MLB 2008: What to Know About the Toronto Blue Jays

Well we are now officially underway into this 2008 baseball marathon of a season, and with teams surging and faltering all over the league, it’s safe to take a look at some of the trends and in depth observations I have made so far about my beloved Toronto Blue Jays.

I’m sure all of Toronto was extremely excited after the first full week of the season, after completing a convincing sweep of the Boston Red Sox. Now, granted the sox were a tired team after traveling over 15 thousand or so miles in a span of a week and a half, and it showed on get away day last Sunday. However the Jays outplayed the Sox in all aspects of the game.

It was apparent to me though, that the Jays were just a more lively team throughout the series( taking the extra base, hit and run, solid pitching performances, timely hitting, etc.,)

We've seen this before from the Jays, especially early on in the season at home, where the Jays will look like a complete playoff team for three or four glorious days, and then fall back into inconsistent play against a lesser opponent i.e. Oakland Athletics

This leads to my first point-

#1-This is the same old Blue Jays team. I don’t know what it is about the Blue Jays, but they never seem to put a solid winning streak together which the "true" playoff contenders always seem to do.

The Jays beat up the Sox, and what do they do in their following series, get swept at home, by the lowly regarded Oakland Athletics. Where was the energy? Where was the passion? This has happened the past couple years under Gibbons and the current management. The Jays can never seem to put winning series' together. We would hold our own against the top teams of the AL, and then the devil rays would come to town, and the Jays would drop 2 out of 3 and look ugly in doing it.

Hey, I know it’s early, and the losses to Oakland could have gone either way, with a break here or there, but life is about shoulda, woulda, coulda, and the sweep to Oakland really dampened my thoughts on this team.

#2- The Jays still struggle with RISP. This is probably the most alarming factor to me. I know Gibbons is stealing more bases and trying to do the small things to create runs, but its just not happening as well as I'd like. To go with this point, can the Jays hit into any more double plays wasting 1st and second with no one out. It’s getting frustrating to watch.

The Jays don’t have trouble getting guys on base, but getting them home is a different story. This was the case last year as well, with countless times the Jays often stringing a few hits together but not getting the timely hit to drive guys in.

Watch the teams at the top of both leagues and you'll see that they usually always convert on opportunities to score runs. This must improve soon, and (maybe will with the addition of Scott Rolen), but for now, it seems to continue to be a struggle for a team hitting .271 5th in the majors so far in the early going.

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