Toronto is Hot, Boston is in Trouble
“We’re some kind of hot right now.”
Those words were spoken by Toronto manager John Gibbons following today’s 13-5 shellacking of the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Truer words have rarely been spoken. The Blue Jays have won 11 straight, outscoring their opponents 88-44 in the process. The club currently boasts the best run differential in MLB, at +71.
Infielder Ryan Goins said “The only word to describe it is ‘fun,’ adding that “Everybody is coming here every day, knowing we’re going to win.” Outfielder Kevin Pillar, who acknowledged that the team is “well aware it’s 11 games,” echoed the F word, saying “It’s fun for baseball and it’s fun for our fans.”
An entirely different F word is on the tongues of Bostonians. Boos rang through Fenway Park as the shellshocked Red Sox lost their sixth straight. The team picked by many to win the AL East is now 10 games under .500 and taking on water fast. Manager John Farrell, who was once let go by the Blue Jays, is seemingly in danger of a similar fate in Beantown, a recent vote of confidence from ownership be damned. (And if you listen closely, you can hear a chorus of ‘I told you so’s’ from north of the border.)
I asked Gibbons if he could sense frustration in the opposing dugout.
“Every team in this league goes through that,” said Gibbons. “We’ve been on the same side of it, where nothing seems to go right. You struggle and your fans start ripping you. Especially in this town. This can be a cruel business and this town is the worst. Here and probably New York. They let them have it. Sometimes there’s no place to hide when things go bad.”
Things are going very badly in Boston right now. In Toronto, it’s a different story. Blue Jays players are making sure to say the right things – “We’re just taking it day by day and trying to win games ” – but the smiles in the clubhouse this weekend were evident. This team is confident. The Red Sox are looking for places to hide.
David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.
Farrell was traded by the Blue Jays for some dudes.
And he was pretty much run out of town. I doubt he would’ve been kept if the Red Sox didn’t ofree up a player for him.
…and then he won a championship. You’re right, terrible decision.
From “dream job” to “this town is the worst.” Really.
Isn’t that what happens to everyone everywhere that lands the dream job?
It’s hard to can the mgr who ‘lifted’ them to WS Champions, but dissing the city will make that easier.
Farrell is probably going to have to take fall for the strange off-season; why sign two third basemen? $72 M for Rusney? Trade away your starters without replacements? I still can’t believe the Fangraph’s evaluation of their ‘ new’ pitching staff. They’re not as bad as they look right now, but they are not good, and these position players cannot make up for them.
It was Gibbons who was quoted in the article saying “this town is the worst,” not Farrell.
My bad. It was Gibbons. Very machiavellian thing for Gibby to say, actually, sort-of pretend sympathetic.
He actually pretty much forced his way out of Toronto, which is why Jays fans hate him so.
That’s not how regression works
Which of these is not like the others:
Year 1: Team doesn’t play up to its potential
Year 2: Team doesn’t play up to its potential
Year 3: Very Talented Team, with one of the highest payrolls in the game and incredibly relieved that the Manager from Hell is gone, wins World Series
Year 4: Team doesn’t play up to its potential
Year 5: Team doesn’t play up to its potential
No, managers don’t play the game. But they plot out strategies, prepare the team mentally for their opponents, put the players in the right framework and in the right position to create synergy and success.
While I respect that many people say Mr. Farrell is a helluva guy, I’m a bit incredulous that that pleasant personna is enough to overcome what is becoming factually obvious: the man can’t manage a big league team that doesn’t, in essence, manage itself.
Yes, I’m from Toronto. We already knew he couldn’t manage. Might make a good bullpen coach, though.
It’s hard not to see this past weekend through the lens of schadenfreude. As the recent Toronto hot streak made obvious, a couple of weeks of having things go right, can put the post-season back into the forward view. Without a change in leadership, it’s hard to see Boston making the same sort of charge.
“The team picked by many…”
Most of the “many” were probably located in the Northeast Atlantic seaboard. I doubt there were many who were enamoured of the Red Sox out in the rest of the country. The best starter on the team, who is only a rookie with 4 starts, just got shellacked for 9 ER’s.
You know, it’s kind of funny, but the Jays have become the team everybody thought the Red Sox would be in pre-season. An elite offence, an above average defence, and a below average pitching staff.
To me, it’s more like the Jays have become the team everybody thought they were a couple of years ago, while the Red Sox have become the team that the Jays actually were.
Eh, that Jays team should have had way more pitching than the current one. The Jays are basically what everybody thought this Sox team would be.