2020 Blue Jays Season Thread

[Resolute 14]

"Why would Sportsnet be replaying a 2015 regular season game against Kansas City?"

Oh... the Jim Wolf show. Five years later, and that umpire's incompetence still makes my blood boil.

[KelVarnsen]

That was some truly ####ty ump work.

[bluejays]

Automated umps can't come a minute faster. That's been the main gripe with baseball integrity for years (until the Astros came along), so getting a more precise system would alleviate that stupidness.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Odds that Vladdy Jr comes out of this quarantine the size of Bartolo Colon?

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Odds that Vladdy Jr comes out of this quarantine the size of Bartolo Colon?

I went in as Otis Nixon, and a week in probably Bartolo Colon. Vladdy is gonna be jabba the hut.

[transplant99]

Didnt know where else to post this.

I remember it vividly...the first "where were you moment" in my early youth.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1247892647059980295

[troutman]

"A black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep south". - Vin Scully

Amazing that fans could run on the field then.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

The globe and mail is doing a simulation series for determining which all time classic Blue Jays or Expos teams would win out in a tournament. They have nominated the the 1985 Blue Jays, the 1993 Blue Jays, 1981 Expos, & 1994 Expos. Blue jays teams go head to head in a series against each other and Expos teams do the same. Each team's Champion faces each other in the ultimate Canadian World Series.

Right now the '93 Jays are up 1-0 in the series against the '85 Jays. Next up is game 1 between the Expos teams!

last I saw the 94 expos were up 1-0 on the 93 jays with Pedro taking the mound for game 2 against Dave Stewart!

[looooob]

Originally Posted by troutman

"A black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep south". - Vin Scully

Amazing that fans could run on the field then.

Charles Schultz, (Atlanta based I think?) ran a series of cartoons around that time with Snoopy also chasing the home run record and getting hate mail ...as a stand in for the Aaron situation

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by troutman

"A black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep south". - Vin Scully

Amazing that fans could run on the field then.

That quote was fascinating to listen to.

[SportsJunky]

When Vin Scully said "Buckner at the wall" I had to search it. Yup, that's Bill Buckner in the outfield scaling the wall as the ball goes overhead. I had no idea Buckner was on the field for that.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

When Vin Scully said "Buckner at the wall" I had to search it. Yup, that's Bill Buckner in the outfield scaling the wall as the ball goes overhead. I had no idea Buckner was on the field for that.

Not too many people appreciate what a good ball player Bill Buckner actually was and only can recall highlights of watching a softly hit ball squeaking between his legs. He had 2,715 hits in his career!

It's unfortunate because the lead in game 6 in 1986 had already been blown at the time he made his error (it was tied 5-5). There's a good chance the Sox lose it there even if he makes that play.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Not too many people appreciate what a good ball player Bill Buckner actually was and only can recall highlights of watching a softly hit ball squeaking between his legs. He had 2,715 hits in his career!

It's unfortunate because the lead in game 6 in 1986 had already been blown at the time he made his error (it was tied 5-5). There's a good chance the Sox lose it there even if he makes that play.

There are a few examples where the historic "goat" for a blown game is given more blame than they should
I would argue that's the case with Steve Smith as well. Yes he scored on his own net - but it was not in overtime or even in the late stages of the 3rd. The Oilers had tons of time to tie it back up - and there were several poor decisions made by their offensive players. One of the best offenses ever - couldn't get a goal when they needed it.
But Smith wears the horns from a historic POV.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Not a player but similarly Steve Bartman getting pilloried for doing what multiple other fans were doing and going for a fly ball and getting in the way of Moises Alou's attempt to catch the ball.

The Cubs had a 3-0 lead and subsequently gave up 8 runs in that inning. But it was all Bartmans fault of course.

Anyways the Cubs organization gave Bartman a championship ring in 2016.

[flamingred89]

Fascinating documentary on the Bartman situation. “Catching Hell” iirc. The poor guys life was torn apart. One of the reasons I was cheering hard against the Cubs in ‘16. I’m sure the ring is cool and all but it’s hard to imagine that made up for what happened to him.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Not too many people appreciate what a good ball player Bill Buckner actually was and only can recall highlights of watching a softly hit ball squeaking between his legs. He had 2,715 hits in his career!

It's unfortunate because the lead in game 6 in 1986 had already been blown at the time he made his error (it was tied 5-5). There's a good chance the Sox lose it there even if he makes that play.

poor Buckner (RIP) is one of these guys that I think might be both over-rated and under-rated. it is unfair to characterize a 20 year career by a single overblown fielding gaffe- and as you say here is a former batting champ with 2700+ hits.on the other hand is career WAR is only about 15- partly because he hung on way too long and was a negative player for 5+ years near the end , but he didn't walk enough or have enough power for a guy who played the corner defensive positions and generally not very well

[Resolute 14]

TSN is running Expos games this week.

Denis Martinez' perfect game tonight at 5:30. Pedro Martinez' near-perfect game on Thursday, and the game Vlad Sr. hit his 40th home run of the season on Sunday.

[Strange Brew]

Steve Smith is a goat because he scored in his own net, in a tie game, in the third period, of a low scoring game, in game 7. You couldn't be much worse than that unless it was OT.

Buckner's error ended the game. Yes no guarantee the Sox would have won but it was a walk off error in game 6 of the Series. That's a pretty big deal.

Other famous goat moments I remember were Ed Sneed's missed Masters putt that would have won the tournament.

Chris Webber's phantom time out gets mentioned too, but Michigan was in fact losing that game at that point.

To me, the "choke" has to be a singular event when you were leading or tied to be epic.

No idea why I posted this here.

Oh, and call me a dinosaur but I don't love the idea of robot umps. I kind of like the human element of calling the strike zone.

[The Familia]

In that case the biggest sporting choke is Vandevelde in golf on the 18th hole!

[transplant99]

This is just bonkers when looked at things through todays lens of starting pitching.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1250227244343218177