The Blue Jays showed some definite signs of life over the weekend, taking two out of three over Boston to cap a tough seven game road trip against the Bosox and Tampa Bay. However, six weeks into the season, the Jays still find themselves third from the bottom in the American League at 15-24 and with the 27th best record in the Majors. There is still time for a complete turnaround and a run to the playoffs. Consider that Oakland was 37-42 on July 1 and 13 games out in the West and still edged out Texas to win the AL West in the final series of the regular season. Still, I wondered how this current edition of the Blue Jays compared to the 2006 Jays. That was John Gibbons best season at the helm and in his first stint with the team. They finished the year at 87-75 - second in the East, a game up on Boston and 10 back of the Division winning Yankees. It was the Blue Jays first time finishing above third in the Division since their last World Series victory in 1993, and their second most victories to the 88 recorded by Tim Johnsons crew in 1998. Grant you, were still relatively early in the 2013 campaign but some basic numbers really stick out. The 06 team hit a collective .284 while the 13 team at this point is batting .237. The on base percentage was .348 in 2006 vs .301 now and the OPS was .811 then and .708 now. The two teams ability to hit homeruns are relatively equal, and by the end of this season the 2013 squad could very well hit more than the 199 - the 06 squad did. The 2006 Blue Jays had five regulars who hit over .300, in Lyle Overbay (1B), Frank Catalanotto (LF), Vernon Wells (CF), Alex Rios(RF) and Shea Hillenbrand (DH) and one more off the bench in utility outfielder Reed Johnson. The 2013 Jays only have one hitter over .300 in Jose Reyes and hes likely out until the All-Star break. He is their second best hitter at least in terms of average at the moment. Rajai Davis, .284, is also out with an oblique strain. The 2006 team also got incredible production from two of the key positions - catcher and centre field - and the two corner infield positions. Overbay hit 22 homers and drove in 92. At third, Troy Glaus blasted 38 homeruns and drove in 104 runs. Vernon Wells batted .303 with 32 homers and 106 runs batted in, and catching combination of Benji Molina and Gregg Zahn hit 31 homers and drove in 97 runs. Interesting that Glaus was the only one on the team to strike out over 100 times at 134. If you look at the 2013 edition, seven players are on pace to break the century mark in Ks, including Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion Colby Rasmus, J.P Arencibia, Emilio Bonifacio and Brett Lawrie. Rajai Davis would be part of that club too, if he was a regular and was healthy. On paper, at least, if everyone was healthy (theres that word again), the 2013 Jays would probably have the better pitching staff. Yes, the 2006 squad had Roy Halladay and his 16-5 record, but he was the only one on that staff that included lefty Ted Lilly and A.J Burnett to pitch over 200 innings. Closer B.J Ryan had his best season with the Jays in 2006 saving 38 games, but this years Jays have Casey Janssen who already has 10 saves and a 0.69 ERA. If the current system had been in place, the 2006 Blue Jays would not have made the postseason. In fact, they would have finished fourth behind the team that got it. Detroit finished second in the Central that year with 95 victories – eight more than the Blue Jays. The White Sox missed the playoffs with 90 wins and so did the Angels with 89. In todays world, the White Sox would have been in as the second wild card and the Angels would have missed by a game. Jays pitching coach Pete Walker and hitting coach Chad Mottola were both active players on that 2006 team and Casey Janssen made 19 starts for that squad. The fact the 2006 team won 87 games and still didnt come close to the wild card speaks volumes about how well the Blue Jays are going to have to play over the final four and a half months just to get close to the postseason. The Cleveland Indians are the hottest team in the majors right now. Yes, Terry Franconas Cleveland Indians. Theyve won 12 of their last 14 and pulled into a first place tie in the Central with Detroit. Theyre hitting .305 over that span with 24 homeruns. The Indians also lead the majors in homers with 49 - three more than the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays kick off Interleague play on Tuesday night with a quickie two-game home stand against the World Series Champs, the San Francisco Giants. Over the years the Blue Jays have not done well in these games against the National League which came into play in 1997. The Jays are 132-151 over 16 seasons. Only Baltimore, KC and Houston have a worse winning percentage amongst American League clubs and remember; the Astros only came into the American League just this year. The Yankees have the best Interleague mark all-time at 170-112. St. Louis is tops of the National League clubs at 125-110. The American League has won the series the last nine years running. Nike Shox Clearance Mens . Just not the game. Kyle Palmieri scored two straight goals in the third period to rally the Anaheim Ducks past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night. Discount Mens Nike Shox . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. http://www.clearancenikeshoxcheap.com/clearance-womens-nike-shox.html . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Nike Vapormax Cheap Womens . A forerunning sled crashed into the worker Thursday at the Sanki Sliding Center. The unidentified worker broke both legs and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Nike Vapormax Mens Clearance . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. TORONTO -- The job just got a little bit tougher for the Baltimore Orioles as they try to overtake the Toronto Blue Jays in the race for the first wild-card position in the American League.The Orioles need to win the final two contests of the three-game series at Rogers Centre to draw even with the Blue Jays.By winning the series opener 5-1 on Tuesday, Toronto opened a two-game lead over Baltimore. Each team has five games remaining.The Orioles also must cast a look over their shoulders because the Detroit Tigers are one game behind them for the second wild-card spot.The team that finishes in the first wild-card spot is the home team in Tuesdays one-game playoff.The Blue Jays start left-hander Francisco Liriano (8-13, 4.88 ERA) on Wednesday while Baltimore goes with right-hander Chris Tillman (16-6, 3.84).Were playing with house money, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said before Tuesdays game. A win for the Orioles opens the door for the Orioles. We win and we control our own destiny. You worry about others and you will not be that destiny. We just need to handle what we can handle, control what we can control. I know its a cliche and Im not a real cliche kind of guy, but thats just the truth with six games to go.Were playing with house money. We werent supposed to be here. ... Were playing with house money, I think thats how we all look it. Now lets go do something with it.The Orioles have a chance to take advantage of some misfortune that hit the Blue Jays in the form of two injuries that resulted from a second-inning bench-clearing incident with the New York Yankees in a wild 7-5 loss Monday.Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis has aa sore left shoulder as a result of the skirmish and is day to day.dddddddddddd It is the same shoulder that required offseason surgery.Travis, who left the game Monday in the sixth inning after the shoulder hampered him at the plate, said he was feeling better Tuesday and hopes to play Wednesday. Meanwhile, Darwin Barney has been taking his place.Not so optimistic is the situation with reliever Joaquin Benoit, who suffered a torn left calf muscle while running from the bullpen to take part in the Monday melee. He said Tuesday that he will be out for 2-to-3 weeks.Manager John Gibbons will have to find other ways to get through the seventh inning without the right-hander, who was virtually unhittable since arriving in a trade with the Seattle Mariners on July 26. He is 2-0 with a 0.38 ERA in 25 games with Toronto.Its a big loss, no doubt about it, Gibbons said.To make up for Benoits absence, the starters might be asked to go a little longer. The solution Tuesday was to have Joe Biagini pitch the seventh and eighth innings and he was strong, allowing only an infield hit.It helped preserve an important win. Really a good bounceback game after a tough one (Monday), Gibbons said.Liriano has not faced the Orioles this season and in eight career starts against them is 2-4 with a 5.01 ERA in eight career starts against them,Tillman is 1-0 with a 4.32 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays this season. He is 5-10 with a 5.61 ERA in 23 career starts against Toronto and 2-6, 7.51 in 12 career starts at Rogers Centre. ' ' '