Your Toronto Blue Jays

[Boges]

Season starts tomorrow!

[Boges]

This team is absolutely horrible.

These moves have made the team worse.

You can't even pinpoint a part of the the team that needs to be improved. It's been all bad.

Alex A could get fired for this. He was the boy wonder of GMs a few weeks ago and now just about everything he did has been an utter failure.

[Boges]

Now that the Leafs are done, this freakin' team needs to start putting together some wins.

They aren't out of it, and have shown some promise lately but they have to start winning series'.

Beating the Red Sox on the weekend was an excellent start.

[Boges]

They've learned how to hit at least. Starting pitching is huge problem right now.

If they can make it to .500 by maybe the All-Star break they'll have a great shot at being contenders. They'll get Jose Reyes back next month which should help them a lot.

Again, I'm being very optimistic, but they seemed to have turned a corner, but they have a giant hole to dig out of.

[Boges]

11 wins in a row. Out of the AL East Cellar. Finally above .500. 3 straight sweeps.

These next 2 series' are key. All their gains will be for naught if they get embarrassed by Tampa and Boston. Both have been struggling as of late, so I'm hopeful.

[guyser]

11 wins in a row. Out of the AL East Cellar. Finally above .500. 3 straight sweeps.

These next 2 series' are key. All their gains will be for naught if they get embarrassed by Tampa and Boston. Both have been struggling as of late, so I'm hopeful.

They sure are looking good and its about time. They are now where many put them to be.

But yes, any slide back of significance would be horrible. At best Id be happy w a wild card spot, but theres a long way to go.

[guyser]

Sad tho that its likely Kawasaki will have to go down when Reyes returns . He alone is worth the admission price but perhaps can bring some more bums to the Bisons games.

[Boges]

Sad tho that its likely Kawasaki will have to go down when Reyes returns . He alone is worth the admission price but perhaps can bring some more bums to the Bisons games.

Kawasaki is a Japanese Baseball version of Rudy. Small guy who works very hard and has a great attitude. The viral video of him going "I'M FROM JAPAN. I'M JAPANESE!!!!!!!!!" made people love him. Either that or everyone was just laughing at him. Regardless he's a fan favourite. That homer on Friday was ridiculous.

But there's no room for him on this time right now. Reyes is arguably the best player on this team. With Kawasaki you have to ask who he should replace? Maicer Izturis is a much better hitting utility infield right now. You could argue DeRosa but he's a solid veteran and more of a 3rd basemen.

You'd have to send one of their relievers down, but they're playing so well right now.

I actually think the bigger question is who do you send down when Lawrie is back?

He's injury prone and has a bad attitude. At this point I'd rather see Izturis start with DeRosa or Edwin Encarnacion backing him up.

Edwin is a great fielder.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Boges

[guyser]

Boges, no argument from me, I just hate to see a guy that works that hard be sent down. The fans do love him and hgetting people in the seats helps.

Reyes is activeated for tomorrow nights game. Big game tonight, they have to win and get back on a 11 game streak....yea right

[Boges]

Reyes comes back today. Kawasaki is out, No surprise.

2 Massive stinkers in Tampa to start the week. Hopefully Reyes can jump start the offense a bit.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Boges

[Boges]

Last time I posted in this thread was post the 11 game winning streak last year. Lots has happened.

6 game winning streak. 8 of 9. The AL East is down and the Jays are actually in first.

Is this what we were expecting from the Jays last year?

[Big Guy]

Boom, boom, bang, bang. I just jumped on to the bandwagon!

[guyser]

Nice to be in first place. Lets hope they can hold it.

Its always fun to watch a team when they feel; invincable . And the even better news in Reyes can be even better.

Now if only the Leafs could follow later on.

[Boges]

Best Hitter in Baseball right now.

Ed-Wing!

[overthere]

I'm a sceptic still.

Their offence is on fire. Their defence is adequate most nights.

But I don't trust their pitching at all.

Happ and Hendriks at 4 and 5 spots in the rotation? Yikes.

Dickey and Hutchison both have ERAs near 4, which ain't gonna work if the hitters have a slow day.

Buehrle is lights out right now.

The bullpen has been both great and utterly brutal so far. Time will tell which one is reality.

Great to see Janssen back in form, they needed him badly. I have trained countless kids how to pitch baseball, and he is a pitcher that I can say to them: throw like that!

If they are still in the hunt at the end of August, I'll take a seat on the bandwagon.

[Boges]

I'm a sceptic still.

Their offence is on fire. Their defence is adequate most nights.

But I don't trust their pitching at all.

Happ and Hendriks at 4 and 5 spots in the rotation? Yikes.

Dickey and Hutchison both have ERAs near 4, which ain't gonna work if the hitters have a slow day.

Buehrle is lights out right now.

The bullpen has been both great and utterly brutal so far. Time will tell which one is reality.

Great to see Janssen back in form, they needed him badly. I have trained countless kids how to pitch baseball, and he is a pitcher that I can say to them: throw like that!

If they are still in the hunt at the end of August, I'll take a seat on the bandwagon.

It's May, so there is more than enough time to tank the season. Heck the Leafs only needed to be average with less than a month to go to make the playoffs and they completely tanked. BUT this is what we expected from this team last season.

The 4 and 5 spots are a concern. We'll see how the Aussie Hendricks handles his second start tonight. The Rays are clearly a stronger offence than the A's last week. I'm convinced he's a placeholder until Stroman is ready.

Happ has been terrific. He was one of the decent starters last year, until he got beaned in the head. He had a horrific Spring but he was hurt. He was dealing on Sunday, I'm more confident he'll be consistently good than Dickey.

But really, name a team that has 5 sure wins in their rotation?

This series with Tampa has proven that the Jays can compensate for suspect pitcher. Where in the series against the A's where all three starters put together Gems, arguably the two best starters on the team Beuhrle and Hutch had average efforts and the bats, (ALL the bats) picked them up.

That appears on the surface to be a sustainable route to success long-term.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Boges

[guyser]

Now at 8

Hope to make it 9 in a few hours.

And considering how bad the rest of the AL East is, perhaps the Jays can do some damage.

Bandwagon is getting full.

[Boges]

Bandwagon is getting full.

The mid-week crowds aren't indicating that. 15,000 for the first two games of this series.

Lot's of theories.

- A's and Rays aren't big draws

- Lower expectation led to less pre-sales before the season.

and of course. . .

- The idiots who plan Summer constructions decided to shut down lanes on the Gardiner and Lakeshore at the same time so driving downtown on a weekday is a fool's errand.

I plan to go see them this week and will likely have to cough up the extra money to take the GO-Train. It'll preserve my sanity I suppose.

[guyser]

The mid-week crowds aren't indicating that. 15,000 for the first two games of this series.

Lot's of theories.

- A's and Rays aren't big draws

- Lower expectation led to less pre-sales before the season.

and of course. . .

- The idiots who plan Summer constructions decided to shut down lanes on the Gardiner and Lakeshore at the same time so driving downtown on a weekday is a fool's errand.

I plan to go see them this week and will likely have to cough up the extra money to take the GO-Train. It'll preserve my sanity I suppose.

I gree 100% with you boges.

Lowered expectations are keeping the #'s down, but 45g last weekend was good. Now we have hit the warm weather, Dome opened, should be lots more.

Yea, Okaland and T Bay....now if it was Boston and Yanks....fill the joint !

[Boges]

They were giving away free jersey's on Sunday. Those retail for like $100. People were waiting in line like they wanted an iPhone I hear.

[gunrutz]

I'm a sceptic still.

Their offence is on fire. Their defence is adequate most nights.

But I don't trust their pitching at all.

Happ and Hendriks at 4 and 5 spots in the rotation? Yikes.

Dickey and Hutchison both have ERAs near 4, which ain't gonna work if the hitters have a slow day.

Buehrle is lights out right now.

The bullpen has been both great and utterly brutal so far. Time will tell which one is reality.

Great to see Janssen back in form, they needed him badly. I have trained countless kids how to pitch baseball, and he is a pitcher that I can say to them: throw like that!

If they are still in the hunt at the end of August, I'll take a seat on the bandwagon.

Agree, the pitching is weak, they wont be able to maintian this and will fall back to the pack.

[overthere]

It's May, so there is more than enough time to tank the season. Heck the Leafs only needed to be average with less than a month to go to make the playoffs and they completely tanked. BUT this is what we expected from this team last season.

The 4 and 5 spots are a concern. We'll see how the Aussie Hendricks handles his second start tonight. The Rays are clearly a stronger offence than the A's last week. I'm convinced he's a placeholder until Stroman is ready.

Happ has been terrific. He was one of the decent starters last year, until he got beaned in the head. He had a horrific Spring but he was hurt. He was dealing on Sunday, I'm more confident he'll be consistently good than Dickey.

But really, name a team that has 5 sure wins in their rotation?

This series with Tampa has proven that the Jays can compensate for suspect pitcher. Where in the series against the A's where all three starters put together Gems, arguably the two best starters on the team Beuhrle and Hutch had average efforts and the bats, (ALL the bats) picked them up.

That appears on the surface to be a sustainable route to success long-term.

Well, Henrciks had the same start as he did the first time: lucky luycky lucky. The rays hammered the ball and the Jays made some great defecive plays to keeo Hendricks from an early exit, again.

But it is hard to criticize wins, however fortunate.

Stroman had a brutal intro to the majors, when do you see him being ready?

And Happ has spent his life in the minors for a reason........

We'll see in August.

[Boges]

That just sounds like overwhelming skepticism about this team overthere.

The loss last night was brutal. The one person I wouldn't expect to have an error would be Jose Reyes.

Win some you lose some, but Edwin still shows that he's amazing. 2 more home runs.

[overthere]

It's not overwhelming anything, just a brief analysis of the factual reality of their pitching.\

Which part is incorrect?

You must have strong pitching to sustain a playoff bound team.

Do you think Dickey looked like a good pitcher last night? This season? Last season?

[Boges]

Way to salvage that series with two convincing wins over the weekend.

Stroman had a great first start.

Buehrle is pitching like a Cy Young winner.

#4 in the ESPN Power Rankings http://espn.go.com/mlb/powerrankings

Edited June 2, 2014 by Boges