At Season's End

Well folks - The 2008 Jays season is now offically over. The season ended this afternoon after the Jays defeated the O's in rather convincing fashion 10-1. Vernon Wells was able to become the only Blue Jay to hit 20 or more homeruns once he hit his second of the game off Baltimore bullpen pitcher Alfredo Simon.

The win brought the final 2008 record for the Jays to 86-76, which allowed the team to reach Cito's goal of finishing the season 10 games over 500.

I want to thank the entire Jays pitching staff for a great season. Both the starters and bullpen kept this season somewhat interesting, even though it was really over for the team in mid-July.

However I have nothing good to say about the offence. None of them showed up until late July.....

On a related note the Jays have made a offer to AJ Burnett. It seems they are seriously attempting to sign him to a long-term extenstion.

Halladay and Cito - Oh My

Just a quick blog tonight. I have to give a big shout out to my main man Doc Halladay. Roy become the second 20 game winner in the AL this season. Hellzzz Yah!

Also as a major side-note; Cito Gaston was signed through the 2010 season tonight. I am happy for Cito, but also conflicted because this pretty much ensures that J.P will be back next year.

Offically Mine!

Going Negative

I have been holding off on going negative for the longest time, but now that the Jays have finally been officially eliminated from wild-card contention, and a forth place finish in the AL East seems unavoidable, I am going to start my off-season rants and express my overall displeasures with this team.

Firstly, we need to all be very clear here. This season was a huge disappointment for the Jays. They had high hopes to be a real playoff contender this season. Mainly because of how strong our pitching staff is from top to bottom. However as the season played out, this team found itself out of serious playoff contention in Mid-June. Don’t let that 10-game winning streak fool you. The Jays have not been within 6.5 games of Boston since May.

The offence failed this team, and the pending forth place finish is clearly on their shoulders. Not one single offensive player had an out-standing season this year. In my opinion, the only hitter on the team that performed above expectations is our scrappy second basemen, Mr. Joe Inglett. And let’s get serious here, Joe wasn’t even supposed to be on this team.

With the news that our projected number 2 starter for the 2009 season (Shaun Marcum) suffered a serious arm injury and will require Tommy John surgery, putting him out until at least 2010, and the pending departure of our current number 2 (AJ Burnett), you can’t help to wonder if they Jays missed a small window of opportunity to make a real run this season. This was the season that the Yankees were there for the taking. The Jays could not take advantage of the one-year re-build the Yankees went on once they knew their playoff hopes were very slim.

As of right now our rotation for 2009 is shaping up to look like; Halladay, Litsch, Purcey, McGowan (when he comes back), and an audition from various current AAA starters and/or fill-ins. Also, remember that this team is in dire needs of a true offensive threat. The Jays need someone who can hit 30 homeruns on an “off-year.”

I am not holding my breath for a playoff run in 2009.

JP is the Man?

Well folks, it seems like JP could be the man for at least another season. Jays "guru" Richard Girffin reports http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/500525 "Cito's contract status means J.P. is staying"

"The timing of the Gaston news conference, during rather than after the season, confirms what sources have whispered. Ricciardi's job as GM is safe for another year. If the Jays were going to replace Ricciardi, as had been under serious consideration, they would have waited until the new guy was in place. In the majors, the GM in most cases will make the announcement of his field manager."

What does this mean for the Jays?

1) At least one more year of injury excuses for the Jays

2) At least one more year to scare off possible free agent signings

3) At least one more off-season to make one bad trade

4) At least one more off-season to miss out on hosing another team

5) We are now into year 8 of the 5 year plan

6) At least one more year of finishing with around 85 wins

7) At least one more year of the media and fans asking "Will JP get fired?"

8) At least one more year of me going bananas

The Way We Are

Well, the outlook on the final 12 games of the season has taken a turn for the worst.

There was a lot of hype that if the Jays could take at least 3 of 4 from Boston over the weekend the possibility of the playoffs still existed. Well they couldn't, and now we are just left with playing out the final stretch like normal. I still have to admit, the team kept me interested longer then I thought. All in all, the Red Sox didn't do what so many media types and Jay's fans seemed to think they would do, which was to roll over and just die. However, let's get serious here, the BoSox are the defending world champions, they know how to win when it counts. The current Jays roster on the other hand has very little experience playing meaningful September baseball.

Hopefully they can carry this all over into next season.

The Streak, and Moving Forward

After starting a new winning streak (1 game) last night by defeating the White Sox. I have to admit that up until last week I had no idea I would still be this interested in the Jays 2008 season.

Sure, I know that the real chances of the Jays making the playoffs are very slim, but who cares, screw the realists. Let's live in the moment and just go for it. Team vet's like Wells, Halladay, Rios, and Overbay have never played in meaningful games this late in the season before, so let's get out there and show our support. We are 6.5 games behind Boston, and we play them 7 more times, so basically that means if we win 90% of our 16 remaining games, we will make the playoffs.

Cito himself has decided to go "balls to the wall" down the stretch. He has shook up the starting rotation and will have Burnett, Halladay, and Litsch all going on three days rest in order to have them pitch in the upcoming Boston series.

It is highly likely that the first game of the Boston series will be rained out. 90% chance of rain come 8pm in Boston. Back to back double headers are a strong possibility because of conflicting schedules, however they perhaps schedule in a make-up game at the end of the season instead.

The Jays need to at the very least take 3 of 4 in this series. Preferably a sweep. A split basically will end the season for the Jays. If a split were to happen the Jays would need to go 12-0, with Boston going 3-10 the rest of the way.

Go Jays Go!!