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Blue Jays blow it in K.C.

JEFF BLAIR

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 7:16 PM EST 26/04/08

Bad defence, questionable decisions against Royals drive Toronto to fifth loss in a row Friday night, Jeff Blair reports ...Read the full article

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  1. Ryan Hickman from Canada writes: ....will not follow this team again until Gibbons and J.P. are shown the door!
  2. Mike M from Toronto, Canada writes: Amazing that it's not even May and the season is quickly slipping away. We need a Jimy one-m / Gaston type turnaround.
  3. Mayor Quimby from Scottsdale, United States writes: Thats some team you put together JP. I predicted this collection of stiffs would be out of it by May but you managed to do me one better and have them out of it before the end of April. Getting swept by the Devil Rays alone should be grounds for your canning!

    Hit the road and take your bag man Gibbons with you.
  4. Graham Magus from Toronto, Canada writes: I like going to Jays games to watch the games but IF I go this year, I will be good and drunk beforehand so as to avoid watching this sackless bunch play. Gibbons..........quit now because both you and this team SUCK.
  5. sometimes serious from Canada writes: B...R.. UTAL. Get rid of Gibby. JP maybe needs to go too.
  6. H Chu from Canada writes:
    Poocho"Guido" Ricciardi has got to go, he thinks he is Theo Epstein, he's more like Epstien from "Welcome Back Kotter" with fake Gucci sunglasses, he's accomplished nothing except signing has beens.
  7. Sherlock Hemlock from Canada writes: I'm really disappointed with this team! What the heck is going on?!? They can't even take one game from the horrible Rays and then lose to KC. Something's gotta give, I'm losing faith in this bunch.
  8. TeePee Kan from Hamlet of Old York, Canada writes: BIG contracts! BIG egos! BIG nothings!

    Go RAPS Go!
  9. Luke P from Vancouver, Canada writes: Sigh.

    Typical reaction of a fan, I suppose, to call for drastic changes a mere three weeks into the season, with a grand total of 24 games having been played.

    Of the 8 playoff teams from last year, four (Philadelphia, Colorado, New York and Chicago) were below .500 at the end of April.

    Also at this time last year:
    -San Francisco was tied for the NL West lead. They finished 20 games under .500
    -The Pittsburgh Pirates were a .500 team. They finished with 94 losses.
    -Baltimore was 0.5 games behind Toronto. They finished 14 games back of the Jays.
    -The Cubs were last in the NL Central. They won the division.
    -The Yankees were last in the AL East. They nearly caught the Red Sox.
    -4 teams were within 1.5 games of the division lead in the AL Central. Cleveland ended up winning the division by the largest margin of any division champion.

    So.... you're all welcome to overreact, but at the end of the season, I highly doubt Florida will be the NL East champs, or that the Jays will have lost 95 games.
  10. Allan Wexler from Canada writes: Gibbons can't manage the pitching staff. He's supposed to have one of the best bullpens in the league but he continues to leave the starters in too long and it has cost him over the past several games. This has been a constant problem for the manager, who can't seem to assess the pitching staff. He's got to be fired by the end of the week (next) before it's too late.
  11. SY GIL from TO, Canada writes:

    Leave it to the Jays, a bunch of highly underachieving players who routinely find brutal ways of losing to lowly teams. Any team with a losing streak would gladly welcome the Jays. Any pitcher having problems will as well, for surely the Jays will make them all look like Cy Young.

    Solution: same as the Leafs, get the broom out and sweep from the President on down.
  12. Joe Cool from Canada writes:
    In a save situation I thought that Accardo was to be set-up man in the 8th and Ryan the closer in the 9th. Both pitchers would know and become used to their job - to get though just one innings whether it's left or right hitters - and hopefully become something like the old Ward/Henke duo

    So what are they doing leaving Downs in to give up 3 hits and a walk in the 8th? Talk about managing on the fly!
  13. Dwide Schrude from Canada writes: They are not hitting, but more so, the pitching stinks too.

    Last night they lost 8-4. Now I'm not saying 4 runs will always win ball games, but with our supposedly amazing pitching staff, 4 should do it on most nights, shouldn't it?

    Giving up 7 and 8 runs every night is just bad pitching. These guys bleed runs. It's almost like Gibbons can't see it coming until it runs him over.

    In summary, these guys stink all around. Bye bye Jays. I won't be going to Rogers Centre this year at all. I'll save that money and play golf instead, at least then it's only 1 guy instead of 9 hitting the ball poorly!

    Go Raptors!!!
  14. A Realist from Canada writes: Luke is right - it's a long season - a couple of weeks from now it could be very different. Am I an eternal optimist? No, but it's baseball, anything can happen.

    I have to wonder if Toronto, which has lived with the sad sack Leafs for so long has instilled the "fire everybody" mentality when a team doesn't play well.
  15. L. W. from Greener Pastures, Canada writes: Not being a band wagon fan, I guess I'll keep watching and hoping. I was impressed with Burnett last night. It was his best showing of the season. Too bad the bull pen couldn't give him the support he deserved.
  16. Cole H. from Toronto, Canada writes: I was greatly disappointed by the loss last night but the comments found here are absolutely ridiculous! You folks are gonna give yourselves ulcers.
    Luke P has it right. The standings right now will be wildly different on the last day of the season - look at the examples Luke P has cited above from just LAST SEASON. Do people think the dreadful Orioles will be above .500? Are the Mets just gonna be a .500 ball club this year? The Tigers are 10-14...their season is lost right? C'mon.

    As awful as last night's result was there were some very good things you should take from it. Burnett looked like the guy we need him to be, Overbay had a couple of hits a home run (!) & Scott Rolen made an immediate impact with that 2 out, 2 run double.

    I just looked out the window & the sky wasn't falling!
  17. Robin of the Hood from hammatown, Canada writes: I do agree that its a long season and that anything can happen. That starting out bad doesn't mean you'll finish last or starting out good means you'll be in the playoffs. This years Blue Jays seems a lot like last years team (without all the injuries) and the team in 2006. To me it seems like a problem with the manager. I've never had any issues with Gibbons up until now. The guy just doesn't know how to manage a team, especially the lineup. I know everyone complains about how he manages the bullpen, but his management of the bullpen is purely inept. I guess Hillenbrand was correct with his sinking ship analogy.
    I will continue watching the Jays on tv, and will even take in a few games this season, but I'm not holding my breath for them to make the playoffs.
  18. Eric Hunter from Canada writes: Go away Leafs fans...
  19. J L from Canada writes: Well this is a disappointing start. I agree with those that argue that it is still early. I suspect we'll have a better idea of just how good or bad this team is by June.Sloppy Sloppy Play could best describe last nights effort.Certainly that error by the shortstop was the backbreaker.My goodness my 91 year old mother could have caught that lob ball throw by Mr Burnett. to start what should have been a very routine dpuble play to end the inning.However that's baseball and let's hope the Blue Jays can turn this thing around.I final comment although it's only one game the Blue jays appear to have solved their 3rd Base problems with the return of Mr Boten.I believe he's going to contribute both defensively and offensively to this team.Now all they need is a catcher who can contribute consistently offensively and knock in runs and a leftfielder,with the same abilities.
  20. SY GIL from TO, Canada writes: This is a team under JP has not even come close to post season play. Initially the excuse was money or lack of. Now that Ted has poured so much more into it, courtesy of Rogers subscribers, the team is still not performing. At some point in time, there has to be accountability especially people making 7 figure salaries. It's not Toronto's mentality to clean house when a team lose - that's life in sports. Cincinnati Reds fired their GM. The Yankees replaced Torre because he couldn't get them over the hump. Unfortunately Leaf fans have to tolerate totally uncaring ownership which is more interested in making more money than winning - Harold Ballard and TPP. Back to the Jays, including the JP regime, they have not made the playoffs since 1993. Fans can be patient but when fans don't see a plan and the same players stick with the team underperforming, it's quite appropriate to call for changes.
  21. Richard Daystrom from Toronto, Canada writes: Yes, yes we know it's a long season but then again this is year 8 of JPs 5 year master plan. He's like the Matt Millen of MLB. How these two dolts are still GMs is unbelievable.
  22. Sean O'Reilly from Canada writes: Quite disappointing. The team gets hitting, but not the pitching. Or mostly, team gets pitching, but not the hitting.

    Find a balance, please!
  23. P Martin from St. John's, Canada writes: Their pitching, usually, is pretty good. Their hitting, defense and base running is pretty good as well. The biggest problem is RISP. That is the biggest problem. Of course I have a number of problems with the bullpen but that is besides the point...they are not hitting when there are players in scoring position.
  24. Not right or left from Canada writes: I was looking forward to this season but I could care less if I watch another game. This team looks like it doesn't care.
  25. Uncle Elmer from Canada writes: Hate to say it, but I told you so after the Oakland sweep back in week 1. While I agree with the folks on this board who think JP and JG are the problems...I ask you, do you honestly think this team would win more than 75 games with anyone else running the show?? The bottom line is this: the team stinks, plain and simple. Neither their pitching, hitting or defence is as good as was billed. It needs to be blown up.

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