Secondary production

But in their series-opening strafing of the World Cup Soccer Jersey
lowly Kansas City Royals on Monday night, it was the secondary players who carried the load. Jose Bautista, replaced for the time being by Fred Lewis in the lead-off role, had his best game as a Blue Jay, crashing a pair of home runs while tying his career-high with five RBI. Lyle Overbay had his first multi-hit game of the season and reached base in all five of his at-bats. Travis Snider reminded us of what all the fuss is about with his second home run in his last four games. And Mike McCoy continued to impress in relief of injured all-star second baseman Aaron Hill with the first three-hit game of his career, stealing a pair of bases while also scoring twice.

These types of contributions are what the team needs this season if they are to avoid the basement in the A.L. East, although -- with the Orioles having lost 12 of their first 14 games -- that might not be too tough a task.

Of all these secondary players, the one who I'm keeping an eye on is Lewis, plucked off the scrap heap in San Francisco. He's only had one hit to show for his two starts to date but I like the look of him. He brings some much-needed speed to the top of the order and is the type of lean, athletic player that this franchise has sorely lacked, especially during the J.P. Ricciardi years. And I am also impressed by his play in left field. While his throwing arm falls closer to Shannon Stewart than Mark Whiten, he gets good jumps on the ball which will make up for his sub-standard arm.

While prepping for Tuesday night's game against the Royals, I thought I'd see how well the Jays’ starting pitchers have fared in the first 14 games since Roy Halladay started wearing red. Surprisingly the 2010 rotation has pitched quite well, statistically, when compared to last season's staff over a like number of games.


Now I'm not going to sit here and say that the Jays’ rotation is better off without Roy Halladay, arguably the best starting pitcher in the game today. What I will say is that life after 'Doc' has not been as bad as many thought it would be. Sure the sample size (14 games) is quite small and these numbers will likely change considerably as the season progresses. But the contributions from the starters should not be overlooked.

Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow have all made starts where they held the opposition hitless through at least five innings. Especially impressive was Morrow’s first win as a Blue Jay, after leaving a lot to be desired in his first two starts of the season. Adjustments were made and the results were extraordinary.

All told, the start to the season has been better than many could have expected, especially in the midst of a rebuild.
Let's face facts: the Toronto Blue Jays offence hasn't been very good, for the most part, in the early weeks of the 2010 season.

Through the first 13 games of the season, it was basically three players doing all the heavy lifting. Vernon Wells, Adam Lind and Alex Gonzalez combined to drive in 51 per cent of the team's runs and hit 13 of 18 home runs.

Fun times at Fenway

I guess this is what happens when you roll Neil Diamond's old bones out to sing 'Sweet Caroline' on opening night.


Lots of blame to go around for the 4-9 start. Their rotation isn't taking the game into the sixth. They were hoping that the Adrian Beltre they signed was the 2004 version who slammed 48 bombs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, not the one who hit just eight in an injury-plagued 2009 with the Seattle Mariners. So far, just three doubles to show for his first 46 plate appearances. We all know that there is too much talent for the Red Sox to continue playing at this low level, but it certainly has made reading the on-line newspapers all the more enjoyable.
The first seven games at Fenway Park this season have left very little for Red Sox Nation to be obnoxious about. The New York Yankees roll in to start the season and take two of three, Big Papi Ortiz starts slow (again), and then drops enough f-bombs on the media to make even the Insane Clown Posse blush. The team then dropped two of three in Minnesota's new jewel of a ballpark, against one of the top contenders outside of the East. And then came home to have the Tampa Bay Rays put them across their knee and sweep a four-gamer, with a pounding of John Lackey putting the exclamation point on the series.