Fourteen Wins in Twenty Games

That's a .700 winning percentage, and the best record in major league baseball.

Boys Beware! This team has some moxy, some grit, some balls out hustle and will to win -- and they are doing this without David Eckstein, Reed Johnson or Gregg Zaun. How is this possible?

Clearly, the return of Aaron Hill has been massive. Over the last little while, Jeff Blair has commented on the fact that Hill will soon be the cornerstone and face of the franchise. I was a little speculative of this assertion early on in the season, and while it's very premature, the dude looks Dustin Pedroiaish, and apparantly, being Dustin Pedroiaish means you are MVP worthy.

All you need to do is take a gander at Scott Downs' strikeout to walk ratio this year, and determine that he is now at the level of a shutdown closer, even though he doesn't physically look like one.

Serious concerns now face the rotation. The team can't keep up a first place click with Purcey, Richmond, Tallet, and Burress rounding out 2-5, so one begins to wonder how long the Jays can tide this over before the likes of Janssen, McGowan (?), Marcum (?) and Romero (!) return.

Analysis of First Ten Games

After the first ten games, the Jays sit at 7-3.

First Place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!

That's beautiful. And even better now that Jesse Litsch is on the DL. Clearly, some of the early success the Jays have had can be attributed to the relatively minimal amount of scouting reports other teams have about the Jays lefty starting pitchers.

Add another lefty youngster out there, and the Jays should undoubtedly further their domination.

But seriously, this is probably the best it will be for Jays fans this year -- so let's savour it before we inevitably start to see the cracks.

Some glimmers of hopes: the Red Sox appear to have some serious issues this year, Papi looks awful, Dice-K is already tired, Ellsbury looks mediocre, their left side of the infield is brutal, and their closer might be hiding an injury.

Some not so glimmer of hope: the Rays appear to have a roster that is better than last year, and have David Price hiding in the minors right now.

Early prognosis (based on 10 games of watching MLB games): Tampa and NY seem primed for the AL East, but Toronto could conceivably be a better team than Boston.

Start the countdown before we start hearing about Roy Halladay going to Tampa for Tim Beckham and other prospects.

Season Starts

Holy Shit! It's the 2009 season. Let's dust off the Internets, and bring this terrible blog back to life with some Frankenstein-like brutality. Hopefully, by the end of this post, Kenneth Branagh dies.

So what the hell has happened since we last saw the Jays back in 2008, when the team was pretty shitty? Well, the economy slid further down the shitter, employees got laid off, ticketsales presumably followed the downward trends, and the Jays did not sign one free agent to a guaranteed major league contract. AJ Burnett is a Yankee. Michael Barrett is a Blue Jay. Robbie Alomar (alledgedly) has Aids. Well fuck me. Good times.

This season is shaping up to be as brutal as a Montag video. And to top it off, I'm now hearing that Alex Rios might be shipped off this year? Fuck that!

So, I'll be up in the 500 boonies tomorrow for the home opener, which should be the highlite of the year. I thought about setting up a Twitter account, but remembered that Twitter is for people like this.

Silver lining for this year: every game other than the home opener should be pretty much general admission, as 90% of seats will have no bums in them. Problem: Annoying loud fans will be easier to hear in the cave.

Moneyball Casting Call

The wheels are in motion, and apparantly, Brad Pitt is in negotiations to play Billy Beane in the movie adaptation of Michael Lewis' best selling book, Moneyball.

While Pitt is a curious choice, the real question is who should be cast in the minor role of J.P. Ricciardi... Mr. John Turturro, or Mr. Jeff Goldblum??

Big Head

Watching TBS today, Ripken's noggin' filled up my whole TV screen, which seemed to shed a new light as to how he was able to recover quickly from getting banged up and have his ridiculous games played streak... a lot of Wheaties, for sure!

Does a Baseball Blend?

The Answer May Shock You!

From Baseball America

With the success of the Rays this year, other teams are thinking of scaling back their nicknames in hopes team turnaround...

A Look Ahead

Finally, with mercy, the Jays have acknowledged that it is time to turn the page, with their trading of Matt Stairs, and the promotion of the over hyped phenom that is Travis Snider, the team is now trying to show fans that there is something to get giddy about.

Travis Snider. Your coming out party is tonight in Yankee Stadium. Don't fuck this up, or the Toronto beat will quickly dismiss you as another Russ Adams or Ricky Romero.

Let's see a 4/4, with 4 homer night. Anything less is unacceptable.

Hotel Post

I'm in my hotel room and just found out it actually has Wi-Fi, so I'm busting out a post at warp speed before I head out for dinner.

Some quick thoughts about this past week of baseball:

1) The Joba injury really shouldn't surprise anyone. But let's not fool ourselves in thinking that this marks the end of the year for Yanks. This is the one team in baseball that's able to make superstar half seasons out of guys like Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small.

2) Yesterday, I was in a pub talking to a couple from Boston. Inexplicably, neither knew that Manny Ramirez had been traded. Which I thought would have been impossible living in a city so obsessed with the Sox. Apparantly, not so.

3) Family Feud is the best game show on TV. They should do a Baseball Special over the winter.