The Blue Jays aren't conceding anything yet as their recent winning ways give them a shot of making up some ground in the competitive A.L. East.
With the Tampa Bay Rays in town for a three-game set, the Blue Jays now find themselves with some semblance of control of their own destiny.
Going into Tuesday and following a fine pitching duel in the opener between A.J. Burnett and James Shields, the team has 56 games remaining, nine each against the Yankees and Red Sox and eight against the Rays. This would appear to be quite a task for the Jays, who are 11-14 combined against the three teams that sit ahead of the Jays in both the American League East and the wild-card race.
That's not to say the Jays can't reverse this trend and make up some valuable ground in a quick manner. Burnett pitched seven solid innings Monday, striking out 10 and allowing just one unearned run after a botched call at third by umpire Mike Winters. Less than 90 minutes after general manager J.P. Ricciardi said he will not be trading Burnett ahead of Thursday's trade deadline, the talented - and finally healthy - right-hander went out and pitched one of those games that reminds people why his stuff is considered among the game's elite. He struck out seven of the first 15 batters he faced, yet still had to deal with a pair of bases-loaded situations in the second and third innings. After that, he seemed to change his tact and got six of his final 12 outs on the ground.
Burnett's 12th win of the season tied his career high and put him six games over .500 for the first time. And with the GM serving him notice that there's no reason to contact a real estate agent, let's hope he can settle down and give the team solid starts like that the rest of the way. Burnett has 11 or 12 starts remaining, so he's got a shot at 20 wins, as does ace Roy Halladay. On Tuesday, the Jays won the type of game that they talked about before the season. Tampa Bay's Shields stayed right with Burnett until Matt Stairs blasted a two-run shot in the fifth to give Toronto a lead. But the offence and defence ground through the game and they finally got some breathing room after Brad Wilkerson and Joe Inglett hit back-to-back triples to chase Shields in the bottom of the eighth. Scott Downs set up B.J. Ryan for the closer's 20th save. The Jays won for the sixth time in seven games and 19 of 32 since Cito Gaston and his staff landed back in town to de-program the hitters.
Also, for the first time in what seems ages, the Jays won and their East opponents all lost, pushing Toronto to within 7 1/2 games of the Rays in the East and 6 1/2 of the Red Sox for the wild card. This latest hot streak has also allowed the Jays to leap-frog a couple of teams to sit tied for fourth in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot.
That said, do I think the Jays can make a serious run over the final nine weeks of the schedule?
Not really.
Injuries still hurt them and only Vernon Wells, who's three weeks away from returning, is the most likely to provide any help. Aaron Hill, now residing on the 60-day disabled list, is all but done for the season. Jeremy Accardo is the closest of the pitchers to return, but with the bullpen solid all season long he's not a necessity. What will hold the team back will be when the offence can't muster a challenge should the starting pitching falter, a likely occurrence with rookies David Purcey and Canadian Scott Richmond in the rotation. Last season, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch combined to go 9-10, both with sub-4 ERA's. To expect that from Purcey and Richmond would be a bit much to ask.
The purchasing of Richmond's contract from Syracuse came right out of left field. The 28-year-old North Vancouver right-hander was pitching for the Edmonton Cracker Cats of the Independent League a year ago. This season, split between Double-A and Triple-A, Richmond was 5-10, 4.29 ERA in 21 starts, striking out 115 hitters in 121 1/3 innings. He was scheduled to ship out to Beijing with the Canadian Olympic team - which is where he belongs - and it seems a stretch to think that he's Major League ready, especially with the number of games remaining against contenders. It also seems like this is a case of trying to catch lightning in a bottle yet again, except this guy has no track record.
