Scott Carson

Stats man Scott Carson is now in his 18th season as "third man in the booth" during Blue Jays telecasts.

Shaun Marcum.

Did anyone expect the Jays to play this well through the first 27 games of 2010?

Come on, now. Let’s have a show of hands. Did anyone really expect the Blue Jays to have played this well through the first 27 games of the 2010 schedule?

Before you all trip over yourselves, especially the glass-is-half-empty crew, to rebut my theories, I’m not saying that the team is anything more than they have shown in the first 27 games of the schedule. They still strike out far too much and have trouble hitting with runners in scoring position. But so far, after a majority of the pundits and bloggers predicted that they would lose 100 games, the Blue Jays are showing some very positive and encouraging signs.

Let’s start with the starters.

Ricky Romero has been a complete bulldog. When he’s on, the Jays have a chance to win. And when he doesn’t have his complete arsenal of pitches, he still battles and keeps them in the game. Shaun Marcum seems to be cut from the same cloth. A lack of run support has held him to just one win so far but he too, gives them a chance to win. As Brett Cecil showed in Monday’s start, where he was perfect through six innings and didn’t give up a hit until the 23rd batter he faced, he has settled down after looking like he was in over his head as a rookie last season. More than one member of the media has mentioned that Cecil reminds them of Jimmy Key. Brandon Morrow, after two shaky starts to begin his Blue Jays career, has strung together three-straight quality starts, striking out 25 hitters in his last 19 innings.

I realize it’s a small sample, but the Jays may have fleeced the Mariners in the trade that sent Brandon League, who has blown all three of his save opportunities, the other way. The only weakness in the rotation is Dana Eveland, whose ERA over his past three starts is 7.80 and he has more walks than strikeouts. When Marc Rzepczynski returns from his fractured finger and goes through his rehab, he’ll more than likely replace Eveland at the back end of the rotation.

Although I’m not a big proponent of the quality starts stat (minimum six innings pitched with three earned runs or less, or basically a 4.50 ERA), the Blue Jays do lead the American League with 18 of them, second only in the Majors to the Cardinals with 23. But it does show that the Jays’ rotation has been one of the best to date.

The bullpen has not been so steady.

When the season began, manager Cito Gaston wasn’t inclined to use Jeremy Accardo or Merken Valdez, and early on the rest of the bullpen was being overused. Over a 12-day span, before Accardo and Valdez were sent down to Triple-A and Rommie Lewis and Josh Roenicke arrived to take their places, the pen posted a 7.71 ERA and the opposition was hitting them at a .333 clip. Gaston is now more apt to use Lewis and Roenicke to lessen the workload of the rest of the relief corps and things have settled down. Most notable has been the performance put in by closer Kevin Gregg. He’s a perfect 6-for-6 in save opportunities, allowing just one earned run and two walks in his 11 appearances to date. Set-up men Scott Downs and Jason Frasor both went through some rough patches and currently have ERA’s higher than their career numbers.

Offensively, this team has been interesting to watch to say the least. They are currently leading the Majors with 41 home runs and 118 extra-base hits. But they are also leading the American League with 228 strikeouts and their clutch hitting (.235 RISP) leaves a lot to be desired. Individually, Vernon Wells has quieted the boo birds with one of the best starts to a season in his career. Alex Gonzalez has basically matched Wells hit-for-hit and has become a threat from the sixth spot in the order. Fred Lewis was plucked off the scrap heap in San Francisco to solidify the lead-off spot, adding some speed that this team is sorely lacking. Of late, John Buck has been one of the top power hitters in the league, Aaron Hill is finally getting back up to speed after a trip to the disabled list, and Jose Bautista is productive in the seven-hole.

It seems that the team’s left-handed hitters are encountering the most problems. Adam Lind’s season has been uneven to date and more is expected from him. Lyle Overbay’s season started laughably bad (he was batting .080 with just three RBI through his first 13 games), but he rebounded with a .293 average, five doubles, two HR and seven RBI over the next 13. Travis Snider, still a work in progress, showed what all the fuss was about in the opening game of this 10-game road trip. His fourth-inning, line drive home run into the bleachers in right at Progressive Field, was one of the hardest hit balls we’ve witnessed all season long.

It’s an indicator that the baby-faced outfielder is finally locking in.

All in all, more good than bad through the first 27 games.

And while they haven’t fared well against the so-called contenders, the Blue Jays are beating the teams that they should and are not even close to being as bad as many expected. Even those of you who can never find anything good to say about this team have to be pleasantly surprised by what has transpired.

And if you are not, then why are you even watching?

To tase or not to tase?

Sitting here in Cleveland, I’ve been watching ESPN Sportscenter all morning long and following the debate after a fan ran onto the field in Philadelphia and was subdued after a police officer used a taser on the trespasser.

Here’s my take on this: good for the cop.

It’s becoming a little tiresome when boorish fans jump onto the field to get their 15 minutes. Once a fan decides to jump onto the playing field, what happens next is inconsequential. Hopefully the Philadelphia episode will make any other fans give it a second thought. Bottom line: if you don’t want electricity to shoot through your body, stay in the seats. When you decide to become a jack-ass, you waive your rights.