A REPEAT FROM BERRIOS WILL LIFT BLUE JAYS
Pitcher says he has `turned the page' after getting quick hook in playoff start
Losing was bad enough for Jose Berrios, a feeling shared with all of his Toronto Blue Jays teammates after that torturous post-season exit in Minnesota last October.
But the controversial way it went down — his untimely hook while superbly pitching his heart out — took some time for Berrios to properly digest.
“Honestly, the first four or five days were really hard for me,” Berrios told Postmedia in an interview in the Blue Jays clubhouse here on Tuesday morning. “I was surprised. They had a plan. They had something they wanted to follow and they told me before the game.
“But it still surprised me because I'm a competitive guy and I didn't want to come off of that mound the way that I was pitching. It was hard. Nobody wants to lose but especially that way.”
That loss threw a long shadow over the off-season, of course, and in some ways became a flashpoint as motivation for a similar cast of Jays preparing for a new season. The gory details barely need to be recalled for an angered fan base, but when Berrios was yanked after walking the leadoff batter in the fourth inning, he was replaced by Yusei Kikuchi. The shock turned to fan outrage as the Twins seized on the move to record a 2-0 win to eliminate the Jays in ignominious fashion.
As classy a player as there is in the clubhouse, Berrios does not want to publicly make a big deal of what went down in the Twin Cities, as wounded as he was by it.
He says he's moved on now and is ready to build momentum for a big 2024 to match a season that was good enough to earn him that big Game 2 start in the wild card round.
However, Berrios said he did have talk with the Jays coaching staff to share how he felt about a development that captured the attention of the entire baseball world — and not in a good way.
“Me, I knew there was a plan. But the only thing I asked them was to try to be on the same page — not just for me, for everyone,” Berrios said. “(To give) us that confidence that we needed to go out there and compete for your guys, for the team.
“I didn't ask for anything special, just to be clear (on what is happening.) I don't have to know everything. But some things (are important.)”
As Berrios was attempting to process what happened to him and his team, it wasn't made any easier by his many friends in baseball who reached out to share their opinion on what was widely perceived to be an outrageous mistake.
“For sure there was a lot of reaction,” Berrios said. “They didn't understand what had been happening in the clubhouse, so they got more upset about it.”
A strong team guy, Berrios stressed more than once in our chat that he has “turned the page” and that all is good. He suggested that out of the way things fell apart in Minnesota — and subsequent discussions between management and senior coaches — players trust manager John Schneider's ability and mandate to communicate, which had been an organizational point of evidence this off-season.
“(Schneider's) the leader and he has the ability to do that and bring that confidence which (is important) because we are the guys who play for him,” Berrios said. “We're going to do the best we can for him. He's a good communicator.
“We've talked and made plans and now it's time to execute it.”
And the priority for Berrios in that regard is to repeat and further improve on what was an excellent 2023 season, his second on a seven-year, US$131 million deal he signed in 2021.
After having success out of the gate last year — with a strong spring training followed by a solid start to the season — Berrios said his confidence helped carry that success even further.
“Obviously (having success) came with that mindset of confidence,” Berrios said. “I was so locked in and believed in myself every time I went out there and pitched. Last year I was able to go throw quality pitches down in the zone and that worked for me.
“Being able to go out there and execute brought me that confidence I have before. So now it's to keep building on top of that and be better.
“When you feel like that, you feel like nobody can beat you. That's what you want.”
That and being allowed to continue doing the job when you are at your best.