BLUE JAYS' BREAKFAST OF RUNNERS-UP

For this graduate scholar in schadenfreude, it warms the cold, cold heart on to see the Blue Jays finally perched in second place after whipping up on a makeshift Boston/Pawtucket Red Sox lineup last night in the season finale in front of 40,000-plus fans at the cable box.*

Rookie Shawn Marcum pitched brilliantly last night, fanning 10 and giving up just two soft singles across eight shutout innings in the 5-0 win. Jason Phillips (pictured) called a great game for Marcum and also got a hit that started a three-run rally.

Associate Blogger Neil Acharya was on hand last night, and reported that the crowd was loud and came away impressed by the Jays. Maybe it felt like the old days -- 1993. In Neil's words:

"The crowd started out quiet but quickly noticed Marcum's pitching performance... with every strike, the fans became more louder and more involved. The crowd was just waiting for a chance to let loose and was finally allowed to when Phillips broke up Tim Wakefield's shut out with a double, which was followed up two batters later by Alex Rios' 3-run homer.

After wakefield's no hitter was broken up, fans watched as Marcum's no-hit bid was broken up by an infield hit by Alex Cora. Even before Aaron Hill made the fleeting attempt at trying to preserve the no hitter and threw a limp ball towards Lyle Overbay at first base, the crowd was on its feet, cheering Marcum's performance.

Later, David Ortiz hit a foul ball within about 15 feet of the 500 level fair territory, he hit foul near about 4 Boston fans who had NESN signs. What luck. You can't find that much room on the Massachusetts Turnpike, let alone Fenway."

It's kind of an empty feeling. Don't get me wrong. It would be nice for the Jays to finish second in the AL East after finishing third in seven of the past eight seasons. It's just more a feeling that being pleased about the Jays finishing second, in light of how the Red Sox unravelled over the final six weeks, reeks of being of an apologist for the brain trust of team president Paul Godfrey, GM J.P. Ricciardi and manager John Gibbons.

There's just a hard-to-shake feeling is that all the positive energy that abounded at times this summer -- peaking on the late July weekend when the Jays took three of four games from the Yankees, pounding them 13-5 in the Sunday game -- is all going to be in vain. The Jays don't have the smarts, in the dugout or the GM's office, to take the aging Yankees next year.

It's never going to be easy so long as the Jays are in the AL East with the Evil Empires. That's fine. This season's been nothing if not interesting (witness Gibbons' clashes with Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilly), but in the end, what did it all mean? Back in the summer, when the Jays had the sixth-best record in the majors but were stuck in third in the division, yours truly sent a wild, barely coherent e-mail to a Toronto beat writer, pointing out how baseball's scheduling and playoff format skews perspective and gives certain columnists license to bash the Jays.

The writer responded courteously, but pointed out if the Jays didn't make the playoffs this year, you'd have to wonder if they would ever be able to, barring a change to the post-season format.

Now it's another non-playoff season, a nearly inexcusable sin in a market which, thanks to all those years when the Leafs were in the old Norris Division (where they could, and did, finish 20th in a 21-team NHL and still get a shot at the Stanley Cup), believes you almost have to try to not make the post-season. Well, that, and all the fair-weather fans got spoiled back in the day. (How many realize that Cito Gaston was the only manager ever prior to the current three-division to make the post-season in four of his first five seasons?)

The Jays drew 2.3 million fans this year, their most since 1998. There seems to be a buzz around the team. Those in the much coveted 18-to-34 demo are rediscovering baseball after largely ignoring it since the World Series years (as The Geek noted back on Opening Day), whatever their reasons might be.

Still, the end result is that it's another season with 85 or so wins, just like 2003, or 1998 through 2000. In each of those seasons, the following spring brought no real reason to be optimistic about seeing the Jays play in the post-season. This is a good team here, as exciting as any since the early '90s, but it's hard to ease these self-doubts.

(* Re: "cable box." The hope here is that this takes off as the new nickname for the Rogers Centre. Credit goes to Woodstock Sentinel-Review sports ed. Darryl G. Smart.)

Previous Jays rants:
More Like a Towers of (Slim) Hope (Sept. 25)
Ain't No Party Like A Lame Yankees Victory Party (Sept. 20)
Baseball's Scheduling Imbalance Revisited (Sept. 13)
Our Feminized Society Catches Up To John Gibbons (Aug. 22)

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