There's nothing left to play for but the Jays still need to step up to the plate.
There's nothing left to play for but the Jays still need to step up to the plate.
Let's face facts, my loyal readers, the Blue Jays have about as much of a chance of making the playoffs this season as Michael Vick has being asked to be a celebrity judge at the Westminster Kennel Show. Any thoughts of October baseball went out the window when the home nine stumbled and bumbled their way through the recent homestand, losing five of nine games, making 10 errors in the process and batting just a buck-97 with runners in scoring position. A season that began with such promise looks like it's going to limp to the finish line.
But that doesn't mean that some good things can't come out of the final five-plus weeks of the 2007 season. We saw that in the opener of this road trip in Anaheim, the first of 14 games away from Rogers Centre in the next 17. This one started like many of their road games this season. They were down 3-0 after three with an error leading to an unearned run and the offense managing just a scratch single through the first 10 batters.
But then something kicked in with six hits from the next 12 batters leading to five runs. Meanwhile, unflappable rookie starter Jesse Litsch only allowed two hits and two walks over the final 13 batters he faced. And then he handed the ball over to the bullpen which, despite giving up a second home run to Vladimir Guerrero, held off the multi-dimensional Angels lineup.
Now, what impressed me most about only the Jays' 25th road win of the season was the fact that despite yet another slow start they didn't fold up their tents. And that is something that they have to continue to do over their final 35 games. With their General Manager proclaiming to all that what you see now is what you're going to get next season, the team is going to have to show the ticket buyers and the rest of baseball that they have character and should be worthy of such optimism.
I personally think that this team is in need of some fine tuning in the off-season. Frankly, I don't share the same glass-is-half-full view of the current roster. Several of their key offensive cogs have vastly under-performed this season and I don't own any rose coloured glasses which make me believe that the likes of Frank Thomas, Troy Glaus, Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay will suddenly return to past glory. They will finish this season with stats well below their season averages from their careers while adding another year of age.
Believe me, I hope I'm wrong. It's a lot easier to do my job as statistician/font-coordinator when the team plays well. Stories are easier to tell and full page graphics, showing how well the team is going, are easier to put together when the Jays are winning.
Having said that, this team can prove a lot of us cynics, growing by the day, that only minor tweaking will be needed this winter if the team plays hard from now until the final out on September 30th at Rogers Centre. And that includes cutting out the juvenile post-game pie-ing, Gatorade showers and Nerf gun shootouts. The time has come to start taking things a lot more serious and start acting like professionals.
Finishing out the season playing hard and grinding out all 27 outs the rest of the way would be a good start.
THIS & THAT
Jays Manager John Gibbons has basically used only used/trusted 19 members of his 25-man roster this season and it's starting to show as the season winds down. The one player seeming to be running out of gas is second baseman Aaron Hill who has started 124 of the first 127 games this season. Balls that went for home runs earlier in the year are now landing in gloves on the warning track and he's no longer driving the ball with authority. He might be suffering through the dog days of the season, but at 5'11" and 195 pounds Hill might need to be spelled off a little more in the future to keep him fresher later in the year...
Having seen the Angels play several times over the past week, I'm starting to think that they too might be running out of gas. The one team that is starting to impress me is the Mariners, who have the luxury of playing at home in 14 of their final 21 games to close out the regular season...
I'm not sure what the Dodgers expect to get out of 44-year-old, left-hander David 'Boomer' Wells. When last seen pitching with the Padres, before being released, he went 0-3 with a bloated ERA of 14.33 over his final four starts. I realize injuries have left the Dodgers starting rotation in tatters, but this is really a long-shot to work out...
Some interesting notes regarding the Orioles 30-run pasting at the hands of the Rangers on Wednesday:
1) Texas was actually trailing the game 3-0 after three, meaning that they became the first team in Major League history to score 30 unanswered runs.
2) Over their previous nine games, the Rangers had scored a grand total of 28 runs.
3) Heading into Wednesday, Major League ERA leader Chris Young of the Padres had allowed 32 total earned runs this season, two more than Orioles pitchers allowed in the game. And
4) The Orioles bullpen ERA added more than a half run to their season total...
It says here that the Cubs made a solid pick up by taking outfielder Craig Monroe off the Tigers' hands. Sure he was hitting only .222 this season with 11 HR and 55 RBI, and was replaced by phenom Cameron Maybin, but Monroe is career .277 hitter against left-handers - the Cubs are seven games under .500 against southpaws - and Monroe has averaged 81 RBI over the previous four seasons...
In this era of boorish fans yelling at players that they suck, it was sad to read that William "Wild Bill" Hagy had passed away at the age of 68. To you youngsters, Mr. Hagy had his 15 minutes of fame when he used to physically spell out O-R-I-O-L-E-S with his over-weight body while the rest of the crowd chanted to his actions. That led me to do the same in high school, spelling out L-A-U-R-I-E-R at basketball and hockey games. Sports need more fans like "Wild Bill"...
With an ERA of 5.22 - a run and a half higher than his career total - and youngsters Phil Hughes and Joba 'The Hut' Chamberlain breathing down his neck, this could very well be the final year in pinstripes for Mike Mussina...
