How Did This Happen?

It's over. Pack it in. The Jays in the AL East are now closer to the last place Orioles than to the third place Rays. They have dropped below .500 for the first time this season and Roy Halladay is starting to look, well, human.

After a torrid start we were talking about playoffs and magic numbers. Now we have to count down the games until the season's over.

Why the pessimism? Well, firstly look at the teams directly ahead of us: the Rays, the defending Al Champs, the Yankees and the Red Sox. None of these teams are going to suddenly free fall, let alone all three of them. At one point this year the Jays were tied for first in the majors with a record of 27-14. Since then they have gone 16-30. Why? Injuries, inexperience, bad luck and of course Vernon. I'll still watch them or listen to them on the radio but all my hopes for playoffs have vanished. Eventually I will cheer up. After all there's always next year.

The _________Brothers

Back in the period of 1987-1992 steroid freaks and Oakland A's stars Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were nicknamed "The Bash Brothers". They were a formidable duo for pitchers to face. Canseco became the first 40-40 man and McGwire hit close to 50 home runs in his rookie season. They enabled the A's to win a World Series, 2 additonal ALCS victories, and a 1992 AL West division title.

In 2009 Toronto has it's own duo, Vernon Wells and Alex Rios. Vernon Wells with the sub .200 batting average with RISP and Alex Rios, who struck out 5 times in 5 AB in Thursday's matinee game. This is the same Rios who wandered off the bag in Baltimore, in the game they infamously blew, costing the Jays an out and a possible rally at a time where they had a big lead but a lead they ultimately surrendered. There are lots of names we can suggest for Rios and Wells. I'm a fan of bad puns so inspired by the defunct bank the Lehman Brothers we can call them "The Lame-an Brothers". There's also "The Choking Brothers", "The Overpaid Brothers", "The Useless Brothers", "The Invisible Brothers", "The Ghost Brothers" etc.

Suggest your own because like it or not we're stuck with them.