04-29-2008, 02:45 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Pure Greatness
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 2,368
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Time For Franchise Cornerstone To Stand Tall
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It's nice that Scott Rolen has infused the Toronto Blue Jays with a little bit of presence but, really, shouldn't that be Vernon Wells's job?
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Blue Jays' offensive ineptitude during the first six games of this trip was the 0-for-15 run by the team's cornerstone centre fielder, who finally broke out of the funk Sunday on a hit-and-run put on by manager John Gibbons.
Hey, when a team is in the middle of an offensive fog of 11-for-100 with runners in scoring position, there's blame to go around. But, really, it seems as if it's Wells more than any other player who'll expand the strike zone or pop up the 2-0 pitch.
It seems that way even if it isn't entirely true statistically because … well, because more than any other player on this team it is Wells (.265 with three home runs and 17 runs batted in) who catches the eye and ire. That's what happens when you ink a seven-year, $126-million (U.S.) contract extension.
When Gibbons shuffled his lineup Sunday against the Kansas City Royals and dropped Wells to the fifth spot in the batting order, it was a slap in the face. Dropping him to sixth would have been a punch in the gut.
If this Blue Jays season spirals out of control, it is Wells who will feel the brunt of the pressure from the team's fan base. Strange, but for a player now in his seventh full season, Wells, 29, has so far not made an imprimatur.
He hit .317 with 33 homers and 117 RBIs in 2003, and .303 with 32 homers and 106 RBIs in 2005, yet there remains a kind of distance between him and the Blue Jays' fans. Perhaps it's because he always just seems to be part of something, never a trend-setter.
This would be a good week to go about changing that. Sunday's 5-2 win has not removed the heat that general manager J.P. Ricciardi will get from team president and chief executive officer Paul Godfrey to fire Gibbons if the club languishes below .500.
The Blue Jays, 11-15, are 1-5 on this 10-day trip heading into tonight's first of a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox. And while the Tampa Bay Rays' sweep of the Red Sox this weekend means Toronto actually gained a game in the American League East standings despite that slide, being 31/2 games out and in last place takes on a glass half-full feeling when you consider the Jays played 16 of 20 against the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Royals and Rays and, well, they're supposed to win the majority of those games.
They just are.T his is what Rolen seemed to be suggesting after Sunday's win.
“The idea though is not about the Red Sox and the [New York] Yankees, it's about us and we had a chance to win series and let it get away,” the veteran third baseman said.
“Yeah, I knew we left some guys on base. It's a story, but not always the story. We've found a lot of ways to lose ball games, even in the few I've been here.”
Make no mistake: The road to the postseason still goes through the Bronx and Boston. To have the BoSox and Yankees scuffling and be in last place is an opportunity lost for the Jays, more than it is a helping hand from the baseball gods.
Time for the guy who is being paid to be the franchise player to step up.
Wells said Saturday he was tired of the number of managers who'd been fired during his stay with the Blue Jays. You can hear the reaction from the fans: Good on you, Vernon. Why not do something about it?
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globesports.com: Time for the franchise cornerstone to stand tall
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Time For Franchise Cornerstone To Stand Tall
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