by Willard King

Created on: September 11, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

The Streak Stops at 10

The Toronto Blue Jays have managed to stay in the hunt for the playoff race, the Wildcard spot only 7 games out of reach. The Boston Red Sox are dueling with the Tampa Bay Rays for first in the division, both teams not looking behind at the surging Jays. The Jays will send young dynamo Shaun Marcum to the mound tonight, in search of his 9th victory this evening.

The Minnesota Twins are only 1.5 games ahead of the Jays in the race for the wildcard, and they have been recently faltering. The Red Sox have also been on the losing end battling with the Tampa Bay Rays for first. If the Jays want to stay in the race they need to win tonight, with only 16 games left on their schedule including tonight's game, the Jays can stay in the race if they can start up another run of victories.
The current run they have been on has seen club leader Vernon Wells has fully recovered from his broken wrist and is leading the charge, with others following suit such as Alex Rios, Marco Scutero, and their great future players Adam Lind and Travis Snider. Have all stepped up their game, helping the team achieve its current success. The batting average for the whole team has risen over a dozen points in their last dozen games. The pitching has stayed the course with their league leading ERA and the bullpen has remained tops in the league with its ERA remaining under 3.00.
With the recent trades such as INF David Eckstein to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for RHP Chad Beck. Touted a minor league strike out king, Beck will add even more depth to the already best pitching staff in both leagues. Their have been rumors circulating, of a possible trade of the bullpen General B.J Ryan in the off season. It remains to be seen what they might get in return for the 33 year old vet, or if he will remain in Toronto. No teams have been named as of yet for possible trade partners or destination for the 6'6 260 lbs closer.
Another trade which surprised most Canadian fans, OF/DH Matt Stairs has been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named. Newly acquired INF Jose Bautista, from the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later, has showed to be a promising with both glove and bat. Coming through in the clutch, with two bunts at key times moving runners along, helped propel the Jays past the White Sox in the series opener, 3-1.
With the last game of the series going tonight, the Jays will be needing to get back to their wining ways, with 3 errors in last nights game, the league's best fielding team will need to get back top their top game, and limit the base running errors that contributed to them losing the game.

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