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:
