Back by popular demand, I am writing a blog post. Well, I am exaggerating by saying "popular demand" but one guy at least actually has missed my posts.
It has been an interesting first half of the season for the Blue Jays. They had a very slow start offensively with many of the guys slumping all at once. It was really hard to believe they could be that bad, but sure enough the offense has come around to what we had expected.
Tulo got off to a real rough start and many Jays fans really had no clue what this guy was capable of. Now he is back to being the Tulo that the Rockies fans grew to love. His overall season stats may not be impressive but if you look at his stats since about mid May, he is hitting very well.
Donaldson is being a boss and on his way to the all star game. Thank you Billy Beane. I don't know what voodoo magic Alex pulled off on you, but thank you, thank you, thank you.
The 2 biggest pleasant surprises offensively have been Michael Saunders and Darwin Barney. I wasn't sure what to expect out of Saunders after last season's knee injury, but I certainly didn't expect him to have a career year and being an all star. As for Barney, I expected him to be a back up infielder with good defence. I didn't expect this kind of offensive contribution. There's a guy who really has increased his stock as a player.
EE has been hot in June and July and has 80 RBIs already. Not coincidentally, JD has scored 80 runs.
Bautista has been on the DL. Seems like they never quite get their full offensive power all healthy at once. I will be happy when Joey Bats comes back.
The starting pitching has been quite good. Estrada and Sanchez are all-stars. Happ has mostly been the guy that shocked everyone with Pittsburgh after the trade deadline last year, other than a mini slump that he went through Dickey is having his usual season where he sucks in April and then becomes way better than most will give him credit for or even realize. Stroman has been the most inconsistent. He was quite bad for a while there but the last couple of starts have been very good. The big test fro Stro will be when he faces AL East opponents again. That's who have given him the most trouble. I wouldn't ever bet against the Stro Show. His drive and determination will get him through whatever struggles he may face.
There are concerns however. Estrada's back has put him on the DL. Let's hope he gets through it well. Sanchez may or may not be working on an innings limit. If he is, they will put him in the bullpen. He has been so good as a starter that putting him in the pen will hurt. Unless Jays add a starter before the trade deadline, that will likely put Hutch in the rotation.
The bullpen has the been the worst component of the team for they year so far. Had the pen been even average, this team would be in first place now easily. However, there's been signs of big improvements. Grilli has been excellent for the most part since they acquired him (despite giving up the homerun to V-Mart the other day). Cecil is now healthy and looks better than he did in the early part of the season. Chavez has been good, although scares me coming in with inherited runners. I like Bo Schultz. I don't trust Storen or Loup. I expect some improvements at the trade deadline in this area. Of course, if Sanchez moves to the pen, then adding a starter becomes the bigger priority. I'd still like to add a lefty specialist in addition to Cecil but other than Loup.
There were times in the early part of the season, when this team was frustrating to watch. Even when you know "it's early", you also can't expect that the team will win at the pace they did in August and September last year. But they won enough games when they weren't playing well to avoid digging too much of a hole to crawl out of. After playing well in June/July, the Jays sit just 2 games back of the first place O's and tied with Boston (also tied for WC spot). I still expect the O's to fade and the Sox are the team to worry about, but strange things happen in baseball.
It will be an exciting 2nd half of the season! Go Jays Go!
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