TORONTO — Late on Monday afternoon, John Gibbons was holding court at Rogers Centre as though no time had passed.
Sitting in the visitors’ dugout, the longtime Blue Jays manager and current Mets bench coach fielded questions from some familiar faces with the same honesty and self-effacing wit that made him a fan favourite by 2018, his 11th and final season managing in Toronto.
Yet as Gibbons was quick to acknowledge, he wasn’t always well liked here. His first tenure ended without a playoff appearance and it wasn’t until 2015, his eighth season managing, that the Blue Jays finally won the AL East. So as this current team has fallen short of expectations in recent years, Gibbons has had an idea of what current manager John Schneider might be going through.
“I’m a big fan of Schneids,” Gibbons said before a 3-2 Mets win in which the visitors scored the tying and winning runs on balls that skipped to the backstop. “He’s a good baseball guy, and I feel his pain when he takes heat.”
If there’s an antidote to that criticism, it’s winning, as Gibbons knows first-hand. Consecutive ALCS appearances in 2015 and 2016 re-shaped his legacy as a Blue Jays manager, and he now ranks second all-time in both regular season and post-season wins, trailing only Cito Gaston.
As for Schneider, he’s still seeking his first playoff win — game, not series — and he still draws inspiration from Gibbons, who was managing in the majors while Schneider played, coached and managed his way up through the minor-leagues.
“I learned a lot,” Schneider said. “He’s such a good baseball guy. And I just love the way he goes about it, you know? He’s easy to talk to. Straight shooter.”
“He does a really good job of trusting his instincts,” Schneider continued. “And one of his biggest strengths was you just always knew exactly what he was thinking. He wasn’t afraid to share it with you.”
After a game like this, any manager would be disappointed. The Blue Jays carried a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning and seemed poised to take the series opener against the Mets, until reliever Tommy Nance walked two of the first three hitters he faced leading to one run on a wild pitch and another on a passed ball.
“We just didn’t help ourselves there,” Schneider said. “You’ve got to play clean.”
Clearly, catcher Brian Serven deserves some share of the blame there, too, but either way, the Mets had the lead right back after the Blue Jays scraped two runs across the plate in the seventh.
“Breaking balls in the dirt are tough,” Schneider said. “Tommy can really spin the ball, but the fastball (that got through for a passed ball), you’ve got to keep in front of you.”
Earlier, Ryan Burr, Luis Frias and Ryan Yarbrough did their part to keep this bullpen game close. By the weekend, Yarbrough knew he’d pitch in some capacity Monday, but the precise plan wasn’t finalized until the game began and he still delivered 3.2 innings of one-run ball.
“I had to sink or swim with (uncertainty) early on, especially as a young guy,” Yarbrough said. “I’ve just got to be ready whenever. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.”
“This year I’ve done a little bit of everything, so nothing’s new at this point, which is a good thing.”
Of course, any mistakes by the pitchers and defence got magnified on a night the Blue Jays combined for just four hits. Singles by Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement contributed to the seventh-inning rally, but otherwise, the Blue Jays had nothing going at the plate except an early double by Spencer Horwitz and a late single by Clement.
Late in the game, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fouled a couple pitches off his left foot, but x-rays were negative and he’s considered day to day.
“The good news is nothing’s fractured or broken or anything like that,” Schneider said.
Meanwhile, Bo Bichette stayed in Georgia following the Blue Jays’ series in Atlanta, as Toronto’s triple-A affiliate is slated to play in Gwinnett this week. Bichette will rehab his right calf for at least a few games there, and while a return to the majors hasn’t been ruled out this weekend, it’s more likely he’ll be activated in Texas next week.
In that scenario, Bichette would have a couple of weeks to find his form ahead of the off-season, and the Blue Jays would gain a better understanding of what they can expect from their star shortstop. Ideally, a strong finish would build momentum ahead of the off-season and nudge the Blue Jays closer to their previous winning ways.
In the meantime, though, they’re far from being a contender and on Monday night it showed.