We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Weekly Standings Check In...

I was going to do a Weekly Standing Check-in this week, but since not much has changed from last week (other than the AL East getting even tighter with 2.5 games separating 4th from 1st), I'm going to do a post about an MVP candidate not named Jose Bautista.

Adrian Gonzalez is not-so-quietly building his case for MVP. He's 3rd in the AL with a .342 average, 1st in RBI and has found his home run swing. The fact that he plays in an extremely hitter friendly park will help his cause as well. But the one uncontrollable factor that he has in his favour is that he plays in one of the biggest markets in the league. Sure technically Toronto is something like the 5th biggest market in MLB, but they don't get anywhere near the attention that Boston does. At this point in the season, it's obvious that Jose Bautista deserves the MVP, but assuming he keeps batting at this pace, Adrian Gonzalez may win based on the team he plays for. The only thing that could put Jose over the top in terms of attention would be if the Jays could make the playoffs this year.

Anyways if you were wanting to look at the standings here they are:

Jose Bautista: Using Steroids?

I got wind of this article on the Bleacher Report via DHSpeedwagon on Twitter; you don't really need to read the article.  The short version is: Sydney Hunte doesn't believe Bautista is naturally hitting all these home runs (and actually called this a "sudden and surprising power surge" - as sudden as "since last season" can be), and attributes his prowess at the plate to steroids.

I won't deny that it IS possible his power comes from The Juice; however I also don't think it's impossible that Bautista is doing this on his own.  Matt has commented on Bautista's work at the plate before - he really works the count.  And really, he has to; because of his consistent power, opposing teams would rather walk him than risk the wrath of the bat.

I'd like to find a statistic that shows how many pitches he's faced in the years where he wasn't hitting many dingers, to how many he faces now.  I am fairly confident that we'd find that his pitch count against (is that even a real statistic?) is a lot higher in the last three years than earlier in his career.

I think this is more a case of the writer of the article not paying much attention.  He's calling Bautista's power surge an overnight change, and that a change in his approach to hitting couldn't possibly be the answer.  I think that it is, and I think many fans - and the league - believe Bautista is clean.

Post Game Thoughts - Fool Proof Jose Bautista Strategy

So the Jays - Tigers game was rained out today and I have to say, it was an ingenious strategy by Detroit. I can't believe other teams haven't thought of this already. Forget walking Bautista after an inevitable Corey Patterson stolen base. Cancel the entire game. That way you're guaranteed not to get hurt by his bat. And building the Rogers Centre over 20 years ago was an amazing feat in foresight! Knowing that other teams might adopt this strategy, Paul Beeston, Pat Gillick and rest of the Jays brass came up with a foolproof plan to build a domed stadium in order to guarantee Future-Jose-Bautista would play at least 81 games, thus producing 40 home runs at the very least. Bravo, Detroit. Bravo!

Post Game Thoughts - Jack Morris is the Most Intersting Man in the World

Jose Bautista. Wow. What an amazing game, I don't understand why pitchers are giving him a chance to actually hit the ball. My only theory on how he still gets good pitches to hit is that he goes down 0-2 on purpose. It seems like he always falls behind in the count early, only to battle back to a full count and slam the ball out of the park. And a quick thought about those who compare Jose between this year and last - he was batting leadoff all of last April and his production didn't really kick in until he was moved down in the order. Comparing his pace to last year's is a tad misleading. That being said, Jose Ro-Bautista is on track for a monster bionic year if he keeps hitting home runs at this pace (1 HR every 8 at bats).

I guess I can't argue with the line-up too much since the Jays have won 5 straight, but I don't understand why John Farrell moved Rajai Davis to the 7 spot. Ideally, I'd rather have him as the leadoff hitter, but the next best option is hitting Davis 9th. His speed is a threat when Escobar and Patterson are hitting ahead of him after they go through the order. I suppose that if he wasn't batting 7th, there'd be a bunch of weaker hitters in a row at the bottom of the order (Rivera, McDonald, Cooper, Molina). Mostly due to injury, the Jays just don't have many good bats available at the moment.

Nice to see Aaron Hill get a couple hits today. He needs some success at the plate, hopefully this'll give him the kickstart he needs to start producing consistently.

Bonus Baseball Celebrity Lookalike:

Jack Morris is the most interesting man in the world...

Today's 3 Stars:

1. Jose Bautista - Hit his 14th HR in the 3rd
2. Jose Bautista - Hit his 15th HR in the 4th
3. Jose Bautista - Hit his 16th HR in the 6th

An honourable mention goes to Jason Kubel - he's the only bright point for the Twins this season. A dishonourable mention goes to the rest of the Minnesota Twins. They did more to lose the game than the Jays did to win.

Post Game Thoughts - Jose Ro-Bautista

Looks like Ricky Romero benefited from the extra rest after a short outing against Detroit last week. He pitched the best game of the year for Toronto going 8.2 innings and giving up no runs and only 4 hits. It would have been nice to see him get a complete game, but it's just as nice to see the Jays string together 3 wins in a row.

I'm getting the impression that Jose Bautista is some sort of human-cyborg-hybrid. Everyone was saying that there was no way to match his success from last season, but if it's even possible, he's gotten better. He has a more patient approach to the plate and he consistently gets on base, whether it's by hit or a walk. He went 3 for 4 tonight, hitting a single, double and his 12th home run and on the year, he's hitting around .360 and his OBP is over .500. I'm pretty sure that mere humans are not capable of producing those numbers. From now on, Jose Bautista will be known as Jose Ro-Bautista (Get it? He's a robot!).

Aaron Hill is pretty much a space filler in the #5 spot. He's not making good contact at all. At the very least, both JP Arencibia and John McDonald should be moved up. By the way, is it to early to start an Adeiny Hechavarria watch?

Also, Corey Patterson should have been much more alert on the basepath in the 7th. Luckily his speed made up for his hesitation, but in such a close game, his mistakes are inexcusable.

Tonight's 3 Stars:

1. Ricky Romero - so close to a complete game!
2. Jose Ro-Bautista - I for one welcome our new robot overlord...
3. Carl Pavano - did well to allow all those baserunners without giving up any runs