The upswing of the Toronto Blue Jays has re-energized baseball fans in the country.
The Jays are ¾ into their major league schedule and are on the verge of ending their 22 year playoff drought, longest of any of the teams in the four major North American team sports.
Manager John Gibbons is facing more pressure than any Toronto coach or GM simply because expectations have risen to a point where winning is the only option.
The Jays have consistently hit well since the start of the season and over the last three weeks their pitching has come to the forefront.
There was a blip in the two-game series in Philadelphia as the impressive streak of a Jays starting pitcher allowing three or fewer earned runs came to an end in a club-record 20 consecutive games.
There are no excuses left as GM Alex Anthopoulos has done a masterful job on the trade market acquiring Josh Donaldson last year plus David Price, Troy Tulowitzki and Mark Lowe, among others this year.
The players realize they have a well-balanced talented team that can strike at any time under most circumstances.
The Jays are 1st in runs scored (634) and run differential (+138), 2nd in homers (162), 8th in batting average (.260) and 14th in ERA (3.80)
Gibbons is in an enviable spot, unless of course, the team sputters down the stretch which seems high unlikely.
The goal is to win the AL East, but even if that doesn’t occur, a wild card spot is a reasonable consolation prize providing, of course, the team wins the one-game playoff.
Looking ahead to the post-season seems presumptuous but that is the nature of the game especially when a team appears to have a positive outlook for the first time since the 90’s.
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Yes, Drew Hutchison is 12-2. Yes, he pitched the Blue Jays to a 3-1 win Sunday over the Yankees. And yes, it was the right move to farm him to triple-A Buffalo—at least temporarily.
It’s been well documented that Hutchison has been superb at Rogers Centre and awful on the road.
The Jays are in a stretch of eight straight road games spread out over 10 days so it made sense to go with a 4-man rotation on the trip (RA Dickey, Mark Buehrle, David Price and Marco Estrada) leaving Hutchison the odd man out until they are back home.
It’s difficult to explain why his numbers are so different but the Jays could not afford to gamble on this trip.
Hutchison is a sizzling 10-1 at home with a 2.57 ERA (while allowing an opponent’s batting average of .226.
On the road, he is 2-1 thanks to plenty of run support with a whopping ERA of 9.00 (and an opposition batting average of .372).
Sure, Dickey and Buehrle struggled this week against the Phillies but the turnaround of the Jays pitching was a key reason that helped turn the fortunes around.
Blue Jays Schedule
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at LA Angels Aug 21,22, 23
at Texas Aug 25, 26, 27
Host Detroit Aug 28, 29, 30
Host Cleland Aug 31, Sept 1, 2
Host Baltimore Sept 4, 5,6
at Boston Sept 7, 8. 9
at NY Yankees Sept 10, 11, 12, 13
at Atlanta Sept 15, 16, 17
Host Boston Sept 18, 19, 20
Host NY Yankees Sept 21, 22, 23
Host Tampa Sept 25, 26, 27
at Baltimore Sept 28, 29, 30 Oct 1
at Tampa Oct 2, 3, 4
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In essence, there were two winners at the PGA Championship. Jason Day finally won the big one while runner-up Jordan Spieth climbed to the top of the Official World Golf Rankings replacing Rory McIlroy.
Day looked cool, calm and composed in the final round but when victory was assured, he couldn’t hold back tears of joy. Experience helped him establish a record setting score of 20-under in a Major.
Day shared the 54 hole lead at the US Open and British Open only to come up short. His confidence grew after winning the RBC Canadian Open and the likeable Australian put it all together as the class of the field at Whistling Straits.
Spieth has joined Jack Nicklaus (1973) and Tiger Woods (2005) as the only players to finish in the top 4 in all 4 majors.
At -54, Spieth has the best all-time combined major score in a calendar year (breaking the old mark of -53 set by Tiger).
Yes, One could say, at the end of the Day, a new era in golf has been ushered in with Jordan, Rory and Jason showing the way, on how to play.
From the Quote Rack:
Have you seen the Deflate-gate courtroom sketch of Tom Brady? It’s the worst quarterback draw since the Mark Sanchez butt fumble.
Organizers for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang named Lindsey Vonn the first-ever International Games Ambassador. Her duties include promoting skiing and throwing ceremonial first bribes.
Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
Novak Djokovic won a semi-final match (over Jeremy Chardy) at the Montreal Masters despite complaining to the umpire “Someone is smoking weed, I can smell it, I’m getting dizzy.” Well, as great a player as Djokovic is, he has never been at his very best on grass.
Even if it makes it harder to build a potential new stadium, Washington Redskins president Bruce Allen said that the team will not change its name. Many are wondering, could they at least take “Washington” off?
Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
‘Pacman’ Jones says he’d have $100 million if it were not for suspensions. He’d have $200 million if not for strip clubs.
John McEnroe on Serena Williams:’I can still take her’.Aren’t those words on the tombstone of Bobby Riggs?
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
MetLife Stadium (in the Meadowlands) has gone totally wireless, except one QB’s jaw.
There are all sorts of Airheads and Rocket Scientists in BC working in sports media but only Prince George has a sportscaster who is also an expert in astronomy. I wonder if he’ll tell us how much gas that planet is made of.
Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (http://alwaysfunny.com/)
And in case you missed it:
The U.S. Checkers Championship was held in Medina, Ohio, with 41 players competing for $6,000 in prize money. Tournament organizers, still tallying up the gate receipts, say it’s much too early to tell whether the tournament finished in the red or in the black.
Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times
Hartley Miller is the sports director and morning news anchor for 94.3 the Goat. His column appears Fridays on myprincegeorgenow.com. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to [email protected]
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