Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Say What You Like About the Tenets of Citocity, At Least it's An Ethos


or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb.

Last night's three solo home run outburst cinched it. The 2010 Blue Jays are a one trick pony who are going to have a hard time staying out of their own way. But you know what? That's okay.

I used to write a lot about style on this page, even though style and baseball are slightly dissonant ideas. This 2010 Blue Jays team, it has style. It's brash and obnoxious and its own worst enemy, but damn if it isn't fun to watch. The numbers are clear - this cannot sustain a ballclub over 162 games. But who cares?

"Plan your work, work your plan" an oft-repeated cliche. Clarence hardly planned this, claiming in a doddering moment this spring that the team would create offense and move runners around and all that good shit. This ran in direct opposition to a later (truer) claim that a bunch of guys could possibly knock a truckful of dingers.

The cruelest irony of the Jays free swinging ways, the greatest victim in the great paradigm shift of 2010: Aaron Hill.

So often chided for being a free-swinger, Bizarro Hill is now the most patient hitter on the team. The worst hitter, but the most patient. After we all wailed about his inability to talk a walk, he's now seeing next to nothing in the strike zone. The result? Sky-high walk totals and rock bottom line drive rates.

I wonder what this says about our desire to stretch players across all five tools? Did Aaron Hill hear the whispers of his impatience and change his entire approach? Is he now pressing; mad worse by the dearth of quality pitches he's offered to hit? It is a troubling time for Aaron Hill, for the most part. He is the streakiest man alive, so we have that to hang onto.

But these 2010 Jays, they are throw-your-hands-in-the-air-in-disbelief awesome. Bang-your-head-off-a-table-in-anger awesome. This-can't-possibly-work awesome. They are the bad movie you quickly realize is one of your all-time favorites. They are a bad team playing well. They are ours.

3 comments:

  1. So the Jays are King Kong vs Godzilla? I can definitely get behind that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. it's like David vs. Goliath in this american league east, which just suddenly bunched up.

    ReplyDelete

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