We are officially a whole month and six days removed from
that Holy day known as Opening. And, as usual, I don’t think anyone would have
been able to predict what has and hasn’t gone on in that time. (A healthy Pujols needing
a month to hit a homerun? Really?) But such is the glory and beauty of
baseball, as many, many lifelong lovers and observers will tell you.
From this blog’s beginning, I’ve been hesitant when dealing
with expectations or potential, mainly because baseball is played by human
beings. We’re not perfect, we don’t perform as expected or up to any perceived
potential all the time.
Over a six month season, averages and histories may win out;
things may level out after a while. Do I
think the Orioles are going to win the AL East this year? Probably not, but
there’s no real way to tell. There is never a way to tell what is going to
happen on any given day of the baseball season, let alone multiple months from
now.
It’s been interesting so far this season to see the reaction
to the Jays. Our offense and the re-vamped bullpen were supposed to
be the highlights that help support our rotation as they learned
and succeeded on the job. At least, that’s what it looked like on paper, right?
Well, looks good on paper hardly ever looks good in person.
Over the first 32 games this season, the general impression
I’ve gotten from a loud part of the Jays’ fan base is that Lind needs to be
gone all together; Bautista has lost “it”; our bullpen is going to give someone
a heart attack; Arencibia’s just a placeholder; and, Encarnacion is awesome.
(As a side, I’ve leaned towards that last one since EE came to town.)
By no means do I think those opinions are indicative of what
the whole fan base thinks, but they are by far the loudest impressions out there from fans about the state of the franchise and the possibility of
playoffs in 2012 for the hometown team. Somehow, the main thing that seems to get lost here is that even if the
more negative statements above have even a shred of truth, we’re still not out
of the playoff hunt; no team has yet to run away with our or any other
division. We’re not the only team that’s struggling one way or another, or the
only team with a big bat that has yet to be sizeable this season.
The proverbial sky has not and is not fallen/ing. To a man
I’m sure the Jays probably haven’t performed the way they would have liked to
this point, but all hope for the post-season is not lost. We are still in the running;
we still have the chance to challenge the top spot(s) in the AL East.
You know the old adage “You can’t win the division in April,
but you can lose it”? There’s a reason the saying has stuck around.
With that in mind Jays fans, take heart. Maybe the team
hasn’t performed to expectation or their “potential”, but they’re still finding
ways to win. Do I think Lind, Bautista and Arencibia are going to start
hitting? Yes, they’re too good not to. But I also know it might not necessarily
be what we’ve come to expect from past performance, either good or bad. Great part of baseball – tomorrow is a new day, and you never know what can
happen.
Enjoy the ride fellow fans, as I have a feeling it’s going
to be pretty crazy.
JaysGirl5
