Series finale and dreaming of a sweep.

Thursday May 15. 2008. Jays v Twins. Series finale.

Baseball is a funny game…. A week ago the sky was falling on the Jays and now they are going for a sweep of the Twins in Minneapolis and a four game win streak on the road.
All the pundits will say we told you so, it is a long season and anything can and usually does happen. But are there are any positives that the Jays can take from the terrible losses and hitless games ? I believe there are.

1. Resilience. The team has gone through a very rough patch and yet bounced back and also on the road against two strong sides. This can only help them later in the season when they know they do have the ability and resilience to play well. This may be a huge difference between Jays and the Rays currently top of the Division. The Rays a very young team, full of ability, confidence and swagger have come out of the gates Day 1 in Spring training and so far have not had any negatives to deal with. No major loss streaks, no major injuries to key players. The test will be when this does happen someone like Crawford for example injured could have a major impact on this team. Do they have the strength to carry through a six game loss streak ?

2. Another thing I like about this Jays lineup is the pitching depth. Last year Marcum and McGowan and Litsch to a certain extent broke through. This season they are the lineup and have continued to show that 2007 was not a fluke. Their starting lineup is definitely stronger than any in the Division and arguably in the AL. This can only help in the long run knowing that any day a loss streak can be stopped by any of these starters. They have already carried the bats for the last month it seems. Now it is the bats turn.

3. The bats are indeed coming around in this road trip, slowly but definitely a positive change. Stairs has established himself in the DH role and Rolen in front of him is paying off. Twice now Rolen has exhausted the pitcher with his long at bats only to have Stairs follow. On both occasions a HR has resulted. Pitchers will come to realise that Rolen is a very difficult out and I think Rolen-Stairs will be the answer to Ortiz-Ramirez. Maybe not as powerful but certainly starting to pay off.

4. This brings me to the next positive and that is Alex Rios. In huge slump right now we know that this will not last all season. Once it starts to change, and Alex gets in a groove, this will make the Rolen-Stairs combination even stronger. Rios-Rolen-Stairs could be a huge powerhouse for this team. Of course could and actual are two different things.

5. Last but not least the bullpen of Toronto has to be a key. So far they have definitely not disappointed and now that BJ Ryan is back and pitching well this makes the setups of Carlson and Downs along with Frasor, Tallet and Camp a lot easier for Gibbons to manage after the starters get to six innings. A luxury that most AL Managers do not have.
So I am a lot more hopeful at this stage. Inter-league play starting tomorrow and Jays up against the Phillies that they played several times in Dunedin. Phillies are definitely a challenger for the Division title again this year and that makes them a dangerous side. They will be excellent test for this new Jays team.


Vancouver Jay re hitting coach. I agree with you to an extent. Someone has to take collective responsibility and that is the hitting coach. But there are some good signs. There have been several occasions where a string of hits have occurred in this road trip and the awful average with runners in scoring position average is starting to increase. Little signs but these positives start to change the game outcomes and give the pitchers hope. Of course this theory was blown out of the window last night with a four run first inning start for Halladay who then proceeded to blow it immediately. What was going on in HIS head?