It didn't take long to see that the Jays have a different mindset this season.
The one thing I took away from the Blue Jays 'State of the Franchise' get together back in late January was rookie manager John Farrell's frank answer to a question about his offensive philosophy. He said that he won't 'be afraid to run into outs', which is a complete reversal to the way this franchise has gone about their business.
During the spring games, it became apparent that the station-to-station Jays were now a thing of the past. Forcing the issue and making the opponents throw out runners is now part of the Jays' strategy. So far this season, Jays' base runners have taken the extra base on singles four times and have stolen five bases. Last year through six games, those numbers were two and one. All you had to see was the double steal pulled off by Rajai Davis and Yunel Escobar in the first inning of the first game to realize that things have drastically changed at One Blue Jays Way.
This clearly isn't Cito Gaston's Jays anymore. Sure, they are going to hit lots of home runs, just not as many as in 2010 when they hit a franchise record 257, tying the 1996 Orioles for third in all-time home runs as team. The good news is that they are now going to be proactive on offence, with more of a small ball approach, something that the fans have been pleading for on Mike Wilner's post-game radio gabfest for quite some time. And with the likes of Anthony Gose, Brett Lawrie and Eric Thames coursing their way towards Toronto, it appears that it's only going to get better.
I always remember how former general manager J.P. Ricciardi used to proclaim that the Jays wouldn't run and would wait for the three-run home run, ala Earl Weaver's successful teams of the 1970s. He also said that his teams wouldn't play for one run because sometimes that's all that you get. Well, the last I checked, the team with the most runs at the end of the game gets the win. It was a flawed approach, not making the most of their offensive weapons, and a reason why the Jays were a losing team during Ricciardi's eight-year run as general manager.
Not only has the offensive philosophy changed, so has the way that the new manager is handling the bullpen. Case in point was in the ninth inning of Wednesday's 5-3 win over the Athletics. After they scored a tack-on run in the bottom of the eighth, everyone in the park expected the bullpen door to pop open and interim closer Jon Rauch to run out to start the ninth. But with Hideki Matsui leading off the inning, Farrell stuck with lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski . After Matsui struck out, Farrell brought in Rauch for the save.
This is something that hasn't occurred around this team in a long time. Cito Gaston, John Gibbons and Carlos Tosca were all very predictable when it came to save situations. It's called going by 'The Book', which is always the fall back if the closer fails and the hard questions are asked in the post-game scrum. Farrell clearly doesn't believe that the book is the gospel. He's going to manage by the situation at hand.
Six games do not make or break a season, but things have clearly changed, and appear to be for the better. A fresh outlook has positioned this team to become more exciting and unpredictable this season.
UPSIDE DOWN DIVISION
After the first week of the 2011 season, one would think that they are looking at the standings of the A.L. East while standing on their heads. The Orioles sit atop of the division at 5-1, while the Red Sox, a pre-season favourite by many to represent the American League in the World Series, lost their first six games to start the season.. The numbers aren't pretty no matter how you spin them. During their road trip, the Red Sox hit a woeful .188 while scoring just 2.7 runs per game. Their pitching has not kept them in any games, except for Thursday's 1-0 loss to the Indians. As a staff, the Red Sox have a 7.13 ERA, which ranks dead last in the Majors.
For those who think that the Red Sox can bounce back and take their pre-ordained place at the top of the American League, with 156 games remaining to right their ship, history tells us differently. No Major League team has ever won the World Series when losing its first six games of that season. Cue the hand-wringing in New England.
