Alex Rios' inability to concentrate over a nine-inning, three hour time frame is keeping the all-star from elite status in the league.
Contrary to the harshness of this title, I'm not laying the Blue Jays shortcomings this season solely at the feet of Alex Rios. But I am saying that the uneven, erratic play of the Blue Jays man-child is the perfect illustration of why the team has fallen painfully short in their hunt for October.
I'm starting to wonder if Rios suffers from a baseball-version Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Wednesday night's rain-delayed win in Detroit was a prime example. He popped out to short in his first at-bat and barely broke into a jog heading to first. Then in the second, he beat out an infield single to third and came around to score on Vernon Wells' fifth career grand slam. In the seventh, on base after a fielder's choice with two out, Wells flew out to centre to end the inning. Nothing really life-altering here but, for some reason, Rios went halfway and then broke towards first as if there were less than two out. Then in the ninth, with the Tigers trying to mount a rally after Scott Downs turned an ankle and Brandon League was forced into his third straight game, Rios settled under a fly ball in right-centre and then had it clank off his glove for an error.
This all happened within the span of three and a half hours but, really, it's been going for his entire career. And it's not this hasn't happened in the past. I remember a game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on July 18 where he loped back to the wall in centre to track down Eric Hinske's fly ball. Dioner Navarro tagged on the play and went to third base, but Rios thought that it was the third out and started to jog in with the ball. Fortunately, Jays' right fielder Brad Wilkerson snapped Rios out of his trance quick enough to keep Navarro from scoring from second.
Now, if there's the perfect manager to be able to get the most out of Rios and rid him of these nightly brain cramps it's Cito Gaston. Perpetually patient, the Blue Jays' is as respected as any in the game. I would think that over the rest of this season, Gaston would be the one to look at Rios as his own personal project. Rios, despite a power outage that has left many scratching their heads, could one day be a superstar player. He's already set a career-high with 30 stolen bases, leaving him 22 home runs from joining the 30-30 club. No one this side of Devon White can go from first to third with less effort than Rios. It appears, at times, that he's running with shoe-sized hovercrafts on his feet. When he does hit home runs, they are often majestic moon shots. In the field, Rios' speed allows him to track down any fly ball and his above-average arm has him currently leading the majors with 13 outfield assists.
Rios has it all, except an ability to concentrate over a nine-inning, three hour time frame. For the Blue Jays sake, let's hope that Cito or, perhaps, a head-shrinker can get to bottom of this. The sooner, the better.
IN CONTROL OF THEIR OWN DESTINY
Starting tonight at Fenway Park, the Blue Jays truly are the masters of their own fate this season. Over the next four weeks, they only play against teams that are above them in the A.L. East or in the Wild Card, where they sit just on the fringe of the last playoff spot, nine games behind the Red Sox with 40 games remaining on the schedule. But, the numbers at least offer a glimmer of hope. Against the Red Sox, Yankees, Rays, White Sox and Twins - the five teams they will play over the next 28 games - the Blue Jays are 18-16, with a 3-9 against the upstart Rays being the only smudge.
BRING ON THE REPLAYS
Glad to hear that MLB will finally be implementing instant replay in the next couple of weeks. The plan is to only use it to get calls right on disputed home runs, but here's hoping that they broaden it to include any plays that result in runs. Tuesday night's game between the Jays and Tigers provided a couple of examples of where replay was needed. Magglio Ordonez hit a ball that hit off a post just beyond the wall in right field and ricochet back on to the field. First base umpire Fieldin Culbreth ruled the ball was in play. After the umpires huddled, which always makes me shake my head because it was Culbreth's call and he was closer than any other umpire on the field, the right call was made and Ordonez was given a home run. Then in the ninth inning, replays clearly showed that Alex Rios had beaten a tag at the plate after trying to score on a short wild pitch. The time has come to get the calls right because umpires are starting to remind me of the local weatherman: only they should be so lucky to be wrong so often yet keep their jobs.
