Shaun Doyle
Jays From the Couch brings you ‘A Word From Gibby’, a lighthearted presentation of recent comments from the Toronto Blue Jays manager
The Toronto Blue Jays are off to their worst start ever. Never before have we seen them struggle this mightily to begin a season. And, while there are oh, so many takes flying around, there is probably no better source for commentary than manager, John Gibbons.
Recently, he appeared on MLB Network and offered up his thoughts on a good number of things, including the unprecedented brutal start. We thought we would have some fun with recent comments. Check it out:
It is not too difficult to tell that this was inspired by the SNL greatness of Jack Handy. What those had was an ability to make us laugh and think at the same time.
John Gibbons is similar in that he is able to entertain us with his personality, but often provides us opportunity to pause and think about a good number of things. After the announcement of his contract extension, we brought you The Best of Gibby, which was a tribute to the gems he’s given us over the years.
Obviously, with the Blue Jays off to such a horrific start, we all need a good dose of humor where we can get it. There is not much to laugh about these days. The team has won a grand total of four times since April started and find themselves in a 8.5 game deficit in the division.
| Rk | Name | PA | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russell Martin | 54 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 17 | .159 | .315 | .250 | .565 |
| 2 | Justin Smoak# | 55 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 12 | .269 | .309 | .558 | .867 |
| 3 | Devon Travis | 59 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13 | .109 | .169 | .109 | .279 |
| 4 | Troy Tulowitzki | 61 | 5 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 6 | .263 | .295 | .386 | .681 |
| 5 | Darwin Barney | 31 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | .276 | .323 | .276 | .598 |
| 6 | Steve Pearce | 45 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 | .167 | .222 | .167 | .389 |
| 7 | Kevin Pillar | 72 | 5 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 | .319 | .338 | .478 | .816 |
| 8 | Jose Bautista | 77 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 25 | .123 | .247 | .200 | .447 |
| 9 | Kendrys Morales# | 74 | 7 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 16 | .254 | .324 | .418 | .742 |
| 10 | Ezequiel Carrera* | 40 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 8 | .263 | .263 | .368 | .632 |
| 11 | Josh Donaldson | 35 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 12 | .310 | .429 | .586 | 1.015 |
| 12 | Ryan Goins* | 18 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .250 | .333 | .375 | .708 |
| 13 | Jarrod Saltalamacchia# | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | .056 | .056 | .056 | .111 |
| 14 | Chris Coghlan* | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .200 | .357 | .200 | .557 |
| Team Totals | 653 | 57 | 130 | 23 | 14 | 54 | 4 | 52 | 158 | .220 | .286 | .333 | .619 | |
| Rank in 15 AL teams | 13 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
Add to that the string of injuries to key players like Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ, Josh Donaldson and now Troy Tulowitzki and things look even worse. Losing important pieces on a team whose other pieces are struggling the way they are is not exactly going to pull us out of this depressing funk.
Perhaps having a little fun in these dark, dark times will help us get through a little; maybe we can use the distraction. We can busy ourselves with silly, fun-poking and whatnot in order to avoid looking at things like this:
April 23, 2017 pic.twitter.com/VKCYlFybYv
— Jays From the Couch (@JaysFromCouch) April 23, 2017
Of course, as with any distraction, the frustration will always be there once the video ends, once the laughter ceases. The problem is that the start to this season has been an ongoing joke. It’s a joke that we don’t get and are left wondering what in the world just happened.
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