Finally – something good!

Seven games against fierce AL East rivals, all on the road, and – gasp! – a winning record!

Despite injuries to the rotation, the Jays finally received some offense, some timely hitting, and a quality performance from Mark Buehrle to maybe, finally (please?!) turn the corner on what has been a miserable 2013. 

The team was never as bad as they looked in the first month and a bit, and hopefully they will finally start to meet expectations.

Here are three things from week 6:

Week 6: May 6 – May 12

Record: 4 – 3

1. Joey Bats is Back!

When the Jays made the major acquisitions to their roster in the offseason, they brought in more than just talented players – they brought in veteran leaders.  Players like Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes, and R.A. Dickey were supposed to make the team better both on and off the field.

But one thing is clear – despite bringing those guys in, this is Jose Bautista’s team.  As he goes, the Blue Jays go, and it was no coincidence that as he struggled to find his timing, the Jays struggled to put wins in the win column.

After last week, things have hopefully changed for the better.  Bautista had a massive week at the dish, going 9 for 25, good for a .360 average, 1.158 OPS, with 2 HR and 7 RBI.  While the two home runs were nice, a much better sign (believe it or not) were the three doubles and four singles he collected.  In the early part of the season it was painfully obvious that Bautista and the rest of the Jays were swinging for the fences, trying to overcome for slow starts in one swing.  Just as obvious was the fact that it wasn’t working.  Home runs are nice, but extended rallies are much, much nicer.  The best way to generate extended rallies is to get runners on base.  With seven non-HR hits, to go along with four walks and a hit-by-pitch, Bautista did just that.

Jose leads by example.  With him getting on base, the rest of the team will follow.

2. The Melk Man Cometh

Melky Cabrera got off to a miserable start for the Toronto Blue Jays.  A good portion of the struggles may have been mental, as he tried to prove to everybody that he could perform without the use of PED’s.  He looked to be trying too hard to make things happen, similar to what Bautista was doing.  But once Melky relaxed and started swinging the bat, his fortunes have turned around…big time.

In the seven games played last week, Cabrera hit an even .300.  Though the power has not arrived yet, he did slug four doubles, good for a .746 OPS.  He was able to raise his season batting average from .252 to .261 and his season OPS from .609 to .635.  Neither number is where he’d ideally like to be, but progress is being made.  Up is better than down.

This upcoming week should be very interesting for Melky.  Tuesday and Wednesday see the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants invade Toronto.  Cabrera, of course, was a key contributor to that Giants team until his suspension.  From what has been said in the media, many of his former teammates have not forgiven him for the PED bust last year, and there is no love lost between them. 

Jays fans would love to see him prove the Giants wrong with a big series.

3. Makeshift Rotation

Remember when 2013′s starting rotation looked like a strength?  Those were the days…

One look at it now leads to gasps of disbelief.  Chad Jenkins?  Ramon Ortiz?  Yes sir!  With Josh Johnson and J.A. Happ both on the DL, and with Brandon Morrow having his spot skipped not once, not twice, but thrice (now slated to go Saturday in New York instead of Wednesday), the rotation has turned into a patchwork quilt, made up of youngsters and has-beens. 

The good (or lucky) news, is that both Ortiz and Jenkins fared quite well in Boston on the weekend.  40 year old Ortiz tossed five solid innings Friday night, allowing 1 ER, and 4 hits, but the 5 walks issued suggests that his success isn’t very sustainable.  The 25 year old Jenkins allowed 2 ER in 5 IP on Sunday striking out two and walking only one.  The Jays went 1-1 in those two starts.

Ortiz is slated to go again on Wednesday, and the word is that one of the two will be forced to start next Monday as well.  With supposed ace R.A. Dickey still battling neck and back pain, things are looking bleak for the pitching staff. 

In Buehrle we trust.  (Yikes.)

April showers bring May flowers.

So the saying goes.  Jays fans everywhere were hoping the same thing applied to the team, that April’s struggles and bad play would lead to a focused and determined team in May, ready to make amends for a poor start and charge up the standings.

Sadly that didn’t happen. 

Toronto started May 0-4, and scored only three runs in the process.  Though they rebounded with a nice win yesterday, a win where they finally looked like the team we all thought they’d be, things look very, very bleak.

Especially with a trip to Tampa Bay up next.

Here are three things from week 5:

Week 5: April 29 – May 5

Record: 2 – 4

1. Dome Not Sweet Dome

Playing at home is supposed to be a good thing.  Your fans give you an edge, and having last at-bat is a huge advantage.  But home field hasn’t been kind to the Jays in 2013 so far.  Toronto went 2-4 on just completed 6-game homestand, and were outscored by a total of 12 runs.  They even had  a stretch of 23 consecutive scoreless innings.  Not good.

This recent home debacle dropped Toronto’s home record to a dismal 7-12, with a -32 run differential.  Only Cleveland, the Angels, and Houston have losing home records to date. 

But the problem isn’t the fact that they’re losing (though don’t get me wrong – it is a problem).  No, the problem is with HOW they are losing.  They are getting blown out, kicked around, destroyed.  They put pitchers on the ropes early then let them off the hook.  They can’t hold leads.  In short, they look lost on the field, and when players look bad on the field, fans get angry off the field.  Never was that more evident than on Saturday, when R.A. Dickey was booed off the mound.

The Jays will be spending the next seven days on the road, away from the unhappy masses.  Hopefully they play a bit looser, because if they come home with more losses, things are only going to get uglier.

2. What To Do With Lind?

Adam Lind is becoming a curious enigma in Toronto.  He can’t hit lefties, and he no longer plays every day because of it . Lind appeared in four games last week, starting only three of them.  When he does play, he looks feeble at the plate.  He is hitting only .226, with four extra base hits.  He is striking out with the bases loaded and leaving guys on base.  He only has 3 RBI on the season – a third of Mark DeRosa.

However, Lind – believe it or not – leads the team in on base percentage, with a .391 mark.  That would be good enough for 15th in the AL if he had enough at-bats to qualify.  That is mostly due to his improved batting eye.  He has drawn 15 walks on the season, two fewer than Jose Bautista for the team lead, and tied for 15th in the AL. 

On one hand, you can make a case that he should be in the lineup more often, batting second in front of Bautista and Encarnacion, and giving them RBI opportunities.  On the other hand, you can make a case that he shouldn’t be playing at all.  At least not batting fifth, where his 0 HR and weak bat limit run scoring chances.

It’s a tough conundrum for Gibbons, but sadly, there aren’t any other options…

3. Ricky is Back…

…and not much has changed.  Things started out well enough for Romero, but crumbled quickly, something Jays fans got used to seeing in 2012.  He faced the minimum in the first three innings, picking up three strikeouts.  But things fell apart in the fourth . Three walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch, a home run, and a single, and suddenly Romero found himself trailing by three.  He didn’t come out for the fifth.

This wouldn’t be much of an issue if the “minor” injury to Josh Johnson was actually, you know…minor.  But the latest word is that Johnson won’t be back until the end of May at the earliest, meaning Romero will be here to stay.  With the Jays sitting at 11-21 and already 9.5 games back of Boston, he can’t afford to throw anymore four inning duds.  We need all the wins we can get.

It feels like the mid-to-late ’90′s all over again. 

Remember back in those days?  Remember watching a Jays game, and no matter what the score was, you just had the nagging feeling like they were going to lose?  One run, two run, five runs – it didn’t matter the size of the lead.  You just knew the loss was coming, and there was nothing that could be done to avoid it.

After a 1-6 road trip that saw the Jays lose all four games in New York, I have that feeling again.

Here are three things from week 4:

Week 4: April 22 – April 28

Record: 1 – 6

1. 9 – 17

No matter how much we want it to, the above number does not refer to September 17th.  Sadly, it is the Blue Jays record through 26 games of the season.  Many people thought the Jays weren’t as good as they were being hyped to be, including myself.  After all, if you believed all you read, Toronto should have started 24 – 2.  But even the doubters have to be shocked by what’s happened.

The 9 – 17 record is the third worst in the entire major leagues.  When you consider that neither Houston or Miami is really fielding a major league team, then the Jays are actually the worst club in baseball thus far.  And although recently you can point to bad luck and fluky losses, the fact remains that Toronto is terrible in every category.  Their 130 runs allowed is second worst in baseball.  The -35 run differential is third worst.  They rank 27th in team OBP at .291, 27th in team ERA at 4.46, and 29th in fielding with a -18 zone rating.

In a nutshell: they can’t hit, they can’t pitch, and they can’t field.  They have all the makings of a last place team.

2. Silver Lining

If there is a silver lining, it’s this: the top two in the rotation are starting to come around.  R.A. Dickey made two starts last week amid lingering back and neck pain.  He had a very rocky second inning in Baltimore on Tuesday, but after that was lights out.  He finished that start with four scoreless innings, then held the Yankees to four hits over seven innings yesterday.  Brandon Morrow, on Wednesday, limited the O’s to three hits in 6.1 IP.

That’s the good news.  Any contending team needs the front of its rotation to deliver quality starts in order to have a chance at the postseason.  The bad news, however, is that they still combined to issue nine walks in those three starts, and the Jays lost two of the three.  So while the pitching has improved, it still isn’t good enough.

And there’s worse news – Josh Johnson was scratched on Friday, Dickey will be going for an MRI on his neck and back issues, Aaron Laffey was terrible in a spot start, and Mark Buehrle has been just awful all year long.  Never thought I’d say this, but thank goodness for J.A. Happ!

3. #FireGibbons

The above has become quite a popular hashtag on Twitter these days.  And why not?  Picked to guide a rebuilt team into the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, Gibbons has instead guided the team to dead last in the AL East.

But really – is it his fault?  He has already used 23 different batting orders in 26 games, an indication that he isn’t simply throwing the same team out there day in and day out.  He is using platoon situations to his advantage, sitting Rasmus and Lind against tough lefties, moving Lawrie and Kawasaki up the order as they have improved, and shuffling Melky Cabrera between second and fifth.  His bullpen management has been pretty good.  He’s even been ejected twice, showing that he will get animated and stand up for his team.

So why the hatred?  Is it because he wasn’t a sexy pick for the managerial role?  Because fans wanted Sandy Alomar Jr., or Ryne Sandberg, or another high profile name?  Is it because people heavily drank the Kool-Aid and expected the team to have 20+ wins already? 

It’s easy to forget that teams need time to mesh.  It’s easy to forget that Toronto was pretty heavily impacted by the World Baseball Classic and didn’t have a real Spring Training Camp.  And it’s easy to forget that Gibbons himself can’t hit, field, or pitch.  But think about this: in 2010/11, the Miami Heat were expected to romp over the NBA.  But after 20.7% of the schedule was played, the talented team was 9-8, and people were caling for the head of their not-so-famous head coach Erik Spoelstra. 

They turned out to be pretty good, didn’t they?

Life without Jose Reyes began in earnest for Toronto last week….and it didn’t go well.

One would have thought that a seven game homestand against a struggling White Sox squad and a Yankees team missing Jeter, A-Rod, Granderson, and Teixeira would be just the tonic to turn Toronto’s season around.  But a back injury to Jose Bautista, shoddy pitching, and absolutely horrendous defense led to a disappointing 3-4 week that dropped the team to dead last in the AL East.

And things don’t get any easier, with seven straight road games ahead in Baltimore and New  York.  It’s still early, but the sample size is getting larger.

Here are three things from week 3:

Week 3: April 15 – April 21

Record: 3 – 4

1. Season Saver?

In a 162 game schedule, calling game 19 a must-win is absurd.  But that is exactly what yesterday felt like in the dome.  After dropping the first two to the New York Ex-Jays (seriously – Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay, Jayson Nix, and Ben Francisco?) the Jays were staring down a home sweep against a bitter division rival that was fielding a weakened lineup.  Not exactly good for team morale.

When Josh Johnson walked back-to-back batters with the bases loaded to turn a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit, you could almost feel the air start to go out of the crowd.  A loss would have dropped the Jays to 7-12 on the season, and 4-9 at home, and definitely would have added fuel to the “this season is a bust” crowd.

But then something happened.  It was like a spark went off and the Blue Jays remembered how to hit.  Rasmus came through against a lefty.  Lind started reaching base.  Arencibia and Lawrie each had a big hit.  Things suddenly turned around.  For a few glorious innings, the Blue Jays finally looked like the team we thought they’d look like. 

There are still a lot of games to play, and hopefully yesterday’s comeback will bring the team to the life.

2. JPA HRK

To Jays fans, J.P. Arencibia is widely known by three letters: JPA.  It might be time to start calling him by a different three letters: HRK.

HR, of course stands for home runs.  Through the first 19 games of the season, Arencibia has slugged seven of them, including four last week alone.  He leads all American League catchers in HR, and also ranks first in RBI with 13, 3rd in OPS (.871), and second in slugging (.611).

Unfortunately, there is the third letter: K.  K, of course, stands for strikeout, and JPA has a LOT of those.  Arencibia has struck out 28 times so far in 2013, tied with Chris Carter of the Astros for the most in all of baseball.  To make matters worse, he has only drawn one walk to go along with those 28 punchouts, leaving him with a terrible OBP of .260.  That ranks him 162 out of 189 qualified batters.  Not good.

The Jays will be able to stomach the strikeouts as long as the power stays.  But if the home runs start to dry up, Arencibia better start drawing walks or things could get ugly in a hurry.

3. Fielding Disaster

When the Jays bid adieu to Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson in the offseason, we all expected the defense to suffer a little bit.  But this has been ridiculous.  More often than not, the Blue Jays have resembled a little league team on the field, and never worse than Saturday.  A dropped ball on a throw to second base and a brutal throwing error in extra innings led directly to a 5-3 loss.  It’s one thing to lose a game, but it’s something entirely different to lose in that manner.

So far in 2013 the Blue Jays have committed 11 errors, T-5th in the AL.  The two guys that were signed to play the bulk of starts at 2B (Izturis and Bonifacio) have combined for 7 errors.  Look at advanced stats and an even darker picture emerges.  In defensive efficiency, the Jays rank 12th in the AL, well below the league average.  In Total Zone rating, Toronto is dead last with a -19 rating, essentially meaning that the defense has cost the team 19 runs.  To put that in context, Texas leads the AL with a +10 rating.

Giving a team extra outs is always a recipe for disaster.  But when a team is struggling at the plate, as Toronto has been early, shoddy defense is harder to cover up.  The good news is that things can’t possibly get any worse.  Can they?

It was a rough week for the Jays.  First they were beaten to a pulp in Detroit, then the offense was held in Kansas City.  Though they managed to win two of three against the Royals, they lost a key piece of the team when Jose Reyes went down with an ankle injury.

But a series win is a series win, and Toronto comes home for a seven game homestand with a little bit of momentum for the first time in 2013.

Here are three things from week 2:

Week 2: April 8 – April 14

Record: 3 – 3

1. Reyes Injured

By far the biggest story of the week was the horrific injury to Reyes.  The star shortstop badly sprained his left ankle sliding into second base on Friday night, leaving the Jays with a gaping hole atop the lineup.  Reyes will be out a minimum of one month, likely closer to three, and maybe even more depending on the healing process.

So the question becomes: now what?  Reyes leads the team in batting average, hits, stolen bases, on base percentage, and OPS, so replacing him is next to impossible.  Munenori Kawasaki did an admirable job on the weekend, going 1 for 3 with a stolen base, two walks, and an RBI, but he can’t be expected to fill even half of Jose’s shoes.  There has been talk of moving Brett Lawrie to second, Bautista to third, and Izturis to short, but I think the best bet is to acquire a cheap fill-in until the All-Star break.  Of course, that is easier said than done.

In a weird way, the injury might be a good thing for the Jays in that it will bring them together as they try to overcome it.  As a genius friend of mine said: “I have a feeling the Reyes injury is actually going to polarize the Jays and be the tipping point for a wildly successful season.”  At least we can hope so.

2. Where’s the Offense?

It’s still early and there is no reason to panic, but the lack of scoring is become a bit of a concern.  Toronto has averaged 3.92 runs per game, which ranks 9th in the AL, but managed to score only 25 runs in 6 games last week, including a mere 5 on the weekend.  They were held to only two hits in Saturday’s 3-2 victory, and only seven in yesterday’s loss.

For a team that should be stacked offensively, the Blue Jays are struggling immensely at the dish.  When your fourth best OPS belongs to Mark DeRosa, you know things are off to a rocky start.  Bonifaciio, Izturis, Encarnacion, and Lind all currently sport OPS’s of under .600.  Lind especially has been terrible, with a .207 slugging percentage, and only four hits. 

Things will improve, there’s no doubt about that.  Let’s just hope the improvement comes sooner rather than later.

3. Lights Out Bullpen

Underrated and underappreciated.  That is how one can describe the Blue Jays bullpen so far in 2013.  Aside from Darren Oliver’s case of the yips in the ninth yesterday, Toronto’s ‘pen has been outstanding.  The top seven of Janssen, Delabar, Loup, Cecil, Oliver, Rogers, and Santos have combined for an ERA of 2.25 and a K/9 ratio of 8.55.  Not bad at all.

Even more impressive has been the job done by Brett Cecil thus far.  The bespectacled lefty has appeared in 7 games and pitched a total of 7 innings, allowing only 3 hits and 3 walks, and not a single run.  His 0.00 ERA leads the team, and his 0.86 WHIP, and 12.9 K/9 ratio are both second to Casey Janssen.  There was a lot of doubt that Cecil could  make meaningful contributions to the Blue Jays this season, and he is proving everybody that he can. 

He might even be the MVP of this team over the first two weeks.

Week 23 of the 2012 season started terribly for the Blue Jays – which is to say, it started exactly the same way the previous four weeks have gone.  They were absolutely destroyed at home by the Orioles by a combined score of 16 – 0. 

But then, suddenly, the team displayed something that I didn’t expect to see from them again this year – heart.  They held on to defeat the O’s in the finale, then rolled into Fenway and swept the Red Sox, showing a little bit of everything in the process: speed, pitching, timely hitting, and defense. 

Toronto now holds a two game lead on the Red Sox in the battle for the AL East basement.  With 23 games remaining, it would be fantastic to see them hang on and bury Boston.

Here are three things from week 23:

Week 23: September 3  - September 9

Record: 4 – 2

1. The Kids Are Alright

It was quite a nasty introduction to the big leagues for Adeiny Hechavarria and Anthony Gose.  Hech was called up in early August and made his major league debut August 4th.  After his first 12 games, he was batting a woeful .156 with a .419 OPS.  Gose wasn’t much better, chiming in with a .183 average and .499 OPS at the end of August. 

But things have started to turn around for the two future franchise cornerstones.  Hechavarria has hit safely in 12 of his past 13 games, raising his season marks to a .237 AVG and .601 OPS.  Last week he made five starts, went 5 for 15 with 3 runs scored, 3 RBI, and 2 walks, for a .333 AVG and .812 OPS.  Gose found his way into five games last week, three as a starter.  In that limited playing time, he scorched the baseball: 6 for 12, 4 runs, 5 RBI, a triple, 4 stolen bases, .500 AVG, 1.417 OPS, and his first career home run.

Believe it or not, Gose has 14 stolen bases and has only started 26 games, coming in as a pinch runner in seven others.  If one was to project his SB numbers over a full season, you’d be looking at Toronto’s single season franchise record holder.

The learning curve is still pretty steep, and there’s a chance that neither of these two will be back in the bigs in 2013.  But it’s nice to see at least a glimpse of what we have in store for the future. 

2. Back In The Lineup

If you’ve been following the Jays over the past month, then you understand how big of a night Friday was.  After weeks of pencilling in Mike McCoy, Omar Vizquel, Jeff Mathis, and Yorvit Torrealba at third and catcher, Friday night the Blue Jays finally – FINALLY – welcomed back Brett Lawrie and J.P. Arencibia.

And the two didn’t miss a beat.

Lawrie smacked the third pitch he saw for a double and eventually scored.  Arencibia, after an 0 for 4 Friday night, went 1 for 3 with 2 runs scored on Saturday. 

But the impact was much more than their individual performances.  Just their presence in the lineup seemed to inspire the team.  Mired in one of the worst stretches in years, the Jays swept Boston in three straight.  Colby Rasmus had two hits, including a home run, on Friday, after weeks and weeks of terrible at-bats.  Anthony Gose, Hechavarria, Sierra, Rajai Davis – all appeared to have a little bit of extra swagger in their steps and confidence in their games.

Lawrie and Arencibia play with a certain amount of cockiness.  If that rubs off on their teammates, only good things can happen.

3. The Farrell Circus

It has to be nice to be John Farrell right about now.  Despite having a career record of 145-156, the sophomore manager is suddenly heavily in demand, as rumours about him returning to Boston are gaining steam by the day.

When these same rumours began last year, they were seen by many (myself included), as a feeler by the Red Sox, a “let’s throw this idea out there and see what happens” type of move.  When Alex Anthopoulos and the Jays squashed the possibility of JF heading back to Boston, it seemed like that was it, over and done.

But I don’t know.  For some reason, the Farrell to Boston v2.0 talks seem more real.  For one, they are popping up with more regularity and by more sources.  For another, the Red Sox are an absolute disaster, hellbent on blowing the team up and starting over.  Their current manager, Bobby Valentine, appears to be a dead duck, hapless, helpess, and hopeless.  It was painful watching him walk to the mound to make a pitching change on the weekend.  You can read it all over his face – he knows he’s gone.

So the question becomes: should Toronto let Farrell go?  It’s considered a cardinal sin to make a trade within your own division.  After all, there isn’t a worse feeling than having an ex-teammate beat you.  But John Farrell is a manager, not a player.  The players play the game.  It’s the players who stack up wins and losses.  There are many schools of thought out there about how much influence a manager has, and I tend to be on the minimal side, as in managers have minimal influence on a game’s outcome.  Sure they are responsible for in-game moves, but if the hitters all struggle in a game, it doesn’t matter what order you put them in, or where you position them on the field, you’re still going to lose.

I like John Farrell.  I think he takes a lot of criticism from idiot Jays fans about his use of the bullpen and other petty things that armchair managers think they can do better.  But if there is a chance that the Blue Jays can acquire a major league ready player from a division rival in exchange for him?  I’d be all for it – especially considering the managerial talent already on the team (Wakamatsu, Butterfield, Fasano, etc.). 

Either way, stay or go, Farrell is already becoming the most intriguing offseason move on AA”s list.

After the debacle that was Week 21 (0-5 to stretch the losing streak to 7), the 22nd week of the Blue Jays season had to be better.  There’s no way it could have been worse right?  But when the schedule called for three games in Yankee Stadium, followed by a four game set at home with Tampa (AKA Toronto Killer), the Jays were in tough.

But call it a pleasant surprise – not only did Toronto win more than they lost, the also showed some heart and some fight, rallying to win Monday with a Colby bomb in the 9th, knocking off CC Sabathia on Wednesday, then taking the first two against the Rays.  That gave the Jays their first three game winning streak since July 26-28.

True they lost the final two to Tampa (including a Sunday thumping), but Toronto ended the week only one game back of the Red Sox.

The race for last is on.

Here are three things from week 22:

Week 22: August 27  - September 2

Record: 4 – 3

1. Good Riddance

August ended with a bang – literally. 

When Jeff Mathis hung on to Moises Sierra’s throw in the 9th inning on Friday night, nailing Elliot Johnson at home, it not only ended the game, it also ended the month of August.  And despite Toronto winning that game (and the two before that), it is a month that Toronto will easily want to forget.

The Jays finished August with a record of 9 – 19, a winning percentage of .321.  They were outscored 132 – 89, suffered through losing streaks of 6, 5, 3, and 7 games, and wound up dropping six games further back in the AL East standings, and eight games further back in the Wild Card standings.

Offensively, the team was inept.  The 89 runs scored (3.18 per game), was the lowest in the entire American League.  As a team, the Jays hit .219, had an OBP of .272, SLG of .344, and OPS of .616 – all the worst in the AL.  On top of that, they struck out 248 times, most in the league by quite a bit.  Individually, aside from team MVP Edwin Encarnacion, David Cooper, and Sierra, everybody was awful.  Kelly Johnson hit .189 with a .603 OPS.  Rajai Davis contributed a .594 OPS.  Colby Rasmus struck out 33 times, hit .167, and had only four extra base hits.  Ugly stuff.

Unfortunately, the pitching staff wasn’t much better.  A team ERA of 4.41 was 10th in the AL, and 93 walks was the third highest total. 

Normally, September is a time that generates excitement in cities across the majors, as pennant races heat up and the playoffs approach.  However, due to one of the most miserable August’s in franchise history, September in Toronto will yet again consist of playing out the string.

2. Shut Him Down

It looked like he had finally turned a corner.

It really, really did.

Sure he lost, but on Tuesday, Ricky Romero held the Yankees to 2 ER on 5 hits, while collecting 6 strikeouts over 7 innings.  In Yankee Stadium!

But it proved to not be a corner turned.  Instead it was a case of one step forward, ten steps back.  On Sunday Romero pitched one of the worst starts of his career against the Rays: 1 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 0 K.  I think the time has come to shut him down for the season. 

With each and every start, he is simply further eroding his confidence, and further opening himself to fan scorn.  For a potential staff ace, having the fans boo him and hate him every five days is not a great option.

In his past 13 starts, Ricky is 0-12 with a 7.98 ERA, 1.94 WHIP, more walks (44) than strikeouts (41), and an .886 OPS against.  To put it bluntly, he has been getting killed.

Let’s write this season off as an anomaly.  Shut him down.

3. The Case for Happ

J.A. Happ started in Yankee Stadium last week and threw a bit of a clunker.  He gave up four runs, four hits, and five walks in five innings, but still managed to get the win.  With the win, he is now 3-1 with a 4.45 ERA in five starts as a Blue Jay.

On the surface, those don’t look like incredible numbers, but there are some good underlying numbers in there.  His WHIP is 1.16.  He has 30 strikeouts and only 10 walks.  And he has put up those numbers while facing four of the best teams in the AL – Tampa Bay, Detroit, Texas, and New York (twice).

Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison will likely miss most of next year.  With the regression shown by Henderson Alvarez, there is a chance that he may start at a lower level.  That leaves a brittle Brandon Morrow and a shaken Ricky Romero.  You could do a lot worse than a fairly dependable lefty at the back of the rotation.

Happ it up!

photo from daylife.com

Some will call it the worst week of the 2012 season. 

I might go ahead and call it the worst week the franchise has seen in a number of years. 

It started with news on Tuesday that Brett Lawrie had a setback in rehab and might miss the remainder of the season.  It ended on Saturday when Jose Bautista, fresh off returning from the DL, went right back on it after re-aggravating his wrist injury.  There is a good chance that he will miss the remainder of the season as well.

And in between those pieces of bad news, the team lost all five games it played, stretching the latest losing streak to seven, and dropping to 5 – 18 in August.

When the best news of the week was that a rain out saved us from being swept in Baltimore, you know things aren’t going well.

Here are three things from week 21:

Week 21: August 20  - August 26

Record: 0 – 5

1. Edwin For Life!

Even in the week of doom and gloom, the one man who has been carrying the team all year was still going strong.  Even during this recent stretch where nobody on the Jays is producing, when the team is struggling to score runs, and when the losses are piling up, Edwin is dominating.

Last week in five games, Encarnacion hit .368, with a 1.349 OPS, 3 HR, and 6 RBI.  That means that Edwin drove in 46% of Toronto’s runs (6 of 13), and scored 38% of them (5 of 13).  Incredible.

Big EE now has 34 HR and 88 RBI on the season, both easily career highs.  He is third in the AL in home runs, four back of Adam Dunn, and his .963 OPS is also good for third (Mike Trout leads with a .986 OPS).  Just for good measure, Edwin is also 5th in RBI, 6th in OBP, 4th in SLG, 3rd in Offensive WAR, and even, just for kicks, ranks 25th in the AL in stolen bases with 13.

The man can do it all.

2. Welcome Back Brandon

4.2 IP.  2 ER.  1 BB.  6 H.  7 K.  Loss.

It wasn’t the greatest game of Brandon Morrow’s tenure with the Blue Jays, but it didn’t really matter.  Just seeing him back on the mound on Saturday was enough to bring a smile to the face of Jays fans.  After missing 126 days due to injury, 126 days in which the Jays fell from playoff contender to first overall pick contender, in which it seemed that every player on the roster followed his lead and missed at least a few games, he returned and brought with a little bit of normalcy.  A little bit of “what could have been.”

As I said, 4.2 IP wasn’t the kind of re-debut he wanted to make, but he held his own and limited the damage.  His control was good, as he only issued on walk, and his season ERA now sits at a very solid 3.06.  There isn’t much left to root for in this lost season, but seeing Brandon post a sub 3.00 ERA would be special.

With at least five starts left, let’s hope he can pull it off.

3. Colby’s Cornrows

Not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Wow.

Talk about a litmus test for the young kids dressed in Blue Jays uniforms.  The recently concluded 10-game homestand saw three games against the AL East leading New York Yankees, four against the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox, and three against the AL West leading Texas Rangers (coming after playing three in Tampa against the Wild Card leading Rays).  It was a chance for the kids to show what they’re made of against tough competition, and a chance to play spoiler.

Well, the end results didn’t look good.  But, speaking as an optimist, the Jays didn’t look all that overmatched.  They let a few games get away late against the Sox, and were right there with the Rangers until yesterday’s clunker.  If it’s true that you learn from the best, then Toronto’s contingent of rookies should have had a great learning experience.

Here are three things from week 20:

Week 20: August 13  - August 19

Record: 2 – 5

1. The Amazing Flying Anthony Gose

He’s still having a hard time hitting (.203 average, .551 OPS) and getting on base regularly (.280 OBP), but one thing’s for certain: Anthony Gose can fly.

In seven games last week, Gose swiped six bases – one per game in six straight games – despite the fact that he only started four of them.  His bat is also slowly waking up, as he managed a .250 average in 12 at-bats, including his first career major league triple.  Gose now has 10 stolen bases on the season, good enough to rank him T-38th in the American League, amazing considering he didn’t play his first game until July 17th. 

I predicted last year that Rajai Davis would break Dave Collins’ long standing stolen base record (60 in 1984), and it didn’t come to fruition.  Whenever the day comes that Anthony Gose is Toronto’s everyday CF or LF, lookout Dave – that record is history.

2. Steve K Delabar

According to baseball-reference, Steve Delabar’s middle name is Edward.  But last Monday it might as well have been K.  In the 10th inning against Chicago, Delabar became the 27th pitcher in American League history (and the first Blue Jay) to strike out four batters in an inning.  He whiffed Dayan Viciedo and Tyler Flowers swinging to start the inning, but Jeff Mathis allowed the third strike to get by him, allowing Flowers to reach.  Undaunted, Delabar got Gordon Beckham and Alejandro De Aza swinging to end the inning.

That outing was the first in a good week for Delabar.  The righty that the Jays picked up for Eric Thames at the deadline, tossed 4.2 IP, allowing 0 ER, 2 H, and 3 BB while striking out 9.  Overall, since joining the Blue Jays Delabar has been a rock.  In 10.1 IP he has allowed only 3 ER, 7  H, and 5 BB for an ERA 2.61 and a WHIP of 1.16.  Plus, he has struck out 17 for an impressive K/9 ratio of 14.8. 

Not a lot was known about Delabar when he was acquired other than that he has a big arm.  So far, he’s proving to be a shrewd pick up.

3. Buffalo Baby!  Buffalo!

It doesn’t have the same ring to it as Vegas Baby!  Vegas! , and it’s definitely not as glamorous, but one thing is for sure – it’s a hell of a lot closer.

It’s by no means official as of yet, but reports out of ESPN New York make it seem inevitable that the Blue Jays will be shifting their AAA affiliate from Las Vegas to Buffalo, with the New York Mets moving from Buffalo to Vegas.  This is very good news for the Jays and their fans for so many reasons, but mainly these three:

1 – As I said above it’s closer.  The Jays can conceivably call a player up in the afternoon and have him arrive at the ballpark later that evening, a luxury that was impossible with the 51′s being across the continent. 

2 – Keeping on the “it’s closer” wavelength, Toronto fans will now have a 2-ish hour drive to see the farm team play, as opposed to a 4+ hour flight.  It should drum up even more excitement for the fans in the Toronto area, as well as for the fans living close to the border.

3 – The most important benefit of all: it will get Toronto out of the Pacific Coast League, with its inflated run totals and offense.  Toronto has routinely left their best pitchers in AA ball in order to ensure they wouldn’t have to deal with PCL parks, parks that are often in thin air where the ball flies out of the yard.  Not only will minor league stats mean something (as opposed to being taken with a grain of salt), it will allow our best pitching prospects to face better talent, AAA-type talent.

Hopefully this news becomes official. If so, get ready to renew your passport.  We’ve got some driving to do!

photo from daylife.com

Heading into week 19, the pressure should have seemingly been off the Jays.  It was pretty obvious that they were out of playoff contention, what with all the injuries and poor play, meaning there was no reason to squeeze the bats tighter.

In addition, with six games on tap against the two best teams in the AL East (Tampa and New York), the Jays had a chance to play spoilers, and have an impact on the AL East race.

But….

A few days after ending a season long 6-game losing streak, the Jays promptly started another one, dropping the first five games of the week, before rebounding to win on Sunday.  As of Monday morning, Toronto had dropped 11 of 13 games to fall miles behind both the AL East and Wild Card leaders.

 But hey – at least the Red Sox are still in sight.

Here are three things from week 19:

Week 19: August 6  - August 12

Record: 1 – 5

1. Vanishing Offense

Coming into the week, the Blue Jays boasted one of the American League’s best and most potent offenses, trailing only Texas and Boston in runs scored.  Then they went out and lost five straight games, scoring a total of only 10 runs in the process. 

Of course, the lineup that Blue Jays fans grew accustomed to in the early part of the season – the one that scored the 3rd most amount of runs in the AL – and the one that took the field last week were vastly different.  Toronto started David Cooper, Moises Sierra, Jeff Mathis, Omar Vizquel, and Adeiny Hechavarria in Thursday’s 7-1 drubbing at the hands of the Rays, netting a total of only three hits. 

Through the first five games of the week, the Blue Jays offense was absolutely miserable.  Non existent even:

10 runs scored (2 per game)

26 hits (5.2 per game)

8 extra-base hits (1.6 per game)

3 HR (0.6 per game)

42 strikeouts (8.4 per game)

It’s hard enough to beat Tampa Bay and New York with a full strength lineup.  It’s even harder with a patchwork lineup.

But it’s downright impossible with a patchwork lineup that averages 5 hits a game.

2. Rajai Is Rockin’

You know it’s been a bad week when one of the top offensive contributors to the team hit .227 with only 5 hits.  But that is exactly what Rajai Davis did last week: 5 for 22, .227 average, .729 OPS, 5 RBI, and 3 SB.  Not dynamite numbers, but ones that shine mightily in comparison with the rest of the team.

Overall, it’s been a nice rebound year for Mr. Davis.  As of Sunday night his OPS stood at .731, over 100 points higher than the .623 OPS he posted in 2011.  Part of that reason is an OBP of .318, just below the league average of .321.  Compared to last year, he is light years ahead as a hitter.  The biggest drawback of Rajai has always been his inability to get on base at a consistent level.  In 2011, an OBP of .273 cost him his starting OF job, and limited his effectiveness on the basepaths (only 34 stolen bases).  He already has 33 SB in 2012, with still over a month-and-a-half to play.

On top of all that, he made one of the catches of the year on Sunday afternoon when he robbed Casey McGehee of a home run in the 7th inning.  The Jays were up 10-4 at the time, and considering they hung on to only win by 3, the play was a huge one.

Hey – at least we had one highlight!

3. Is Romero Turning It Around?

There’s no secret what rock bottom was this season for Ricky Romero.  July 25th, at home against Oakland.  1.1 IP.  8 ER.  6 BB.  After Toronto’s 16-0 loss that night, Romero’s ERA stood at an awful 5.75. 

Since that start, Romero has started three games, going 0-2 with a no decision, but his pitching lines are much, much better, culminating in Friday’s start against the Yankees.  After a rough second inning, and a tough start to the third, Romero really settled down and completely stymied the Bombers, retiring the final 11 batters he faced.

In his past three starts overall, Ricky (despite the 0-2 record), has pitched 20.0 innings, allowing only 6 earned runs, for an ERA of 2.70.  After posting a K:BB ratio of 15:16 in five starts from July 2 – July 25, he improved that to 14:9 in his past three starts – not amazing, but far better.

2012 appears to be a lost season for the team and Romero.  But if he can re-discover his All-Star form in the next seven weeks, it would go a long way in increasing his confidence for 2013 – and fans optimism.