MVN - Most Valuable Network

Disclaimer of Non-Excitement for Jays Fans

****This is a disclaimer. Please be warned that early success in the season must be accompanied with a worried frown and nitpicked with negative minutia. Fun predictions are made at your peril. Plans for the parade must not be set. There must be no running and jumping (hey! in the fourth row! I see you!) or general feeling of merriment allowed. No conclusions should be drawn from the early proclamations by annoying sportswriters like me****

Good. With that out of the way, I’d like to talk about the last series with the Red Sox. Contrary to my disclaimer I would like to say these pearls of wisdom:

 Oh. My. God. What a series. Plan the parade routes!!

Seriously, though it was truly amazing how different the team looked. Pushing runners over, getting clutch hits. Scoring with two outs, having the bullpen do it’s job, getting the best pitching in the major leagues over the last six….it was awesome.

The nicest thing about it was seeing the supposed holes in the lineup (crevasses?) Thomas and Eckstein shutting the pundits up.  Eckstein delivering hits WELL out of the infield and busting his hump all over the place. The team setting tables, taking extra bases and letting Wells, Rios and Thomas dole out the punishment. Thomas not being able to get around on fastballs? Uhhh….maybe not. The last pitch he hit out was going at 95+.

The truth about this team is that they were hurt last year. They were hurt so bad that even a blind monkey could have mixed in with the other 8 players we had to use at third/ in the bottom of the pitching staff/in center field/ at shortstop (offensively, although I’d give the monkey at least a shot to make a few Johnny Macesque plays)/and catcher the previous season and no one would have noticed. It affected everything, from the hitting to the pressure on the pitchers, to the manager’s ability to take chances and run…everything.

Even playing a guy like Marco Scutaro–who I grant you, is basically your (ok, below) league average third baseman–is a HUGE improvement. Yes, a guy who hits .260 is hella better than someone who can’t hit anything. And…he can actually move as a bonus! Having Zaun and Overbay able to simply hit the ball at all is another obvious improvment.

That team with half it’s players hurt or playing hurt was over five hundred ladies and gentlemen. That is how good the pitching really was and still is.

How people missed the improvement in this team over the winter has more to do with their stubborn malaise and disappointment in the team’s failure to get to the playoffs these last several years, as well as it’s history of injury than anything else.

They always lose therefore they must lose again (wonderful logic, that)–even if the key players are

1. healthier (they can’t possibly stay healthy, can they?)

2. better over their career than the previous year (the good years were a fluke, Vernon)

3. new and previous world series winners(aww….they’ll get hurt too)

4. Probably the best pitching staff in the majors top to bottom (including bullpens with a healthy Ryan). (Who cares, the offence sucks)

5.  new leadoff hitters (Shannon Stewart and Eck) when the previous team had….no leadoff hitters.(that would be great if anyone could get them in)

6. One of the team’s elite pitchers who is primed for free agency (he’ll get hurt too)

7. fortunate to have a reknowned batting coach who stresses taking the ball the other way and patience (what?Meh).

And yet, no one went out on a limb. All they would grant is some sanctimonious maybe if they’re healthy (guffaw)tee hee.

Sure, it could all fall apart…yadda yadda yadda. But it didn’t look like that would happen anytime soon during the series, did it?

I hope they are enjoying watching the Tigers flail at the breeze and Yankees and Sox fall to the league’s so-called also-rans. 

Even though it is early.

So, even though the disclaimer obviously applies, I would like to take this opportunity to say Nyah Nyah to all the haters. Oh, and especially to Greek God of Walks–who apparently feels the great pressure of using different currencies to weigh on his fragile mind more than normal people.

Thank-you.

 Notes:

–Halladay is around the plate a lot. He tries to throw get ahead fastballs on the first pitch almost every time. Plus, he throws more strikes than really anyone else. Consequently, he’s gonna’ get hit up for homeruns sometimes, especially around elite hitting teams like New York and Boston. Calm down, he’ll be fine. The key is to make the home runs singles, which he has, and not rack up the walks instead. Giving up home runs is not ideal, but it’s better than trying to nibble too much. Tonight was Average Doc, and that’s better than most pitchers at 100% anyway. Vintage Doc is on the way soon. He is even learning a new changeup. Man, what a workhorse!

–Rios and Wells are starting to show some exceptional patience. You could tell Beckett was getting frustrated  when he threw like 3 changeups in a row to Vernon and he wouldn’t bite at any of them. It was like, who is this guy, he always swings over the top. Not this year, Beckett. If this continues, the Jays are going to be fun to watch offensively.

–Although there aren’t as many stars as Boston and New York have, there really aren’t any holes on this team. Barajas is probably better than Zaun offensively and he is coming off the bench. Stewart is a lifetime .300 hitter and is being semi-platooned with a ,300 hitter from last year, Matt Stairs. Rios, Wells and Thomas and Rolen are legit–after that there is more legit major league talent. Not perfect talent, but solid players who do a lot of the little things well and are a net positive. Depth is a crucial part of success, and Ricciardi may finally have found himself a team.

–Overbay/Zaun look much better this year, and Overbay had a tough day today. His timing is still a bit off on off-speed pitches. This will come with time also.

–The next stretch of games (against Oakland, Texas) is where we see if all this toughness and attititude can be maintained against the weaker sisters of the league (where the Blue Jays have historically failed).

Go Jays!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 4:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.