Game Thread: Blue Jays (9-15) @ Yankees (13-9) All of the GIFs Edition

Jul 2, 2011; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Corey Patterson (left) is congratulated by right fielder Eric Thames (46) after scoring in the 5th inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Rogers Centre. The Phillies beat the Blue Jays 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees square off in game three of their four game set this afternoon. The Blue Jays look to avoid another series loss in this early season.  As Blue Jays fans are well aware, the season hasn’t gotten off to the start that everyone expected. The losses are piling up, and fan morale is crushingly low.

For everyone feeling down in the dumps about your Toronto Blue Jays, I just want to remind you of one thing: the picture you see above. That picture contains two thirds of an outfield that started a game for us in 2011. Eric Thames and Corey Patterson were starting games for the Toronto Blue Jays. Things may not be going swimmingly so far this season, but they could by much, much worse.

With that in mind I have made a list of the 3 things about this Blue Jays season that make me happy. This is baseball after all, so today when you’re watching the game, following along with this Game Thread, remember the following awesome things.

Edwin Encarnacion

The Blue Jays slugger has gotten off to a slow start by traditional metrics, but those who have been watching the games, or looking a little deeper into the stats know that Edwin has been crushing the baseball only to be foiled by just plain bad luck. Sick of having his batting average dragged down by a .206 BABIP despite his 24.6% line drive rate, Edwin has decided to foresake the BABIP gods by simply hitting the ball out of the park. He now has 5 homeruns in his last 4 games. Watch him hit Jays fans, its a beautiful thing, and if you’re lucky you’ll see him do his Chicken Wing Trot all the way around the bases again today.

A recreation of an Edwin Encarnacion Home Run Trot

Jose Bautista

If the past 3 seasons haven’t convinced you, I don’t know what will, but Jose Bautista is awesome. Simply put, the man crushes baseballs. His homerun last night was majestic (and would have been that much better if not for an egregious passed ball by J.P. Arencibia in the previous half inning). It was his 6th HR of the season, and it certainly won’t be his last.

Jose Bautista crushes a solo homerun. GIFS courtesy of http://www.gamereax.com

Gibby The Best

I know some of my fellow bloggers here at Jays Journal don’t have the same love of Manager John Gibbons that I do . The Blue Jays fans on Twitter that for some reason think the manager at the Major League level have some sort of magical power to improve the fundamentals of the team are kind of ridiculous. In reality, baseball managers provide minimal value to their team, it takes a truly horrific manager to actually cost their team games, and I’m not quite sure how a manager can help win too many games (“hey Jose, you wanna go slug one outta the park or what?”). What I do know is that having a manager as affable and hilarious as John Gibbons, is the best.

Head over to Gamereax for all of your GIF needs

News & Notes 

We hardly knew ye Aaron Laffey, the carousel of the Blue Jays 25th roster spot continues!

Line ups

Izturis and Bonifacio as our double play combination? Ugh.

This entire line up is ugh though…how do they keep winning games?

Question of the Game?

Game Threadin’

Join us down in the comments section to discuss what’s happening throughout the game. We’ll be providing our insight and analysis, and even just our plain old vitriol as the game moves along.