Worst Kind Of Slump

Apr 17, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Colby Rasmus (28) steps out of the batters box as Chicago White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers (21) signals to the mound at the Rogers Centre. Chicago defeated Toronto 7-0. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY SportsSlumps happen in baseball. No one is going to be perfect for 162 straight games. You don’t have to follow a baseball season for that long to figure that out.

However, there are different kind of slumps. Each fan reacts to different slumps a different way.

For me I can live with the Toronto Blue Jays rotation going through a slump like they did at the start of the season. Each pitcher couldn’t keep their pitch count below 20 in the 1st inning for the first week of the season at least. No starter even pitched into the 7th inning until the 3rd time through the rotation. It might drive some people nuts when the rotation slumps, but as long as it doesn’t happen that often I can live with it.

The Blue Jays defense hasn’t been a bright spot, to be kind, so far this season. It costs you outs, messes with a pitch count, and it’s an annoying way to lose games. At some point the Jays will figure out where certain players should play to put the best defensive team on the field as possible. Even if your team’s defense gets better as the season progresses errors are bound to occur and cost you a game every once in a while. I can live with that.

The Blue Jays bullpen has been the strongest part of the team so far. Even though the bullpen hasn’t slumped yet it will eventually. Losing games in late innings because the Jays relievers couldn’t do their jobs is frustrating. That gets on a lot of fans nerves but I can live with it.

I can live with the Blue Jays slumping in any of those 3 important areas.

But when the Blue Jays offense is slumping? I CAN’T STAND IT!

When the Jays offense is slumping, I can’t sit still in my chair, I want to pull my hair out, scream curse words and fantasize about throwing something at the TV without there being consequences.

Just like any other slump, you know they are just going through a temporary dry spell but it doesn’t matter. It’s still the most maddening thing ever.

At least with pitching and defense slumps you’re going to see some action. You get to see the other team try to advance bases or score and see how the Jays react to the plays.

There’s just nothing fun about offensive slumps.

There’s nothing fun about 1-2-3 innings. There’s nothing fun about the opposing pitcher throwing 7-10 pitches in an inning. There’s nothing fun about hitters getting out on the first or second pitch of an at bat. There’s nothing fun about double plays or ground outs. There’s nothing exciting about players striking out multiple times in a game. There’s nothing fun about stranding base runners and being 3 for 49 with runners in scoring position. There’s nothing fun about being shut out or scoring 1 or 2 runs in an entire game. There’s nothing fun about getting owned by a weak starting pitcher. The most exciting thing about an offensive slump is a hard hit ball to the outfield that gets caught and that doesn’t exactly get your juices flowing.

I can live with any other part of the Blue Jays slumping. When the offense isn’t going I’ll just have to squeeze a stress ball and hope they get out of their slump sooner rather than later. And just hope they stay out of an offensive slump for most of the rest of the season for the sake of my sanity.