Say It With Me Now “Pro-gress”

Jun 12, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Adam Lind (left) celebrates his home run with third baseman Edwin Encarnacion (middle) and right fielder Rajai Davis (11) during the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY SportsEveryone’s favorite World Series contender is only 4 games under 500.

When you consider the fact that they were 11 games under 500 at different times in May, four games under 500 in mid-June is pretty impressive.

The Toronto Blue Jays horrible start might mean they lose more games than the 2012 team but you can already consider the 2013 team better.

Because the journey to 500 was helped by the fact that the Blue Jays currently have a 5 game winning streak going for the first time since the Civil War or July 2011 to be exact.

They’ve gone on a 5 game win streak in the 3rd month of the season. The 2012 squad failed to do that all season even when they were healthy.

Playoffs or not if any other Blue Jays team in the last 20 years started the season 10-21 there season would have been done a looooong time ago.

It’s also the first time the Jays have had a 4 game sweep on the road since last April when they did it to the Kansas City Royals.

It’s exciting until you remember if they lose the next game they’ll be 5 games below 500 and that’s frustrating as heck.

But as a Blue Jay fan you learn not to take even the smallest win streaks for granted because they’ve been so rare for the Jays in recent years.

Especially when a part of the 5 game win streak is a 4 game sweep of the Texas freaking Rangers in Texas.

It was hard to tell if the Blue Jays pitching really stepped up or if the Rangers offense was just in that big a slump. But either way the Rangers are very a good team that the Jays outscored 24-4. Usually you’d be happy to get out of an inning giving up just 4 runs to the Rangers because they’re offense can be that dynamic but you wouldn’t know that from watching this series.

The Jays have scored 31 runs during the 5 game win streak. They’ve also got at least 7 innings from their starting pitchers in 4 of those games. The other start was R.A. Dickey going 5.2 innings. One of the main reasons the Jays have gone so long without a decent win streak is their inability to get good starting pitching.

The Jays 5 game win streak is the currently the 2nd longest win streak in baseball behind only the San Diego Padres 6 game win streak.

The end game of course is to get over 500 and into contention but with the Blue Jays first 5 game win streak in almost 2 years they’re at least making progress.