...some REALLY lean years. Horrendous baseball, abysmal players along the way, and some real talent mixed in here and there, talent that must've felt like they were on a deserted island at times. Remember Shea's sinking ship? For a while, I wondered if the f***er was prophetic. I attended a game where there must've been no more than 5-6000 in the stands. There were days I though baseball in Toronto was really in jeopardy. Yes, we've come a long way, and only the ones who suffered through it all can really appreciate rare moments like today. What a great feeling when Bautista spanked that bomb. Pure joy. The kind of unexpected, pent up and sudden joy that only sports can really provide. f*** what a day!

Holy f***!!!!!!

Why not? Let's say Beltre is at the point where he can barely bend over to pick up the ball, let alone throw it? He'll be playing deep at third against the power guys. If you are given free bases, take them. He might even give you a couple more with an ill-advised throw. I'm not saying you necessarily make it a strategy. You don't tell guys like JD and Bau to do it, but if they sense they can take advantage, it wouldn't upset me to see them try, especially with the depth of our lineup and a tough pitcher on the mound, just keep the line moving.

I play baseball competitively, but never played organized baseball, no. Mostly because I suck.

You have to play percentages and hedge bets. By bringing Price in, you eliminated David Price pitching in probably a more key situation game 5, a game you also have to win, because of a short sighted decision in game 4 which was completely unnecessary. That's why it was a dumb move.

Gibbons explained it. You either agree with his logic or you don't. I understand what he's saying, but I don't agree with him, I just think he just panicked because he doesn't have experience in these types of situations.

If that's what happened, I hope they did the right thing and hung up the phone.

Have to agree with you there. Recent events are very telling. Stroman is clearly the guy at this point. Maybe it's just against Texas that they feel this way. Maybe they just think it's not an ideal matchup for Price.