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Blue Jays' Gibbons sick of 6-man rotation questions

John Williamson / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has no idea if his club's newly adopted six-man rotation contributed to Marco Estrada's struggles Wednesday at Rogers Centre, where the veteran right-hander allowed at least five runs and coughed up multiple homers for a second straight start.

He knows for certain, however, that he's fed up with questions about the six-man rotation.

"You know, who the hell knows?" a perturbed Gibbons told reporters following his club's 8-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. "I don't know; you don't know. I mean, we've gotta move on from that, because everybody's been good. It's getting a little tiring. There's got to be more to the game than that."

The rotation, as it happens, has been trimmed to five for the next few days - the Blue Jays optioned Aaron Sanchez to the minors Sunday in an effort to keep his innings down - but Gibbons isn't wrong in suggesting his starters, with the exception of Estrada, have been mostly effective since Francisco Liriano was added to the mix in early August. Collectively, Toronto's starters own the seventh-lowest ERA in the majors this month (3.64), and rank among the top four in the American League in strikeout rate (23.1 percent) and homers per nine innings (1.16).

Name GS ERA WHIP HR/9 GB%
Marcus Stroman 4 2.10 1.01 1.05 57.4%
J.A. Happ 3 2.33 0.98 1.40 42.6%
R.A. Dickey 4 3.13 1.35 0.39 41.7% 
Francisco Liriano 3 3.57 1.42 1.02 48.1%
Aaron Sanchez* 3 5.29 1.35 0.53 54.7%
Marco Estrada 4 6.00 1.57 2.57 37.1%

*Expected to rejoin rotation Aug. 31 in Baltimore

Gibbons continued: "Maybe. Who knows? But I don't know, you don't know, and I'm sure he doesn't know. Get where I'm coming from? Beat a dead horse all you want, you know. I choose to be optimistic, move forward. One of those games. They outplayed us. Every phase of it. It's not the first, it won't be the last. Good try, though. Uncle."

The questions may not relent, though. Earlier this month, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins suggested that sticking to a six-man rotation through September is optimal.

"If we don't have to adjust, that would be a very good outcome, because that would mean that everyone was performing and healthy,” Atkins said, according to Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star.

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