SAN FRANCISCO – The day after a loss that very much felt like a low point for the Toronto Blue Jays, manager John Schneider spoke to a few players individually to gauge their thoughts on the club’s recent struggles, and share a few thoughts of his own, too.

There’s a difference between losing and getting beat, he explained, and they’d done more of the former than the latter during this difficult stretch. Better fundamental baseball was needed, especially with an offensive dry spell magnifying any little slip. And they needed to get better from, rather than dwell on their struggles, as well as “really trying to kick it into gear a little bit.”

“The way I look at it is the most important thing right now is July 7th, not July 8th or July 6th – you have to approach it that way,” he said. “There are definitely things you talk about with some guys and say, we get it when you're struggling, but there are some things that need to be a little cleaner.”

Hours later, things were a lot cleaner for the Blue Jays, who exceeded their offensive output from the previous four games in the first three innings and took care of the baseball in an 9-3 thumping of the San Francisco Giants. 

As grim as Monday’s 8-1 setback was, Tuesday’s turnaround was commensurately revitalizing. Hitting coach David Popkins preached the need to free up his hitters mentally while they were in “protective states, stressed states,” and how one moment could release the pressure during a fascinating breakdown of the lineup with media before the game.

A leadoff single by Ernie........

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