TORONTO The playoffs already have seen a little bit of just about everything, so why not add a sign-stealing controversy to the mix?

The Blue Jays have enough talent in their lineup that they dont need help, but on Tuesday, Royals right-hander Lawrence Taylor Hoodies Sweatshirts Edinson Volquez conveyed the belief of Game 3 starter Johnny Cueto that Toronto had been stealing signs in their 11-8 win, in which Cueto allowed eight runs in two-plus innings and retired only six of the 17 batters he faced.

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Johnny said last night, but thats your fault, Volquez said. Youve got to hide the ball and have better communication with the catcher giving you signs when youre pitching. So its nothing wrong with it. We just have to hide the ball and give multiple signs to hide it from them.

Stealing signs is an age-old practice and not against any rules, written or unwritten, when players or coaches on a team do it. After all, the entire reason to have signs is to protect information that the other team would like to have about what pitches are coming, or in the case of signs from coaches to hitters and baserunners, what play is being put on. Volquez is right that if your signs are getting stolen, its your own fault.

The problem comes when outsiders are involved in stealing signs, and thats why the other part of what Volquez said bears some importance.

Most of the teams come here weve got a lot of friends on different teams, they always say that they give the signs or whatever it is, Xavier McKinney Jerseys Volquez said. But I dont go crazy with it. I just want to pitch my own game. (Cueto) said, I think he said last night, they got a guy in center field and he sees somebody do this or do that, its really hard to do that. But when the guy gets on second base, he said something about that, too, they were giving signs to the hitter. But I dont know.

There would be a big difference between someone in center field relaying signs illegally in Toronto, the "Man in White" has long been talked about as the culprit and a runner on second base giving signs to the hitter through legal baseball cryptography. Recourse for one would be to contact Sterling Shepard Jerseys the league office with allegations that are very difficult to prove. Recourse for the other would be the traditional practice of throwing at somebody, something the Royals are well versed in, but really would solve nothing, and would really only serve to give Toronto more baserunners.

So, all that the Royals can really do is what Volquez said: change their signs, keep changing them Shane Lemieux Jerseys , and try to stay one step ahead of the codebreakers on the other side.

For what its worth, the Blue Jays had an .836 team OPS in home games this year, compared to .760 on the road. Thats a much bigger gap than for the major leagues as a whole, as the 30 teams combined to post a .739 OPS in home games and .704 on the road. Some of that gap for the Blue Jays can be attributed to playing their home games in a hitter-friendly park. The Rockies, for instance, had an .841-.652 split. Could any of it be attributed to stealing signs? Its impo sible to know, and in the end it doesnt really matter.