TORONTO — This stretch ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline is going to be hard in multiple ways for the Toronto Blue Jays. Off the field, the front office must explore the type of subtraction deals that will be difficult and emotional while on the field, the players must keep trying to find their game and play as if no sell-off looms.
“The biggest thing is you can’t play timid, you can’t play on your heels and you have to meet adversity head on,” said manager John Schneider. “And the easiest way to do that is go play free and go play loose. Again, everyone understands where we are in the season, where we are and the standings and all that kind of stuff. You have to block that out and you have to try to get yourself in the best compete mode that you can. … The biggest thing is just embracing that it's going to be hard and trying to meet that challenge head on.”
They tried to do that Wednesday, taking their first lead since Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox, but once again fell short in a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite a promising start, featuring a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. double off the right-field wall after a Nathan Lukes walk that led to George Springer’s run-scoring groundout, the offence again sputtered, while Daulton Varsho dropped a Yandy Diaz drive to centre that opened the door to a decisive three-run sixth.
Alejandro Kirk hit the first Blue Jays home run since Friday when he launched a middle-in cutter from Cam Booser over the left-field wall in the seventh, a rare highlight alongside 3.2 shutout innings from Spencer Miles, helped greatly by two Nathan Lukes defensive gems in the fifth.
Looking to counter the seven lefties stacked against him, Miles upped the usage on his four-seamer while scaling back on his sinker, seeking more whiff against a contact-oriented opponent. It worked as he struck out four while allowing three hits, a product of the outing-to-outing growth for the Rule 5 pick contributing well beyond expectations.
“A lot of stuff being brought to me and then your mid-week bullpen, just working on stuff that maybe didn't go as well as you'd planned in the prior outing, and then deploying what worked in the bullpen and then what's feeling good that day mixed in with the scouting report,” he said of how he approaches game-planning. “It's a combination of things, for sure.”
The rest all felt very familiar amid the now 7-17 nosedive that’s dropped the Blue Jays to 46-56, their post-season odds, now down to 7.6 per cent according to Fangraphs, plummeting correspondingly, each loss making it harder to play with the freedom needed to change their fortunes.
“I think we're all pressing,” said starter Kevin Gausman, expected to be in demand as the deadline approaches. “You can see Vladdy — Vladdy's definitely pressing. It's like everyone's trying to fix our season in one at-bat or one outing. When you're chasing results up here, it's just not going to happen. You're kind of fighting an uphill battle if you're trying to push the envelope and make things happen.
“As opposed to last year, when we were all loose and just playing for each other and kind of letting the cards fall where they may,” Gausman continued. “There's a hidden belief in that. We just don't have that right now. It seems like every time we get guys in scoring position, the guys are pressing even more. And I get it. Everybody wants to come up with the big base hit, really turn things around. Pitchers are doing the same thing. It's been hard, it's been rough lately. … I don't know what more is to be said, just a (crappy) situation to be in for a lot of really good, solid people and players, a group that wants nothing but the best for every single guy in here. It's hard to believe that we were in the World Series last year, to be honest, because it just seems like so far from that team right now.”
All that’s left for them to do is to keep trying to fight their way back to that form, as the machinations of the deadline play out around them.
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