Game Thread: June 8 – Houston Astros (36-26) @ Toronto Blue Jays (35-28) – 7:07 PM

35 comments

1. Sooooo Ross’s press availability was pretty horrible

2. Well, [Apollo is shutting down at the end of the month](https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/), and so I imagine is many people’s Reddit usage, myself likely included.

3. I’ve had the Fairly Odd Parents theme song stuck in my head all day. I hope the Jays win

4. It isn’t going to be easy but 3 out of 4 against Houston would be amazing, getting closer and closer to that wild card spot.

5. After the debacle that has been pitchers who pitch opening day because awful for the year. And looking like Guasmen may open next year since kinda been the ace for 2 years now or arguably at least. I don’t want to see Kevin suck!

   So does anybody agree we do bullpen day to open next season? I’m thinking Garcia or Bass to start the 1st, any other options?

6. >[[MLB TV] Yordan Alvarez and the
   Astros look to split their 4-game set against Bo Bichette and the
   Blue Jays](https://twitter.com/MLBTV/status/1666887919850618881)

   I don’t think I’ve EVER seen any promos for Jays things that refer to *Bo Bichette* and the Blue Jays (as opposed to Vladdy). Not even when he was nuclear last September.

   The face of the Blue Jays seems to be changing.

7. How valuable is a middling Bullpen arm versus the heat the Jays are taking? Wouldn’t it be better for all involved to DFA him?

8. Holy fuck those Anthony bass comments. Ross goes out, tries to save face for bass.

   Bass then says nah fuck that Ima triple down.

   Completely disgusting on all fronts and I can see why they didn’t want him answering questions. My expectations were low, but HOLY FUCK

9. So bass and Atkins together paint a story.

   Ross confirmed they asked him to delete the post. Timeline is clearly:

   Bass posts

   Jays tell him to delete

   Bass deletes

   Bass reposts, as he “decided it reflected his beliefs and wasn’t hateful”

10. [Asked Anthony Bass if he’s changed his views on the video: “The video itself, I took it down. I felt like it was too much of a distraction. I stand by my personal beliefs and everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, right? But I also mean no harm to any groups of people.”](https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/1666906883062390811?s=20)

    He is telling us he still believes in his shitty fucking viewpoint of LGBTQ+ people. He is telling us this! — how are we supposed to be told by the team he’s “learning” when he is *telling* us he’s not?

    His “”personal belief”” is actively fucking harming the community by allowing people who agree with him/with the video he reposted to spew their own hateful comments. Maybe *he* won’t physically attack a member of the community on the street, but someone who is a hateful person—who doesn’t stand to lose his lucrative career + millions of dollars—might! His comments + reposting, and the team’s allowance of them, will allow other bigots the space to say the same things. And worse. And will allow them to *do* worse.

    I’m really disappointed in the team and am considering sending an email. I know it won’t do anything, but they have to know how this makes the community feel. Tell me you support the community, have an entire two-day pride event, and yet let this go.

11. If I was petty, and I was John Schneider, I would use Bass as an opener tomorrow and then just… leave him in. Make him pitch all 9 innings. Let the other team tee off him until he removed himself from the game

    It would be bad for all kinds of baseball reasons… but it would have a public shaming aspect that the pettier part of me would enjoy

12. Hey Ross, how’s Anthony’s boot tasting today?

13. I have a friend with two 200 level outfield seats for tonight’s game that none of us can use. DM me and they’re yours

14. I’m not gonna pollute this thread with more Bass stuff but I will say this, God help him if someone in his family is gay….

    Anywho, Berrios has been pitching pretty good lately. I’d love to see the Jays take 3 of 4 against Houston and keep the momentum going.

15. Not to further clog up the thread, but latest from Keegan on twitter. He’s fully admitting he didn’t learn anything and is just sorry he got caught

    “Bass was asked if he thinks the video he shared on Instagram was hateful: “I do not. That’s why I posted it originally. When I look back at it, I can see how people would view it that way and that’s why I was apologetic.” #BlueJays”

16. Going to the game tonight! Let’s go Jays!

17. Fuck Anthony Bass, lets take 3 of 4 from the Astros.

18. To be clear: fuck Bass. Love is love.

    Having said that, I find it odd that Blue Jays fans are surprised this is how it’s all going down. People are constantly surprised that a corporation only cares about money and grifting people to get it. Does Rogers care about the LGBTQ community? No, people in the organization might but not the company its self. They pay lip service to groups to extract your money from you. It’s the same with any special interest group that these corporations attach themselves too.

    As for Bass himself, I don’t expect him to change. He’s clearly very devouted to being a fundamentalist Christian and his words speak to that. No seminar or pamphlet telling him he’s an idiot and wrong is going to change that. He’s said he won’t post anymore (which I doubt) but that he’ll continue to believe what he believes.

    90% of baseball players probably have a similar viewpoint, including the Latin/Carribean players who are often extremely religious. They just don’t post about it so it seems like people are OK with that as long as they don’t say anything publically which is an odd line to draw in the sand if you ask me.

    Overall, this is exactly how I imagined things to go down which is unfortunate.

19. Maybe the plan is on the next blowout game. Throw bass out there for 7 innings and than DFA him.

20. My proposal: Get Jay Jackson tickets for the first flight north from Buffalo

21. What a crapshoot of a day. The sheer stupidity of this whole Bass thing and a lot of third party Reddit apps are shutting down 😞

22. So, I was looking at the Chicago White Sox thread, and they really dont like Lynn. Makes what we said about Manoah look kind.

23. Let’s win this series. Go Jays Go.

24. Holy shit. The plan is to have bass catch first pitch on pride night?!?!

    I have no words.

25. Now, TODAY, can we at least get Dubon to see 3 pitches before he gets a leadoff hit. First pitch lead off single off Manoah, 2nd pitch lead off homer off Gaus, and a 1st pitch lead off single off Bassitt. 3 pitches is all I ask rn

    Just saw he isn’t in the lineup today, but the point still stands. 3 pitches before a lead off hit, please

26. There is no joy in Baseballtown: Gosuke Katoh went 0-for-4 as the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters lost 7-2 to the Hiroshima Carp. 😔

27. If you’re someone who gets irrationally (or rationally) annoyed by GIDPs, this would be a good game to skip. Everyone knows Valdez is a groundball pitcher but holy crap I had no idea how extreme it was.

    Last year, over a full season, he had a 66.5% groundball rate. Basically 2/3 of hitters hit a groundball against him. To give you an idea of how extreme that is, second place was nearly 10 percentage points lower at 56.7%. Second place in the AL was 51.4%. Think about that! He was getting grounders 2/3 of the time when no one else in the entire AL was more than a hair over half. Just insane.

    In 2023, he’s down only slightly at 59.5%, which is first in the AL and third overall.

    So yeah, prepare yourself for a Groundball fest, especially since Berrios is 7th in the AL for the same stat.

28. I am really worried about reddit fucking everything up by jacking up API fees by 7800%. Specifically, what it’ll do to this subreddit and the GDTs. I think we need to start preparing for an alternative if they don’t back down.

    Unofficial poll time:

    What app or client do you use to read GDTs (reddit, old.reddit, official reddit app, third party app, reddit-stream, etc)?

    If your preferred client shut down, would you use the official reddit app/website?

    If not, would you move to a different platform? (eg Discord, or suggest an alternative)?

29. Fuck. Looks like RIF and all the 3rd-party reddit apps are shutting down. I guess I’ll see all you funny people on the discord channel soon. At least I’ll be able to get my Jays chat fix without using the atrocious official app.

30. Tsn just covered the bass situation for all of 1 minute lol… dont wanna piss off Rogers by making a statement and having them take more TV rights from you?

31. To pile on, there is loud construction happening near me 😭

32. I think Dan Shulman is gonna make a bombshell of a comment or statement regarding bass at the beginning of the broadcast. I think he has the guts I really do. He’s also probably as invincible as anyone when it would come to any repercussions from said statement

33. Vladdy jack tonight. I feels it.

34. So just a quick question for all you fine folks regarding the upcoming subreddit blackout and the possible future of the entire Reddit’s in jeopardy….

    Where is the best place to get the blue jay news from? I hate twitter but do I have to like subscribe(do you even sub to tweets? I really don’t use the twitter so I don’t even know). Honestly, I kinda just use the subreddit for my Blue Jays info, so where do I go now?

35. Anyone in construction wear those cool worx pants? The ones with the mesh shins, how are those?