The 2009 Toronto Blue Jays: "Eh" For Effort

by 0157H7 on May 19, 2009 6:43 PM EDT

[For the Jays-Sox Game 1 thread, please click here.]

Entering the season, all the talking heads in baseball predicted the AL East to be a three-team bloodbath. The Sox, Rays and Yankees would demolish each other and the rest of the league in the race for October. Nearly anyone making predictions wrote out the Jays, since they had lost so many starting pitchers to injury.

Now, a month and a half into the season, a different picture is emerging. The Rays have beaten the Sox, the Sox have beaten the Yankees, the Yankees have beaten teams not from Boston; the Jays have only played 6 games against AL East teams (everyone else has played at least 19). However, they stand atop the league with the best record (27-14).

What is going on? Why is a team with the best veteran pitcher in the league (Roy Halladay) and the best hitter in baseball (Marco Scutaro), in first place? Well, the Jays have been hitting very well: their league ranks are 1st in BA, 2nd in OBP, 3rd in SLG and HR. Especially dangerous are the vaunted Scutaro, Adam Lind, and Aaron Hill.

Likewise, the Jays' pitching has not only not imploded, but it has spectacularly not imploded: they Jays lead the league in K's and are 3rd in least runs allowed. Besides Halladay, they have gotten solid starting performances from Scott Richmond, Ricky Romero, Brian Tallet, Brett Cecil and Robert Ray. In the pen, Scott Downs has seized the closer role from BJ Ryan (9.45 ERA), and Jason Frason is performing excellent set-up work. Now let's turn to the OTM News Desk for a piece of Breaking News...

This just in: Apparently Marco Scutaro is not the best hitter in baseball. We here at OTM apologize for the error. It seems E.Coli's intern thought Scutaro's .284 / .415 / .458 (135 OPS+) line so far was reflective of his career, and that he could be expected to continue at this pace for the rest of the season. Considering that the 33-year-old Scutaro has never once held an OPS higher than 100 (i.e. better than league average for hitters), this is absurd. We apologize for the error, and return you to your regularly scheduled preview.

But all of these numbers have been put up primarily against the AL West and Central, which leaves a lot of questions going into this series. Will the Jays' rookie starters silence Boston's lineup? Will their hot bats stay hot in Boston? Did Marco Scutaro steal Ortiz's mojo? Are the Jays the new Rays, flying high over the league, or are they about to crash? Only time will tell.

Poll

Where will the Blue Jays finish in the division race?

I have no idea / It's way too early to tell.

39 votes

First. They'll hold off the Sox, Rays, and Yankees (the Big Three).

51 votes

Second. One of the Big Three will sneak by them.

84 votes

Third. Middle of the division, but ahead of one of the Big Three

76 votes

Fourth. Better than Baltimore, worse than the rest.

33 votes

Fifth. Everything goes wrong, and the team starts a firesale.

3 votes

Sixth. Selig will trade them to the NL East, just for kicks.

9 votes

295 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Even as Marco Scutaro inevitably reverts to a pumpkin

Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, and Travis Snider are all below expectations. Whether those expectations are realistic or not…either way, all three could possibly be in for improvement. Overbay has been solid. Lind scares me? Hill seems due to come down to Earth as well; he shouldn’t be Ian Kinsler-lite.

"Are you a real doctor, or a doctor like Dr. Pepper is a doctor?"

by Allen Chace on May 19, 2009 9:38 PM EDT reply actions

I love how during the game last night the announcer (I forget which one) said “Just two years ago Hill was one of the best 2B, and then he got injured. Now that he’s healthy again we can expect him to keep this up.” Ummmmm, no. He was never one of the best 2B, and no he will most likely not keep this up

by Realistic on May 20, 2009 9:20 AM EDT up reply actions

You got an intern?

No fair.

WBULTV - BDale TV Prod

by bdalebs on May 19, 2009 9:40 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah.

Not fair, I guess, but that mistake is Ecoli’s intern’s general level of production. So I’m not sure who really comes out ahead in all of it.

In the end, though, we all lose because of it.

"Are you a real doctor, or a doctor like Dr. Pepper is a doctor?"

by Allen Chace on May 19, 2009 10:35 PM EDT up reply actions

When did Aaron Hill become the second (or 1st, delayed) coming of Chase Utley?

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on May 19, 2009 11:32 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t expect Hill to finish anywhere near where he is now, but in all fairness he was a first round draft pick and had an .800 OPS in I believe his second season in the bigs. Last year he was knocked out with an injury for most of the year so that doesn’t count. The guy has been pretty highly touted so while he may not be a Chase Utley he could very well keep putting up Pedroia-like numbers…or better.

by cnagy77 on May 19, 2009 11:49 PM EDT reply actions

Aaron Hill is playing above his head, unless he’s juicing, in which case, who knows. =D Kidding aside, he is a very good hitter.

As for Scoots, he’ll come back down to Earth a little, but I don’t think he’ll drop nearly a far as people seem to think. His plate discipline this year has been quite impressive . He has 35 walks in 41 games. If he sustains his discipline, he should be an extremely effective leadoff man.

by Theodles on May 20, 2009 1:32 AM EDT reply actions