Blue Jays leave bats in Florida and fans at home

The Toronto Blue Jays should be better than their 2-3 record reflects, however, it appears the offense may have forgotten their sticks in Florida early into the 2019 campaign.

The developing theme early-on is the Blue Jays propensity to make average Joe hurlers appear like they are the second-coming to Cy Young. Thus far the hitters are been overmatched by the likes of Jordan Zimmerman, Matt Moore, and David Hess.

The starting pitching has been extraordinary with the exception of Sean Reid-Foley who battled command and was the victim of shoddy defence last night. Heading into last nights contest the Jays starters had a 24 innings scoreless innings streak and fanned 50 batters in their first series with the Tigers.

The aforementioned streak came to a screeching halt in the first inning when Reid-Foley surrendered a gopher ball to Jonathan Villar.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is still searching for his first hit of the young season going 0-15 through the first five games. Coupled with Gurriel is Kevin Pillar who is hitting 0.63, Randal Grichuk .125, Danny Jansen .133, Teoscar Hernandez .158, and Justin Smoak .167 are all below the Mendoza Line.

Last night also saw the lowest attendance since April 19th, 2010 as only 10,460 fans made it through the Rogers Centre turnstiles to see the home team take on the Orioles. Through the first four games, the Jays saw 104,629 fans come out to the diamond, that is some 44,000 fewer fans than 2018.

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A quick search of Stub Hub yielded many 100 level seats for tonight’s contest available in the $30 range. A drastic reduction for a ticket that has a face value of nearly $75.

The Jays will undoubtedly see an uptick in attendance when a certain prospect is healthy enough for a promotion to the big club. It is safe to assume that should happen later this month if Vladimir Guerrero Jr. does not suffer any type of setback in his rehab stint.

There has been plenty to cheer about already but unfortunately, the positive performances by the likes of Trent Thornton and company have not transcended in the win column. As the weather warms, so will the Blue Jays bats and hopefully, the fans begin to show up to appreciate and support the young talent on display.