June 12-15, Orioles

The Jays just wrapped up a 4 game away set against the Orioles, splitting the series 2-2 against their division rivals. Currently, the Jays are sitting at 1st place, with the Yankees and the Orioles each 4.5 games back on them, the Red Sox 9 games back, and the Rays 13.5 games back. 

In the two series prior to this (3 game set against the Cardinals then the Twins) the Jays went 2-4, an unimpressive set of games coming off a 5 game winning streak. They averaged only 1.6 runs a game, gave up 4.3 runs a game, and were looking to have a big bounce back against the Orioles at Camden Yards.

While the series wasn't necessarily a huge success, it was much better than their previous games. They averaged 3.25 runs a game, giving up an average of only 2.25 runs a game. 

Injuries played a small role in the series, with Brett Cecil leaving the 4-0 win on the 13th with groin tightness, R.A. Dickey left the 3-2 loss on the 14th with groin tightness, and Adam Lind also left the 3-2 loss with a bruise on his right foot. Fortunately none of the injuries are listed as too severe, so all 3 players can be expected to return to the lineup in the coming days. 

The Jays batting enjoyed reasonable success despite only having one home run in the series (off Juan Fransisco in the 4-0 win), showing even further how they don't have to rely solely on home runs to get runs needed to win. After coming up short in the past two series, this was a step in the right direction, with hopefully even more production to come in the upcoming series against the Yankees in New York. 

All starters had reasonable starts, each going 6+ innings and only Mark Buehrle didn't get a quality start by giving up 4 runs. The bullpen also played well, with Dustin McGowan giving up the only run by the pen in the series finale, giving the pen an impressive 1.13 ERA over 8 innings of work.

While there are things that the Jays could improve on, there are always things that teams could do better. Mistakes are going to be made 99% of the time in baseball, especially against a strong team like the Orioles. As long as the Jays can bounce back from the small errors here and there, there is nothing to be too worried about. 

The Jays have a day off on Monday, and will start a 3 game set against the Yankees, with Storman, Buehrle, and Hutchison being the projected starters.