The Jays Juxtaposition: On Fire, yet finally at .500
On Wednesday in Toronto in the Jays game vs. the Miami Marlins, two streaks ended while one picked up steam as Jose Bautista and Chris Colabello both came up empty in their plate appearances ending hitting streaks of 12 and 18 games respectively. And while one of those reflected the waking of a sleeping giant in Bautista, Colabello’s emergence as a key player in the Jays lineup has coincided nicely with their current 7 game winning streak that gets the team to .500 for the first meaningful time this year.
Sure we’ve seen it all before. A hot month here, a cold month there but smack us silly for thinking these Jays may be different. Ahead of all other MLB teams in runs by more than 50, these Jays have a ‘murderers row’ of a lineup with a heart of the order that no pitcher is safe against. Sure we’ve had plenty of support over the years for Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion but Alex Anthopolous has never brought in a guy like Josh Donaldson before to really shore up the meat of the order and scare opposing pitchers; not to mention he’s staying healthy and not losing his cool on a regular basis like the guy he replace.
This team truly rakes together and last nights win was no different with Encarnacion belting a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the game from the Marlins 4-3. That was the second consecutive game won by a walkoff and third in the current seven game win streak but as the pitching continues to settle down and win a few games, the Jays seem to be positioning themselves for contention in the very winnable AL East where only the Yankees are starting to emerge as contenders.
But it’s still early and fans in Toronto know all too well how long a baseball season is and how many things need to go right in order to compete. Here’s hoping that neiter Alex Anthopolous nor Jon Gibbons are sleeping much these days in the hopes that their doing everything they can to keep their jobs and steer these Jays into the playoffs for the first time since they won the series in 1993.
So while reaching .500 through two months of the season is not necessarily a cause for celebration, here’s hoping that these Jays are different from those teams in recent memory and can give us a reason to believe AA isn’t just another JP.
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