So we have been looking at YOUR TORONTO BLUE JAYS in 27 game chunks...we are now at the end of 27 game segment #3...which also is the midway point of the 2010 season...We marvelled at the 17-10 record that the 2nd 27 games produced but we did caution that a ROUGH schedule was in store for the Jays during 27 game segment #3...and it was a BAD stretch for this club...10-17 record for segment #3...41-40 overall at the midway mark...Toronto's tumble has them all the way to 10 games back in the AL East...only the D.O.A Baltimore Orioles are worse at this point...
*THE GOOD*
Jays lead all of baseball in team Home Runs...guys like All-Star Vernon Wells (19 HR's) All-Star Jose Bautista (21 HR's) All-Star John Buck (13 HR's) plus shortstop Alex Gonzalez (15 HR's) are on pace for 25+ HR's plus Adam Lind and Aaron Hill are each on pace for 20...
The future of this franchise is the starting pitching...the young, developing starting pitching...and some of that has already begun to blossom...Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil, and Shawn Marcum (pictured left) are a combined 20-14 with 31 Quality Starts (a Quality Start is a stat for when a starting pitcher goes at least 6 innings and gives up no more then 3 runs)...Romero and Marcum also have ERA's in the 3's with Cecil just above 4 right now...Marcum is showing himself to be an Ace-of-the-future for this team with a 7-1 record in 9 starts following a Jays loss...Brandon Morrow has at times been inconsistent but he has 10 Quality Starts and has an ERA that has been on the decline lately - plus he is the Jays #1 Strikeout pitcherThe Bullpen has been led by Shawn Camp (38 appearances...2.47 ERA) and Scott Downs (39 appearances...2.80 ERA) with Kevin Gregg as the full-time closer now (18 Saves...36 strikeouts in 31 innings)
*THE BAD*
well the recent 10-17 record through segment #3 certainly was bad...during the 3rd 27 the Jays lost Marcum to the DL...have yet to have Travis Snider return from the DL...no Marc Rzepczynski yet...the return from the DL for Jesse Litsch has been very underwhelming...
The players that are here and are healthy have either hits HR's or made outs...witness these 1st half numbers - Jays are in the bottom half of MLB for Runs Batted In...how do they hit so many HR's but not drive in a lot of runs you ask?!?! Only 2 teams in all of baseball hit for a worse team batting average then YOUR TORONTO BLUE JAYS, and only 3 MLB teams have fewer hits then the Jays...the Jays steal less bases then anyone too...Cito Gaston's club has BY FAR the fewest amount of Sacrifice's in MLB (Jays are on pace for 12 sacrifice's this year...the next lowest team right now ALREADY has 16)Where in the world is Travis Snider?!?! Not he boardgame, the real life reality where stud-of-the-future Snider has a wrist injury with a very unfortunate UNKNOWN eta as to his return
Brian Tallet and Jason Frasor are not having the seasons they had anticipated...both have struggled as Tallet is now out of the starting rotation and Frasor was replaced early as the team's closer...
Fred Lewis leads the team with a .277 Batting Average...no Jays player is north of .300 Batting Average-wise
*THE UGLY*
Well when you look at the batting #'s as a team and how putrid they are it stands to reason that there will be poor individual number's throughout the roster...I want you to read my blog but I will still have to warn you to avert your eyes here - Lyle Overbay .241 average - Bautista .236 - Lind .205 - on-again/off-again third baseman Edwin Encarnacion .195 - Aaron Hill at an unbelievable .189...for most of the season Lind and Hill are in the top 3 in the batting order so their horrible production has been noticeable and of course detrimental
Rogers Centre attendance continues to be ugly...only 3 teams (Oakland, Cleveland, Florida) have lower average home attendance...none of Oak|Cleve|Fla have drawing cards coming to town with fans that travel very well like when the Yankees and Red Sox visit T.O. which makes the Jays average of 19,000+ fans VERY disappointing and ugly
Dustin McGowan continues to experience nothing but pain and setback-after-setback in his attempt to get his once VERY promising Jays career back on track
The 1st half of this season also had the end of the Randy Ruiz era as he was released by T.O. to pursue other opportunities in a different Continent
Our first 3 27 game segments record-wise were as follows - 14-13...17-10...10-17 so we see absolutely no consistency, but we can be pleased with the likes of Romero/Cecil/Marcum who do have the look of the #1,2,3 going forward for the Jays...I look forward to the 2nd half for Brandon Morrow as he has the stuff the be a top-of-the-rotation guy but I would like to see some consistency develop for him...the 2nd half of the season will of course feature the Trading Deadline and we will see what Alex Anthopoulos can potentially get in return for guys like Lyle Overbay, Brain Tallet, Scott Downs, John McDonald and perhaps one of the veteran catchers like John Buck or Jose Molina...will there be a market for Fred Lewis? Will Dewayne Wise play himself into the role of someone who a contending team may want to have to strengthen their bench?
As this season enters the 2nd half officially now (unofficially after the July 11-13 All-Star break) I wonder if the #1 question I have had all year will start to get more play which is who will be the Manager of this team next year?!?! We know from Cito himself that he will not be back for 2011+ and to date I have not heard any outside-hire candidates to run this ship going forward...
We have seen Alex Anthpoulos work his first off-season (successfully) and his first MLB Entry Draft (looks like it was a good one for AA) and in the upcoming 2nd half we will see AA work his first Trade-Deadline deals...I am looking forward to it...looking forward to see what pieces can be added to contribute to the 2011+ Toronto Blue Jays
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