"What's Wrong with the Jays?"

(BOD - Zooey Deschanel)

I have heard the above question a multitude of times over the past few weeks: on TV, on the radio, socializing with friends, and at the ballpark with my teammates. And since the Blue Jays are currently getting waxed by the pathetic Cleveland Indians, I felt it was time to weigh in.

Everyone wants to know what is wrong with the 2010 Toronto Blue Jays. How can an offence that set a major league record for homers in a month fall so precipitously in less than three weeks? What happened to the young, lights out pitching staff that was taking the American League hitters by surprise?

The answer: Toronto’s stellar play in the first two months of the season was an aberration. It was an anomaly. A deviation from the mean. Only the most clueless and ill-informed Jays fans (cough, Gretzpo, cough) would take solace in a winning record over the also-rans in the AL and extrapolate that to a playoff berth over the course of a 162 game season.

Conversely, I am ecstatic with the Jays record at the end of June. With the roster the Rogers conglomerate has cobbled together this season, I would have bet the team would have been 8-10 games under .500 at this point in the year. The fact they’re two games above completely mediocre should be cause for celebration.

I don’t understand why, once again, the majority of Jays fans were swindled by the team’s hot start when they had yet to the play the big dogs of the AL East. The same thing happened last season.

This team is going to endure some major growing pains on their way back to relevancy as a potential playoff team. Actually, this brings me to my next point. The question of “What’s Wrong with the Jays?” is an apt one, but most people are looking for an incorrect answer to their query.

There is nothing wrong with the Jays this season; they just aren’t a very good team. However, the pressing issue is why Toronto has not legitimately threatened for a playoff spot since the early 1990s. I mean, good God. That’s almost an entire generation we’ve suffered through without meaningful baseball to watch in September.

There are teen pop queens that I’m sexually attracted to that weren’t born when the Jays last won the World Series. How terrifying is that?

The Florida Marlins have won two World Series and completely blown up their roster three times since Joe Cater ‘touched ‘em all.’ The real question is why have fans stood idly by while team management has run this team into the ground time and time again over the last 18 years.

Exactly how long is a rebuilding process?

***There will be a special NBA free agent column tomorrow, so I will be celebrating Canada Day a day late and no column will be posted on Friday.