Alex Rios has turned into the centrepiece of the Blue Jays offence over the first half of 2007. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)

As the Toronto Blue Jays emerge from the all-star break, Sports Online issues its mid-season report card for Canada's major-league ball club.

Suppose some omniscient being (the ghost of Branch Rickey?) had approached Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi prior to the 2007 baseball season and told him the following: Over the first half of the campaign, Ricciardi's team would be decimated by injuries to such key players as Roy Halladay, B.J. Ryan, A.J. Burnett, Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay and Reed Johnson, but at the all-star break would be tied in the standings with the New York Yankees.

Not bad, the Jays GM might have thought.

Well, that's precisely the situation Ricciardi's team finds itself in as it heads into the second half. The catch, of course, is that the Yankees are in the midst of a stunning downfall that dropped them to 42-43 at the break. At 43-44, Toronto joins the bombing Bronx Bombers in facing a daunting 10-game deficit behind the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox.

That's probably not where Ricciardi hoped he would be after bolstering a promising 2006 team with some off-season reinforcements he hoped would put the Jays in position for a run at a division title in '07. But, still, not bad for a team bitten by the injury bug as badly as Toronto has been over the first half.

With that in mind, CBC Sports Online issues the following mid-season report card to Canada's only major-league baseball team.

Starting Pitching: C+

First, the bad news: Thanks to injuries and illness, Toronto's starting staff has borne little resemblance to what it looked like on Opening Day. Projected No. 3 starter Gustavo Chacin made only five starts before landing on the disabled list, while No. 2 man Burnett started strong but has recently run into the sort of nagging arm problems that have plagued him over much of his up-and-down career. Even Halladay, the staff's workhorse ace, missed a few weeks after undergoing an emergency appendectomy.

Meanwhile, Ricciardi's plan of signing a bunch of low-cost veteran free agents in hopes that one or two might emerge as viable options at the back end of the rotation hasn't exactly paid off. John Thomson's shoulder problems prevented him from appearing in a single game for Toronto before he was cut, while fellow righties Victor Zambrano and Tomo Ohka battled, respectively, injuries and ineffectiveness en route to getting their own unconditional releases.

And yet, the Jays starters' ERA of 4.71 is only a tenth of a run worse than last year's. What gives?

Shaun Marcum has helped keep the Jays afloat with his strong starting efforts since being promoted from the bullpen. (George Widman/Associated Press)

Mainly, youngsters Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan have given the Jays a lot more than expected. Using different methodologies - McGowan relies on heat, while Marcum gets by more on guile - the 25-year-olds have posted a combined 8-5 record and 3.87 ERA since joining the rotation in May.

Relief Pitching: A-

Like their mates in the rotation, Toronto's relievers have been hit hard by injuries. Lights-out closer Ryan, who a year ago saved 38 games with a miniscule 1.37 ERA, made just five appearances before going in for season-ending Tommy John surgery on his left elbow. Brandon League, the fireballer who was supposed to fill the setup role vacated by the free-agent departure of Justin Speier, hasn't pitched since experiencing soreness in his shoulder during the spring.

But, a la Marcum and McGowan, some unheralded players have emerged to fill the void. Jeremy Accardo has struck out 38 batters in 35 1/3 innings, and converted 11 of 13 save opportunities in his new role as closer, while setup man Casey Janssen has earned 12 holds and posted a 2.40 ERA. Workhorse lefty Scott Downs has a 2.41 ERA in a team-leading 44 appearances, and hasn't allowed an earned run in his last 17 outings.

Thanks largely to those surprising efforts, the Jays rank fifth in the American League with a 3.62 bullpen ERA. That stinginess from the relief corps has helped prop up the pitching staff as a whole, which despite its health problems has posted an overall ERA almost identical to last year's.

Hitting: C-

While Toronto's pitching staff has in some ways exceeded expectations, the batting order has mostly been a disappointment. Despite ranking fourth in the AL in home runs, the team is in the bottom half of the league in runs scored.

The culprit appears to be a relative inability to get on base. Though they're rolling out basically the same lineup as last year - and have added walk machine Frank Thomas to boot - the Jays have fallen off the table in terms of on-base percentage and batting average, ranking near the bottom of the AL in both categories a year after being among the league's best.

Injuries to regulars Glaus, Overbay and Johnson haven't helped, but the biggest problem has been a lack of production from Wells. Since signing a monster seven-year, $126-million US extension over the winter, the centre-fielder is batting just .253 with an anemic .314 on-base percentage and 13 homers. The slugger did show some signs of turning things around as he was moved to the leadoff spot before the break, suggesting he may return to form in the second half.

Though his play has improved of late, Vernon Wells has mostly struggled since signing a mammoth off-season extenstion. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

While Wells has slumped for most of the first half, Alex Rios has been sensational. Bouncing back from a staph infection that derailed the latter part of what was otherwise a breakout 2006 season, the 26-year-old leads the team in most major offensive categories, including batting average, homers and RBIs.

Canadian Matt Stairs has been another pleasant surprise. Envisioned as little more than a reliable bat off the bench when he was signed in the off-season, Stairs has delivered in a big way, belting 13 homers in just 195 at-bats and emerging as a bona fide everyday player as he fills in for the injured Overbay at first.

Management: B

On the field, manager John Gibbons has displayed patience with promising youngsters such as Adam Lind, even though Lind struggled in place of the injured Johnson. The bench boss has shown a steady (if at times impatient) hand in utilizing his strong bullpen, and a willingness to tinker with the lineup when necessary. For example, moving Wells to the leadoff spot - an arrangement that should be temporary - helped spark the struggling slugger toward the end of the first half.

However, the Jays manager must be more careful with the way he handles the fragile Burnett, who has exceeded 100 pitches in 15 starts, included a 131-pitch outing on June 7 against Tampa Bay. In the start following that Herculean effort, Burnett was allowed to stay on the mound in San Francisco despite being in obvious pain for several pitches. Gibbons eventually gave the flamethrower the hook, but Burnett hasn't been the same since, threatening to further tax Toronto's thin rotation.

Which brings us back to Ricciardi, who elected in the off-season to keep largely intact a roster that finished second in the AL East last year with an 87-75 record. Not that he had much of a choice, given his team's strong performance at the plate in 2006 and the mind-boggling contracts being handed out over the winter to journeymen hurlers like Gil Meche and Ted Lilly.

Ricciardi also showed off his bargain-hunting abilities with the signing of Stairs to a one-year, $850,000 deal that so far looks like one of the better values in baseball. And for all the talk about Thomas being a bust at $9 million per year, the notoriously slow-starting Big Hurt owns a solid .376 on-base percentage (tops among Jays with enough at-bats to qualify for post-season awards) and 14 homers, including the 500th of his career. The Wells contract has also been criticized in light of the slugger's slow start, but he's almost certain to improve over the second half.

On the other hand, none of Ricciardi's veteran pitching acquisitions panned out, and free agent signing Royce Clayton has already handed the starting shortstop job back to John McDonald. Ricciardi has also run into some PR snafus, first by failing to immediately reveal the nature of Ryan's injury, then by calling out Burnett in early July for his lack of toughness.

Like the roster Ricciardi has assembled, the GM deserves a mixed review for the season's first half.