DOUBLE STANDARD AGAINST YOUR TORONTO BLUE JAYS

News and notes from a day where you struggled not to tell the England fans in your life, "Told ya so."

In weaker moments, Blue Jays diehards have to wonder if there is some kind on conspiracy theory afoot in the Toronto media. (Or am I projecting?)

There's a symbiotic relationship between the Leafs and the local press -- the team knows that criticial coverage is better than indifferent coverage you get in most U.S. cities, and every editor in town knows street sales jump when the Leafs are on the front page. That's fine. However, The Geek believes it is creeping into the tone of the coverage and that's where there are major problems.

Witness the column Mike Ulmer had in today's Toronto Sun. Ulmer's always seemed like one of the good guys. He brings a sensibility to covering sports and is willing to stick up for what isn't popular. Yet here he is, trying to be even-handed about the Jays "facing long odds in a brutal division" (which is true), but at the same time, leaving enough between the lines that the conclusion your Average Newspaper Reader is supposed to have is that no matter how hard they try, the Blue Jays are doomed. A bunch of losers.

(So much different than that hockey team who hasn't won anything of consequence since my parents were in Grade 9. You betcha.)

"This season, the Jays have found victories in not losing ground." ...

(snip)

"Not buried but maybe with one foot in the soil.

"In three months, the Jays have managed to stay exactly where they were three months ago."

Another only-in-Toronto moment. The Blue Jays have won in five in a row entering today -- against two weaker teams, but Philadelphia and Washington are still members of the major leagues in good standing with uniforms, and a manager and everything. No one expects a shill, but enough already with the other-shoe's-about-to-drop stuff.

Even compliments paid to the Jays come off as backhanded. Ulmer's colleague Steve Simmons wrote today that, "Last season, you couldn't locate a Blue Jay to send to the all-star game." Actually, those of us who live on Planet Earth, might remember Roy Halladay was 12-4 with a tidy 2.41 ERA and was slated to be the American League's starting pitcher in the all-star game before that Kevin Mench line drive did a number on his leg in his last start before the break. But I digress.

Consider the spin if the Leafs had just ripped off five straight wins. There would be all sorts of stuff in the papers and on TV that would be tantamount to saying how the Leafs are better than sex. Maybe even better than the sex-sandwich-watching TV trifecta George Costanza once pulled off on Seinfeld.

Perhaps it's not altogether bad that the Jays get tougher treatment, since it suggests that unlike the Leafs, the Jays had standards once upon a time. Also, baseball fans do tend be more critical than hockey fans (especially Toronto hockey fans.) At the same time, Ulmer, who's almost always an incisive writer, is being held to a higher standard here than I might hold other writers to.

This space has been hyper-critical of the Jays (their inability to turn double plays, by the way, is costing them big-time). However, to some extent it's baseball's unfair schedule and unfair playoff format that makes the team seem like it's leaking oil when it actually has the sixth-best record in the major leagues after years of mediocrity.

(In fairness, the Sun does run daily comparisons comparing the Jays' record with where the 1992 and '93 teams were at the same point in the schedule.)

Yes, you need a little luck to win in baseball, but it's more than luck -- scheduling advantages and divisional alignment play a huge part. This is not meant as a knock on Ulmer. It's more about the type of sports page reader -- the people who don't know how to read -- the column seems catered to. Why not challenge the reader a little and point out how, with Alex Rios hurt, Eric Hinske is getting hot at the right time, which may, as suggested here two months ago, will make him more attractive in a trade for pitching help?

(Knowing my luck, the Jays will turn around and lose today .... as of this writing, the Phillies had built an early 5-3 lead against A.J. Burnett.

Out of Left Field has one expectation for the Hometown Columnist -- don't tell people what they want to hear; tell them what they need to hear. Unfortunately for Ulmer, and this is coming from someone who's not privvy to the demands of his editors or the inner workings of his workplace, this comes across as a panderfest to the yokels who think they're being hip and sophisticated by refusing to get behind the Jays.

After all, it's easier to go negative early, commit to nothing and be a cynic. That way, you can never get your heart broken. Right?

OTHER BUSINESS

• Score one for the guys who don't read the front of the newspaper: Somewhere, a retired geography teacher is trying to e-mail or write a letter to the editor to Simmons for this line about the Raptors GM, formerly of Phoenix: "Has anybody told Bryan Colangelo that he's no longer on west coast time?" Simmons is actually right -- while Phoenix is in the Mountain time zone, Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Savings, so right now, it is on West Coast time. Besides, with what right-wing politicians are doing to the environment, in 50 years Arizona will be the West Coast.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.