Toronto Blue Jays' Vernon Wells hits a single to left field during first inning MLB baseball action against the Texas Rangers in Toronto Tuesday, September 7, 2010.Darren Calabrese
Since he assumed control of the team after an elongated courtship in October of 2009, Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Beeston has stressed the importance of playing meaningful baseball games in September.
If a team is in the playoff picture over the final month of the season, he reasoned, the turnstiles never need oiling. As Toronto's chief bean counter, who can argue with that perspective?
Beeston's viewpoint is being borne out as the Blue Jays, despite a season that continues to defy all expectations, have yet to capture the imagination of a city in desperate need of a winning fix.
The Blue Jays entered Tuesday night's game against the American League West-leading Texas Rangers with the fourth-best winning percentage (.563) in the American League since the all-star break.
The home runs have been flying out of the ballparks off the Blue Jays' bats at an unprecedented rate and their starting pitching features some of the best young arms in the major leagues.
Yet, unless the opposition is the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox, nobody in Toronto seems to give a darn.
The Blue Jays won their 72nd game of the season, 8-5, over the docile Rangers on Tuesday in a game that was witnessed by a scant 10,518 at Rogers Centre, the second smallest turnout of the season.
That would be considered a crummy body count for a Toronto Maple Leafs intrasquad game.
Blue Jays veteran Vernon Wells continues to wield a hot bat despite the no-shows, going 3-for-3 with two solo home run shots.
Wells has now belted 27 home runs on the season, four in his past three games.
John Buck and Adam Lind also counted homers for the Blue Jays, who won for the third consecutive outing.
Buck's home run, his 17th of the season, provided Toronto with a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
After Vladimir Guerrero put Texas in front with a two-run scoring double in the fourth, Wells tied it in the home half of the inning with his first home run of the game.
Wells added to his total in the seventh with a line-drive blast to left.
Jose Bautista's home run power may have dried up in recent games, and the major-league leader, with 43, failed to knock one out of the park in his sixth game in a row.
But the Blue Jays third baseman was still an important factor Tuesday, swatting a double to the power alley in right-centre that brought in two Toronto runs in the fourth inning.
That provided the Blue Jays with a 4-2 lead and was just the cushion starting pitcher Shaun Marcum needed. He allowed one Texas run off six hits over seven innings to improve to 12-7 on the year.
Back in the team's heydays of the early 1990s, Rogers Centre used to be sold out with more than 50,000 diehards in the seats for each and every home game, and the support was rewarded with back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.
Interest has dropped off dramatically since then as the Blue Jays have mostly struggled with their on-field product.
This year has been different with the Blue Jays continuing to play interesting baseball into the final month of the season, even if their pennant hopes were logistically washed up several weeks ago.
Still, the fans have not bought in and home attendance average hovers around the 21,000 mark, not including the piddling turnout Tuesday.
The Blue Jays have already won 72 games this season - three less than all of last season when they stumbled to a 75-87 conclusion and drew an average of 23,162 fans.
SCORESHEET
NOTES The Toronto Blue Jays' first run required a video review ruling. In the second inning, a drive to the gap in right-centre by catcher John Buck was initially called a double. But then the umpiring crew headed to the video review booth for a second look and judged that Buck's blast had cleared the wall for a home run, the 17th of his all-star season. … Jose Bautista continues to show there is more to him than just a power bat. After doubling home two runs in the Toronto fifth inning, giving the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead, Bautista alertly took advantage of inattentive Texas pitcher Scott Feldman and stole third base while Feldman was issuing an intentional walk to Vernon Wells. … With four more home runs Tuesday, the Blue Jays now have belted 215 on the year to lead the major leagues. They have a chance to surpass their single-season record of 244 set in 2000.
ON DECK Wednesday, v. Texas Rangers, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, 7:07 p.m. EDT.
PROBABLE STARTERS Toronto LHP Marc Rzepczynski (1-3, 6.62) against Texas LHP Derek Holland (2-3, 4.93)
TV Rogers Sportsnet One