Manager Gibbons shows no panic through August
Not surprisingly, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons’ media briefing Tuesday turned into a navel-gazing session regarding his team’s scanty offence over the past few weeks.
The team was coming off its fifth shutout loss of the season, but its first in the past 53 games, a 1-0 loss on Monday to the New York Yankees. Yankees pitchers struck out 13 Toronto batters, which isn’t all that unusual.
It was the 39th time the Jays lineup had whiffed in double figures.
Prior to a 12-run effort on Tuesday, the Jays were averaging 3.5 runs per game in August. Over the two previous months, they had averaged nearly six per game.
“Yes, there are more (strikeouts) than normal, and on any given night it depends on who you’re facing,” Gibbons said.
“But we are going to strike out. We’ve got guys who do that. Always have and always will. There have been more than normal. Some guys are in ruts.”
It’s not as if Gibbons has anywhere to turn. This is his lineup.
Yes, he is missing Jose Bautista and he could use a couple of quality left-handed bats to combat the predominant right-handed pitching they face.
But it’s a potent lineup that just isn’t hitting.
“Your team is what it is and, yes, you try some things to get a few guys on base to set things up, but our pitching is putting us in position to win just about every game,” Gibbons said.
“We’re due to heat up offensively. A lot of that is just what happens in the course of a baseball season, over a stretch of six months, like it or not. That’s just the way it is.”
The Jays have long been a slugging team and that all-or-nothing approach invites criticism. “We’ve had these conversations for as long as I’ve been here,” he said. “To be honest with you, I’ve got no complaints. I don’t see any lack of effort, lack of focus, lack of working at it. I’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again. “That’s just baseball. But we’re due to heat up. There is no magic bullet. You ride it out and in the end if you’re good enough, you’ll be there. And if you’re not, you won’t.