Thursday bantering

Sobering stats

Its time to wave good bye to the month of May, and bury it in the ground. Then dig it up, set the carcass on fire, toss the ashes into a river and say good Farrelling riddance!

I know its early but you might need a stiff drink for the next bit:

• The Blue Jays finished the month with a 9-19 record, which marks the first time since 1981 that the Jays have not had double-digit wins in the month. We now sit at 25-31.
• The Jays did not win back-to-back games in a month for just the fourth time in franchise history, alongside July 1977, September 1978 and May 1979.
• The .321 winning percentage is the fourth lowest the Blue Jays have ever produced for May, and its third lowest in the Major Leagues.
• The lack of runs has been a problem for awhile, as Toronto had a slash line of .224/.300/.387 in May. The Blue Jays’ .693 OPS for the month ranks 25th in the Major Leagues, and they were held to four runs or fewer in 19 of 28 games.
• The pitching staff wasn’t any better with a 5.35 ERA, which ranked 29th in the Majors.

Meanwhile the Calgary Herald has a great article on What WPA tells us about the Jays nosedive down the standings. (Warning; its not for the faint hearted).

Its fair to say that right now we are in a funk and it looks unlikely to change anytime soon. It is conceivable we might go a decent run again but with an injured/iffy rotation, underperforming/aging players and a general malaise about the team, it seems unlikely.

If we are still playing like this by the end of June, we might see some major changes. And that might just be a good thing.

All aboard the Vlad hype train!

To offset our misery however, we have the bright shining son that is Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

To say he is impressing people in the world of baseball is a massive understatement. The hype train that is all things Vlad has left the station and is now moving down the track, gathering speed!

Its no secret that he is smashing his way through the AA level. Through 48 games, Vlad is batting a crazy .417/.465/.701 with 11 homers and 53 RBIs and 18 doubles. Oh and only 21Ks.

Thus he has developed quite the following says Fisher Cats manager John Schneider:

“We show up at hotels at midnight and there’s like 50 people waiting for our bus. We’re like a boy band,”

The Province has more on whats it like to manage such a growing talent. (PS it sounds like a lot of fun)

Meanwhile Guerrero points out that he is still learning and developing his skillset; but his teammates talk openly of his future potential in this great piece on Sportsnet.

Fisher Cats are fun

There also happens to be a couple of other youngsters doing well at New Hampshire, though without the massive media spotlight that shines on on Guerrero Jnr.

Cavan Biggio is .307/.423/.650 with 13 homers and 42 RBIs and 11 doubles. And Bo Bichette has a slash line of .269/.348/.413 with 3 homers, 23 RBIs and 12 doubles.

The Fisher Cats have won 5 in a row and are now 33-18.

And a lot more fun to watch than their big league parent.

Randal rocks one

Meanwhile at Buffalo, its good to see ‘Rehabbing Randal’ Grichuk making some decent contact in the Bisons’ 7-3 win.

Jason Leblebijian also hit his 8th home run of the season, a 3 run shot in the first.

The scoreboard hurts

And lastly, in something that either a) sums up our season so far or b) is a prophetic vision of what might happen in our forthcoming series in Detroit, a Canada goose hilariously comes to grief in Comerica Park: