Baseball: Somber Reflections on the Sweep

So, the Jays went into Boston, riding a season-high four game winning streak and came out riding a season-high three game losing streak. In baseball, you could win 11 straight, and then drop six of eight. It's a funny game.

When I was younger, if I'd known baseball was such a rollercoaster ride through a 162 game schedule, I probably wouldn't have invested so much emotional stake into the game. The standings don't change as fast in any other sport than they do in baseball.

But, if we're still looming about in the present, the Blue Jays are still in first place, even if it's by the slimmest of margins. Nobody said this was going to be easy!

Toronto takes a 27-17 record into Interleague Play against the Atlanta Braves, still something that no media member in Toronto believed would happen come May 22. If there's anyone who can stop the bleeding, it's Roy Halladay, who goes for his American League leading ninth win tomorrow night at Turner Field, which once hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics where Oakville native Donovan Bailey won that storied gold medal in record breaking fashion in the 100 meter dash.

The moral of the latter story is that records were meant to be broken, which means that teams were meant to lose, eventually. Sprinters like Greene and Bolt would eventually eclipse Bailey, and Bolt would do it in incredible fashion in Beijing, taking track to a new level virtually unseen before.

Perhaps now that we know New York and Boston are both not kidding around, this could turn into the great American League East race Major League Baseball has been dying to see since the division was coined "the toughest in baseball." Perhaps even the Tampa Bay Rays can join in on the fun. After all, that was a club that won the pennant last year, so we can't count them out.

Quite frankly, Toronto just didn't hit in the clutch during the series, stranding dozens of runners, and they didn't pitch well enough to win save Brian Tallet's effort Tuesday Night against a bucklin' series of knuckleballs.

But rememeber, folks, the great teams overcome adversity. Great players overcome such adversity. Great managers like Gaston have already done so, and will be well-equipped to do so, once again.

The point is that we all know Travis Snider looks overmatched, but even Mickey Mantle had to re-learn how to hit in the Minor Leagues (thanks DJF), Roy Halladay had to completely transform himself (thanks Mop Up Duty), and Cito Gaston had to prove that a black man could lead a team to win a World Series.

So, yes, maybe Brett Cecil and Bobby Ray are a little rough around the edges at times, but, come on, it was just one series. If Toronto returns the favour next weekend, what are you going to say, then?