THE JAYS: REASON TO BELIEVE

Right now the Jays are doing the same thing to me what various femme fatales have done on those lonely, sultry summer nights. This team doesn't have enough starting pitching and that seems unlikely to change since the asking price for Barry Zito or Dontrelle Willis is way more than the Jays can afford. Plus, as the Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons notes in one of his rare lucid moments pertaining to baseball, there's a hole at shortstop.

Still, this three-game mini-streak that has the Jays only 3½ games behind Boston in the AL East has the diehards believing again, and the fair-weather types starting to come back from a 13-year vacation. Case in point: For the first time in a while, weekday evenings -- i.e., Jays games -- is The Fan 590's most-listened-to programming block, having inched ahead Bob McCown's drive-time show. Digression: McCown would no doubt say, "Well, that's what I deserve for having Brunt and Friedman on all the time."

A split of these last two games against the Rangers, with Shawn Marcum and Casey Janssen starting, seems like a little much to ask. However, the Yankees can be had. A split of those four games would satisfy, three out of four would be more ideal... dare I say a sweep?

Tell me it won't happen is basically the epitaph for these '06 Jays. They have their flaws, sure, the wild card is out of reach, they're in a division with the Evil Empires, yet they can win successive extra-inning games in the 35C heat and come right back, fresh as daisies, and batter the bejeezus out of the Texas Rangers.

All that's missing is the catchy, iconic slogan, like the 1969 Miracle Mets or The Impossible Dream with the Red Sox in '67.

It's too way to early to get giddy and write, as one Boston scribe did in '67, "If the Red Sox play all of their games like they did yesterday, they will be in the World Series for sure." Back in '69, Tom Seaver supposedly said, "If the Mets can win the World Series, the United States can get out of Vietnam."

If the Jays can make the playoffs in the AL East, against the Evil Empires, the U.S. can get out of Iraq. (Tying the Jays' fortunes to the Middle East, however, is too fanciful and light-hearted even considering the tone of this post)

How's that sound?

Tell me it won't happen.

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