Blue Jays' Inconsistency Has Never Felt So Good

As the regular season for the 2010 MLB campaing nears its close, the Blue Jays can be forgiven if their fans grow frustrated with a one win-two loss, or vice-versa scenario every series.

Pundits prognosticated a dreadful August with multiple series with the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox on the horizon, but the Blue Jays never questioned their ability to play with the big boys. That attitude has seen them with their head barely above the water, playing to an 11-9 record (minus the August 1st Cleveland game), but the question becomes, 'did anyone even expect this team to win 5 of these games at the start of the year?'

With Halladay on a one-way flight to Philadelphia, the team officially entered 'rebuild' mode, which gives them an automatic out by exclaiming in three or four years, the Jays will contend.

The fans surely showed their displeasure at that grim prospect by staying away from the Skydo- er... Rogers Centre early on, but something happened that even team officials hadn't expected to occur this early. The birds started winning. And often.

Fans north of the 49th parallel have always needed a bit of a shove to get out to the American pastime of baseball, and there is no better enticement than a winning team.

As of August 25th, the Jays are technically that winning team, but their 65-60 record is a far cry from contending come October, and perhaps a more troubling prospect, it is not dissimilar to their record of years past. Always levelling out at .500 baseball has been this Toronto team's trademark in recent years; always hanging around, but never quite reaching the upper echelons needed to truly challenge the elite.

But something's different this year. There's a certain 'feel' going around the ballpark that has fans and players much more excited about a 65-60 record than perhaps they should be.

Maybe it's the new faces in the club. Yunel Escobar, full of raw talent arrives amidst attitude accusations, but has largely stayed out of the negative spotlight, pelting in three homeruns since his arrival.

Maybe its the largely unforeseen rise of a solid group of a stellar pitching cast, a major perceived weakpoint in April. Brett Cecil, Shaun Marcum, Brandon Morrow, and Ricky Romero are the new make up of a young pitching squad that has the rest of the MLB whispering about a pseudo-Tampa Bay Rays ascent of talented throwers.

Maybe its the utterly inexplicable meteoric rise of MLB home-run leader Jose Bautista with 40 on the campaign so far, after last season, slicing only 13 over the fences. And honestly, when was the last time you saw the acronym 'TOR' beside the leading player on the much-esteemed HR Leaders list?

It just 'feels' good.

Add in the fact Jays GM Alex Anthopolous is gunning for younger players, and is willing to pay the price at a trade he deems advisable to his ball club and you have the recipe for a club, which already gives opposing teams fits with its 190+ homers on the year to lead the majors, a very large upside when looking into the crystal ball for years to come.

I Sense a Trend...

It seems like the G20 world leaders aren't the only ones to come to Toronto, stay for the pleasantries and promptly make their hasty exit just as things around them are turning sour. Chris Bosh, the Toronto Raptors franchise leader in points, and for all intents and purposes the face of the club, has skipped town to surf the beaches of Miami with the Heat, just as things have turned ugly.

It punctuates a disturbing trend in the town of T.O. that has seen three marquee and all-world talents leave their respective sporting clubs to join greener pastures elsewhere.

Let's go back to Christmas, 2008. The Vancouver Canucks awoke to find Mats Sundin, nestled in their stocking all ready and primed to win Stanley's mug with his new team, fresh off of rejecting to renew his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Few could have ever pictured the big Swede in any other colours except the blue and white (save for the earlier hockey purists who remember the captain in a Nordiques jersey... newer Leafs fans couldn't tell you what a Nordique is).

In a move that Sundin said (now read carefully, this part's important), was based purely on winning and not cashing in any lucrative contracts, he felt he had a much greater shot at Lord Stanley's Cup in Vancouver than in Toronto, where he served as captain for 11 years. There isn't much disputing evidence to the contrary where Toronto fans are concerned.

No, the Swedish captain; long the fan favourite and consistent point producer for a Toronto team that at times showed promise (2002 conference finals), finally wanted out. He left as a legend to fans, but never could bring that elusive Cup to the city that has painfully been deprived of an NHL championship for 43 years and counting.

Next up, enter Roy Halladay. At one time, maybe even still today, you can't mention the Toronto Blue Jays without thinking of 'The Doctor'. It seemed that Doc had a cure for all the Jays' ailments when he took to the mound every five games. What he couldn't cure however was managerial incompetency that produced mediocrity in a division where mediocrity will never even be close to good enough. The Yankees, Red Sox, and now the Tampa Bay Rays all lay claim to the American League East's top spots.

Halladay didn't see a future that included a World Series title in Toronto and split for Philadelphia, a team fresh off of two straight World Series finals appearances, including one championship. He didn't leave for the bucks. He left to win.

And just like that, make it two franchise players in a span of 1.5 years to make their marks, mark their careers in T.O., and then leave the city in their wake.

The Raptors must have been watching. How could they not? The lesson was; in order to keep your pivotal players in town, you need to prove to them that you are committed to winning. Leafs GM, John Ferguson Jr. couldn't do it with Sundin. Jays Manager, J.P. Ricciardi failed to show Halladay that drive to win at all costs, even in a murderous division. Now, add Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo to that unfortunate list of losers.

Bosh is gone, and like the Blue Jays' dismal attendance record this year shows, if fans can't see an All-Star play on their team, day in and day out, why bother showing up? What's the incentive to go to a Raps game now? To see their next best player, a disgruntled Turk, Hedo Turkoglu, who in his home country told journalists (and not management) that he was wronged last year and wants out? That'll sell tickets.

So what does all this mean?

Unfortunately, the future looks very grim in terms of recruiting players to Toronto. What will Colangelo's offer pitches to prospective players look like now? Hey (insert NBA All-Star here), I know Chris just left cuz' he felt we were going nowhere, and our prized free agent signing of last year has given up after one season, but how 'bout YOU take a gamble?

Not going to fly. It will be many years before the Raptors will look like a team on players' radar to win big, and that's assuming the boys in charge don't pull any gaffes.

The good news is, the seemingly poisonous management that has plagued the city's big three franchises have all been kicked out the door. Ferguson and Ricciardi are gone, replaced by (so far) competent personnel who look like they have a plan in place.

If Colangelo treads cautiously and patiently (because the only way this Raptors team can be rebuilt properly is through successful consecutive annual entry drafts), he can manoeuvre his way out of perhaps the biggest devastation to hit the Raps in their 15-year history and build a contender in the next 4-5 years.

It's not what fans want to hear, and they may stay away in the near future because of it, but in time, with a successful drafting and developing record, they will eventually come back.

Perhaps then, they won't see their stars shoot out of town for a brighter future.