Is it too early to fret about Alex Rios?

Back in January, we figured that the lynchpin of the Jays offense this year would be a certain corner outfielder who, at one point, was viewed as the future of the franchise. And while we couldn't be happier with the performances of Travis Snider and Adam Lind thus far, we're getting a bit antsy about the at bats of that other corner outfielder.

It's a given that it is way too early to freak out about Alex Rios, especially given that he's still managed to score six times and drive in another six so far. But there's something about the way Rios looks at the plate that has made us sit uncomfortably in the first week or so of the season.

Rios is a lanky and gangly assembly of appendages, and so far this year, it seems like all four of his limbs seem to be operating independently of one another. When compared to the economical swings of the players around him in the lineup (especially Rolen, Hill, Snider and Scutaro), Rios looks like a mess when coming through the hitting zone. His hands go up and down and everywhere, and his balance seems totally off. At times, it looks like he's falling backwards in his swing rather than coming to the ball.

In the field, we've said that Rios can at times look like a blisfully oblivious gazelle. At the plate this season, he looks like a gazelle on ice.

So with the standard caveats (small sample size, it's early, lots of baseball to play), we're hoping that is all stuff that can be worked out. We're certain that the magical mystical troika of hitting sages in the Jays staff are already hard at work showing Rios the way and the light, but it's just a little nerve wracking to see him try to figure things out while hitting in the three-hole.

And we know that Cito would never move him out of his spot in the lineup, because that might hurt his tender feelings.

What's 42 multiplied by inifinity?
We love that MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, and that they go out of their way to single out his contribution to the game. But wasn't it overkill yesterday to see every single uniform festooned with Robinson's now-iconic number 42? We recognize that it might seem like a petty quibble, but in the three games that we watched yesterday, we were totally lost trying to figure out who was who.

We guess that the patchwork of the past few years wasn't exactly working with a few players on every team wearing 42. In addition, there was the uncomfortable issue that the initiative was at times serving to underscore the fact of how few African Americans are actually playing baseball when teams were scraping to find someone to wear the number on that day. On top of that, there's the whole issue of who "deserves" to wear the number, and whether if that runs down racial lines, which is totally counterproductive.

Our suggestion would be that one player on each team get the honour of wearing 42 on that day, and that the honour be bestowed on them by Robinson's family based on some criteria of social responsibility. Wouldn't that make the number special again?

And the hits just keep on coming

So here's the question of the evening (before we retire in a 'Tussin fueled haze of bliss): At what point do we turn the page on the conventional wisdom that the Jays would have a lousy offense this season?

That question occurred to us as we were watching homer after homer leave the yard in yet another ring-a-ding-dinger fest. We get that these are still early days, and that there's another 25 weeks left in the season. But with the Jays pounding out four homers and twelve runs in a 12-2 rout of the Twins, we're wondering if anyone other than us is noticing.

Because, really, any man, woman or child that fails to recognize the awesome power of this immaculately managed offensive juggernaut runs the risk of running themselves into a big-time Voodoo Whammy(!) that is sure to leave a mark.

Tomorrow morning on the blog
Hopefully we'll be a little less shakey, feverish and medicated (damned Venezuelan Mamba Flu!). Also, a thought on Jackie Robinson Day, and irrational early concerns over a certain offensive linchpin.

How about that?

Praise and kudos to Paul Lukas at the indispensable UniWatch for posting this piece from the Museum of the City of New York’s Glory Days exhibit, honouring Gotham’s golden age of baseball.

The letter above was sent in 1959 by Jackie Robinson to former Yankees and This Week in Baseball announcer Mel Allen, and is a stark reminder of how deep and insidious racism was (and is) in the game, long after Jackie and many others broke through the game’s racial barriers.

(Go here for a better look.)

Cheers to Brunt

Stephen Brunt is unquestionably our hero. We have a bit of a man crush on him, although it is totally platonic. We just want to have a barbecue with him, that's all.

And praise is due once again to the Brunt, as his Monday column cut through a lot of the self-serving hokum and the teeth-gnashing that surrounded this weekend's celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's colour barrier.

Many have pointed out that the number of African Americans in baseball has been on a steady decline over the past decade, down to around 9% this year. Brunt quite rightly points out that baeball remains strikingly diverse, with visible minorites making up more than 40% of MLB rosters.

(We'll take this sort of well-reasoned insight over Geoff Baker's execrable "White Jays" Toronto Star cover story any day.)

And as a side note, remember that when people are referring to a lack of "blacks" in MLB, players such as Carlos Delgado, Andruw Jones, and others of Caribbean descent don't "qualify"...