Toronto Blue Jays' Russell Martin is tagged out trying to steal third by Los Angeles Angels' Taylor Featherston during fourth inning American League baseball action in Toronto, Tuesday, May 19, 2015.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The daily pregame bull session John Gibbons conducts for the benefit of the media eventually swung around to the curious move the Miami Marlins made on Monday, choosing Dan Jennings to be their new manager.
Jennings, the Marlins general manager, has virtually no experience in the game-to-game management of a baseball team – unless you count the time he coached a high school team in Mobile, Ala.
Asked about it, Gibbons, manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, said on Tuesday he does not know Jennings, only knows of him, and that he is by all accounts an excellent baseball man.
It was a safe answer, a deft way to dodge land mines. In the precarious world of Major League Baseball, it is best not to make too many enemies.
Gibbons was then asked, if he were suddenly promoted to the job as the Blue Jays GM, what would he do to try to fix his baseball team? "Fire the manager," Gibbons said, erupting in that raspy cackle of a laugh that sounds like a goose on steroids.
Gibbons can read the tea leaves as well as anybody else, and he knows his butt is on the line if the Blue Jays continue to pooch their way through the current season.
"We've got to pitch better, that's pretty obvious," Gibbons continued after all the hilarity. "We're fully capable of doing that. "
Gibbons received some of that good pitching Tuesday night from Aaron Sanchez. But in the end it was not enough as the L.A. Angels, behind a strong start from Hector Santiago, came back to record a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays and knot the four-game series at one game apiece.
Sanchez pitched into the eighth inning for the first time in his career, allowing the three L.A. runs off five hits. And for the most part he pitched under control, finishing with three walks.
The 22-year-old entered the game averaging 6.6 walks per nine innings, the highest mark in the league. His first two walks on Tuesday occurred in the seventh inning, when Toronto was nursing a 2-1 lead, and they hurt. Kole Calhoun, who received the first free pass, would come around to score on a single to left field by Chris Iannetta that tied the score.
L.A. would then win it in the eighth after Sanchez exited the game with runners at first and second. Erick Aybar reached third on a fielder's choice after Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson missed on a desperate tag-out attempt on a ground ball off the bat of Calhoun.
Aybar scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly lifted to centre field by David Freese off Toronto reliever Roberto Osuna.
The loss won't do much to chase away the vultures that are already circling above Rogers Centre, screeching for change. The team entered Tuesday's tilt in last place in the American League East, but is still only 4.5-games back of first place in the tightly congested division.
"I've been in this racket for a while now, and really, it goes with the territory," Gibbons said, shrugging off his detractors. "When the team's struggling, that's generally what happens. I don't think it's any different here than anywhere else. You just learn to deal with it."
Gibbons was in a bit of a reflective mood before the game despite the struggles with his team, talking about the difference managing in the big leagues and in the minors, of which he is also well acquainted. This was a guy who was happy as a clam managing at the Double-A level in his home town of San Antonio when the Blue Jays hired him a second time, prior to the start of the 2013 season.
In the minors, while winning is not frowned upon, it is the development of the players that is the main priority.
"One thing I really enjoyed, even when I went back a couple of years ago, you see the guys all on the upswing," Gibbons said. "And you get a great effort every night, they're enthusiastic. They're a little bit naive, they all think they're going to make it, when in reality, very few of them are. So it's a refreshing spot, that's for sure."
Gibbons sounded wistful when recalling those days, but he did not want to give the wrong impression that it was more fun working at the minor-league level than his current position. It's always good, he said, "any time you're at the top of your profession."
Donaldson hit a leadoff home run for the Blue Jays in Toronto's first at-bat, his ninth of the season. Calhoun would do likewise for L.A. in the fourth to tie the game.