Mulliniks’ Moustache #16 – Firing on all Cylinders

Is this finally the Blue Jays team we all hoped, and thought, we would see last year? It’s Monday, May 26^th, 2014, and our Toronto Blue Jays are sitting atop the American League East, with a two game cushion over the venerable New York Yankees. This a position the Blue Jays, and many of us long-suffering fans, haven’t enjoyed in many moons.

Over the past two weeks or so, the Blue Jays have won six in a row, nine of ten and have climbed from the basement of the AL East all the way, via express elevator, to the penthouse, compete with mirrored ceilings, a 360 degree view of the city and multiple heart-shaped bathtubs (yes, I’ve spend far too much time thinking about what it would be like in a MLB penthouse). Incredibly, the Blue Jays are still only 13-11 at home, so there’s lots of room for improvement in that regard. Just to be a naysayer for a quick second, there are as always many “buts” involved that have to be considered, such as:

• It’s still insanely early to be getting too excited
• Everyone else in the AL East is playing terribly. Horribly, awfully, terrible. Like, on par with the Houston Astros. Yes, that bad.

Mulliniks’ Moustache #15 – Dustin McGowan & the Catch-22

It appears as though the Blue Jays have created an awkward situation for themselves: Dustin McGowan was a key, stabilizing force in their bullpen last year – one of the few bright spots in a disaster of a season. And now in 2014 they’re in desperate need of him to move from the starting rotation back to the bullpen to solidify their current, far-more-shaky version. However, with Brandon Morrow possibly out for the year with an injured finger, they’re even leaner at starting pitching than originally thought. Further complicating the issue is that McGowan, complete with his new fatigue-busting in-game insulin pump, has strung together a couple of really solid starts. The sad reality is that no matter where McGowan pitches, the other side will be left lacking. Dustin McGowan: 2014 Toronto Blue Jays Team Lynchpin, who would have thought that?

If McGowan was struggling and still only able to throw 65 effective pitches at a time then the decision would be easier, but it doesn’t make sense to move an effective starter to the bullpen and in the process weaken an already weak rotation. It would be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s simply not the right time to play around with rotation/bullpen members.

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 #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.

Mulliniks’ Moustache #10 – Beer & The Blue Jays

Allow me, if you will, to paint a picture:

Imagine a sunny, warm summer afternoon. The sun is high in the sky, bathing you in brilliant sunshine. You’re watching your beloved Blue Jays, surrounded by a friendly, well-mannered and unnervingly quiet crowd. In your right hand is a hotdog, topped with your favourite condiments – ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, onions. In your left hand is another ballpark staple – peanuts in the shell. You settle into your seat. You decided to wear short-shorts today, so your upper thighs are a tad raw due to the warm seat. That won’t dampen your spirits though!

You delicately devour your food as the first pitch is thrown – a strike on the outside corner. Enjoying the first inning, you realize your salty treats have made you thirsty. What’s the tried-and-true, time-honoured way to remedy such a situation? The third piece of the baseball food Holy Trinity – a cold, refreshing beer. You know you’re going to pay through the nose for it, but that’s just the accepted way things are done when you’re taking in the ol’ ballgame.

“HEY! Beer guy! Gimme two!” you bellow to the man doing the Lord’s work.

He saunters over.

Mulliniks’ Moustache #9 – Toronto Blue Jays 2014 Opening Day Lineup

For better or for worse, below is your Opening Day 25-man roster for the 2014 Toronto Blue Jays.

Starting Pitchers

RHP R.A. Dickey

RHP Drew Hutchison

LHP Mark Buehrle

RHP Brandon Morrow

RHP Dustin McGowan

Bullpen

RHP Casey Janssen

RHP Steve Delabar

RHP Sergio Santos

LHP Aaron Loup

LHP Brett Cecil

RHP Esmil Rogers

RHP Todd Redmond

RHP Jeremy Jeffress

Starting Players

C Dioner Navarro

1B Edwin Encarnacion

2B Ryan Goins

SS Jose Reyes

3B Brett Lawrie

LF Melky Cabrera

CF Colby Rasmus

RF Jose Bautista

DH Adam Lind

Bench

INF Maicer Izturis

OF Moises Sierra

C Josh Thole

(This was straight up stolen from torontosun.com http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/26/your-2014-blue-jays-roster)

Mulliniks’ Moustache #8 – The Bench; The Bullpen

A baseball team’s bench and bullpen are inexplicably and intrinsically linked. Backup position players and (in essence) backup pitchers. In many people’s brains, the bench and bullpen are mere afterthoughts. In reality, though, they play a large part in the fortunes of baseball teams.

Hell, even when a manager throws in the towel and calls on a position player to pitch an inning of mop-up duty during particularly terrible blowouts, he usually calls on a bench player (Jose Canseco notwithstanding) to ply his new trade and float batting-practice-perfected knuckleballs at seasoned major league hitters.

A major league baseball team’s bench is a motley crew of three to five not-quite-everyday-players that spend most of the season seated on – you guessed it – the bench, just waiting for a slow runner to get on base late in the game, or for an everyday player to require a sporadic day off.

We’re motoring towards the end of Spring Training, so as of this point, the 2014 Blue Jays version of The Bench is looking as such:

1. Back-up catcher (RA Dickey’s best friend Eric Kratz)
2. Back-up infielder (the Blue Jays $3-million man Maicer Izturis)
3. Back-up outfielder (out-of-options Moises Sierra)

Mulliniks’ Moustache #7 – Ricky Romero & The Yips

No, that’s not a band…although, it’s a pretty awesome name for one! I CALL DRUMS!!

Anyway, to the task at hand: Blue Jays’ fans sixth-favourite* left-handed pitcher – Ricky Romero. We've all had a front-row seat to watch the fall and rise and fall of Ricky Romero, from first round draft pick, to near-bust, to All-Star on the cusp of ace-dom, all the way back down to (barely) a AAA pitcher.

Personally, it’s been difficult to watch. Romero was a lefty bulldog, taking the ball every fifth day without fail. Even when he was struggling, he never made excuses. Despite reported arm and knee issues, which were/are so bad that John Lott from the National Post reported recently that Romero had stem cells inserted into his knee to help alleviate the pain. Romero simply went to the mount and pitched – poorly at times – every fifth day and was always accountable, which is refreshing from a professional athlete.

From all accounts, the root cause of Romero’s problems are all mental – a kind of/sort of mild case of The Yips (see also: Sax, Steve; Knoblauch, Chuck; and Ankiel, Rick for more dramatic examples of The Yips). For the uninitiated, TheYips is baseball nomenclature for rare situations where players simply lose the ability to perform seemingly mundane, “Baseball 101”-type tasks – like throwing a ball from second base to first, or from the mound to home. It’s not easy to watch players suffer through The Yips. Case in point: Rick Ankiel, a 20-year-old lefty phenom who, in part, led the St. Louis Cardinals to the 2000 NLDS. In his first career post season start, he literally and figuratively fell apart. He threw six wild pitches in the third inning alone and had five walks overall. Incredibly, the Cardinals won the game, despite Ankiel’s struggles. He made a couple of subsequent appearances, but for all intents and purposes. Ankiel was done as a Major League pitcher.**

Mulliniks’ Moustache #6 – Rogers Centre Fan “Quirks”

Opening day is just around the corner, so I figured now was the optimal time to touch on a few specific instances in regard to the in-game experience at Rogers Centre.

There are three things above all else – “quirks” if you will – that confuse, confound and annoy me about Blue Jay fans at Rogers Centre. I’ve tried for years to figure these out and frankly, I’m stumped. While I have been to baseball games at a couple of other stadiums, I haven’t been to enough to gauge if this is a Toronto-only phenomenon. However, I don’t recall experiencing these phenomena elsewhere, so I feel pretty safe in assuming these are Toronto-centric issues.

In no particular order, they are:

Mulliniks’ Moustache #5 – Munenori Kawasaki

A lot of things changed for the Blue Jays on April 12, 2013.

Some will look at it as the unofficial end of the Blue Jays 2013 season, and some will see the start of a beautiful friendship. Or you can look at it as both.

The Blue Jays were struggling, sitting at 3-6. Sure, it was incredibly early in the marathon we call a professional baseball season, but given the expectations, 3-6 was woeful. I think 8-1 would have been a cause for concern for some. One of the few bright spots early in the season was the play of Jose Reyes. He came from the Florida Marlins in the huge off-season trade exactly as advertised – a prototypical leadoff man who played above-average defense.

On April 12, 2013, it happened. After driving in two runners with a base hit to put the Jays up by four runs, Reyes attempted an ill-advised steal of second base. He slid feet-first and rolled his ankle on an awkward-looking slide, immediately crumpled to the field at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City. The broadcast cut to commercial with Reyes in tears, being carted off the field. Out for three months. Poof. Season, in essence, over.

The next day, the Blue Jays called up everyone’s soon-to-be favourite Japanese backup middle infielder – The Diminutive Dynamo™, Munenori Kawasaki. And the rest, as they say, is history. The love affair had begun.

Mulliniks’ Moustache #3 – 2014 Blue Jays Season Preview

It’s every baseball fans’ favourite time of year - Spring Training is on the horizon*! Teams are taking shape, optimism abounds and everyone is in first place! Now is an opportune time to look ahead at what I expect from the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014.

In a word? Not much.

Shut up. I know that’s two words.

One small proviso, though: There is an almost microscopic kernel of optimism nestled firmly in my medulla oblongata that has me excited for the upcoming season. You may be asking yourself: “Why would this dimwit be optimistic?” Well that’s a great question, and here’s my answer: the 2014 Blue Jays are, essentially, the 2013 Blue Jays**, who were a near-consensus pick to not only make the playoffs, but to also win the World Series, and the team that played most of last season was decimated by injuries. If a few things go well, really well, and everyone stays reasonably healthy, they have a chance!

Without further adieu, below is my in-depth analyses of the 2014 Toronto Blue Jays.***