Blue Jays manager John Schneider: 'It's up to players to say this isn't good enough'

John Schneider met with the media after Sunday's loss to the Angels to discuss his message to Blue Jays players after a tough sweep and what he expects from his team's leaders in the aftermath.

Video Transcript

- John, there's been some real highs and lows lately. What do you think the key is to getting back to more consistency?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Attention to detail and a good offensive approach. I think our pitching has been good. And I think, just overall, that series on the other side of the ball wasn't good enough.

- And their starter today-- what it allowed him to work through your lineup and have some success there, especially early on?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: There were some backup breaking balls. But to his credit, he competed. We missed our pitches to hit, and that was kind of the key and the theme of the whole series.

- Hey, John, obviously this team is as talented as they come. And baseball is a weird sport where you can't try harder, necessarily. It's almost detrimental to do that.

JOHN SCHNEIDER: You can at times.

- Well, Then what was the key to getting the best out of this team, especially at this big stretch run that you guys are going to have?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Look at the standings and understand that every game is important. And three hours out of your day it needs to be completely focused on trying to win. So that's the goal going forward.

- John, as far as Teoscar is concerned, it looked like he was really feeling that foot, both on the Chapman double and then that Merrifield ground ball. What's the balance between-- is he healthy-- can he move enough to play or does he need time off?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: A fine one, I think-- a fine balance. And I think that, watching him today, he is grinding a little bit. And obviously, a guy that's important to our lineup. And if he can't go 100%-- he battled through it today. We'll revisit it tomorrow to see how available he is.

- I think people think that when a team is going through it the way you guys have this weekend, you got to go in there and flip a table or throw a chair or anything like that. How do you talk to the group, if you are talking to the group?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: You've got to be consistent, and you got to understand that it's a really talented group, and there's going to be ups and downs over the course of a season. And I think if you look at-- over our last 10, it's good, and the sequencing of it sucks.

I'm never the type of guy that will go in there and flip a table. At this point, it's up to the players to say, this is not good enough. I'm sure they're talking about that right now. And you trust that the guys who are leaders and the guys that are veterans on the team take care of that. And tomorrow starts a new series.