ON THE MARK.

STARING INTO THE BLUEJAY ABYSS.
I know April is the cruelest month.   It's unfair to subject Bluejay fans to night after night of terrifying television.   I don't know what scares me more.    Is it watching glassy-eyed John Gibbons stand there and spit tobacco juice while mismanaging the Jays?  Or is it that ubiquitous Head and Shoulders/Old Spice commercial with CJ Wilson and Josh Hamilton of the Angels that airs 25 times during every Jays game?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_RPfaWtoII

Nah, it's got to be Gibbons, who once again last night showed no creativity whatsoever, even though he set up the top of his batting order with speed and bat control.   By having Rajai Davis (.275 OBP) lead off and batting Munenori Kawasaki in the two-hole, Gibbons got exactly what we THOUGHT he wanted in the first inning.   Davis singled to center, and just about everybody figured he was going to steal and get the Jays off to a running start, thereby putting pressure on the Yankee defense and pitching.  Instead, he remained anchored to the bag, even though the Yankees pitched out and even though Kawasaki is one of the better two-strike hitters on the team.    No steal, no bunt, no hit and run, no starting the runner to stay out of the double play.   And just like that,  Kawasaki hits a grounder to Cano and it's a 4-3 double play.   Luckily, the Jays got a walk from Bautista and a two run homer from EE.   But they should've had more against Kuroda.   The potential was there for a big inning, but only had Gibbons utilized the speed of Davis.   He didn't, and that's puzzling.   If he wasn't going to send Davis, then why bat him leadoff?   May as well bat Bautista in the leadoff spot.  He'll either homer or he'll walk.  We know he won't be stealing.  Not with Gibbons at the helm. 
     The sense of frustration on the Jays is painfully evident.  Gibbons has now been ejected from his last two games.  The team is getting squeezed by home plate umpires on ball/strike calls thanks to Bautista and, to a lesser extent, Brett Lawrie (remember last year's helmet throwing episode?  The umps sure do.)  They even overturned a call that went in the Jays favour on the basepaths, which led to the manager being tossed (He did have a legit argument).

And while the Bluejays are floundering, the upstart Maple Leafs are taking some of the sports headlines away from them, which might be a good thing for a team that SHOULD turn it around, but has another 140 games left on the schedule to do so.  In the meantime, a manager has to utilize what he's got, and at this point, Gibbons ain't got much.  His infield is a patchwork at best.  EE is adequate defensively, but can't seem to scoop wild throws out of the dirt.  Second base is a revolving door between a couple of .160 switch-hitters.  The shortstop is a AAA fill-in who happens to be an enthusiastic banjo hitter.   At third, Lawrie is slowly coming around, but after missing nearly all of spring training, he's got a long way to go.   The defense on this team has been suspect.   They strike out a lot.   And the starting pitching has been abysmal.   None of the five starters has emerged as the "ace", and now Josh Johnson, the #4 starter, is out with shoulder problems and lefty Aaron Laffey starts tonight in New York.  Yikes!  
     The Jays are 6-and-a-half games back of Boston as of today.   The Red Sox are playing the hapless Houston Astros this weekend.  If they sweep and the Jays get swept by the Yankees, the margin will be 9 and a half games.   That's an awful lot of games to overcome, even in late April.   So what do you do if you're Alex Anthopoulos?   Things are unraveling before his very eyes.   Nothing seems to be working.  Ricky Romero starts tomorrow in single "A" Dunedin.  Anthony Gose is struggling in Buffalo.  Jose Reyes is out until the All-star break (unless he's the second coming of Erik Karlsson and returns in a month).   The manager appears to be in over his head.   The high-priced talent acquired in the off-season hasn't performed.  Melky Cabrera is slugging .308, pathetic.   Mark Buehrle has an ERA of 6.35, Josh Johnson 6.86 and Brandon Morrow 5.27.    Opposing baserunners have stolen 17 bases in 19 attempts.   The speedy Jays have only ATTEMPTED 17 stolen bases all year, and have been successful 15 times. 
        Let the head-scratching continue, baseball fans.  No, it's not time to hit the panic button yet, but you might want to keep it close by.   Just in case this disturbing trend continues.