Kim Klement – USA Today Sports Images
Many people were worried about the Toronto Blue Jays at the start of the 2013 MLB season. After being one of the most active teams in the league in the offseason, through trades and free agency, the Blue Jays were expected to be competing at the top of the American League East.
Through the end of May, though, Toronto had been struggling mightily. At that time they were just 23-33 and were in last place in the division by 7.5 games. Moreover, they had a pretty paltry -43 run differential on the season.
However, over the month of June they have gotten hot and seem to have everything clicking. Coming into Monday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Jays were 15-3 in the month of June and were riding an 11-game winning streak. To add to that, Toronto had also improved their run differential from an awful -43 to a respectable +3. Their overall record sat at 38-36, even if they were still tied at the bottom of the division.
Toronto’s winning streak came to an end on Monday night at the hands of the Rays, though. The game got off to a pretty rough start for the Jays as starter Esmil Rogers allowed back-to-back-to-back home runs to James Loney, Will Myers and Sam Fuld in the bottom of the second inning. That put the Blue Jays in a 3-0 hole that they never recovered from, losing by a final count of 4-1.
Though the Blue Jays winning streak has come to a close, they seem to be in good position. Their bats are finally coming alive and hitting for more power, the top of their starting rotation is starting to look better and Jose Reyes is expected to return in the very near future. Despite their poor start, don’t be surprised if the Jays are in the mix in the AL East when all is said and done.
Cody Williams is a Blogger with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google+ and like his Facebook page.
