Hi folks. Remember me? No? Understandable. I maintained this blog with unflinching enthusiasm for all of a month or so, then not so much. Comfort I managed with relative ease, fury was disappointingly infrequent. Part of that was my general indifference to the world beyond me, the rest was my reasonable assurances that no one actually reads this shit. And yet here I am, rambling on like a drunken Rex Murphy who just discovered four letter words.
Comfortable? Check. No work today, not even leaving the house until slo-pitch tonight (PLAYOFFS!) so I'm sitting here, house-bum casual at the kitchen table drinking tea and rocking some Jim Croce. It's a lazy Monday before classes start tomorrow and I actually have to do some fucking work for a change.
Furious? Nah, let's go with bitter. This is going to be a Jays post after all. Maybe add in a bit of resentment. And for good measure, top it off with some good old fashion envy (we are in the AL East, of course). The 2009 season has been a cocktail of conflicting emotions. In spring training the argument seemed to be whether a resurgent offence could push this team to another season of wins in the low to mid 80's, or whether the complete gutting of the team's starting pitching would have the boys playing like it's 2004. We weren't really encouraged to believe when Vernon Wells went down to injury in the first week of training camp, BJ couldn't throw a fastball above 85mph or Matt Bush's control suffered to the point that he couldn't bean a mere sorority girl at close range with a heater. Then of course there was the complete flaming out of Ken Takahashi, Matt Clement and Mike Maroth, and the apparent setback to Dustin McGowan. But whatever, we were all conditioned to the inevitability of a "retooling" Blue Jays in 2009. Just wait for 2010. Right?
Well it didn't start that way. After a 27-14 start, the Jays were leading the division. A quarter of the way through the season, this team was the best in the American league. Scott Richmond had won AL Rookie of the Month. The team was batting .289 and averaging 5.7 runs a game, while the pitching staff had a cumulative ERA of 3.85. Cito was a genius, JP Ricciardi was lucky. PLAYOFFS.
But it didn't turn out that way, did it? I mean we should have seen that coming, and most of us did. Kind of. As much as I kept my cool in April, that 4 game sweep of the White Sox took me from "enjoy it while it lasts" to "seriously, could this last?" I blissfully ignored Rod Barajas' 120 point above career-average OPS, or Kevin Millar slugging like he was still good. Because, honestly, it was fun. And it was. But then the Jays headed out on the road.
Since May 18th, the Jays have won 31 games against 56 losses. Only Kansas City has a worse record over that period. That's right, the Washington Nationals have had more to cheer about in the last 3 months than us. I almost wish the first month and a half hadn't happened, because we'd be in a dead heat right now for first dibs on high school phenom Bryce Harper. And of course, perhaps we'd have been better prepared for the shitstorm of the past few months.
There were no lack of things to talk about since the 0-9 road trip that signaled the beginning of the Jays' downward spiral. Since having a pretty solid first month, Vernon Wells has put up a line of .246/.296/.380. Not since Bryan McCabe have Toronto sports fans been so united in their disdain for one player. Well, Alex Rios almost got there. He had the audacity to refuse an autograph to a cute little kid (who routinely hangs out above the dugout begging for autographs to sell) and became persona non grata for this percieved slight. And then of course there was the end of the BJ Ryan era, costing the team 15 million so the Beej could sit at home pushing his fingers into his eyes (since it's the only thing that slowly stops the ache).
But none of these struggles in anyway compares to the epic clusterfuck that was the Roy Halladay Trade Saga. It began shortly before the All-Star game in July. Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi was asked by Ken Rosenthal if he was interested in trading Roy Halladay, to which he responded that if an offer made sense, they'd "have to listen". Not news for about any other player but with Halladay this was apparently the story of the century. An explosion of bullshit erupted not seen north of the 49th parallel since Vince Carter's momma decided Vince didn't want to play in Toronto anymore. Every start Halladay made became his "last start in Toronto". Alas, no one came close to Ricciardi's asking price, and the Doc maintains his office at 1 Blue Jay Way. But that didn't mean we didn't lose anyone.
News broke less than an hour before the deadline on July 31st, that Scott Rolen had been dealt to the Reds. Initially it was rumoured that slugging first base prospect Yonder Alonso was on his way to Toronto in the deal, but it ended up being Edwin Encarnacion as a salary dump with two good pitching prospects, Josh Roenicke (who we're currently using in middle relief) and Zach Stewart (who has been all kinds of fucking awesome in Vegas). It sucked to lose a guy who was one of only a few Jays really nailing it this year, but understandable. And at least we sold high.
With Alex Rios, we didn't even geeve enough of a fawk to sell at all. Claimed off waivers by Chicago, JP decided to let him go in order to get the 60 million dollars owed to him off the books. This is of course an indictment of management whichever way you look at it. Either his contract was so bad that he couldn't have been moved to get any kind of value for him, or his contract was moveable and they screwed up in letting him get away for nothing. But it was a salary dump, and between he and Rock and Rolen 20 million dollars came off the books for next season.
You'd think losing two regulars to trade would hinder a team's performance. You'd be right. 9-16 in the month of August, 5-13 since AlexIsMostCertainlyNotOnFire headed to the windy city. Swept twice in the span of two weeks by the Massholes. Dominated by PAUL BYRD. If this season is over, someone should tell... no wait, the players definitely know. And now begins the blame game.
So whose fault is this gigantic clusterfuck? The players? Rogers? Magic Cito? JP Ricciardi? Vern? That Guy Who Drums Outside The Games? All of the above (especially the drummer. If only he'd been more forceful in getting passers by to complete "Let's Go ____ ____!")? Or was this just a necessary retool year where all the things we expected to happen just happened? I tend to wonder if we'd all be this frustrated if the mirage that was the first 41 games hadn't fucked with our reasonable expectations.
Okay, my comfort level is falling. The fury is festering. Fuck all the bastards. Fuck the Yankees, the Red Sox, the unbalanced schedule, the salary disparity, tepid ownership, Magic Cito's wacky strategy, the under performing stars (although yes, I still believe in Vernon Wells), the two-faced general manager. And most of all, fuck me for fooling myself. This wasn't the year. Next year is.
Right?
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