A whooping at the hands of the Red Sox shows that the Jays are still far from contending.
Like the Blue Jays, Monday's off-day couldn't have come at a better time for the old statsman.
It took me about 24 hours to decompress after bearing witness to the one-sided whipping at the hands of the top seed in the American League, Boston's Red Sox.
At least from my perch on the 400 level, I was able to look away from the carnage from time to time. For the Blue Jays, they were forced to take it all in, ala Alex in A Clockwork Orange. What they saw, first hand, is that they are far way from being considered a contender in the ultra-competitive A.L. East, specifically, and in the American League, in general.
When the dust had settled, the numbers weren’t pretty, no matter how you looked at them: out-scored 35-6 (the worst three-game sweep in franchise history), out-hit 46-12, out-homered 6-2, out-walked 16-8 ... no real need to go on, is there?
This was the worst I've seen this team, and I've been with them in some form since the beginning. They had no answer for anything that the Red Sox threw at them. They never led for a solitary inning the entire series. The starting pitching was thrashed (14.2 IP, 25 hits, 21 ER, 9 walks, 2.32 WHIP), while the offence non-existent (.128 AVG, struck out 26 times, only scored six runs). And with the bullpen on running fumes with 26 games left on the schedule before the all-star break, this has a chance to get ugly.
With all but six of those games against teams over .500 and in the playoff hunt, there's a good chance that the Jays might hit the break in the cellar of the East. Not that I think the Orioles are better than the Jays; far from it. But the Jays don't have enough offence to make up for the poor performance from the pitching staff, especially against the so-called contenders. Not when you can only count on Jose Bautista, Adam Lind and, now and then, J.P. Arencibia.
Was it reasonable to expect success with bench players like Jayson Nix, Corey Patterson and Rajai Davis, who was fourth on the depth chart in Oakland when they sent him Toronto's way? They've all played in well over half the games so far. As stated previously, injuries and the return of Travis Snider to the minors has limited what John Farrell can be expected to do. That and the ridiculous three-man bench.
I'm starting to think that the one guy who is truly missed the most is not Brett Lawrie (team is 4-7 since the Canadian prospect broke his left hand), but John McDonald (team is 20-16 in games that Johnny Mac sees action). The fan favourite seems to have a calming effect over the team when he's around, serving as a late-game defensive replacement / pinch runner when he doesn't start. John McDonald is one of the few options when he's on the bench, but has been out since the last week in May with a hamstring strain and doesn't appear to be returning anytime soon. Therefore, Nix and, when he's not pitching, Mike McCoy start getting way more at-bats than they should, against the real contenders no less.
So, while the strafing by the Red Sox was jaw-dropping, it shouldn't be a total shock. Boston can run out possible all-stars at six positions, three starters with Cy Young aspirations and the hardest-throwing set-up & close tandem in the game today, for a team on an extended win streak, against a squad that limped home from a road trip against a pair of sub-.500 opponents. An imperfect storm as there could have been for the Blue Jays.
Realignment talk
I can definitely buy into the rumours of two 15-team divisions, creating a balanced schedule, an extra playoff team per league, topped off with one Interleague series every three or four days.
Why not?
Teams will stay in the playoff hunt longer, knowing that the strength of schedules is finally fair, and all teams will get the boost of gate receipts with the Yankees and Red Sox coming in a few more times a season.
With the Jays losing home dates against those two teams, I'm thinking that if the team stays in the race later into the season, that the rise in attendance might counter those lost revenues.
As for the constant Interleague, just set up that portion of the schedule where teams are matched up based upon where they finished the season prior. Seems like fairness is the best route to take for the game moving forward.
Something's out of whack
Head shaker of the week: Manny Ramirez leaves the game disgraced by a second positive steroid result yet is still owed $8.33 million by the Dodgers. Wow!
Sad ... really!
The sight of Lenny Dykstra, once one of the game's real characters, getting led into and out of court in shackles was sad. The fall from grace in America is still quite steep.
What the what?
I guess it's time to start feeling sorry for former Blue Jays Gold Glove centre fielder Vernon Wells. I caught the Angels game last week on Sportsnet West and heard the boos rain down on V-Dub heavier than anything he ever received at the Rogers Centre. But for the low-low price of $21.6 million this season (the Jays picked up another $5 mil) and a total of $73.9 million remaining from 2012-14, is there any wonder the usually laid back SoCal crowd is grumbling when the scoreboard reads for all to see: .196 AVG, 6 HR, more strikeouts than hits, and .162 RISP. What a horrible return on investment.
