2011 Blue Jays Season Recap

I think someone once said that one could be “blinded by love”, now I believe that, but I know that isn’t the case when it comes to the Blue Jays’ 2011 season. No, even though they finished with 4 fewer wins than last year I have much more faith going forward than I did at the end of last year, that being said, we still have a lot of work to do. But I love the Jays so I will postpone my ripping on them for as long as I can talk about the positives. So here goes…

Let us start where our offense starts, the heart and soul of the team, Jose Bautista. We entered this season with every single analyst saying yeah, maybe he’ll hit 25, but don’t count on anything over 40 again. Oh sorry analysts (who get paid to analyze may I add, whereas I post my opinions for you out of the goodness of my heart) , and sorry fellow fantasy baseballers who told me picking him 14^th overall was a bad pick… but did Joey Bats hit 43 Home Runs this year to lead all of baseball?  Did he lead the Majors in OBP, OPS and Slugging Percentage? Walks and Intentional Walks? Doing all of this while still hitting over .300 all season long and staying in the top ten of every other major category?  Yes. He did all of this.

Now, I could dedicate whole posts to Jose Bautista and all that he means to the Jays, but many other players stepped up this year for the Jays. Ricky Romero was really the only highlight when it comes to pitching, other than Casey Janssen. Ricky was top 10 in every major category and top 5 in a few, and he has a ton of swag. Yunel Escobar is awesome, he is one of the best all-around shortstops in the Majors.

Brett Lawrie is a god. He will hit 40 home runs one day. He will be an All-Star. He will win Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers. We essentially have a young, gritty Scott Rolen and the best part is, he wants to stay in Toronto!

The Jays did have their fair share of lowlights this year, however. We should start off with our inconsistencies, we never were more than four games above 500 all season? How does this happen? Oh yeah, I forgot, our #3 starter is Henderson Alvarez. Our 7^th inning guy is... oh wait, our starter only pitched into the 5^th, so Luis Perez is just going to pitch the 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th then if he holds the lead we will hand it over the Frank Francisco, the only closer in the history of baseball who doesn’t like pressure. If the Jays have anything to do over the offseason, it is to improve the pitching. We blew 25 saves this year as a team, if we have 2 or 3 more decent relievers maybe we only blow 18 saves? Then we are in the playoff hunt come September, and maybe I wait a few weeks to write this post.

Here is what our lineup looks like for next season if Alex Anthopolos doesn't switch anything around:

Batting order:

1.       Yunel Escobar – SS

2.    .   Eric Thames – LF

3.       Jose Bautista – RF

4.        Brett Lawrie – 3B

5.       Adam Lind – 1B

6.      Edwin Encarnacion – DH

7.       Colby Rasmus – CF

8.      J.P. Aaronciba – C

9.        Kelly Johnson – 2B

Now that looks like a Batting Order that can score in the top-ten runs again next season.. but as for the pitching, here is what we are looking at.

Starters:

1.        Ricky Romero

2.        Brandon Morrow

3.        Kyle Drabek?

4.        Dustin Mcgowan?

5.        N/A

Above average relievers:

Casey Janssen, Sean Camp and Henderson Alvarez

Below average relievers:

Jon Rauch and his posse of 90MPH fastball throwing sissies

Altogether 2011 was pretty successful, but I would love to be playing in October next season. 

Until the next time the Jays win back-to-back World Series',
Riley

Who I am and what I will do for you

Hello blogging world. My name is Riley and I am a teenager living in Toronto and I am in love with sports. I am one of those guys that could sit down and watch a whole baseball game without rolling my eyes once, even after David Cooper just fouled off his fourth straight pitch in the 4th inning of a 0-0 tie. I am one of those guys that wouldn't dare leave a Leafs game early after we are down 7-1 to the Capitals and Ovie is going for his 4th goal of the game.

I essentially live for sports, and living in the 21st century has only aided my addiction. Rogers Digital Cable, blessed be Them, teamed up with my dad's credit card to get my family every single sports game in North America being played live, and even the occasional Aussie Rules Football. I can now watch every single Jays game, except when I'm away 2 months in the summer, every single Leafs game (yes, I can stand them) and every Raptors game, except sometimes their lack of talent/motivation/coaching/any reason to watch them gets the better of me. And don't worry, every Sunday I glue myself to the couch to watch all the NFL I can.

So this blog will be me posting when necessary about the Leafs, Raptors, the NFL (I root for the Buffalo Bills) and sadly, not the Blue Jays for a while, but I will keep up with the MLB playoffs. For any of those reading, feel free to comment or email me, I'd love to hear from you and your opinions, but it would also be cool to know if anyone was even reading this.

If the Leaf commercials are true, and there is a Passion That Unites Us All, then i certainly have it for every Toronto team. Even though it can, and is torturous sometimes I stand by all my teams and I will be more than happy to share all the good and the bad with all of you.

You will hear from me again,
Riley