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 #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.