Regardless of the sport, and in this case I am talking about baseball, there are winners and there are losers. There have to be both or else the game is no longer a competition.
In that respect, I believe that teams not only compete against other teams, but against themselves.
It is easy to sit on the sidelines and talk about how a team cannot win. Blue Jays fans are not the only ones to be disapointed season after season. The Atlanta Braves (minus this year) have won something like 9 straight division titles. How many times have they won a world series in those years. I could list many teams in baseball that don't make it to the playoffs, regardless of how hard the players actually play. You can only do you best, and sometimes the competition is better. Sometimes there are injuries, that are unavoidable. It doesn't help that in baseball there is a ridiculous discrepency between how much money some teams have to put into a roster than others. But I don't blame our lack of making the playoffs on that. It's way too old of an argument, especially since teams with smaller payrolls have made it past the Yankees to the world series time and time again.
But I don't think losing has anything to do with players not caring. I think it's a weak argument to make on any account in any sport. I would like to believe that all athletes play to win. As an athlete I know that desire runs deep. Even in the worst of situations, when you know there is no gold medal or world series ring, or division titles in reach, you still play your hardest, because that is why you are there. It becomes more than a competition against other teams, it becomes a competition with past seasons, and with testing how hard you can go.
It is the end of the season, and it isn't the first time that the Blue Jays have come out winning their last games when they aren't expected to. I like to think of it as the team playing to its competition's level. If you are playing against an easier team, or a team that you believe you can beat, sometimes you bring yourself down to that level and end up losing. Again, not a definitive statement, but an explanation about the hard balling that has been going down the last week. They are making Boston and the Yankees fight for the division title, which I think is admirable.
There are also many contributing factors to the losses this season. By no means will I blame any of that on pitching. There have been some games, most notably Roy Halladay's two last no decisions where he pitched 8 and 2/3rds and did not end up getting the win because the relief could not finish it off.
But other than that, considering out of our starting five this year, two actually played the season in the Majors in starting positions, one was sent to the bullpen, one was let go and one is indefinitely injured. Same thing with the three guys signed this season who were supposed to make a big impact on the club, Okha, Zambrano (who blew it and was picked up by Boston), and Thomson, who never made it passed AAA ball.
The young guys really stepped it up this season to fill in the spots, and totally changed our pitching around. McGowan and Marcum both stand now with over ten games won and winning records. They were not even expected to make it into the starting rotation. Although Marcum did not have a great September, (he went 5-1 in August and 0-1 in September with 3 no decisions) he was also battling a knee injury, which he is now having surgery for. Jeremy Accardo has 28 saves this season, and also was not expected to be our closer. But B.J. Ryan was injured before the regular season even started. Jesse Litch, who is my age, came up from the minors, and has pitched decently (7-9), not amazingly, but has made a better 5th guy than Towers.
Bottom line is, there is no way this pitching staff have not worked hard.
Especially considering the category the blue jays have suffered in is offense, not defense.
The run support behind all of these pitchers has been nothing but small for the season. There have been some odd great games, where we rack them up in the first inning, and continue to add on throughout, but overall, none of our big hitters have been performing where they were expected to. (which is just what happens in baseball)
If there is a testament to this it is the past series against the yankees, where the majority of the run support has come from the bottom of the order.
Again, the Jays really fought back against the Yankees, but none of the games were out of the park.
I am reading a great book now called "The Thinking Fans Guide to Baseball"
I put sports non-fiction on hold since 2004 when I went on a binge, but decided to pick this one up as my sports illustrated book really wasn't doing it for me. Anyway, back to the book, something it pointed out is that baseball is not just about skill, it's about the execution of that skill in various circumstances (as is with any sport, right Eve not revolutionary thinking)
But a lot of it is luck. It's how far the ball is pulled, its what kind of a slump a hitter is stuck in from getting into bad habits at the plate. And most of all for the Jays this season, the thing that you cannot predict about your players is how many of the them and how badly they will get injured.
Now I know that I have played the injury card before, and by no means am I blaming our performance this season on injuries, but I believe it is a large contributing factor to the moral of the team.
Injuries:
There will be 11 Toronto Blue Jays who have had surgery this season.
That is not including those who were put on the DL, without getting surgery.
Let's start with our starting lineup.
Zaun, Overbay, Johnson, Glaus, Wells. might as well mention Sal Fasano (handle bars, our back up back up is also injured, although he didn't play much this season)
Moving on to pitching
B.J Ryan, Marcum, Burnett, Chacin, Halladay, Downs, League.
I believe we fielded a strong team this season and it is unfortunate our offense did not perform to where I thought it would. I never once thought we were strong enough to surpass Boston and New York, but still a stronger third place team.
And at this point, as I have been for many many many years, I am satisfied with that third place. I am satisfied with the effort put out by the Jays this year. I think that rowing has helped me relate to that. No matter how hard you play and how much effort you put it, there is only going to be one winning team, and a lot of losing teams. I have had a season where I worked so hard, but our boat just never came together and we came off an OUA championship, not to medal at OUA's at all. Even thought in passed regattas we were the stronger team. Circumstance plays a role.
The organization has brought up many prospects, Rios, Wells, Thigpen, Lind, Hill, Adams, McGowan. Halladay just to name a few, who have or will make a big difference for this team in the future.
Contrary to what people think, Halladay is not going to leave the Jays. He wants to win a world series, but he wants to win it with his team.
That is my baseball rant for the day.
On a much less serious note. Mat and I spent the night playing catch at Ryerson, grocery shopping and I spent the rest of the night singing Kareoke (without Mat). It was great, I tried to pick the longest songs in order to adequately annoy him into singing with me, but I failed.
I got one "hold me closer Tony Danza" out of him, not even the right lyrics, but who's judging.
Less than two weeks till I'm off to France, which should be exciting and a real test of my job skills.
To Bed I Said
