Lyle Overbay’s season really started to go downhill when his hand was broken with a pitch. But, that’s no excuse for the awful 2nd half of the season that he is putting up. He has played in 56 games since the All-Star Break and he is 46 for 202 (.228 avg, .636 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 2 homers and 16 RBIs. Overbay is only hitting .242 (.717 OPS) with 49 runs scored, 10 homers and 43 RBIs this season. He has started to lose some playing time to the hot hitting Matt Stairs so he needs to get his act together.

The Blue Jays are playing well this season despite all of the injuries they have suffered this season. The Blue Jays are 70-66 this season which has them in third place in the American League East 11.5 games behind the Red Sox. But, the Jays are only 5.5 games behind the Yankees for the Wild Card in the American League. Alex Rios is having the breakout season that most experts thought he had in him as he is hitting .309 with 98 runs scored, 22 homers, 71 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. The savior of the Blue Jays offense has been backup OF/1B Matt Stairs who is hitting .302 with 18 homers and 50 RBIs in only 275 at bats this year. The pitching staff has been incredible as the Jays have allowed the 2nd least runs (570, 4.2 per game) in the American League. Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan have been huge surprises in the starting rotation for the Blue Jays this season. Marcum is 12-5 with a 3.75 ERA and McGowan is 9-8 with a 4.00 ERA as they have replaced injured Gustavo Chacin and ineffective Josh Towers in the rotation. The Jays bullpen has also been sharp late in games despite losing B.J. Ryan in April. Jeremy Accardo has stepped into the closers’ role and he has been lights out. He is 3-3 with 27 saves and a 2.37 ERA so far this season for the Blue Jays. Casey Janssen also has been great as the set-up man for the Jays this season as he is 2-2 with 5 saves and a 2.32 ERA.Â