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Gut Punched: Blue Jays Let One Slide Away

August 14, 2021 by Joanna Cornish

Well, that was an absolute gut punch of a game. I don't know exactly what I watched, as it was very late at night and I was pretty tired so I didn't witness everything.

I do have serious questions about how that call did not stand on the field. From what I understand from that rule is if there's not enough evidence to overturn the call on the field, it can't be overturned. Looking at it, it does not look like there's contact on the play on the Valera's arm. One could sort of make the argument that there might have been, but I think there's not enough evidence to overturn it.

Behold:

Incredible angle. Did Valera get under the tag? #BlueJays pic.twitter.com/SxUg2IxZrx

— Dustin Saracini (@DustinSaracini) August 14, 2021

This is not even mentioning the fact as to why Breyvic Valera was running on a relatively shallow foul ball, with Vlad Jr. on deck. It’s one of those thing that is celebrated as “heads up” when it works out. And when it doesn’t, this is the feeling.

The other gut punch aspect of that game is, once again, the bullpen coughed it up. It's part of baseball for a pitcher to suddenly lose the strike zone. It’s especially bothersome when a relief pitcher does it because they face so few batters.

They don't have an luxury to work through the onset of arm shittiness or whatever else they are dealing with that day, as a starting pitcher might. A starting pitcher can hold on, work through the crisis, let the hitters score some runs and then get relieved. However, you don't get that luxury when you're a relief pitcher, especially in the late innings of a game. It also really doesn't help when the other pitcher comes out and has a similar issue.

Here's the big problem. This would be way less egregious, if all of these games weren't all must wins because bullpen had issues earlier in the season.

There have been so many winnable games just left on the table. And it's these kinds of things that ever gonna have gonna sit in people's minds, if the Blue Jays are left on the outside looking in, when it comes to the playoffs.


ETA

#BlueJays infielder Breyvic Valera on last night's play at the plate:

“I knew I was safe. I know I was safe, I never felt a tag.”

— Mitch Bannon (@MitchBannon) August 14, 2021

Yeah.

August 14, 2021 /Joanna Cornish
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