Mulliniks’ Moustache #14 – The Case for Optimism

Yes, it’s been a difficult first month of the 2014 Blue Jays season, but only in the sense that every baseball fan wants “their” team to go undefeated. There have been a few injuries (Jose Reyes, Casey Janssen, Maicer Izturis) and the starting pitching we all knew would be a red flag has turned into….a red flag. There’s been too much inconsistency and too many walks.

But the season is not lost! Ignore the naysayers; embrace optimism. The Rogers’ Centre is not yet filled with the hellfire and brimstone that some people think every time the Blue Jays lose. Sure, there’s the aforementioned and ever-present starting pitching struggles and general inconsistency that we all find so frustrating, and even the bullpen – one of the team’s supposed strengths – has started to scuffle a little bit of late, although that is due to overuse (and Alex Anthopoulous’ misguided and stupid decision to keep out-of-option pitchers over better options).

In any event, I digress. Today is a day for optimism! I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight a few of the bright spots of the Blue Jays season thus far, five Beacons of Hope, if you will. Sure, it’s only been 25 games, but there are a few things to be excited about, namely:

Mulliniks’ Moustache #13 – Blue Jays Music

My apologies, gentle readers, this week’s entry is a bit of a quicky. I’m pressed for time because I’m heading to Cleveland to the watch the Blue Jays play the Indians (amongst other fun and frivolity).

Shemp Kardashian

How about this topic for a bit of a change of pace: My suggestions for selected Blue Jay players’ walk-up/entrance music.

At the very least, this will surely open up an interesting, thought-provoking debate! Don’t you think? Of course it won’t. That was clearly sarcasm. Is it possible that this is the least-important debate almost ever? Now that I think about it, the only thing that comes to mind that’s less important is: Which is Your Favourite Kardashian Sister? In case you’re wondering, I’m a bandwagon-jumper in this regard and like everyone else, my favourite is Shemp.

So, with that pointless preamble out of the way, for no reason whatsoever I present the following for your reading pleasure:

Mulliniks’ Moustache #12 – Pitch Talks #1

On Monday night, I had the opportunity to attend an interesting event, called Pitch Talks. It was, in essence, a baseball panel program where baseball fans have the chance to listen to people in the baseball industry talk about…baseball, and more specifically, the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pitch Talks #1 was hosted by comedian Jordan Strofolino, who even got a dig in against my patron saint, ‘ol Rance Mulliniks, claiming that he got a bunt base hit by hitting the ball off his Adam’s Apple, but it was unconfirmed because it was long time ago and stats weren’t kept back then.

First out of the gate was a comedian – Dylan Gott, who warmed the crowd up for a couple of minutes. Is a baseball forum the ideal place for a comedian? Probably not, but Gott at least focused on a subject that was near and dear to his rotund heart: the oddly-shaped baseball stars we all know and love. From David Wells to Rod Beck to Prince Fielder, and his father Cecil Fielder, then finishing with the obvious target: Babe Ruth. Gott held his own and elicited a couple of laughs.

Soon enough, though, the focus was on one of the first of the main attractions: Jared Macdonald from JaysProspects.com, who is an expert on Blue Jays prospects and claims to have seen every one in person.

Mulliniks’ Moustache #11 – First Week Musings (10 Things to Think About)

Just a few things I’ve noticed now that we’re a full week into the season:

1. Much as we thought to begin with, the much-maligned starting rotation seems to be the Achilles Heel of this team. The good starts have been pretty great, especially Mark Buehrle’s first and RA Dickey’s second starts of the year, but the still-sluggish offense hasn’t been able to cover the sub-par starts thus far (compounded by the absence of Jose Reyes and slow starts by both Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie).

2. I’ve been super-impressed with Melky Cabrera’s quick start right out of the gate. Hopefully he keeps it up all season. Just imagine if he was able to get the game-winning hit at yesterday’s game, with chants of “MEL-KY! MEL-KY!” raining down from the 34,067 fans in attendance. Fans looking for an early-season hero would’ve found one pretty easily after that. Oh well.