Bautista diverts attention from Blue Jays’ hitting

TORONTO — Jose Bautista may have done the smartest thing any of the Toronto Blue Jays could do at this point.

On Sunday afternoon, he walked to the middle of the home clubhouse at Rogers Centre, leaned against a table and waited for reporters to gather around him.

• ALCS Game 3: Tonight, 8 ET on TBS/Sportsnet/RDS

This was not a happenstance news conference. He spoke to reporters because he had something to say.

Including:

“All you gotta do is look at video and count how many times [Indians pitchers have] thrown pitches over the heart of the plate. It hasn’t been many. They’ve been able to do that because of circumstances — that I’m not trying to talk about because I can’t.

“That’s for you guys to do, but you guys don’t really want to talk about that, either. Sometimes the elements and the circumstances that we have to deal with as hitters don’t go our way.”

Game Date Time Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 14   CLE 2, TOR 0 Gm 2 Oct. 15   CLE 2, TOR 1 Gm 3 Oct. 17 8 p.m. CLE@ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS Gm 4 Oct. 18 4 p.m. CLE @ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 5 Oct. 19 4 p.m. CLE@ TOR TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 6 Oct. 21 8 p.m. TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS *Gm 7 Oct. 22 TBD TOR @ CLE TBS/SNET/RDS * If necessary | All times listed ET  • ALCS coverageShop for postseason gear: Blue Jays | Indians

He said lots of other stuff. About the hometown fans. About changing the direction of the series. He did not specifically criticize the umpires for expanding one strike zone and not the other.

Besides, he might have been talking about game times. Actually, his words seemed unmistakably directed at umpires, but he was vague enough to perhaps avoid a fine.

If criticizing the umpires was his intent, he’s flat wrong, and we’ll get to that later. What he did do — and smartly — was change the subject. Create a buzz. Kick up …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com