Blue Jays thoughts after 8 games

8 games in, the Blue Jays are 4-4. Not great, not terrible.

It should be better. 3 of the losses were by 1 run. Of course, those are the games that drive me crazy. The last two games were particularly irritating. In both game, our starting pitchers didn't look great but then they only allowed 2 runs. With our offense, if the starters allow just 2 runs, we should win. But then, for 2 games, out great offense has been missing in action. Or missing in inaction.

We are supposed to be able to hit. We are supposed to be able to hit at home. I'm sure we will, it's just been 2 games, but when it is the first 2 home games of the season, it feels worse than just 2 bad games.

Anyway some random thoughts:

• Almost entire offense seems to be in a slump. I don't know why teams all go into a slump at the same time but Martin (.222 OPS), Smoak (.552), Donaldson (.594), Pompey (.512), Bautista (.641), Encarnacion (.684) and Navarro (.611) all aren't hitting the way they can. I'm sure it won't last but the quicker they can get going the better I'll feel. We don't have the pitching to win a lot of games without scoring runs.
• Russell Martin hasn't looked as good behind the plate as I thought he would. Maybe it's my expectations, maybe he's trying too hard, but maybe he isn't as good as we were lead to believe.
• On the flip side, Devon Travis has been far better than I hoped. Especially defensively, but offensively as well.
• Watching Kevin Pillar's defense has made it worth watching the games all on it's own. And he's been one of the few that's been hitting.
• Jose Reyes is having a great start to the season. The oblique thing worries me. I wish we had someone that could play short so he could rest for a day. At least let him DH, so he can get some rest. This seems to be the Blue Jays M.O. They identify a problem (Alex talked about how Reyes needed more days off this year) but then they do nothing to fix the problem.
• Daniel Norris has made two starts. He didn't look particularly sharp in either, but then yesterday he only allowed 2 hits in 5 innings. Yeah the 3 walks and hit batter showed that he really was having trouble with his control, but I think this is what we have in Norris, at least for now. He's not going to top out about 6 innings. He's going to walk some, but I'm hoping he doesn't give up too many hits. With our offense, if our starters go 6 innings with 2 or 3 runs allowed we should win most times.
• R.A. Dickey has made 2 good starts, allowed 3 runs total and we've lost both games. I thought the knuckleball effect was supposed to work against the opposition.
• I've enjoyed watching Miguel Castro and Roberto Osuna. I wish out bullpen was deeper, but they have been fun to watch.
• I'm kind of wondering if the slowness of the turf is going to grow to really bother me. One of the only good parts about artificial turf is the speed of the ball. The ball move faster makes for more exciting plays. If the ball isn't moving faster....then we just have ugly fake grass.