Hoping Offense Has Awakened

Apr 19, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie (13) watches his fly ball against the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre. New York defeated Toronto 9-4. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY SportsThe Toronto Blue Jays lineup on the last game of the Yankees series was beautiful. It wasn’t the real Toronto Blue Jays lineup but it was the next best thing. All the regulars were in the lineup except for the starting shortstop (can’t even bring myself to say his name).

Everyone was playing defense at their regular position.

It’s been a while since the Jays have had a lineup full of regulars. They just reminded us that when that happens they can put some numbers on the score board.

John Gibbons must be reading my diary because I wanted to put Kawasaki in the lead-off spot.

As far as we know right now he could just be having a lucky start. He wouldn’t be the first minor leaguer to come up, impress and then revert back to what you thought they’d be or worse when the league adjusts to them.

The one thing you can’t get lucky on is having good long at bats and Kawasaki does that. There’s nothing better than having a lead-off man that can sees a lot of pitches and get a pitcher’s pitch count up. That benefits the rest of the lineup because they can get a good look at the pitches the starter has on that particular day.

As important as getting on base is Kawasaki is the one of the rare occasions where I personally wouldn’t kick him out of the lead-off spot for not continuing to do it. As long as he keeps up the long at bats because the Jays lineup is deep enough to overcome the leadoff man not getting on base. Or of course the Jays could kick Kawasaki out of the leadoff spot if they manage to find an upgrade somewhere.

You already know what the rest of the lineup is capable of.

I will say seeing Brett Lawrie hitting 8th does make you say wow. The Yankees #8 hitter was Jayson Nix. Not insulting them. They did take 2 out of 3 after all.

I get the feeling the offense might have woken up. I hate sounding like a baseball rookie but its’ not just from that game. It looked like they were picking up where they left off in 2012 when everyone was healthy. They had a lot of walks, a lot of hits, a lot of power and a lot of runs.

If the offense has legitimately woken up and I haven’t jinxed them it should be fun to see if they can pummel the Baltimore Orioles starters.