TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays will finish the best month in franchise history Monday when they open a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians.
Their 9-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday complete a sweep of the three-game series and gave them a 21-5 record for August, an .808 winning percentage.
Even a loss to the Indians on Monday would leave them with a better winning percentage than May of 1984 when they were 19-6, a winning percentage of .760, the best for a month in franchise history until now.
“We’ve had some pretty good stretches this year: two 11-game win streaks and that second one put us right back into the thing,” manager John Gibbons said. “We had those two streaks, but we were basically playing .500 ball. With the trades: (shortstop Troy) Tulowitzki, (left-hander David) Price, (right-hander LaTroy) Hawkins, (right-hander Mark) Lowe, (left fielder Ben) Revere, (infielder Cliff) Pennington, we just took off after they happened. Tulo, his bat’s not going yet, but it’s going to. He’s always hit. But basically he’s been on that field every day, and look at the results. He’s got a huge part in that. And of course Dave every time he takes the mound, he’s won every game he’s started with a no-decision.
“Revere’s come on, and he’s heated up with the bat and he’s made some great defensive plays — plays we haven’t made most of the year and that leads to wins. Those guys down in the bullpen have been rock solid. They kind of give us that little added depth. And Penny’s a good baseball player. I don’t know how it could but the addition of those guys that has pushed us to this point. It gave everybody a shot in the arm.”
The Blue Jays have won 24 of their past 30 games. They are 29-10 since the All-Star break, outscoring the opposition 232-121.
“If this isn’t the feel of a championship team, I don’t know what is,” said catcher Russell Martin, a key offseason acquisition as a free agent. “I feel like we’re great offensively, we’re great on defense, we’re pitching great, our bullpen has depth. I like what we have going right now. We’ve just got to keep pushing, keep playing the game the way we play and I think we’re going to do great things right now.”
They are 18 games above .500 for the first time since 1993, when they won their second World Series. They have completed a sweep in five of their past eight series.
Left-hander Mark Buehrle, the winning pitcher on Sunday, has said there are similarities between this year’s Blue Jays and the Chicago White Sox team he was on that won the 2005 World Series.
“I still feel like if we get down early or late in the game. …I feel like we still have a chance to win,” Buehrle said. “So that aspect it’s about the same. I feel a lot better about this offense than I did in Chicago. In 2005 it seemed like we were winning games, but we were barely squeaking them out. We had a few games where we weren’t scoring many runs. Here, shoot, if we don’t score eight runs, we had a bad day. It’s a little different, but at the same time we’re confident. We’re coming to the field every day thinking we’re going to win.”