Team Unity

There's a connection between the Jays' antics I spoke of yesterday and the way they sat on the bench together last night after the loss. It took me a little, but I think I got it.

For the first time in a while I get almost a palbable sense of team unity. That's not to say it wasn't there in previous seasons, but it never really seemed team wide.

There's admiration, no egos (at least to the fan's eye I think), and everyone is on the same page. They want to win. They want the whole to be greater than its parts.

With more of the pitching staff emulating Doc (the poster boy for sum = > parts) I can't say as I'm surprised. Look no further than Aaron Hill pointing out his steal wasn't the winning run, and calling Alex(is) Rios' sacrifice fly "beautiful baseball".

There doesn't even seem to be that great a divide between pitchers and fielders. Did anyone else see Shaun Marcum and Brian Butterfield's wierd (I guess you could call it) handshake on Tuesday in the dugout? I know Butter's a coach, but he's the fielding/3rd base coach...not like he has much coaching contact with pitchers.

Who's to say is this new evident team unity will mean a championship, but it's refreshing. No one's playing for themselves, I get the feeling there aren't 25 cabs leaving the hotel after a road game (although I don't know for sure). I'm happy to say I no longer have to be a little envious of fans whose team just seemed to be 9 friends playing a game.