Bird Watching May, 10

Hello Jays fans and welcome to the first Blue Jays Beat of the year. The Jays are off to another slow start. Expectations are high for the team this year, but once again the Jays are under-achieving. It is a tale of two teams, one that is living up to expectations and one that isn't. The pitching has been outstanding and the hitting has been almost nonexistent. The Jays rank 2nd in Pitching even with poor outings by relievers Camp and Accardo in the last two games. The offence is 7th in the AL, which may not seem that bad, but the Jays have been terrible hitting with runners in scoring position. The team is +7 in run differential, so it's hard to believe the team is 17-20, but in close games they have failed to get base-runners home.

Time and time again the Jays have wasted quality starts from the pitching staff when they can't score. The Jays, Whose record of 17-20 could very easily be 25-12 if (key word if) they had won games they should have won, but were unable to get runners home. This includes Thursday nights game, when Alex Rios had a lead-off triple in the 10th inning and the Jays were unable to get Rios plated with no outs.

Early May isn't time to panic yet, but the Jays will quickly start running out of time. The good news is that with the weather is warming up and it will will favor the hitters.

2007 was an injury filled season for the Jays and 2008 has had a few bumps in the road. Scott Rolen started the season on the DL, but has returned and has been a spark plug for the Jays hitting .333 and slugging .604. leading the Jays in both categories. Brian Wolfe RHP was the only other player to land on the DL till this week. David Eckstien and John McDonald were injured in the same game. Vernon Wells, who the Jays can not afford to lose, suffered a jammed wrist and aggravated hamstring Friday night in Cleveland and may have to go on the DL.

The Jays enter May 10th 5.5 games out of first in the AL East and 5 games out of the Wild Card. The season is far from over, but the Jays will need to get thing going by the end of May before they slip too far behind. The Jays have the offence and certainly have the pitching be a better team, but as always potential means nothing unless it is capitalized in the real world. The jays have the potential to turn things around in a hurry, the lingering question is: will they?

New from Bijou Media:

Check out The Poets Stage and my tribute to the great writer and inventor Arthur C. Clarke.

Check Bijou Studios for winter scenery.

Check out the Dime for Your Thoughts E-Zine. The latest article is about the end of the iconic Polaroid camera