First off...

My name's Stuart and I'm a diehard Jays fan. I started watching baseball when I was about 13, so not very long ago, but since then I know just about everything about baseball. Well, baseball's been in my family forever, so I grew up around the game, but I never really watched it; it's surprising how much you can learn from just watching. I thought I knew baseball well before I started watching it, but I was dead wrong. After 2 years of watching it though, I know more than anybody else in my school about the game, and it seems I know more than a peticular manager as well...

I have a lot of respect for John Gibbons, he's a great manager probably, but he tends to have a stupid perception on the game. Think of it this way, the Jays are on the verge of getting the shit end of the stick on a four-game series sweep by the New York Yankees, and we could've won at least one if he thought harder. One thing I think is costing us is Gibby's philosophy of base-stealing. The Jays' lineup is based solely around power hitters, so, the speed demons of our lineup such as Reed Johnson, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill don't steal bases because if they're caught, and the next player hits a homer that's one less run...

...that's the stupidest shit I've heard.

Alright think about this for a second...
Most of the hits in a ballgame are singles, right? Right.
Homeruns are the hardest hit to get, right? Right.
A single will usually score a runner at second, right? Right.

Four out of the nine players in our lineup can steal 20+ bases every season, yet they don't because Mr. Gibbons wants to play long ball, rather than small ball and long ball. I hate to say it, but the reason the Yankees are so good is because they play both small ball and long ball... they steal bases so a single could knock them in, but they also hit homeruns-- look how successful they are because of it.

The seventh inning tonight portrays this perfectly... Reed Johnson leads off with a walk, Alex Rios follows that up with a single. Vernon Wells is at the plate, and Gibbons doesn't decide to make him bunt to move the runners over. If he bunted, we'd have two runners in scoring position with 1 out. A flyball, or a groundout to the right side from Troy Glaus would then score one run, a basehit would score two. But, instead, not a single run plates, because Gibby refuses to play small ball.

Mr. Gibbons I'm sorry but that's just unprofessional, you need to get runs on the board somehow, and waiting for a longball isn't good enough.