The 2013 do-over Toronto Blue Jays (AKA the 2014 Blue Jays Thread)

4-0 win behind Buerhle. I like this team.

KC being so anemic, I wish they'd won three, but that's okay, they came back well. Double and another homer for Encarnacion--needs a nickname.

ya, we can't really call him E5 anymore!

Mr. May's no good, just ask Dave Winfield.

double E , En-car-smash-ee-on (Encore-smash-home-run?), EdTV, E3, Ed-wing, Ed Teach me to walk the parrot

i can come up with a hundred more totally unviable options upon request. I like Ed-wing, but I just call him Eddie

Yankees lost tonight, so a four-game lead. Brace yourself, NoTime and Thinwall: I went back through the yearly logs, and the Jays haven't had a four-game lead since 1993.

o shiii

amazing.

I'm not booing, I'm saying "Looooooup."

I'm waiting for the bottom to fall out, so may as well revel in this for as long as it lasts. They're at .600 right now; the last time I can find them at .600 (excluding small early-season samples) is July 2, 1993, when they were just beginning a bad 10-game stretch.

On an 18-4 run, 2nd best record in the league, 4.5 game lead, I can hardly believe I'm typing this.

i did math last night. if they play .500 ball the rest of the season, that would still win them the first wild card slot!

I don't think there will be this much parity until the end of the season, so 86-87 wins won't be enough for the first wild card. We need to top the 88 wins from 1998 so that nobody can say that the Jays winningest season since winning the Series in '92-'93 happened under Tim "hitting a baseball is nothing compared to what I went through in Nam (or not)" Johnson.

i have not thought about that guy in years.

This board is full of jokes about him! (mostly mine)

When was the last time we swept the Tigers in Detroit?

The sort of good Jays teams in recent years always crumbled when they faced the best teams in the league. Last years' team had that 11-game win streak and then got crushed by Detroit, Boston, and Tampa Bay.

Sept. 16-18, 2003, according to some website out of Michigan.

I see a tough June ahead. Three each against the Cardinals and Orioles, six with the Yankees; the rest of their games are against teams around .500 (Reds, Twins, White Sox). Anyway, they can't take wins away, so build up a cushion now when everything's going miraculously right. If they're even playing for a wild card in late September, I'll be happy.

They were running down Blue Jay teams through 60 games on the radio today. The only ones better than this year were '84, '85, '87 (the best at 39-21), and '92.

Jimmy Key threw out the first pitch tonight, and he just spent an inning in the broadcast booth with Martinez and Pat Tabler. Had no idea he was so funny! He also talked about breaking in: first guy he ever faced was Rod Carew with the bases loaded, got him to ground into an inning-ending double play, didn't allow a runner for the next three innings, and in total retired the first 16 batters he faced.

3.6 K/9 his first year as a starter (1985)

I was just looking at his career box before your post. That was something of an anomaly--the rest of his career, he was between 4.2-6.6, and in most years he was around 5.5-6.0 like clockwork. What I really noticed was his last three seasons, when he was 35-37: 6.2/6.0/6.0 (when that was still a pretty good figure).

In a lot of ways, he was my favourite pitcher ever. Watching him was like watching the way the Spurs passed last night--such incredibly fluidity. (When the Spurs weren't turning it over, that is.)

Bottom of the 7th, Jays up by one, bases loaded, none out, Bautista up. Triple play--first one I've seen in 44 years of watching baseball. I keep waiting for black cats and cracked mirrors, maybe this is it.

In a lot of ways, he was my favourite pitcher ever. Watching him was like watching the way the Spurs passed last night--such incredibly fluidity. (When the Spurs weren't turning it over, that is.)

Along with Fernandez, Moseby, Barfield, and Bell, he was one of my favorite '80s Blue Jays.

Jays left the bases loaded three times, hit into the triple play, got a Steve Bartman play overturned in the ninth, and won again, 2-1. Early MVP favourites clearly Donaldson and Bautista.

Key's K/9 was good for the era, it was about the same as Stieb's -- surprising considering their reputations (crafty lefty vs ace pitcher with a wipeout slider).

Jays are looking like amateurs today hacking away against Shelby Miller. Gibbons looking dumb by issuing a completely unnecessary IBB in the 8th and setting up a big inning.

i don't know why he brought Delbar in there, when he'd been struggling so bad lately.

No ground lost--hope the Yankees and Orioles keep treading water. At almost any time the past 20 years, I would have been rooting for Miller to get his no-hitter. Instead, I'm sitting there saying "no-hitter, no-hitter, no-hitter--he's got a hitter."

ha! i sat him on my fantasy team ysterday, so his performance is entirely my fault!

i'm also starting Hutch today – so apologies if it goes sideways.

Special award to anyone who can decipher my jokes these days through the fog of typos and omitted words.

Poetic justice--walk-off bloop after throwing away the lead on two bloops in the top of the inning.

this reminds me of '93 when they were constantly pulling off the 9th inning heroics

Shelby Miller, sure. Jaime Garcia, maybe. Kevin Correia, unsettling.

http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/01420/05f047a3-532_1420752a.jpg

I don't think I'm up to the peaks and valleys of a playoff chase any more.

aaron sanchez promoted to buffalo

Nolan is killing AAA right now too.

So we've stopped scoring runs now? I'm worried about this Baltimore series.

three series this month against the O's and Yankees. not off to a good start.

Fifteen runs in their past eight games (2-6); pitching's only been so-so, but probably good enough to have won four or five of them. Win today, no big deal.

back to 4.5 up. this little skid hasn't really caused much damage thanks the gods.

What's happening?

I don't get the Yankee Stadium streak at all. It's not like these have been the Yankee teams of 10-15 years ago.

i blame Morbs for saying toronto was a lock for the playoffs a few weeks ago!

"lock" my eye! they're still at 59%, down 9.5% in the last week.

so where were these bats against the yankees?!

There were loads of Jays fans in Cinci for the game!

Edwin had to love hitting that big HR in the ninth. I'm sure for total WAR that trade is looking pretty bad at this point (unless you count moxie), of course even the Jays almost gave up on Eddie before he finally figured it out at the plate. That said, Encarnacion was never going to make it in Cincy playing third base, as it was always sheer terror when he had to make a throw from over there.

going for the revenge sweep tomorrow!

Officially mediocre now after dropping three of four to the White Sox at home. The "Jays haven't been in first this late in the season since July 6th 2003" (or whenever it was) meme might still carry forward to next year!