Very impressive starting record for the Jays.. and the come back today was great. Heard already it's a sold out house tomorrow and looking forward to it! hopefully that roof'll be up.

Time to plan the parade route.

The yearly awesome Jays start before the May crash! It's an exciting time of year!! (please prove me wrong this time though, Jays!)

We are going to suck this year like we always do.

this guy disagrees:
http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/article/2010-04-12/mlb-power-poll-way-it-now-early-surprises-shape-rankings

MLB Power Poll: The way it is now -- early surprises shape the rankings

Ryan Fagan


Monday, Apr. 12, 2010 - 7:06 p.m. ET

Ralph Kiner was on the phone a few weeks ago, telling stories about his contract negotiations with then-Pirates general manager Branch Rickey. The Hall of Fame outfielder pointed out that he was forced to take a pay cut because his team had finished in last place in 1952 — despite the fact that he led the National Leagues with 37 home runs.

Unthinkable now, right? "That's the way it was in those days," Kiner said.

These days — as in, the first week of the season — some pretty unthinkable things have transpired, too. The Blue Jays and A's are first-place teams. Alex Gonzalez entered the week tied for the major league lead in home runs. Martin Prado and Edgar Renteria entered the week ranked 1-2 in the majors with .542 and .524 batting averages, respectively.

That's the way it is these days.

Which is why this first power poll of the season won't resemble the one we see when September rolls around. This poll is mostly concerned with a team's production so far this year, with preseason expectations used to split hairs.

1. Phillies. Two starts, two wins, two walks, 16 innings, 17 strikeouts. So much for the thought that there might be an adjustment period as Roy Halladay joins the National League. The 0.56 ERA and 0.938 WHIP are shiny, too.

2. Giants. In the least shocking start to the season, back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his first two games. In a more surprising development, the revamped San Francisco offense averaged 5.2 runs in the first six games. The Giants averaged 4.1 runs all of last year.

Alex Gonzalez comes out swinging and helps the Jays get off to a surprising start.
Alex Gonzalez comes out swinging and helps the Jays get off to a surprising start.
3. Blue Jays. There were so many bright spots in the opening week — Gonzalez and his homers, Vernon Wells and his homers, Shaun Marcum's return to the rotation, the outstanding starts by Dana Eveland and Ricky Romero. Hard to choose just one.

4. Twins. Apparently the Twins can turn any reliever into a rock-solid closer. When Joe Nathan, who held various roles with the Giants but flourished when he arrived in Minnesota, went down this spring, the Twins gave the job to Jon Rauch, who had held various roles with his three previous teams. Rauch is 4-for-4 in save opportunities this year.

5. Yankees. Some teams started with easy schedules — we'll get to the Tigers in a minute — but not the Yankees. They opened with three games in Boston and three games at Tampa Bay, which makes their 4-2 record pretty impressive.

6. Athletics. Speaking of rough openings, the A's hosted the Mariners — the "it" team of the offseason — for four games, then played three road games against the Angels. Tough slate for a team predicted by most to finish last in the AL West, which makes their 5-2 start pretty impressive.

7. Cardinals. When Matt Holliday signed a long-term deal this offseason, Cardinals fans had visions of the damage the 3-4 combo of Holliday and Albert Pujols could do against the NL. So far, those visions have come true — Holliday entered the week hitting .423 with three homers; Pujols was at .375 with four homers.

8. Marlins. The Marlins finished the opening week with a 4-2 record despite two very mediocre starts from ace Josh Johnson. The 10 RBIs from Jorge Cantu and 3 1/3 scoreless innings from new closer Leo Nunez have been huge.

9. Tigers. The scheduling folks did their best to give the Tigers a gentle nudge into the season, scheduling Detroit's first seven games against the Indians and Royals, the two teams expected to battle for last place in the AL Central.

10. Red Sox. Entering the week, leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury had yet to draw a walk; his average of 3.40 pitches per at-bat was 183rd in the majors. Last year, he saw 3.77 pitches per at-bat.

11. Rays. New closer Rafael Soriano has a win and a save in his first two appearances, but he also has allowed five baserunners in those two innings.

12. Diamondbacks. After their forgettable 70-win campaign in 2009, the D-backs will gladly take their 4-2 start to the season, even if it came against the Padres and Pirates. The much-maligned Chris Young is hitting .292 with three homers and 11 RBIs.

13. Braves. Derek Lowe is 2-0 this season despite allowing 10 walks and nine hits in 12 innings covering two starts. (Don't worry; there will be plenty of time to talk about Jason Heyward ...)

14. Rockies. Catchers Miguel Olivo and Chris Iannetta split the first six games. Olivo hit .455 with a 1.500 OPS; Iannetta hit .083 with a .583 OPS.

15. Rangers. Nelson Cruz is angling for a return trip to the home run derby. Cruz, who was the derby runner-up last year, hit four homers in the opening week to go with nine RBIs and a .450 batting average.

16. Brewers. The 42-year-old closer (Trevor Hoffman) has given up three homers and six runs in four appearances. The catcher (Gregg Zaun), who turns 39 on Wednesday, has started the season 0-for-14. The 40-year-old outfielder (Jim Edmonds) has a measly .610 OPS through his first five games. Aside from that, the Brewers are doing just fine.

17. Reds. Cincinnati starting pitchers are a combined 4-for-8 at the plate this season. On a completely unrelated note, don't be surprised if this team finishes second in the NL Central this season.

Lack of contact plagues Matt Kemp's first week.
Lack of contact plagues Matt Kemp's first week.
18. Dodgers. Catcher Russell Martin and second baseman Blake DeWitt have combined to walk 11 times this season and strike out only twice. Martin's on-base percentage is a Bonds-esque .611 so far. Matt Kemp, on the other hand, has walked once and struck out nine times.

19. Pirates. Starting pitchers Zach Duke (3.00 ERA) and Ross Ohlendorf (3.60) have been good; starters Paul Maholm (6.00), Daniel McCutchen (24.30) and Charlie Morton (21.60) haven't.

20. Nationals. The Nationals won their first road series of the season, taking two of three from the Mets. Last season, the Nationals only won two road series before the All-Star break.

21. Cubs. Coming off poor seasons, Geovany Soto (1-for-11) and Alfonso Soriano (3-for-21) struggled again in 2010's opening week.

22. Mariners. Speaking of players who struggled for the Cubs in 2009, Milton Bradley was just 1-for-21 in his first six games with the Mariners.

23. Angels. Brandon Wood, who has an opportunity to secure the third base job with Chone Figgins now in Seattle, was 1-for-19 in the season's opening week.

24. Orioles. That 1-5 record in the first week wasn't indicative of the way the Orioles played in the first week. Three of those losses were by one run, and in the fifth loss, they had a lead with two outs in the eighth. They expected better than an 18.00 ERA from Mike Gonzalez when they signed the lefty to close games.

Related Links

* McNeal: Wells' production bodes well for Jays
* Fantasy Source: Check our Fastball blog

25. Mets. What's more surprising, that Jeff Francoeur hit .476 in the opening week, or that he drew four walks in six games? Considering he walked just 23 times in 157 games last season, we'll go with the latter.

26. White Sox. As most predicted, the White Sox have been strong in the pitching categories — they had a staff ERA of 2.95 the opening week — and the offense has struggled. Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko are the only two regulars hitting above .227.

27. Royals. Through the first week, the three veteran hitters the Royals signed this offseason have the three highest batting averages: Rick Ankiel was at .391, Scott Podsednik was at .364 and Jason Kendall was at .316.

28. Indians. It's not hard to see the walk-off wild pitch Chris Perez allowed against the Tigers as a harbinger of things to come in Cleveland.

29. Padres. After his stellar debut to 2010, it had to be frustrating for the Padres to place Chris Young on the disabled list with tightness in his throwing shoulder. The Padres hope he only misses a couple weeks.

30. Astros. It's going to be a long season for the Astros.

This story appears in the April 13 edition of Sporting News Today. If you are not receiving Sporting News Today, the only sports digital daily, sign up today.

Ryan Fagan is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at rfagan@sportingnews.com, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ryan_fagan.

Tough loss.. had a chance to close it in the 10th in front of the sell out crowd. Won't see this many fans tomorrow I guarantee. :(

Absolute gem by Romero today with 12Ks and only 1 hit allowed in 8 innings. Too bad it was Rios who broke up the no-hitter. How many times have old Toronto players come back to haunt our teams?

Romero is our next ace.

Also, how about Gregg for closer over Frasor? He was solid. 2Ks in 1 inning. When Frasor comes into the game, it looks like he's a deer in headlights. Gregg was so calm and confident - true closer material.

That was an awesome pitching performance by Romero. I hadn't been watching the game and then I went to a bar and the first thing I saw from the broadcast in about the 8th inning was a melt of all his strikeouts. I was expecting them to string together three or four and I couldn't believe my eyes when they just seemed to go on forever!

Former Blue Jay Alex Rios says baseball dead in Toronto

Mark Zwolinski Sports Reporter

Baseball is dead in hockey-mad Toronto, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. It’s time to pull up the anchor on the city’s major league team – the Toronto Blue Jays – and seek a city that really wants baseball.

The Sun-Times ran a story in Friday’s editions quoting both Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and former Jay Alex Rios as saying “there isn’t much up there (Toronto) anymore” for major league players.

The article followed the White Sox visit to the Jays in which Chicago split a four game series. During Chicago’s 11-1 win Wednesday, the Jays announced an all time record low crowd that rose just north of 10,000.

Toronto is a mirror image of the entire country – it’s hockey mad, and baseball has fallen off the map since the glory days of the Jays back-to-back World Series victories in 1992-93.

“Yeah, there’s no real following here,” Rios told the Sun-Times during the White Sox four-day visit to Toronto that wrapped up Thursday. “There’s a small group of diehards, but it’s hockey, hockey, hockey. It’s gotten sad here. They just don’t really care.”

Guillen concurred.

“It’s kind of a sad situation up here,” Guillen said. “There are people supporting Toronto baseball, but it’s sad when you remember 10 or 20 years ago how exciting it was to come play up here. There was enthusiasm in the city. There were great things happening here.”

Guillen added “hopefully the fans realize how important it is to have a baseball team here, and what it will be like if they do leave. It’s all about the fans. This is on them. Especially because this is the only team left in Canada and they have to show they want it.”

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/796608--former-blue-jay-alex-rios-says-baseball-dead-in-toronto?bn=1#article

It's only a matter of time before the Jays leave. The only way to save it would be to build a new stadium that is smaller and more intimate like the classic outdoor fields but there is no way that is going happen.

Win and they will come, Jays say about dwindling crowds


"It's gotten sad here. They just don’t really care," said former Blue Jay Alex Rios after his return to Toronto this week.
http://media.thestar.topscms.com/images/26/08/a308fa2e4d9b945961af0b43a541.jpeg
Darren Calabrese/THE CANADIAN PRESS


Mark Zwolinski
Sports Reporter

Blue Jays players and manager Cito Gaston agreed yesterday that if Toronto fans are truly disinterested in pro baseball, it’s up to the team to change their minds. The Jays were reacting yesterday to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times calling the baseball atmosphere in Toronto “sad.”

The report said the dwindling crowds at the Rogers Centre are due to the Jays playing in a city where hockey is the only sport that matters. Ultimately, baseball should leave Canada — the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C., in 2004 — the report suggested.

Centre fielder Vernon Wells, the longest serving Jay who debuted in August, 1999, believes only the Jays can solve the problem of fan apathy. “Obviously, we play second fiddle to hockey ... but the thing around here is we as an organization haven’t been consistently competitive in a while,” Wells said. “We have to establish that we can play consistent baseball and compete. Until that happens we can’t expect anything from anyone.”

The report quoted both ex-Jay Alex Rios and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen lamenting Toronto’s hockey first sports mentality. It said the sparse attendance suggests baseball is dead in Toronto, in contrast to the glory days of the 1992-93 World Series seasons when crowds of 50,000-plus were routine.

“Yeah, there’s no real following here,” Rios told the Sun-Times during the White Sox four-day visit to Toronto that wrapped up Thursday. “There’s a small group of diehards, but it’s hockey, hockey, hockey. It’s gotten sad here. They just don’t really care.”

Guillen concurred. “It’s kind of a sad situation up here,” Guillen said. “There are people supporting Toronto baseball, but it’s sad when you remember 10 or 20 years ago how exciting it was to come play up here. There was enthusiasm in the city. There were great things happening here.”

Guillen added “hopefully the fans realize how important it is to have a baseball team here, and what it will be like if they do leave. It’s all about the fans. This is on them. Especially because this is the only team left in Canada and they have to show they want it.”

Jays manager Cito Gaston, who guided those Series teams and has been a fixture with the Jays for almost three decades, believes fans will support a winner in Toronto. “The only thing I can say or do is go out and do my job on the field and get these guys back to where they were, and the fans will come back,” Gaston said. “No ... you’ve seen the team here in the ’90s, the fans are here, we just got to win and get them back out here.”

The White Sox split the series in Toronto and were the opposition on Monday’s opening day when some 46,321 took in the game. Crowds normally drop dramatically after the opener, something that is seen in most major league cities. The Jays drew crowds of 12,167 Tuesday, 10,610 Wednesday and 10,744 Thursday. The Wednesday crowd was reported as the lowest ever for a Jays game at Rogers Centre.

Around baseball, some franchises are experiencing the same falling crowd numbers that have been seen in Toronto. On Monday, the day after the Jays swept Baltimore in a weekend series, the Orioles drew 9,129, the smallest crowd in the 19-year history of Camden Yards. Baltimore, Cleveland and the Jays all saw crowds in the 10,000 range this week. Toronto’s Class A affiliate in Lansing, Mich., almost outdrew the Jays on Thursday with a crowd of 10,152.

Major League Baseball enjoyed record crowds in 2007 when the sport saw an average of 32,785 per game. Those numbers, though, dropped to 32,528 in 2008 and 30,350 last year. Eight franchises, including the Jays, set record low crowds last season by May.

Considering baseball's roots in Ontario, it is sad. People in Ontario have abandoned baseball, like they've abandoned football. Ontario cares about the NHL and soccer. The rest is falling by the way side.

http://toronto.metblogs.com/archives/images/2008/01/1907_Toronto.jpg
http://toronto.metblogs.com/archives/images/2008/01/1907_Toronto.jpg

Basketball's strong hold has always been on the east coast, but thankfully at least that sport is growing in Ontario.

Unless things change it looks like Ontario will continue to be dominated by hockey with soccer and basketball pulling up the rear. The glory days of football and baseball seem largely done in this province.

BASEBALL

Canada looks to Beachville, Ontario 1838 as the first baseball game, while Americans cite the first published rules of baseball written in 1845 for a New York base ball club called the Knickerbockers. What's clear is that baseball didn't arrive in Canada when US based MLB expanded into Canada with the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays. It's existed here from the very beginning.

Oldest baseball stadium in the world would be Labatt Park, in London, Ontario, Canada. The diamond opened in 1877 at the forks of the Thames River as Tecumseh Park. This distinction is recognized by the Guiness Book of Records. Below is a sign marking Beachville's claim to fame followed by a photo of the world's oldest baseball stadium in London, Ontario.

http://www.baseballhalloffame.ca/images/inductees/Beachville.jpghttp://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/49749567_d6f621eb68.jpg?v=0
http://www.baseballhalloffame.ca/images/inductees/Beachville.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/49749567_d6f621eb68.jpg?v=0

Alex Rios is the textbook example of a player who turned some Toronto fans off baseball. With all that hype, he turned out to be an underachieving, lazy loser. He isn't exactly wowing them in Chicago, either.

That's baloney, hockey season doesn't even compete with baseball season, the reason not many people go is that the team sucks, plain and simple.

Alex Rios is the textbook example of a player who turned some Toronto fans off baseball. With all that hype, he turned out to be an underachieving, lazy loser. He isn't exactly wowing them in Chicago, either.

LOL well said ... but to be honest, I think he got a lot of undeserved hatred from the fans. I remember one incident outside the ROM couple of years ago where some fan told him "You f**king suck ... don't forget where you came from!" or something ridiculous like that. I don't understand why he angered so many people. He did seem a bit lazy at times but I think that is just the way he plays. The only thing that angers me about him is that J.P. Riccardi had a chance to trade him to San Fran for Lincecum but Riccardi backed off :ohno:

Give Toronto a 140M payroll like the Yankees and the Bosox have.... then the fans will start believing again. Who really wants to put in the effort to come to games especially when a team hasn't made the playoffs in almost 2 decades? There's no hope for this team, it's not that we don't like baseball. Rios has to take his head out of his ass and look at the big picture. We're in the hardest division in the league, with a payroll less than half of the two top division teams.. and without Roy Halladay; the only hope we had.

LOL well said ... but to be honest, I think he got a lot of undeserved hatred from the fans. I remember one incident outside the ROM couple of years ago where some fan told him "You f**king suck ... don't forget where you came from!" or something ridiculous like that. I don't understand why he angered so many people. He did seem a bit lazy at times but I think that is just the way he plays. The only thing that angers me about him is that J.P. Riccardi had a chance to trade him to San Fran for Lincecum but Riccardi backed off :ohno:

Well, that's Riccardi being Riccardi. He's like Manny but a whole lot more destructive.

Yeah, I wouldn't take it THAT far, but he still rubbed me the wrong way. He just didn't live up to his potential.

It is still spring! People should stop panicking and realize that baseball is a summer sport, and once summer has come, the crowds will go back up the same as they have in past years. They have only played a few games already; hardly enough time to have officially decided the crowds have abandoned them.

The Jays will never win with Rogers as the owners. We had the best pitcher in baseball in Roy Halladay and Rogers did nothing to bring in better players to surround him so that we would have a chance to keep him. Instead Rogers shed salary and traded away our best players. They will do anything to win cheaply, but rarely does this work. Rogers made something like $13 million in profit off of the Jays last season, and they'll continue to try to gain as much as possible without risking their own bottom line by increasing payroll.

The only way to win consistently in baseball is to attract the top talent with money. $60 million Blue Jays payroll vs. the Yankees $204 million. Yankees draw huge crowds and win, the Blue Jays do not.

No mention of top tv viewship. What a load of horse shit. Only 2/39 people in my grade 7 class ever followed hockey.
No mention of the Raptors..

No mention of top tv viewship. What a load of horse shit. Only 2/39 people in my grade 7 class ever followed hockey.
No mention of the Raptors..

LOL, what do you really expect from American media? This is no surprise.

That's baloney, hockey season doesn't even compete with baseball season, the reason not many people go is that the team sucks, plain and simple.

There's a lot more to it than that. It's the culture in Toronto. Attendance at Leafs games isn't dependent on win/loss record. Hockey is a big part of the culture in Toronto and people will support their team no matter what.

Baseball just isn't as central to the culture in Toronto as hockey. If it were, Torontonians would follow the Jays regardless of whether they were contenders. Baseball is simply a bigger part of people's lives in other regions of Canada. Toronto may have the MLB team, but it's not Canada's baseball heartland. Baseball's heartland is in BC and the Maritimes.

Reports of baseball's death in Toronto greatly exaggerated

Fans of Blue Jays baseball have a lot of Siegfried and Roy in them, the famous tiger trainers of Las Vegas lounge fame. You keep poking the tiger every night for years and then you wonder why he turns one day and chews on your body parts.

For four nights, Toronto fans heckled former Jays right fielder Alex Rios mercilessly at the Rogers Centre. Then they wonder why he fought back in print.

The big topic of conversation at the ballpark for the 48 hours since the Chisox left town was a feature by reporter Joe Cowley in the Chicago Sun-Times. He used observations from Rios to suggest that baseball in this town is dead, that MLB would be well advised to move the franchise and get baseball out of a third-world country like Canada where all you see on TV is hockey highlights.

Other than the part about hockey highlights, Cowley is dead wrong. Besides, there should have been a disclaimer in the Windy City paper about Cowley’s indisputable history of xenophobia when it comes to the true north strong and free.

It goes back to 2004 when Cowley first began to travel as a Sox beat reporter for the suburban Daily Southtown. I was there when he made his first trip to Toronto. He refused to stand in the press box for the Canadian national anthem and made a big deal about it when confronted by the electronic media in that part of the box that day. He was unapologetic.

Cowley claimed that the hotel and ballpark were the only things he cared about in Toronto or, for that matter, Canada in general. That was six years ago. You think Friday’s feature had some history?

After the 2004 World Series, someone high up in the Jays’ front office sent a scathing note to the rural Illinois newspaper asking for an apology from Cowley. He was forced to recant and did not make any trips to Toronto over the next several years. Now comes this gratuitous “baseball is dead” shot that appears in print and online the day the Sox leave town. Combined, Cowley and Rios may have had more axes to grind than the guy with a stone wheel at the World Lumberjack Olympics.

Baseball in Toronto and Canada is not dead. It’s sleeping. Baseball attendance is not an obligation, it’s a choice. Build a winner and they will come. Even Jays management, to its credit, at last understands that basic concept of being a sports fan of any pro team other than the Leafs.

Paul Beeston and Co. understand and have sold the concept to Rogers ownership that you can’t bounce back until you hit rock bottom. For the past several years, the Jays have been trying to avoid hitting rock bottom by discounting tickets, inflating attendances and papering the house. No more.

If club ownership can understand what’s happening at the ballpark in terms of the “show me” state of the current fandom and is willing to ride out the storm of a season hard-pressed to reach 1.5 million in total attendance, Jays fans should quit grinding their teeth and wringing their hands in wasted angst.

Baseball is not dead in this town, the fans are simply demanding more than they’ve received for eight years. It’s their right. That’s what happens after two World Series wins and a players’ strike. Yes, I know. That was 16 years ago, but perception is everything and baseball’s demographic is older.

This city will never be satisfied with 81-87 wins in the AL East. Beeston insisted on Thursday that the organization is “committed not to contending but to winning.”

Baseball is a unique sporting buy for fans because of the commitment it takes to invest in 81 games’ worth of season tickets. Historically, the response to economic conditions, good or bad, comes a year later. Thus, because the recession was in full bloom in 2009, all of baseball will take a huge hit in 2010. The economy has started to rebound, so baseball’s attendance will reflect that in 2011.

In the meantime, angry patriots and Jays fans, “don’t hate the hater, love the game.”

The Jays aren't going anywhere.

Even with all this alarmist talk of low attendance (in April of all months), the average attendance for Jays games this year (18,634) is still just a shade less than for Leafs games (19,260) and more than for Raptors games (17,897). On top of that, the Jays play twice as many home games and thus get twice as much revenue.

For the record, average attendance at Expos games in the 10 years prior to the move:

1995 - 18,189
1996 - 19,959
1997 - 18,489
1998 - 11,295
1999 - 9,540
2000 - 11,435
2001 - 7,935
2002 - 10,031
2003 - 12,662
2004 - 9,356

And the last 10 years for the Jays:

2000 - 21,058
2001 - 23,690
2002 - 20,209
2003 - 22,215
2004 - 23,457
2005 - 24,724
2006 - 28,422
2007 - 29,143
2008 - 29,626
2009 - 23,162
2010 - 18,634 (preliminary - note that April numbers are always low)

In short, at our worst we're still better than the Expos' best. Let me know when we dip under 10,000 for an entire season.

I didn't want to study so I made a crappy graph:

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5268/jaysattendance.jpg

The Jays aren't going anywhere.


Agree, but their numbers aren't very good. They suck actually.

Attendance @ home games thus far:

Apr 12 White Sox: 46,321
Apr 13 White Sox: 12,167
Apr 14 White Sox: 10,610
Apr 15 White Sox: 10,744

Apr 16 Angels: 14,779
Apr 17 Angels: 17,187
Apr 18 Angels: 14,246

Apr 19 Royals: 10,314*
Apr 20 Royals:
Apr 21 Royals:

* Skydome all time low attendance! The lowest ever was 10,074 April 17, 1979 at Exhibition Stadium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Toronto_Blue_Jays_season

Attendance @ home games thus far:

Apr 12 White Sox: 46,321
Apr 13 White Sox: 12,167
Apr 14 White Sox: 10,610
Apr 15 White Sox: 10,744

Apr 16 Angels: 14,779
Apr 17 Angels: 17,187
Apr 18 Angels: 14,246

Apr 19 Royals: 10,314*
Apr 20 Royals:
Apr 21 Royals:

* Skydome all time low attendance! The lowest ever was 10,074 April 17, 1979 at Exhibition Stadium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Toronto_Blue_Jays_season

The home opener was announced as a sell out. Is ~46000 the capacity now or was that the actual crowd in attendance, not tickets sold? Or was it tickets sold not including tickets given away?

The home opener was announced as a sell out. Is ~46000 the capacity now or was that the actual crowd in attendance, not tickets sold? Or was it tickets sold not including tickets given away?

I was wondering that too. I don't know how they count attendance, but it could vary quite a bit depending on what they count. Tickets sold? Those in attendance only? Corporate tickets? Are they counted regardless of whether people show up?

Capacity at Skydome can vary depending on how full the corporate boxes, etc. are. I know that 50,000+ crowds have been announced for the Blue Jays in the past.

There are a number of seats that are tarped over by black material in straight away centre field. This is to improve the visibility of the ball for batters. There must be a few hundred seats there. I'm sure there are other seats that are not available either. I doubt the count is for those in attendance as a significant amount of corporate ticket holders never bother to show up. The crowds are probably even less than the stated number.

Kevin Gregg with another save. 1.1 IP / 2Ks / 0 ER. 5 saves out of 5 attempts. This guy is a real closer.

I like him. He gets up there and looks like he owns the mound.

That's baloney, hockey season doesn't even compete with baseball season, the reason not many people go is that the team sucks, plain and simple.

No mention of top tv viewship. What a load of horse shit. Only 2/39 people in my grade 7 class ever followed hockey.
No mention of the Raptors..

Exactly! The Jays will get better as the season goes along. Why must everything be about hockey? Ever since the 1993 world junior championship the whole focus has been hockey this hockey that. Some of us are tired of watching the sport where people are getting their head smashed in on a regular basis. Hockey is so dangerous now its unbelieveable. Jays do better than the southern Hockey franchises any way.

http://www.thestar.com/topic/majorproblems

If I have kids, they wouldn't play this game.

Jays do better than the southern Hockey franchises any way.


It should. Ontario is where baseball originates. The US south isn't where hockey originates.

BoooSox tonight... let's get it!

The Jays bullpen s*cks so badly. I don't think there was a single reliever who didn't give up at least 1 run except for Kevin Gregg who was good again. Janssen, Frasor, Downs, Accardo and Camp are garbage.

Re. the home opener. With Beeston's arrival the team has moved to reporting the actual number of tickets sold. Not including the number of tickets used as giveaways, contests, freebies, etc. So opening night was a sellout because all 46000 tickets that were available for sale were sold, the remaining 6000 or so tickets were promos and not included in the count.

It's been like this for the past 2-3 seasons, as I said since Paul Beeston's arrival. Previously announced attendance was all tickets sent out, freebies, prizes, etc. So the dip in attendance over the past few seasons can at least partially be attributed to that change.

Best game of the season so far against the Cleveland Indians today.

Jays down by 1 in the 9th inning with 2 outs. The Cleveland shortstop commits an error on fielding an easy groundball. Lind hits a 2-run homerun to win it.

There is something strange about this season. I'm seeing more enthusiasm in the dugout. It's the same type of atmosphere I see with the Red Sox and Yankees in regular seasons of past. When someone makes a good play, there is lots of congratulations, which didn't used to happen with the Jays unless it was a homerun. There's more ass slapping, high fives and smiles.

Everything is working for the Jays now. The hitters are potent and the young pitching staff is phenomenal. But I wonder if they will be able to hold this momentum for the length of the season.

Kevin Gregg - His expression didn't change after giving up a cheap double to Rios in the 9th. 2Ks in the 9th inning. Finally, a real closer!

Still has yet to blow a save.

Jays are now 17-13.

This team continues to make me more happy, too bad our main competition's the Yanks for WC spot.

7-4 Jays over the Chicago White Sox.

Gregg blew his first save on a mistake first pitch. But he didn't seem rattled and was able to finish the inning with the game tied in the 9th. Alex Gonzalez with a 3 run HR in the 12th won it. This team doesn't give up like it used to.

I stopped watching in the 8th inning in disgust as the Jays were down by 2. Now I check the score and the Jays won.

The Blue Jays' series against the Phillies (June 25-27) has been moved to Philadelphia due to the G20 Summit. The Blue Jays will play as the home team in Philadelphia.

http://view.ed4.net/v/WFM37V/8Z7XN8/FKS8X7V/AN55T/MAILACTION=1&FORMAT=H?partnerId=ed-3510318-137124460

The Blue Jays' series against the Phillies (June 25-27) has been moved to Philadelphia due to the G20 Summit. The Blue Jays will play as the home team in Philadelphia.

http://view.ed4.net/v/WFM37V/8Z7XN8/FKS8X7V/AN55T/MAILACTION=1&FORMAT=H?partnerId=ed-3510318-137124460

I feel so bad for the Jays. The only possible sell out game of the season and it had to be moved for security reasons.

I actually just booked vacation from the 24th to the 28th. Tempted... so tempted...

Ricky Romero was masterful today. 9IP, 0ER, 12Ks.

I have not seen such domination in a long time. Doc was rarely that good.

Roy Halladay with a historic perfect game. Ugh... what could have become of the Jays if he was still here. A starting rotation of Halladay, Marcum, Romero and Cecil.

The Jays are still at least a good starter and a couple of bullpen arms away from challenging for the playoffs.

Good start so far for the Jays... surprisingly still in the wildcard hunt. The Jays are close to tied (tied at 260 at one point) with Red Sox and Yankees for the most runs scored in the MLB. Tampa Bay is 5th. The competitiveness of the AL East is insane.

Was at the game yesterday. It's amazing to think how much of our offense comes from the long ball. All of our runs were generated by going deep. Cecil looked pretty solid too.

The crowd at skydome is still pretty sparce though....only 16,000 were there. O well, more leg room for me >.<

We beat the Rays! Still a long way to go, but so far so good. 31-22 record... celebrate while we are above .500.

Some of the recent additions (for cheap) are paying dividends. I am talking about Fred Lewis (stolen for $75000 from San Francisco), Alex Gonzalez and Kevin Gregg. These are big improvements. I think the weak link with this team is the 4/5 starter and the bullpen.

Running on empty: When the Marlins started selling unused tickets to a game that had already taken place (Roy Halladay's perfecto) this week, it reminded us of one of our favorite goofy stats -- the non-attendance leaders.

We compute it by figuring out the capacity of every park, then subtracting actual attendance from potential attendance. Then we translate all those unsold tickets into the non-attendance leaderboard.

This is a longtime Marlins specialty. And they lead the league in that category again this year. So if they can keep figuring out ways to get fans to pay real money not to go see their games, they might even be able to afford to keep Dan Uggla around another year.

On that note, we now present the non-attendance leaders for 2010 (through Wednesday):

National League
1. Marlins 687,820 (31 dates)
2. Reds 611,491 (30 dates)
3. Padres 571,076 (30 dates)

American League
1. Blue Jays 931,873 (28 dates)
2. Indians 660,080 (22 dates)
3. Mariners 645,673 (28 dates)

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page=rumblings100604

We better step it up or we won't have this team for long.. I've been to 3 games this year myself.

Come on!!

How can we have an NFL team if we don't support baseball?

Blue Jays get big ratings

Returning from a European vacation is always a bit of a shock, though no more shocking than learning that Rogers Sportsnet has now cornered the market on all Toronto Blue Jays games -- a dream the late Ted Rogers had the moment he bought the team.

Though the reasons for Sportsnet claiming rights to all Jays games aren't quite clear, the weekend ratings do provide a few clues.

Outside of hockey, nothing else produced the kinds of audiences that the Blue Jays did -- averaging around 500,000 a game in the second month of the season. Certainly nothing else on Sportsnet came close, which is a pretty good reason for cornering the market on baseball games in Canada.

While those numbers could certainly collapse if (or is it when?) the Jays do, the team is Sportsnet's only biggest summer asset. Now if only the Jays can figure out a way to get some of those viewers off their couches and into the Rogers Centre seats.

At the same time, hockey is working wonders for both CBC and NBC. The new Canadian ratings system has to be taken into account, but audiences in the 3 million neighbourhood for the opening two games of the Stanley Cup final are always welcome at CBC -- especially when no Canadian team is involved.

The big surprise is that this series is selling south of the border. Its 3.5 average rating (meaning the games were seen in about 3.5 million homes) is the biggest in 11 years and helped NBC win the ratings battle on Saturday and Monday nights.

Here are the top weekend sports TV ratings on English-language television, according to BBM Canada overnight calculations:

1. NHL, Flyers at Blackhawks, Saturday, CBC: 3,164,000*

2. NHL, Flyers at Blackhawks, Monday, CBC: 2,775,000*

3. NHL, Hockey Night In Canada pre-game, Saturday, CBC: 989,000

4. MLB, Orioles at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 581,000

5. MLB, Rays at Blue Jays, Monday, Sportsnet: 535,000

6. MLB, Orioles at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 527,000

7. NBA, Suns at Lakers, Saturday, TSN: 435,000

8. Auto racing, Indianapolis 500, Sunday, TSN: 356,000*

9. NBA, Magic at Celtics, Friday, TSN: 348,000

10. MLB, Orioles at Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 334,000*

11. Auto racing, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Sunday, TSN: 315,000*

12. Auto racing, F1 Turkish Grand Prix, Sunday, TSN: 312,000

13. NHL, Stanley Cup preview, Saturday, TSN: 243,000

14. PGA,The Colonial final round, Sunday, Global/CBS, 201,000

15. MLB, Rangers at Twins, Sunday, Sportsnet: 187,000

* Viewers for U.S. channels not calculated.

http://thestar.blogs.com/sportsmedia/2010/06/here-are-the-top-weekend-sports-tv-ratings-on-english-language-television-according-to-bbm-canada-overnight-calculations1.html

Yankees are in town:

Friday: 30,089
Saturday: 37,165

Many people have said that half of the 30K+ in the stands are Yankee fans. I bet there are quite a few from New York state who make the drive up. Still good anyways. The only way for the Jays to entice a new generation of fans is to compete in the playoffs once again, or else it will just be a losing venture with continually dwindling fanbase.

I can imagine the discussion with Roy in the offseason... Roy probably asked management if they were going to rebuild and of course he was told that the Jays wouldn't be competitive, so he immediately left. But, imagine if Halladay was still with the Jays. Our starting rotation - Halladay, Marcum, Romero, Cecil and Morrow.

As recently as last week, I saw an video on ESPN (or some other US sports network) and the baseball analyst predicted the Jays would be dead last in the MLB. We shall see if this is correct, but I doubt we will be worse than the Orioles.

We may not have Halladay, but we got a boatload a excellent prospects for him in addition to the fact that we still have a good, young pitching staff. If you're going to re-build, you can't do it on the fly. If it's going to be done right, it needs to be done from the ground up. That's what the Rays did.

I expect us to be real contenders in 3-4 years when our young players and minor league prospects begin to hit their stride.

Many people have said that half of the 30K+ in the stands are Yankee fans. I bet there are quite a few from New York state who make the drive up. Still good anyways. The only way for the Jays to entice a new generation of fans is to compete in the playoffs once again, or else it will just be a losing venture with continually dwindling fanbase.

I can imagine the discussion with Roy in the offseason... Roy probably asked management if they were going to rebuild and of course he was told that the Jays wouldn't be competitive, so he immediately left. But, imagine if Halladay was still with the Jays. Our starting rotation - Halladay, Marcum, Romero, Cecil and Morrow.

As recently as last week, I saw an video on ESPN (or some other US sports network) and the baseball analyst predicted the Jays would be dead last in the MLB. We shall see if this is correct, but I doubt we will be worse than the Orioles.

I was at the game today, half the plates in the parking lot I parked at were from NY state... so there's nothing to get excited about folks, we'll be back to our 14k average next series. :lol:

Most of these Yankees "fans" are actually from Toronto and the rest of Southern Ontario. These types significantly outnumber the fans who actually drive up from NY state.

I was at the game today, half the plates in the parking lot I parked at were from NY state... so there's nothing to get excited about folks, we'll be back to our 14k average next series. :lol:

That's the case every season. And just like every season, they raise our attendance figures all the same.

They need to expand the playoffs...

Crappy bullpen blows it again. 4 runs given up in the 8th inning against the Yankees. We could have realistically swept both the Rays and the Yankees and gone 6-0 against them.

Downs and Frasor need to work on their deliveries again. They are horrible so far this season. Cito should go with Camp and Janssen as the setup guys.

il take the series win over the Yank's !

2 home runs on your major league debut WITH parents in attendance, coming out for a curtain call while humbling the TB Rays in the process AND being a trending topic on Twitter in one day? Now thats what I call a Saturday

:banana::banana::banana:

http://tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=329836


this team will be a force next year, AL East or not!

What an AMAZINGLY fun game to watch today.. I'm telling you we're going to be a contender next year. It'd be amazing to squeeze into the WC spot this season though, we seem like great contenders.

^^^ its definitely an exciting time to be a Jays fan..........especially with Drabek on deck, same with Snider and now JP Arencibia is lighting it up. This is just the beginning people, plenty of room on the bandwagon :D

JP Arencibia in his debut, wow! This game was huge. And the Rays aren't easy to knock out, they came back fighting, but wow what a game.

Brandon Morrow with 17 strikeouts and was one out from a no-hitter. I'm watching highlights on ESPN and the Jays have been the top two stories for the past two days with Arencibia then Morrow. Can the Jays get back into the wildcard race?

Brandon Morrow with 17 strikeouts and was one out from a no-hitter. I'm watching highlights on ESPN and the Jays have been the top two stories for the past two days with Arencibia then Morrow. Can the Jays get back into the wildcard race?

what a weekend for baseball in Toronto! the Jays can definitely make a run for the w/card starting with the next series vs. the BOSOX! they are the next best team in the AL East. Its all about confidence and right now the Jays have it all.

Got the BoSox next, we can really capitalize here.. any update on Wells' injury?

Wells said he is scheduled to undergo an X-ray on his right foot during Monday's off-day to determine if he suffered a fracture. Until more information is known, Wells is considered day to day and likely to miss a few games.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100808&content_id=13207166&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor

They need to expand the playoffs...

:righton::righton:

Man, they've got a brutal stretch of games coming up! Of course, I felt that way before they played the Yankees and Rays, too. ;)

I missed almost all of the game, but I saw the highlights and tonight's game against the Yankees may be the best of the season. Bautista gets thrown at by one of the Yankee's pitchers, almost starts a fight and then promptly homers again.

In the past, this team would just fold after being challenged.

What a game! Bautista shall forever be the Jays clutch hitter. Looking forward for tomorrow's game just looking at the pitching match ups... makes me wanna go.

Jose Bautista is 1 home run away from tying George Bell for the all-time Blue Jays record. How is he doing it? Was never considered to be a major HR hitter. It's unbelievable.

I cannot wait to see Kyle Drabek pitch

I cannot wait to see Kyle Drabek pitch

:-O

I thought you left forever!

50 HRs!

Congrats to Jose Bautista for becoming only the 26th man to hit 50 home runs in the majors! What an unlikely person to become the first Jay to do it. To be honest, I thought he would fizzle out and end up with 40 home runs at best but the man just kept getting hotter and hotter after the all-star break.

Also congrats to Ichiro on becoming the first person to get 10 consecutive seasons of 200+ hits. What a hitting machine. He is truly a tremendous asset that MLB is lucky to have amongst its ranks.

Grats Bautista......... too bad this season was no different than the last in terms of wins.