Inconsistent Jays still in thick of it
‘We need to get rolling,’ Gibbons admits
Forget, if you can, the Blue Jays’ frustrating inability to reach .500 through 75 games of the 2017 schedule.
Forget as well, the injuries, the inconsistency, the sloppy defence and the rather remarkable struggles to get runners in scoring position across home plate.
Wipe the memory bank before you take another look at the American League standings and it’s surprisingly apparent that all is not as gloomy as it probably should be for a Jays team that has often teetered between frustration and futility.
In theory, things couldn’t have gone much worse t hrough t he first t hree months of the season. The fact the Jays are still within sniffing distance of playoff position (and just five games behind the AL East- leading Yankees entering Monday’s play) is stunning, really. But it’s also reflective of the flaws gnawing at several other AL contenders.
Between now and July 9 when they break for the allstar game, the Jays will face their toughest and arguably most significant portion of the schedule yet. Through 13 games in 13 days ( following Monday’s off day) the Jays will face the Orioles and Red Sox at home, head to the Bronx for a series vs. the Yankees and then return to the Rogers Centre to face the best team in baseball, the Houston Astros.
By the time Justin Smoak heads to Florida to join the rest of the all-stars — assuming voters do the right thing and get the big first baseman there — this team’s destiny may be far more apparent.
“It’s not going to be do-ordie type of baseball, but it will definitely be a good stretch of games heading into the break where we could make up some ground,” Jays right fielder Jose Bautista said. “After a tough first month, I think overall our record has been pretty good. We’ve had to battle a lot of things … guys going down ( to injury) and stuff like that.
“We just have to get in a groove where everybody’s doing what we’re capable of doing and the machine is running on all cylinders. Hopefully we get to do that here in this stretch.”
The gift given by the struggling Red Sox and the suddenly cooling Yankees isn’t likely to last forever.
After that miserable 8-17 April, the Jays had a brilliant 18-10 May, but they’ve dipped back to 10-12 so far this month. A 3-4 road trip to Texas and Kansas City was an accurate snapshot of the season so far.
There was good (from the starting pitching), bad (from the Roberto Osuna-less bullpen in an epic collapse on Friday) and ultimately zero positive momentum.
The next opportunity to make a significant run forward won’t be easy.
First to test that revamped batting order manager John Gibbons unveiled last week in Texas are the Baltimore Orioles, a team that seems incapable of holding an opponent to fewer than five runs a game. A series win over the Orioles (37-38) — a team that always seems to find a way to play the Jays tough — and Toronto would leapfrog its division rival in the standings.
Then comes the big challenge, a stretch that includes the Red Sox, Yankees and the Astros, with the best record in the major leagues.
Even though they were just 1-2 in a weekend series vs. the Royals, the Jays had three quality starting pitching efforts from, in order, J.A. Happ, Marco Estrada and Sunday’s winner, Francisco Liriano.
On Tuesday in Dunedin, Aaron Sanchez gets his first rehab start in his latest bid to return from a blister on his finger. If all goes well, he could be back with the Jays for that series against the Astros.
Gibbons hopes a shuffled order, with Bautista hitting leadoff, will yield better offensive results.
Ultimately, the Jays are getting to the point where treading water could soon become futile. Put up over the next 13 days and much of the damage from the struggles of April and June can be undone.
“We need to get rolling, that’s for sure,” Gibbons said of the big games that await. “It’s time for us to get hot. We haven’t seen much of Boston and we haven’t seen Houston at all. It will be a good test.”