Looking for a Cure : Theories Abound Trying to Explain Why the Blue Jays Are Ailing So Far This Season

The most popular game in Toronto these days isn’t played on television or sold in the department stores. “What’s Wrong With Our Jays” is being played nightly in taverns throughout the home of the American League East defending champions.

Nearly everyone has an answer. But no one can be sure who’s right. The Blue Jays, off to an 11-16 start and in last place, are getting involved in the new game, too, but they’re having as much trouble playing this game as baseball.

“If anyone out there can put their finger on it, I wish they tell us so we can get squared away,” third baseman Rance Mulliniks said without a hint of sarcasm.

Here’s a look at the prevalent hypotheses for the recent decline of the Blue Jay Way:

The Little Bit of Everything Theory. This one’s really popular, especially with the Toronto players who don’t want to offend their teammates. “We lack consistency in every aspect of the game . . . pitching, hitting, defense,” right fielder Jesse Barfield said.

First-year Manager Jimy Williams sees it much the same way: “We just can’t get the big pitch for the big out or the big hit when we need it.”

That’s obvious. The Jays have won just five of 15 games when they were tied or trailing after six innings. And they are 7-9 in games decided by two runs or less.

Or, as center fielder Lloyd Moseby puts it: “Every combination of ways to not win, we’ve done so far.”

The Starters Are Finished Theory. Toronto had the league’s best team earned-run average last season at 3.29. Going into Wednesday night’s game at Anaheim Stadium, the Jays ranked second to last with a 4.94 mark. Dave Stieb, who was 14-13 and had the best ERA in the league in 1985 (2.48), is 0-3 with a 5.60 ERA. Jimmy Key, who was 14-6 last season, is 0-3 with a 13.27 ERA. Jim Acker, who was 7-2 in ‘85, is 0-2 so far.

“We haven’t been able to hold our opponents early,” Williams said, tactfully.

But Al Widmar, the Toronto pitching coach, thinks those numbers are somewhat misleading.

“Stieb has pitched very well his last three outings,” he insisted. “And Key is throwing well, too. His stuff’s been good. It’s hard to say why he’s been hit so hard.

“We just haven’t had five guys go out and throw five good games in a row. Consistent starting pitching makes things look a lot better.”

Key said: “Hitters have slumps and pitchers have slumps. And right now, we’re not putting the good-pitched games together with the good-hitting games.”

The We’ll Take Our Slump Now and Get It Over With Theory. “Every team’s gonna go through it and we’re getting ours out of the way,” Barfield said. “I’d rather it happen now then in crunch time at the end.”

Relief pitcher Bill Caudill says the Blue Jays have stumbled out of the blocks, but must remember that “this is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Mulliniks admires his teammates’ optimism, but he’s a bit more of a realist.

“In this division, you can’t afford to let yourself get eight or 10 back,” he said. “If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll realize that every game you win now is one you don’t have to win in September.”

The What Happened to That Appetite? Theory. “We came into this year riding the glory of victory,” Caudill said, “and everyone else is waiting in the bushes for us. We’ve been playing casual baseball and instead we’ve got to be hungrier than we were last year.

“Every individual on this team has to look in the mirror and say, ‘What am I not doing that could help this team win?’ ”

Moseby, one of the few Jays off to a good start with a .312 average, four home runs and 13 RBIs, also thinks Toronto needs to recapture that winning feeling it had down the stretch in ’85.

“We have to dig deep right now and find that severe intensity we had during the playoffs last year,” he said. “We need that intensity and the patience to stay with ourselves.”

The There’s No Place Like Anyplace But Home Theory. The Blue Jays were 54-26 in the not-so-cozy confines of Exhibition Stadium last season, but have staggered to a 6-11 mark at home this season.

“One game was played in the snow,” Moseby said. “For five or six others the temperature was in the 20s and the rest of the time it was in 30s.

“You feel like complaining when you have to play in those conditions, but when the other team scores 10 runs in the snow, you feel pretty silly complaining.”

Toronto’s fans aren’t the most loyal or the most fickle in baseball, but after last year, they’ve come to expect quite a bit.

“They’re concerned, as they should be,” Key said. “but it’s only 26 games into the season (before Wednesday night) and it’s not like we’re 0-and-26.”

It might have seemed that way Tuesday after Oakland humiliated the Blue Jays, 17-3, in Toronto.

“It was a cemetery out there,” Moseby said. “It was brutal. It was one of those games you don’t want to be involved with.

“But, hey, I’d rather get beat like that than lose by one and have the finger-pointing start . . . when everyone starts talking about one play here or one pitch there. There’s not much you can say when you scored three and needed 100.”

There’s only one aspect of The Great Blue Jay Debate that everyone seems to agree on: It’s not time to panic . . . yet.

“I’m not alarmed,” Williams said. “I mean I’d like to be doing better, but if you flip flop three or four games we could or should have won, things wouldn’t look so bad.

“I’m just trying to hang in there like everyone else. I think this is a quality club. And I think the attitude’s been good. We’re playing hard, hustling out there. I see intensity and pride.

“As long as we continue to believe in ourselves, everything will be all right.”