I was so excited to watch my beloved Blue Jays last night.  I just got back from overseas for business and had been stuck reading box scores due to the time change while I was away.  Finally, I was going to be able to watch my team play.

And they were awful.  I fought through the jet lag and stayed up to what felt like 6 am to my body and was greatly disappointed with the effort of the team.

Brandon Morrow couldn’t control his fastball to save his life.  He was consistently behind in the count.  I didn’t see him even try to mix in his curveball that made him so effective last season.  His slider was flat.

But these things happen.  Starters will sometimes just not have their stuff for one reason or another on any given night.  It was frustrating to watch, but what was more frustrating was the absolute lack of effort from the rest of the team (save maybe Edwin Encarnacion who battled every at bat).

J.P. Arencibia made a mistake that cost Rasmus an error and the Jays 2 runs.  Almost every batter looked lost at the plate.  I know Andy Pettite was on, but it just seems like the team has zero offensive plan at the plate.

It really makes you wonder what hitting coach, Chad Mottola, is telling these guys.

It just seems like every time the opposition scores first (which has been often this season) the hitter put sooooooooo much pressure on themselves.  Just relax, string a few hits together and play good baseball.

When you’re down by 5 and there is nobody on base, it’s really hard to hit a 6-run homer.  That’s what it seems like the hitters are trying to do.  There needs to be a change in philosophy.

30 of the next 35 games are vs. the AL East.  I know it’s early, but these games are starting to get important.  Either we compete against division rivals or get buried by them over the next 6 weeks.  Where we stand at the end of May will be very telling, in my opinion, of what sort of team we actually have.

All this being said, I believe the Jays are a post season team.  I could easily see our rotation ripped off a 7 – 10 game winning streak.  But we need to have good at bats and string hits together.  Homers are great but let’s not simply swing for the fences.

I love watching the Blue Jays and as a fan of the game, I love watching good baseball.  So far this year, I haven’t been able to say I’ve done both consistently.

@IHRTBJs