Wednesday, August 10, 2011

A Growing Menace


Menace. When Brett Lawrie stands at the plate, waving his bat with exteme prejudice, I can only think about the word menace. He is a menacing figure, with his cartoon traps and barely-simmering intensity. I fear for pitchers, standing but 60 feet away from a quaking mass of broed up energy.

He is also a menace because that level of energy — when wholly expelled after an orgiastic grand slam — is going to get someone killed. Be it an errant high five-cum-Ric Flair knife-edge chop to the neck or a pointed fastball between the numbers from a jilted pitcher, somebody is coming away bruised. Consider it collateral damage.

Brett Lawrie is not alone in his menacing ways. The swagger, youth, and confidence that permeates this team belies its fourth place standing. This collection of cast-offs and unwanted middle children has a massive chip on its collective shoulder - nobody believed in them individually and now, facing long odds even as they stockpile talent, nobody believes in them collectively.

Which is foolish for the nobodys. Fools will count this team out, both now and in the future. Not because of the attitude or the swagger but because of the talent.

Good God Damn, there is a lot of talent. Even if the talent can't look eye to eye with the competition today, there are still a whole lot of age 27 seasons waiting to happen in that clubhouse.

Failing that, the league is lousy with potential problem children to absorb into the fiery womb. There are plenty of tarnished dollar bills remaining for Gordious Dougolous to acquire for two shiny quarters.

There is promise and there is hope. There is entertainment and there is pride in the offing. Get in on the ground floor while you still can. Tell a friend. Act like you knew.

Image of Edwin Encarnacion's punctured lung by Fred Thornhill courtesy of Reuters via Daylife Fred Thornhill! Gordie Dougie life!

15 comments:

  1. "Good God Damn, there is a lot of talent."

    That line almost made me tear up a bit. Great post. So true, all of it.

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  2. Well said....we should partition off the ground floor shortly though and start selling lofts 1 bedrooms on the second floor....there has to be some reward for watching Alex Rios, no?

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  3. You spelled Brad Wilkerson very, very incorrectly.

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  4. This team makes me want to create haters and then brush them off repeatedly.

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  5. It's refreshing to see a Jays player play with such energy and personality.

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  6. Ric Flair knife-edge chops...of course.

    The reason why Lawrie didn't get more involved in last night's brawl was because he didn't have the chance to blade himself before the fight.

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  7. I just passed a colleague in the office just recounting yesterday's sheer awesomnity of events. We nodded at each other at the end.

    'Cause Drew's right. We felt it since the start of the season when this maniac took over spring training but damned if we aren't gonna say we knew it all along.

    There isn't enough to articulate how genuinely amazing that grand slam was (not to mention the reaction afterwards that was pure insanity) and how it expressed the excitement that is here and the year to come for this franchise and its fan base.

    Yeah okay, ESPN. Keep your stories of cynicism coming. And for the rest of the time, your astonishing neglect for Canada's team. Because, when that talent explodes, it's gonna hit them with the speed and power of a charging freight train.

    Ah, so I pity them. But boy, am I fucking excited.

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  8. That grand salami sucked, almost as much as bautista's beard.

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  9. Jonah Keri via Fangraphs interview via jaysjournal.com:

    "Can’t help but remind me of the Rays. They didn’t come into 2008 saying, “We’re going to win 97 games and roll to the World Series.” But they made a commitment to get better, they caught a bunch of breaks, and they did it. I’m guessing the market will dictate how the Jays proceed too."

    For me, trading the Vernon Wells contract was the tipping point. It accelerated the rebuild/build by two years I believe.

    Cool.

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  10. And the link, if you're interested:

    http://jaysjournal.com/2011/08/09/jays-related-tidbits-from-jonah-keris-fangraphs-farewell/

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  11. Great article!!
    Just checked the link off of espn and strangely enough it was after I wrote this http://bit.ly/nnXaDH

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