Now this is a Fall Classic: The Yankees and the Phillies. There are plenty of ball fans out there who despise these teams, but it’s hard to argue that this has the makings of a great World Series. The best from each league with two hostile environments and launching pads for stadiums.

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing how this one plays out – from my couch. This is the first year I haven’t worked any postseason games since 2006, but I’ve been having a blast spending time with my family and newborn son. Besides training for and completing the Chicago Marathon this month, Hayden has been keeping me plenty busy.

Just figured I’d throw a quick update on here since the blog and my twitter page has been pretty quiet as of late. Things will pick up after the World Series, when the offseason starts picking up steam. For now, I’ll leave you with some links to stories I’ve written over the past few weeks and my World Series prediction: Yankees in Six.

Blue Jays links:

Inbox: Who will fill the Jays rotation

Anthopoulos getting to know Jays

McDonald faces uncertain future

Inbox: Will Halladay stick around?

Anthopoulos hires assistant

Barajas in limbo as Jays reset

Jays continue to shake up front office

If you want to possibly be included in an upcoming Blue Jays inbox, send questions to bluejaysmailbag@gmail.com with your name and hometown. I’ll be aiming to do one of these each week throughout the offseason.

~JB

 

 

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said that Friday was the worst day of his baseball life. By Sunday morning, as the Jays prepped to wrap up this rocky season, the manager was feeling better about the situation.

“Right now, sure, I feel a lot better,” Gaston said. “I feel a lot better that my players had nothing to do with it. I was just completely surprised to even hear that, because I know how I treat these guys. I know what kind of person I am and I know how I feel about guys on this club. Like I’ve said, there’s not a guy on this club that I dislike.”

Gaston woke on Friday to news that there was “mutiny” in his clubhouse, that players wanted him gone before next year. Anonymous sources in various reports cited negativity and a lack of communcation.

Players went on the record later that day and confirmed that there were some issues in need of addressing. But others said the extent of the issues were blown far out or proportion. It was not that the team did not want Gaston back, just that they had an assortment of team issues that needed to be discussed.

“Small issues turn into big issues and can ruin a season,” catcher Rod Barajas said on Sunday. “There were various small issues. It wasn’t one small issue. Just various issues that us as players felt like we had to get off our chest.”

As far as the original story, which made it seem like it was a team-wide revolt against Gaston, the manager believes the source came from outside the organization.

“Unfortunately, you have to go through something that somebody else planted here,” Gaston said. “I don’t think it came from my players and unfortunately we had to go through that and they had to go through it. And the person that did that, you know what? It will come back to get them in some kind of way. We might not ever find out who did it, but it’ll come back to get them.”

Gaston also found it odd that anyone would say he had an “old school” approach.

“Old school to me is when guys come to you and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to Sarasota, can I drive my car?’ ‘No, get on the bus,'” Gaston said. “Old school is to me if they need to go home to see their family or are having problems. Nope. Stay here. Old school is you can’t go home when your wife is having a baby. Old school is you certainly dont get your own jet and fly your family anywhere. That’s old school. We don’t have that school here.

“I guarantee you, when you’re not playing well, all kinds of stuff comes up. I guarantee if you go to those winning teams, they have problems over there, too. But they just are kind of overlooked because they’re winning. That’s the whole thing.”

Today’s lineups:

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (75-86)
Fourth place AL East, 27.0

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Lyle Overbay, 1B
6. Rod Barajas, C
7. Randy Ruiz, DH
8. Travis Snider, LF
9. John McDonald, SS

Starter: LHP Ricky Romero (13-9, 4.26)

BALTIMORE ORIOLES (63-98)
Fifth place AL East, 39.0 GB

1. Brian Roberts, 2B
2. Robert Andino, SS
3. Matt Wieters, C
4. Nick Markakis, RF
5. Melvin Mora, 3B
6. Luke Scott, DH
7. Michael Aubrey, 1B
8. Lou Montanez, LF
9. Jeff Fiorentino, CF

Starter: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (10-17, 5.05)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

The overwhelming sense inside the Blue Jays clubhouse this evening was that a majority of players agree that there is a problem, the heart of the issue is manager Cito Gaston, and it needs to be addressed soon.

Said interim president Paul Beeston: “I don’t believe it.”

Said Gaston: “I’d really like to know what I need to change. That would be interesting. I’d like to hear it myself.”

Beeston is expected to be in Baltimore on Saturday and the players plan on holding a meeting to discuss the current issues. Gaston did not seem to believe that more than a handful of players were complaining. Center fielder Vernon Wells indicated it was more than half the room.

There is a serious gap there.

“Unfortunately you’re not going to have everybody that likes you on the team, that’s just the way it is,” Gaston said. “It doesn’t bother me that there’s some guys that don’t like you. There’s some guys that didn’t like me before, they come back and they like me in the end. It’s one of those things that you can’t do anything about, there’s not a guy on this team that I dislike.”

Read bluejays.com later for more…

Today’s lineups:

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (75-84)
Fourth place AL East, 27.0

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Lyle Overbay, 1B
6. Randy Ruiz, DH
7. Travis Snider, LF
8. John McDonald, SS
9. Kyle Phillips, C

Starter: LHP David Purcey (1-2, 5.28)

BALTIMORE ORIOLES (61-98)
Fifth place AL East, 41.0 GB

1. Brian Roberts, 2B
2. Cesar Izturis, SS
3. Matt Wieters, C
4. Nick Markakis, RF
5. Ty Wigginton, DH
6. Melvin Mora, 3B
7. Michael Aubrey, LF
8. Lou Montanez, LF
9. Jeff Fiorentino, CF

Starter: RHP Jason Berken (5-12, 6.51)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/orioles-thumb-145×141-11073113.gifarchives/2009/09/game_152_baltimore_at_toronto.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}

Today’s lineups:

SEATTLE MARINERS (80-75)
Third place AL West, 10.5 GB

1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF
2. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
3. Jose Lopez, 1B
4. Mike Sweeney, DH
5. Adrian Beltre, 3B
6. Bill Hall, LF
7. Kenji Johjima, C
8. Matt Tuiasosopo, 2B
9. Josh Wilson, SS

Starter: LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith (4-3, 3.70)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (71-84)
Fourth place AL East, 28.0

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Randy Ruiz, DH
6. Kevin Millar, 1B
7. Rod Barajas, C
8. Travis Snider, LF
9. John McDonald, SS

Starter: LHP Brian Tallet (7-9, 5.39)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bluejays-thumb-150×131-1013931-thumb-150×131-10139412.jpgarchives/2009/09/game_152_baltimore_at_toronto.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}

Today’s lineups:

SEATTLE MARINERS (80-74)
Third place AL West, 10.5 GB

1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF
2. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
3. Jose Lopez, 1B
4. Mike Sweeney, DH
5. Bill Hall, LF
6. Jack Hannahan, 3B
7. Matt Tuiasosopo, 2B
8. Adam Moore, C
9. Josh Wilson, SS

Starter: RHP Ian Snell (5-2, 4.53)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (70-84)
Fourth place AL East, 28.0

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Adam Lind, DH
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
6. Lyle Overbay, 1B
7. Travis Snider, LF
8. John McDonald, SS
9. Kyle Phillips, C

Starter: LHP David Purcey (1-2, 5.31)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bluejays-thumb-150×131-1013931-thumb-150×131-10139413.jpgarchives/2009/09/game_152_baltimore_at_toronto.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}

Today’s lineups:

SEATTLE MARINERS (80-73)
Third place AL West, 10.5 GB

1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF
2. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
3. Jose Lopez, 2B
4. Ken Griffey Jr., DH
5. Adrian Beltre, 3B
6. Kenji Johjima, C
7. Mike Carp, 1B
8. Josh Wilson, SS
9. Michael Saunders, LF

Starter: RHP Doug Fister (2-3, 4.37)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (69-84)
Fourth place AL East, 28.0

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Adam Lind, DH
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
6. Lyle Overbay, 1B
7. Rod Barajas, C
8. Travis Snider, LF
9. John McDonald, SS

Starter: RHP Doc Halladay (15-10, 3.01)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bluejays-thumb-150×131-1013931-thumb-150×131-10139416.jpgarchives/2009/09/game_152_baltimore_at_toronto.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}

Chatted with Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi for a while pregame and covered a number of topics. Among them was the situation concerning injured right-hander Dustin McGowan.

For a while now, McGowan’s name has been excluded from the list of arms rattled off when talking about the rotation next year. His comeback from shoulder surgery last year has been slow and he blew out his left knee earlier this year.

Ricciardi said on Thursday that McGowan is throwing again and noted that his recent progress has been promising. That being said, it’s still far too soon to set any kind of expectations for the pitcher for the spring.

“He looks really good. The ball is really coming out of his hand well,” Ricciardi said. “He feels really good. There’s another kid that you’re just rooting for him, because he’s had so much bad luck.”

Ricciardi said McGowan is currently up to 110-115 feet in his throwing program and could be on a mound some time next week.

If McGowan can defy what have seemed to be slim odds for a while now, and return to the Blue Jays’ pitching staff, it could provide a big boost to the club. Ricciardi didn’t rule out bringing him back as a reliever, though. It will certainly be one fo the storylines to look forward to during Spring Training.

Other items from the discussion: Ricciardi believes Jason Frasor and Scott Downs could split the closer duties next season; Catching prospects J.P. Arencibia (kidney surgery earlier this month) and Brian Jeroloman (upcoming hip surgery) are out of the Arizona Fall League; Ricciardi believes Kyle Phillips could be in the mix as a backup catcher next year; Robert Ray, Brad Mills and Reidier Gonzalez will pitch in the AFL.

Oh, as for Ricky Romero?

“You know what?” Ricciardi said. “You need a wheelbarrow to take his balls to the mound. That’s how big they are.”

Today’s lineups:

SEATTLE MARINERS (79-73)
Third place AL West, 11.0 GB

1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF
2. Franklin Gutierrez, CF
3. Jose Lopez, 1B
4. Mike Sweeney, DH
5. Adrian Beltre, 3B
6. Bill Hall, LF
7. Matt Tuiasosopo, 2B
8. Josh Wilson, SS
9. Rob Johnson, C

Starter: RHP Felix Hernandez (16-5, 2.45)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (69-83)
Fourth place AL East, 27.5

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Adam Lind, DH
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
6. Lyle Overbay, 1B
7. Travis Snider, LF
8. Raul Chavez, C
9. John McDonald, SS

Starter: LHP Ricky Romero (12-9, 4.28)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bluejays-thumb-150×131-1013931-thumb-150×131-10139419.jpgarchives/2009/09/game_152_baltimore_at_toronto.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}

Today’s lineups:

BALTIMORE ORIOLES (60-91)
Fifth place AL East, 35.5 GB

1. Felix Pie CF
2. Cesar Izturis, SS
3. Matt Wieters, DH
4. Nick Markakis, RF
5. Luke Scott, LF
6. Justin Turner, 3B
7. Michael Aubrey, 1B
8. Chad Moeller, C
9. Robert Andino, 2B

Starter: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (10-15, 5.05)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (68-83)
Fourth place AL East, 27.5

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Adam Lind, DH
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
6. Lyle Overbay, 1B
7. Rod Barajas, C
8. Travis Snider, LF
9. John McDonald, SS

Starter: RHP Scott Richmond (6-10, 5.31)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

The Blue Jays may very well make some changes after this forgettable season, but rest assured, manager Cito Gaston isn’t losing any sleep over his future.

“If they want to make a change, they want to make a change,” Gaston said on Tuesday. “If not, you just look forward to next year and try to finish this year on a positive note. We did have every starter on this team down. We’ve had players out.

“It has been a really tough year. I’ve never had that many injuries on any team that I’ve ever managed.”

Now, there is nothing to suggest that Gaston won’t be back in the manager’s seat come 2010. In all likelihood, he will still be at the helm for the final year under his current contract. It’s just, well, you never know, and Gaston knows that as well as anyone.

Remember, Gaston was let go by Toronto in September of 1997, and it took him 11 years to return to his role as manager with the Jays. Gaston said, as he looks back on ’97 and tries to compare it to this year, while losing is something he hates, he finds it a little easier to accept now.

“Back then, when you had that many veterans, you should have a better playing team,” Gaston said. “We have some young kids here playing, pitching especially. It’s just something building toward the future, whether I’m here or not. This team will always be a part of my hard no matter if I’m here or not, so I’d like to see them get better and I’d like to see them move forward and play well.

“It’s never easy to lose. I really can’t stand losing, but I understand it. I probably understand it a little bit more, a little bit better now.”

Today’s lineups:

BALTIMORE ORIOLES (60-90)
Fifth place AL East, 34.5 GB

1. Brian Roberts, 2B
2. Felix Pie, CF
3. Matt Wieters, C
4. Luke Scott, LF
5. Melvin Mora, 3B
6. Ty Wigginton, DH
7. Lou Montanez, RF
8. Michael Aubrey, 1B
9. Cesar Izturis, SS

Starter: LHP Mark Hendrickson (5-5, 4.47)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (67-83)
Fourth place AL East, 27.5

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Rod Barajas, C
6. Kevin Millar, 1B
7. Randy Ruiz, DH
8. Travis Snider, LF
9. John McDonald, SS

Starter: LHP Brian Tallet (7-9, 5.31)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bluejays-thumb-150×131-1013931-thumb-150×131-101394119.jpgarchives/2009/08/game_110_baltimore_at_toronto.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}

Today’s lineups:

BALTIMORE ORIOLES (60-89)
Fifth place AL East, 34.5 GB

1. Brian Roberts, 2B
2. Cesar Izturis, SS
3. Matt Wieters, C
4. Nick Markakis, RF
5. Melvin Mora, 3B
6. Luke Scott, LF
7. Ty Wigginton, DH
8. Felix Pie, CF
9. Michael Aubrey, 1B

Starter: RHP Chris Tillman (2-3, 4.50)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (66-83)
Fourth place AL East, 28.5

1. Jose Bautista, RF
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Adam Lind, DH
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
6. Lyle Overbay, 1B
7. Travis Snider, LF
8. Kyle Phillips, C
9. John McDonald, SS

Starter: LHP David Purcey (0-2, 6.32)

Don’t forget, you can follow me on Twitter: @MLBastian

~JB

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://mlbastian.mlblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bluejays-thumb-150×131-1013931-thumb-150×131-101394113.jpgarchives/2009/08/game_110_baltimore_at_toronto.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}