After a hot start the Jays have fallen backwards in the standings to the point many believed they would be when all was said and done.
It's all downhill from here for the Toronto Bue Jays -- that's figuratively and literally. With the 4-2 loss in their first visit to the new Yankee Stadium, the Jays fell to 42-39 as the schedule hit the halfway point. What was once a 13-game, over-.500 start to the season, leaving them with a 3.5-game lead only six-and-a-half weeks ago, is now a distant memory.
It's easy to point the finger at Vernon Wells and his troubles hitting at home. Or the weekly brain cramps that Alex Rios is beset with. Or with B.J. Ryan reduced to being the most expensive mop-up role in franchise history coupled with Scott Downs stay on the disabled list, the bullpen is forced to mix and match on a daily basis.
No, this first half of the Blue Jays 33rd Major League season is a classic case of the good, the bad and the ugly. They were never as good as their 27-14 start and are not as bad as their 15-25 record since. The real Blue Jays fall somewhere in between.
It starts with Roy Halladay. The ace went 10-1 until a strained groin forced him to the disabled list in the middle of June. He's back and, with the Jays' playoff hopes fading by the day, will now focus on his quest for a second Cy Young Award. One year ago, Aaron Hill was seriously concussed and couldn't do light workouts without headaches and nausea setting in. Today, he's one of the top offensive threats in the Majors and plays a Gold Glove-calibre second base. His double-play partner Marco Scutaro is not your prototypical lead-off man but that hasn't kept him getting on and scoring, even when the middle of the order was struggling. Scutaro, with just two errors to date should also get Gold Glove consideration. As will third baseman Scott Rolen, who already has seven of these trophies from his days in the National League and hits the midway point of the schedule on a career-best 20-game hit streak. And let's not forget the contributions from sometime left fielder, most times DH Adam Lind. Last season, no Blue Jay benefited more from the return of Cito Gaston and Gene Tenace, and he's taken it to another level this season. While most are proclaiming that Hill and Scutaro should play in next week's All-Star Game, it says here that Lind, with his consistency for well over a year, deserves to get tapped if a Blue Jays regular gets to join Halladay in St. Louis.
Injuries, once again, have stripped this team down. But it also gave opportunities to some that wouldn't have otherwise happened. Take Brian Tallet for example. He entered this season as a middle reliever, a left-handed option in the middle of games. But when Jesse Litsch's elbow exploded, Tallet got the nod to fill the hole and he's made the most of it. When he's been good, he's been very good - 1.18 ERA, .141 opponents' average in wins - but he's also struggled in losses - 6.23 ERA, .284 OPP AVG. Ricky Romero has been the teams' most consistent starter not nicknamed 'Doc'. The former first-round pick, who was ticketed for Triple-A before Brad Arnsberg was allowed to coach him in the middle of spring training, has won four of his last six starts with a sub-two ERA and is finally living up to his advanced billing. Another young left-hander, Brett Cecil, is still a little more of a work in progress, but has shown flashes and is probably with the Jays to stay.
But when one looks at the glass-is-half-empty portion of the first half, look no further than the 3-4 hitters for the majority of the season to date. Alex Rios and Vernon Wells have been a terrible disappointment to date. Rios' half-season has been riddle with inconsistencies, both at the plate and in the field where lapses on the metal side of the game continue to dog him. And he sure didn't help himself in the public relations department when he hurled expletives at a fan while a video camera recorded it. Wells has been hearing more and more boos thanks to an American League worst .172 home batting average. In the midst of a long-term deal that will see him make a whopping $86 million over the final four years of the contract that runs out in 2014. What has really hurt Wells is a god-awful .170 average with runners in scoring position, a number that drops to .150 in losses.
The promise of the fast start to this season, during a decidedly weak start to the schedule, has all but dissipated. But what everyone has to remember is that is that the journey to 42-39 was predicted by manager Cito Gaston back in January when he told y'all that 2009 was not going to be the season to challenge for anything. Playing .500 ball was expected and it's looking like that will be just about right. That's not going to sell a lot of tickets, but what you see is what you get.
Sometimes the truth hurts, but the good has outweighed the bad to this point. A tougher schedule the rest of the way can only help the young players moving forward.
