Josh Donaldson hurt himself on Sunday. Or maybe it was before that. It's hard to say, since everyone has a slightly different story.
What exactly is the injury? Difficult to pin down.
How bad is it? Depends who you talk to.
Out of nowhere, L'Affaire Donaldson has become the sort of thing you associate with teams on the verge of spitting the bit. If the Jays end up pooching a division they looked in control of two weeks ago, this will be the moment they did it.
Manager John Gibbons and general manager Ross Atkins said Donaldson "jammed" his hip running into first base in the recent series finale against Boston.
For three days, Donaldson refused to talk about it. When he was finally press-ganged into speaking after another terrible loss on Wednesday, he did so in unusually obscure terms.
"I don't know exactly where … I think Gibby might have said something about … when I hit the base it was more, um, some other things that were going on … but for my hip it's kind of been something that's been a little bit gradual. I don't know exactly what point it was where something happened."
Well, what the hell does that mean? And why bother being so obtuse? This isn't hockey. Nobody's going to target your injured levers.
It's a complete guess at this point, but one is left with the distinct impression that something is very wrong with Donaldson. Why else spend so much effort trying to deflect attention from it? And if there isn't, what's with the cloak-and-dagger? Just say that your hip is hurting and has been for a while.
In May, this odd inability to share the most basic information would be curious.
In September, with the Jays slowly pointing the nose of the team plane toward the ground, it says everything you need to know about the club's current mood – unsettled, moving quickly toward unhinged.
After Wednesday's latest disaster – a ragged, two-hit, 8-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays – the Jays were left speaking in 12-step terms.
"I've got to believe we're at rock bottom," Gibbons said.
Starter Marco Estrada was money for three innings, and then Monopoly money for a few more. Afterward, all the "We'll-get-'em-next-time" had drained from him. He was left trying to convince himself that losing is the key predictor of winning.
"Things are going to change. I'm looking forward to things changing," Estrada said, sounding just a little dazed. "It's going to happen, I'm sure."
He didn't look sure. If anything right now, everyone looks pretty sure that the other thing is happening.
Toronto's steady mantra – "We're too good to lose" – is based on a false premise. They are suggesting that "being good" is a function of talent. Not in pro sports. In pro sports, you're only good if you win. If you don't, you are not. QED.
Maybe what this club needs to do is replace one of its many "special assistants" with an in-house epistemologist. She'd get this logical fallacy straightened out. And maybe she could pitch in with some advice on swing mechanics. Considering how things are going, it certainly couldn't hurt.
The problem starts with Donaldson. His troubles dovetail almost exactly with Toronto's plummeting performance.
He was wretched until he was hurt – hitless in seven straight games. Given his "other things that were going on" comments, it's hard not to believe that injury played some part in that (both Gibbons and Atkins specifically denied it).
He was sent Wednesday for an MRI – never a good sign. Even if the scan is clear, just the fact that the player was put to the trouble suggests something lingering and serious. Guys don't go for MRIs for kicks.
Donaldson said he hoped to be back on Thursday in Anaheim (after a five-hour flight with a stiff hip). I don't think anyone's holding his breath.
Without him, the team is noticeably diminished – on and off the score sheet.
Once again, Wednesday's game was peppered with dumb errors and mental letdowns. The body language was suitable to a chain gang. Jose Bautista felt emboldened to return to his insufferable "I-can't-believe-you-justcalled-that-obvious-strike-astrike" self. The top five men in the Jays' order went one-for-15.
Teams that are about to turn around are usually the victims of bad luck or hot opponents. This one cannot use those excuses. Right now, they're just bad.
The Jays scored six runs in three games against the last-place team in the American League East, and lost their fourth series in a row. You can talk all you want about Tampa, history and voodoo dolls, but it's an inexcusable performance given the situation.
As the club was being put to sleep by the Rays, it announced the hiring of former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington as a new vice-president.
He'll be the ninth VP in the Toronto Blue Jays organization because, as it says in the Bible, "be fruitful and multiply in the number of your corporate hacks."
Thanks to Cherington's remarkable skill set and long track record of success, hopes are running high for a now full-strength office slo-pitch team.
The pro club? Who knows? I suppose one more guy in the room dipping in and out of Baseball Reference as if it's the Dead Sea Scrolls can't hurt, one way or the other.
It was the timing that struck you. The team has won three of its last 11. Two weeks ago, the Jays led the league by two games. Now, they're two games out and looking nervy for a wild-card spot.
Is a family emergency really the best time to be introducing new uncles to the mix?
If the intention was to deflect attention from the club's current problems, it did not have the desired effect.
What you were rather more struck by was Marcus Stroman walking around the clubhouse post-game in a T-shirt that read SHIT HAPPENS. It's almost like a satire of a failing baseball team.
On Thursday, Toronto begins a seven-game road swing out west. The season can't be won there, but it can certainly be lost.
At the moment, without their best player and showing none of the confidence that had characterized this club with him, it looks more than a little shaky.
Cathal Kelly