intentional wok

Don't let the guys in blue (or black) hats from years past determine your opinion on the guys in those hats now. If you think the guys we have now don't have what it takes, that's one thing, but previous seasons and rosters don't project the results from this season. Serious questions: are you counting the O's, Yanks, Sox, or Rays out of it? Two of those teams are 3 over .500, one is 6 under, and one 15+ under. At the moment, all are in worse spots than the Blue Jays, objectively speaking. Why do you think these teams have what it takes to blow by our guys in the standings? They are just as vulnerable to slumps as our guys. Minus some bullpen implosions, the Jays might even be 3 or 4 games north of they are now. I'd say performance overall up to this point is indicative of a competitive team vs. a flash in the pan. Luck has played its hand in a few games in the past month, but my own opinion of the club wouldn't be different had the Rays not thrown Gose's bunt away that night or had Reyes made that throw vs. KC.

They are everything they've been to this point. Strong hitting with decent pitching and acceptable fielding. The hitters will go back to mashing and the pitching will continue to keep us afloat each game (though not without some sweat). Lady luck needs to come back off vacation so we can win some of the toughies. (Seriously, even during the win streaks the Jays had a handful of games they had no business winning: notably, game 1 vs. A's, game 3 vs. Rays, game 2 vs. Tigers, and game 1 vs. Cards) If they get back to playing as they did before this slump, the wins will come. Maybe not in the same exciting droves like this past month, but at least at the same rate as the other East teams. I don't have time to look at numbers, but was there a whale of a difference offensively and pitching-wise between the first two months? The first week of May was a deceptively ugly 13-17 record, with about 5 absolute bullpen meltdowns that have happily been kept in check since. I don't think the team was playing all that bad outside of that one department (that admittedly did a lot of damage). EDIT: As far as playoff chances, the Jays have as much a chance as anyone else in the division, but at the moment a little more of a chance by virtue of a healthier win total 68 games in.

That was f***ing nonsense.

Whatever. Something to build on at least.

Gausman almost houdini'd that like the Correia liner.

The last good stretch I can think of was... early '09? If we're not counting last June's run. That was a brutal collapse, though. I ended up sitting most of '10 out for various reasons, but the '09 implosion was especially bad as it became obvious the Doc-Wells-Rios-Hill core was a bust.

I'm new here so I don't know who that is. Anybody making a claim like that needs a look at the Septembers for the last two Texas Rangers teams.

Who in the world would even suggest an easy playoff berth? Even the greatest teams grind tooth and nail every night for six months. Nuts.

The thing is, the real adversity came in late April/early May when the bullpen would almost literally throw every game in the garbage. I was anticipating a spiral after that to be completely honest, but was pleasantly surprised at the previous month. These games will be easily made up once they get back on the horse.

Here you go, man.

Losing like this is way more devastating for a .500 team, like previous years' fans know well. The important thing is that the slouch doesn't get too prolonged and they can build on a decent over-.500 record at the end of it.

These games are the reason why winning streaks are so important. Cushioning is important so the rough patches don't kill you.

Copy/paste this and post it on the top of each new page for every thread until tomorrow night's game.

Nothing down the middle is squared up. So frustrating.

Disagree. I think people are getting hung up on these shutouts. The line between a couple of runs and being shutout is razor thin. Especially yesterday with the Twins having line drive magnets in their gloves. Correia's hand of god play on Reyes' bases loaded liner was absolute luck. Regardless, the bats have looked bad in the last two series. An inevitable slump, but that's why the winning streaks are so valuable. Cushioning, unlike being a .500 team where each loss feels like a huge set back.

Thanks, that's what my eyeball test makes me believe, especially after watching guys like Loup and Janssen set up a f***ing lemonade stand out there vs lefties.

Question for the pitch framing experts. Is there data on borderline pitches for outside vs inside pitches? Is one called more frequently than the other? For example, is it "easier" for a catcher to frame and receive favourable calls on his glove side if he's set up straight down the middle and the batter is a lefty?

That was an embarrassing third strike on Lind.

Not quite shutout, but the A's scored a total of 5 runs over 3 games against us just a few weekends ago. Sometimes bats struggle even on good offenses.

The Twins are a real pain in the ass.

I think they'll at least move themselves out of "at least our [underachieving team] isn't as bad as the Astros" territory. Who even has the worst W-L these days? I think it's the Rays, which is so, so sweet.

No better way to celebrate my first post. One run or less in six of their last ten too.