Oh Well, It Was A Nice Dream *

The Jays bounced back from their streak-ending loss on Wednesday night, and hoped to start up another nice long run with their 6-4 victory in Chicago last night. They were 6 and a half games back of Boston for the Wildcard, with 7 head-to-head matches against the Red Sox left on the very short remaining MLB schedule. That meant that, at least in theory, the Jays could control their own destiny. After all, if they won all 7 of those games, and then at least matched the Red Sox the rest of the way, they would have finished no worse than Boston. Now, that was a tall order, especially when you consider how good a team gets fielded in Fenway Park every game, but at least it was within their own control (rather than having to rely on help from elsewhere).

Then they cruised into the first of four weekend games in Beantown tonight, and got completely flamboozled by a rain delay, continued precipitation throughout the game, and Red Sox's knuckleball pitcher, Tim Wakefield. Other than a few random hits, the Jays couldn't do anything but hit ground balls to the infield and fly balls to the outfield. (Boston unfortunately wasn't having anywhere near that much trouble against Jays pitcher, David Purcey.) With tonight's 7-0 loss, Toronto's now 7 and a half games back, with only 6 remaining against the team they have to catch, and 15 games in total left on the 2008 schedule. The odds were long before this loss; now they're practically to the Moon and back.

As I said to Vicki in the early innings, I hate seeing important games being played in the rain. I wish all major league teams were required to have retractable roofs, so that you could count on the game happening - short of natural disaster! - and under ideal conditions (let the players decide the outcome, not the weather). But that's not the way it's set up, so there you go.

I just hope the Jays don't give up and start losing now, as they've still got a great chance for an impressive 2008 record. They're sitting at 11 games over .500 and could easily finish with 86 wins or more. That'd be a terrific mark to build on next year. Athough I said the exact same thing in 2003 (when they finished 86-76), and the following year they posted an abysmal 67-94 record. Last year they ended up 83-79, which they still could come in under if they really blow a gasket. Don't give up, Jays!

* "Nice Dream" is a Radiohead song from their second album, The Bends.