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By now, the Toronto Blue Jays must be wondering — justifiably — what they have to do to get fans out to the Rogers Centre.

While this was supposed to be another rebuilding year, this young Jays team is performing way above expectations, especially in its first post-Roy Halladay season.

Obviously, Halladay, having recently pitched the 20th perfect game in major league history for the Philadelphia Phillies, is irreplaceable.

But two months into this season, the Jays are not only in solid contention for a wild- card spot, they’re in sight of first place in the American League East — the toughest division in baseball.

Has anyone noticed Jose Bautista is leading the majors in home runs? That Vernon Wells has returned to his all-star form of previous seasons?

That the Jays in May recorded their best month ever for home runs?

That their young pitching staff led by Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil, plus a solid bullpen, are proving capable of both pitching gems and holding a lead? That Kevin Gregg seems to be developing into a solid closer (despite Tuesday night's implosion)?

Not in Toronto, apparently, where attendance at Monday night’s home game against division-leading Tampa Bay — the start of a crucial nine-game section of the schedule against the Rays and New York Yankees — barely topped 11,000. Tuesday night a little more than 13,000 made their way to the dome.

Is this why the Chicago White Sox Alex Rios and Ozzie Guillen said baseball is dead in Toronto?

Sure, it’s early June, not late September, and Jays teams in the past have shown initial promise before fading in the years following the championship seasons of 1992 and 1993.

But, in the Jays’ favour, Cito Gaston, the same field manager who led the team to those two consecutive World Series victories, is back at the helm.

Can you imagine if the Maple Leafs were this competitive two months into their season? The ACC would be rocking! Then again, the ACC sells out for the Leafs no matter how bad the on-ice product.

This is crunch time for the Jays. They need to win these crucial games. They need to show they are for real against tough competition. There’s another home game against Tampa tonight and three more against the Yankees at home this weekend.

They deserve a full house. Let’s give it to them.

The Jays didn’t just sneak up on the American League in April and May. They emerged from the shadows armed to the teeth, minus former ace Roy Halladay but swinging the home run lumber with reckless abandon, taking no prisoners, bludgeoning opponents to their knees.

Heading into the third month, the favourites must look north with a renewed combination of fear and respect.

Following Tuesday night’s 7-6 loss to the division-leading Rays, here are both glass half-full and half-empty scenarios: the top five reasons why the Jays might be there all year fighting for a wild-card spot, and five reasons why September will be meaningless other than the annual battle for third.

The You Gotta Believe! list . . .

1. Marcum/Romero

All contending teams need not just one, but two starting aces and the Jays seem to have found themselves a couple of keepers. The concern for Shaun Marcum was whether, after a year off, he could rebound from Tommy John surgery and be the pitcher he was becoming in ’08. For Ricky Romero it was fear of the sophomore jinx. The Jays are 14-8 combined in their starts and they are going deep into games and getting better.

2. Vernon Wells

His wrist is healthy, although he said that wasn’t a problem last year. He isn’t getting booed at home after a jackrabbit start on the opening road trip and he’s top 10 in homers, RBIs, total bases, doubles, extra-base hits and slugging

The History Will Repeat Itself list . . .

1. Kevin Gregg is starting to pitch like he did as a Cub

Since May 7 in Chicago, Gregg is 0-1 with seven of 10 save chances converted, allowing 14 hits and 13 walks in 10 innings after Tuesday’s meltdown. If he blows a gasket, who closes?

2. Batting average and on-base both mediocre

The Jays ranked 12th in the AL through Monday with a .245 average and were last in on-base at .311. When the guys who are trending hot for home runs level off on the long ball as they inevitably will, runs may be tough to come by.

un-her-ald-ded , adjective

appearing without fanfare, publicity, or acclaim; unexpected.

That is exactly the way to describe the hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays, who have transformed hitters' careers around and have put the Jays' close to an AL Wild Card berth. Not surprising for a guy who has already won a World Series ring (2001 with Arizona).

The Jays lead the MLB in many offensive rankings. First in home runs already with an astonishing total of 89, first in doubles, and first in slugging percentage. I can go on and on.

The main reason, the rebound of Vernon Wells, and the surprise emergence of Jose Bautista, Alex Gonzales, Fred Lewis, and John Buck.

Bautista, is 1st in the AL in HR with 16, and fourth in RBI with 44. Not bad for Bautista, who all of his career has been considered a very effective bench player with his above-average defence at numerous positions, was acquired for Robinson Diaz, a career minor leaguer from Pittsburgh.

The mastermind in his big bat, is not suprisingly Murphy. The Toronto Blue Jays outfielder was getting started too late in the batter's box, forcing him to use his shoulders rather than his hands when attacking the ball, making his swing long and wild.

Adam Lind’s troubles started with a home run.

On a Sunday afternoon in mid-April, he went deep against the Los Angeles Angels at the Rogers Centre. Then, suddenly, his prodigious batting stroke vanished.

“I hit that homer off Ervin Santana and the next day it was gone,” Lind said Tuesday. “I knew I didn’t feel right. Something happened.”

In his next 39 games, the Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter batted .188 while trying “anything you can think of” to snap out of his funk. So Tuesday, he teamed up with the team’s resident slump-buster to continue his search for an answer.

Lind took his cuts against pitching coach Bruce (Pappy) Walton, who earlier had thrown to John Buck and Aaron Hill, with immediate results.

The Walton magic continued in the game that followed against Tampa Bay. Buck, who joined Lind in Walton’s session yesterday, homered in the fifth inning. In the same inning, Lind drilled a two-run triple.

Lind did hit his eighth homer Monday night, and he has 30 RBIs. But he entered last night’s game batting .225 after hitting .305 in a breakout season last year.

“We’ve had a lot of guys on base, so really, my numbers aren’t really that bad,” he said.

But after signing a four-year, US$18-million contract extension before the season, he clearly has not been met anyone’s expectations.

“The last thing I think about before I fall asleep is the curveball or fastball that I missed,” he said.

“When you have a good game, you go right to sleep. When you don’t have a good game, you sit up and think about things like that.”

Yesterday afternoon, he worked on starting his swing earlier and dealing with the high strike, a pitch he has either missed or fouled off frequently.

The_Hater wrote:I like to look back at the careers of hitting coaches to see what types of hitters they were themselves.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... dw01.shtml

Murphy was a high HR, low BA, high BB guy. Pretty much exactly what Batista has been in this his breakout season. He had over 27 HR's twice and over 90 BB's twice while pushing his BA above .260 exactly one his entire career. (6 Gold Gloves didn't hurt either).

What does this mean? I'm not entirely sure but it seems like Murphy was a fairly patient hitter so I guess I'm a bit surprised he's telling the players to start hacking at the first pitch they like.

The_Hater wrote:I like to look back at the careers of hitting coaches to see what types of hitters they were themselves.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... dw01.shtml

Murphy was a high HR, low BA, high BB guy. Pretty much exactly what Batista has been in this his breakout season. He had over 27 HR's twice and over 90 BB's twice while pushing his BA above .260 exactly one his entire career. (6 Gold Gloves didn't hurt either).

What does this mean? I'm not entirely sure but it seems like Murphy was a fairly patient hitter so I guess I'm a bit surprised he's telling the players to start hacking at the first pitch they like.