With the debut of Scott Rolen and the recall of Adam Lind from Syracuse on the weekend, the time has come for the Blue Jays to put up or shut up.
The team that we now see in front of us, save for the departed Frank Thomas and the injured Casey Janssen, is as good as it's going to get. John Gibbons finally re-assembled the batting line-up before Sunday's 5-2 win to halt the season-high six-game losing that began in Toronto, festered in Orlando and came to a boil in Kansas City.
The common thread through all this was an inexplicable inability to hit with runners in scoring position. Something needed to be done to shake this team from this funk and the batting order was the obvious move. Alex Rios, who during his young career has put up his best numbers at the top of the order, is now the lead-off hitter. He responded with a three-hit performance and ran as hard on the bases as we've seen all season. With David Eckstein given the day off, Lyle Overbay hit second but he'll likely drop into the bottom third of the order when Eckstein is in the line-up. Rolen moved up into the three-hole with Matt Stairs now assuming the clean-up role. Vernon Wells drops to fifth, which will hopefully thaw out his ice cold bat. Aaron Hill now hits sixth or seventh, depending on where Gibbons places Overbay, after a stint in the top third of the order seemed to make his press and diminish his effectiveness. Lind, who was tearing up Triple-A to the tune of .365, will hit eighth with Gregg Zaun or Rod Barajas at the bottom. This gives the team better balance, and when you sift through the stats of the individuals involved.
The time has come from Gibbons to run out this line-up every day for an extended period to hopefully ignite the offense. It's a mystery why they have hit so poorly, especially with runners on base, to this point in the season. They have had more than enough hits and walks this season to put some crooked numbers up on the board.
The funny thing in all of this is despite a terrible first 26 games of the season, the Jays still sit just 3.5 games behind the leaders in the East. Both the Red Sox and Yankees have also stumbled from the gate, while the Rays and Orioles have over-achieved and now the five are all packed together. That alone should give the Jays reason for optimism. But for those of us who see the glass half empty, we know that the Jays may have missed their only opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the two behemoths of the East. The Red Sox and Yankees, currently going through an early season spate of injuries, will get healthy and start rolling again. By losing 15 of their first 26 games, the Jays have only made it harder when they get into August and September and need to make up ground. And the fact that 11 of their 15 losses have come against the Orioles, Athletics, Royals, Rays and Rangers - all considered to be second division teams by the pre-season prognosticators - makes this slow start all the more troubling. The Blue Jays frustrating practice of playing to their level of the opponent, a common thread during the Ricciardi era has already put the team behind the eight-ball even with 136 games to play.
Let's face facts, folks, we've watched some sub-standard baseball to this point from a team that, on paper, is as good as any around these parts since the World Series years. Judging by your passionate responses to my last column, which can be viewed below my story, I'm clearly not the only one that feels this way. These are the voices of passionate ticket buyers and telecast viewers, and I applaud you and hope that the decision-makers on the ball club will take notice and not ignore them.
Their pitching staff is still as deep and talented as any in the game, even without Janssen, and has kept them in just about every game so far. What they need is for the offense to kick in and start winning some games that they otherwise shouldn't. Once that starts, the Jays should climb up the standings and become a true contender. If they don't hit, they won't win. It's that simple. The re-jigging of the batting order is definitely a step in the right direction.
