SAN FRANCISCO -- Two months from now, we’ll turn back to talk about this series in San Francisco. It’s up to the Blue Jays to decide whether this was the turning point or the cliff.
So many of the Blue Jays’ 49 losses this season have been frustrating, but none more than this one. Forget the box score. You could hear it in John Schneider’s voice after the 10-1 loss to the Giants, the sound of a manager who’d seen enough.
“We sucked today. Plain and simple, from start to finish,” Schneider said.
That was the emotional reaction, and an understandable one. The Blue Jays entered the season as a favorite to run it back, maybe take another run at the World Series. Now, here they sit, 42-49, fresh off a 29-inning scoreless drought. Their offense is tied for 28th in runs scored and 25th in home runs, wearing down a pitching staff that’s already strained and a defense that’s playing increasingly untidy baseball.
Schneider doesn’t air out his players publicly. That’s never been his style, and likely never will be. He says that he’s frustrated “with” the players, which is a different deal.
You can sense it bubbling, though. Everything that happened in the hour after Monday’s loss felt and sounded much different than any of the 48 losses that came before this one. This is where Schneider tries to leave his emotional reaction and focus on a more rational one, even if it was tempting to grow another shade redder and let it all out.
“It’s really easy to go in and scream. Right now, I feel like I could go do that to a stranger walking down the hallway here,” Schneider said. “But I think you have to stay focused on what is best for the player, what is best for the person.”
A year ago, Schneider prided himself on never having a team meeting, the sign of a good clubhouse. After their Game 7 loss to the Dodgers, Schneider, choked up and full of pride, said that he’d just had his first team meeting. It was a moment that captured just how special that season was. Everything worked. There was magic to it.
Now, we’re talking about team meetings for the wrong reasons. Players don’t even like saying those words. They recoil at them, not wanting it to be public if and when, theoretically, those meetings may or may not happen.
“It depends on who’s running it and what’s being said. When that will happen, we’ll see,” Kevin Gausman said. “We’ve had some discussions internally. You never know how that’s going to go.”
The frustration was even clear in Gausman, who is facing not only the emotions of this season, but the possibility that he could be entering his final months with the Blue Jays. Sure, walks were an issue for Gausman on Monday, but he would have needed to throw a no-hitter to win this one with the offense on his side and the defense behind him.
This isn’t complicated for Gausman. The problems are obvious, just as they are to anyone watching from home.
“Consistency and fundamentals. The things we were so good at last year, we just haven’t been as good at this year,” Gausman said. “Whether it’s fielding the ball or running the bases, protecting the baseball is something we did great at last year. This year, we just haven’t been great at it for whatever reason.”
Gausman said that “everybody’s at a different point right now,” saying that the veteran leaders need to talk and find a way out for this group. The rest of the American League won’t wait around for the Blue Jays.
Ernie Clement, speaking in a hushed clubhouse, was the closest voice to an optimist. That’s always been his way.
“When you’re not at your best, you’ve got to lean into your boys, into your teammates,” Clement said. “It’s close. I think it takes something super small just to get out of it. It could be as small as somebody beating out a routine ground ball or making a diving play in the field. Something little like that can jumpstart us and get us out of this. It’s really important that we emphasize that it’s not over.”
It’s not close to being over, because the Blue Jays go to bed 3 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot. Monday didn’t just look different, though. It felt different and sounded different.
The Blue Jays are far from home and far from themselves. This West Coast road trip already feels like the tipping point of the season. It’s up to them to decide which direction this tips.