It's just past mid-season, and Toronto Blue Jays have had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster fanatic at the summer fair.
In the pre-season, many experts had the Jays bound for the World Series. They were coming off a winter of major acquisitions - pitchers R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, .330 hitters Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera. Add those stars to longtime Jays Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie and, well. . . the Jays had to be on their way.
Unfortunately, however, the season started. For the first two months, the Jays were among the three or four worst teams in Major League Baseball. They needed the Hubble telescope to see the leaders in the American League East and fans all over Canada were calling for the heads of manager John Gibbons and general manager Alex Anthopoulos.
The roller coaster then started to rise. Up, up it went. Toronto seemingly couldn't lose. Adam Lind, so bad last year that the Jays sent him down to their Triple A team in Las Vegas to try to reinvent himself, started performing like Babe Ruth. Four in a row . . . seven straight. . . 11 victories in a row. Suddenly, the Jays were at .500, and their 2.36 team earned-run-average in June was MLB's best.
Best of all, the Blue Jays were back in the pennant race by the end of June. Those pre-season predictions were starting to resemble fact, not fiction. "It was a battle early on, we all know that," manager Gibbons told MLB.com. "We always figured it was just a matter of time before we started playing better ."
The biggest surprise has been the generally inconsistent Lind, whose status at the start of 2013 was a part-time first-baseman, occasional DH. If he hit .260 with a dozen or 15 homers, the Jays would have been overjoyed, but through June, his numbers were spectacular: .322 average and 11 home runs, with still about 50 per cent of the season to be played. "You know if it stays like this, those are MVP-calibre numbers," Lind told the Toronto Star. "I mean I'd love to be that, but I've been around long enough, you guys know how my seasons go."
His season may go all the way to October, with that Jays rollercoaster riding high well into hockey season.
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "The proposed new Atlanta Falcons stadium might include vibrating seats, a 100-yard sports bar with a giant TV screen above it and a fantasy football lounge. It used to be fans watching on TV wanted the stadium experience; now fans watching at the stadium want the TV experience."
Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald: "On Tuesday, Doc Rivers officially became the new coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. Following tradition, five minutes later, the Clippers began a preliminary search for his replacement."
Comedy writer Jim Barach: "WWE wrestler CM Punk has gotten a restraining order against his mother. Well, that ought to stop those accusations about pro wrestling being fake."
R.J. Currie of sportsdeke.com: "NBA champ LeBron James says he's happy he could 'leave everything on the floor.' Try that in my house and my wife will kill you."
ABC late-night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel, after Canadian Anthony Bennett went No 1 in the NBA draft to Cleveland Cavaliers: "Congratulations Anthony Bennett #UNLV #1 pick (he already demanded a trade to Miami)."
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: "Jay-Z is now a certified NBA player agent. Anybody else find it strange that a hugely successful music mogul would do that? It's like finding out Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moonlights as a used car salesman."
Janice Hough of LeftCoastSportsBabe.com on the Stanley Cup final: "Rough game six in Boston. Bruins pulled off a collapse so fast and awful you figured Bill Buckner had to be involved."
Scott Hansen of the Seattle Times: "A Boston woman paid $560,000 last week for two off-street parking spaces in the city's Back Bay neighborhood, according to the AP, making it Boston's biggest expenditure for little in return since the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford, John Lackey and Josh Beckett for nearly $300 million."
Another one from Hansen: "The Mariners' Jesus Montero has denied involvement with the former anti-aging clinic in Miami that has been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. With a .208 batting average and an OPS of .590, he's either telling the truth, or he deserves a refund."
Janice Hough again: "Matt Krook, the Miami Marlins' first-round pick, will instead attend the University of Oregon. Maybe Krook wants to play in front of bigger crowds."
Comedy writer Bill Scheft, on Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final in Boston, on Twitter:: "I'm not bitter, but ice was so bad at the Garden last night, if B's-Hawks went into overtime, game would have been decided by a swim relay."
