[syn]

Roy Halliday is the closest thing to a guaranteed win in Major League baseball--incredible movement and consistency. But the issue is the other four behind him--they need to get consistent again or it won't last.

Johan Santana? Zack Greinke?

 

[Translude15]

Everyone: I have wanted to chime in here for a while-as someone who dislikes the Yankees and would like other AL East teams to compete with their free spending ways and high-priced talent.

The 2009 Blue Jays have Roy Halliday-arguably one of Baseball's best pitchers today and with Cito Gaston managing there is a link to those early 90s glory days...

There are doubters out there-like Tony Paige at NYC's WFAN Radio- who is convinced that the Jays will be out of contention for good and fade away by the All-Star break. I feel with those two key men that the Jays will be there.

I now wonder,though if Roy Halliday was to have a season like the 1972 Phillies with Steve Carlton having one of his best seasons ever for what was a last-place ballclub going 27-10 while the team went 59-97. Carlton won 40% of the Phillies total of wins that year! I do not feel so-Cito Gaston is too good a manager for that to happen.

I also dislike the current uniforms and logo and I feel that there should be more emphasis on the color BLUE. Those throwback road uniforms are neat but I find their use interesting during home games.

Can those glory days of the Rogers Skydome constant sellouts return?
I feel that if the Jays keep it interesting and have a good run-I say yes!

For stats of the 1972 Phillies look here:
www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHI/1972.shtml
For a link to NYC's WFAN Radio look here:
www.wfan.com/

Baseball Opinions and memories from LI MIKE

LI Mike, I assume based on your post that you are an old timer who can easily recollet some truly great baseball moments of the past! Great stuff.

The Jays' hitting has been better compared to last year, however they have hit a bit of a rough patch after that 9 game losing streak. Rios and Wells, although hitting at a decent pace, are capable of putting up substantially better numbers. If you can recall from about 2003-2006, Wells was capable of clippling the .300 mark, with 30 plus HRs and 100 plus RBIs. Rios put up similar numbers back in 2007. If they can both up their games, the team's offence will get back on track.

Halladay is most definately one of the best in the game. He is missing that distinguished number 2 starter behind him however. Having Burnett this year would have definately helped, but we all know what happened there. (Blasted Yankees) There is a slew of good young arms within the organization. Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond have been decent, but are still young and lack big time MLB experience. Toronto's other main pitchers are actually injured right now (Marcum, McGowan and Litsch), with Marcum being avaliable by next year at the earliest, McGowan returning sometime this year and Litsch projected to return by this month hopefully. If the young starters can improve throughout the year, the Jays will no doubt remain in the pack. They just have to be able to put the Yanks and Sox away when it counts!

As for the current jereseys Mike, I never really liked them too much when they came out, but they've kinda grown on me. This is wishful thinking, but I would love to see the team whip out the original uniforms and logo and just keep it. Every Jays' fan loves the original logo and the memories related to it.

The team has a good fan base, however as previously discussed in other threads, the Dome really isn't that inviting. I'm sure the fact that the team hasn't made the playoffs since 1993 also plays a factor. If they get a serious pennant race going, then the fans will come back like they used to.

I myself am a Yankee hater, and heck you can even label me a Red Sox hater. Both teams have an enormous bandwagon following and it's really sickening to see this when they come and play at the Dome. Many casual baseball fans from around TO prefer to don a Yanks or Sox cap simply because they're better than the Jays, or have better known players. I know many Yankee and Sox fans from the States come into town by the busload during summer games. Was this a regular occurance even during the Jays' glory years in the early 90s? Or did Yankee/Sox popularity explode in the years after their respective World Series titles?

 

[Brian69]

Johan Santana? Zack Greinke?

Zack Greinke hasn't been consistent long enough for me to count him in such rarefied company. He was only 13-10 last year and 5-17 a few years before that. I will agree Santana is in Halladay territory but I'd still rather have Halladay.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Blue Jays Baseball...and other thoughts...

T15: Thanks for those thoughts-and yes-I have been a baseball fan for quite some time-I was grade school age back in the early 70s and when you are young and something remarkable happens like I mentioned it is hard to forget...

I recall on my trips to Toronto in the 80s people would automatically assume that I was a Yankee fan-until I put on my blue Mets jersey and told them that I was no fan of one Baron Von Steingrabber (a name coined by the New York Daily News' sports cartoonist Bill Gallo describing George Steinbrenner)
and I would mention that I followed the National League.

Speaking of NL teams it was a shame to see the downfall of the Montreal Expos-it has been said they never recovered from the 1994 baseball strike along with the distinction of arguably having baseball's best team at that time.

I saw the rise of the Blue Jays during the 1985 season especially-and I noticed from regular visits then how exciting the team was becoming.
I figured that it would be a matter of time before they reached the top of the game-we all know that happened in 1992 and 1993.

Yes-I do feel that some Yankees fans were bandwagon jumpers-especially during that late 90s run. In many ways Yankee fans are spoiled today because of the free-spending ways of the Steinbrenner family and their setting the bar so high that NOTHING short of a World Series title is desirable
and anything short is a failure. We have seen more recently with them that money will NOT buy them a championship and that team chemistry DOES matter.

The Red Sox have a loyal fan following that was quite different-with the Curse of the Bambino hurting any chances of them winning(I was beside myself as a Mets fan beating the Red Sox in 1986 literally coming back from being as good as dead in that great sixth WS game) and then when they finally beat the Curse in 2004 and the Yankees on the way I was quite happy for them and those long-suffering baseball fans in New England known as Red Sox Nation. That 2007 title added to Red Sox Euphoria for many NE fans.
I am sure there are bandwagon jumpers there also but I view RS fans differently than Yankee fans.

I feel that the Blue Jays can make a go for a good year in 2009 and compete.
A winning and exciting Blue Jays team could get fans to return to the Rogers Skydome and perhaps with a renovation or makeover of the 20-year old venue
maybe some of those 90s glory days can return...

Thoughts and insight by Long Island Mike P.S. That unhappy face somehow got in my title-that was NOT supposed to be there!!

 

[Brian69]

The Red Sox have a loyal fan following that was quite different-with the Curse of the Bambino hurting any chances of them winning(I was beside myself as a Mets fan beating the Red Sox in 1986 literally coming back from being as good as dead in that great sixth WS game) and then when they finally beat the Curse in 2004 and the Yankees on the way I was quite happy for them and those long-suffering baseball fans in New England known as Red Sox Nation. That 2007 title added to Red Sox Euphoria for many NE fans.

Moooooookie! (with a little help from Mr. Buckner)

 

[Brian69]

Greinke!

Nice to see Fernandez, Henke and Liriano at the game, but has speedy Nellie filled out or what?

 

[Build Up]

Ya i can probably do that, i used to before.

 

[Build Up]

9-0 jays only a 2 hitter against tallet. 2 games back of boston and new york

 

[Jayomatic]

1.5 games back baby. They've been looking pretty good the last few games and I'm wondering if they are getting their spark back.

We have a good stretch coming up where they could put together some wins (minus Philly) but if they can take a few of those games, they might be in pretty good shape when they start facing the yankees just before the all-star break.

 

[Build Up]

3 games back now but 1 out of the wild card so that isnt bad. 1-0 loss last night

 

[Brian69]

Nice sweep of the Phillies by the Jays--kinda makes up for the embarrassment that was the Florida series. Now, if Wells can do what he's supposed to offensively, Rios can get his head back in the game and they can survive the recent pitching injuries they might still have a wild card shot. At least they have the weak Nationals up next.

Interesting to see Ryan as the set up for Accardo--what a difference from a year ago.

 

[Build Up]

Jays are tied for the wild card!!! now people can see that the jays are for real concidering its almost halfway through the season. there on a 3 game winning streak if they dont blow the lead they have right now (7-2)

 

[syn]

Jays are tied for the wild card!!! now people can see that the jays are for real concidering its almost halfway through the season. there on a 3 game winning streak if they dont blow the lead they have right now (7-2)

I think it's still too early to declare they're for real. I remember back in 99' the Jays led the AL East at the All-Star break...and they ended up 3rd.

With their pitching injuries and lack of production from Rios and Wells, there's no way I'd call them the real deal yet.

 

[jn_12]

Well Wells hit a homer again tonight. Maybe he's turning it around? But who cares? Lind, Hill, Scutaro and Rolen are hitting up a storm. If Rios and Wells hit, it's right now just a bonus.

I was at tonight's game and afterwords my girlfriend and I were talking and I mentioned that we could have left after Wells hit his homerun. The winning run was scored on the 5th pitch of the game. That's just crazy. Also, stellar defense from Rolen (who might be one of the best defensive 3rd basemen in the history of the game) and Hill just kinda put the emphasis on how well this team is playing. The fact they're doing it with the rotation they have only suggests that the team really can't get worse. Take away the 9 game losing streak and they're in 1st. Boston will have a slump eventually and things will stay this close well into July and August.

Also, if the Jays are still in it, Beeston has said money will be available to sign or trade. Really, the only thing they need is pitching and maybe an upgrade for Rios or Overbay (though I doubt any team will take his salary). I think it's an exciting time to be a Jays fan.

 

[syn]

Well Wells hit a homer again tonight. Maybe he's turning it around? But who cares? Lind, Hill, Scutaro and Rolen are hitting up a storm. If Rios and Wells hit, it's right now just a bonus.

I was at tonight's game and afterwords my girlfriend and I were talking and I mentioned that we could have left after Wells hit his homerun. The winning run was scored on the 5th pitch of the game. That's just crazy. Also, stellar defense from Rolen (who might be one of the best defensive 3rd basemen in the history of the game) and Hill just kinda put the emphasis on how well this team is playing. The fact they're doing it with the rotation they have only suggests that the team really can't get worse. Take away the 9 game losing streak and they're in 1st. Boston will have a slump eventually and things will stay this close well into July and August.

Also, if the Jays are still in it, Beeston has said money will be available to sign or trade. Really, the only thing they need is pitching and maybe an upgrade for Rios or Overbay (though I doubt any team will take his salary). I think it's an exciting time to be a Jays fan.

You can't just ignore when they play badly. The same could be done for any team. Take out Tampa's 5 game losing streak and they're ahead of the Jays.

Toronto has improved this month (they were below .500 in May), but they're still below .500 on the road. I'm enjoying their early success too (relatively speaking), but I don't know how anyone can declare them the real deal when there's still over half the season to go.