"if you're going to come out here and play, you might as well win."
-- Cito Gaston, yesterday

Today the Blue Jays enjoy their first off day, and it's safe to say that even those of us who were starry-eyed optimists about this year's team  (I think that's WillRain and myself) weren't expecting a 10-4 start.

The Twins should be thankful they managed to take one out of four.  Roy Halladay and the offence were nails as the Jays creamed the Twinkies 9-2 Thursday night at the Metrodome.

Wearing number 42 to honour Jackie Robinson really agreed with the Jays yesterday as they thumped the Twins 12-2 Wednesday night in their penultimate regular season game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.  There's no truth to the rumour that every Jay will wear number 122 for tonight's game.  Besides, they got number 32 on the hill tonight and speaking of Hill, number 2 did more than alright in last night's ball game. 

What's surprising you so far this year? That the Orioles, Mariners and Padres are all 6-2? The Mets are 3-4? AL pre-season darlings Cleveland and Boston are 1-7 and 2-6, (not so) respectively?

On an individual level, did you really think Nick Swisher would be hitting .458? Or that he'd be lagging behind Emilio Bonifacio (who?) at .485  or the greatness of Cristian Guzman at .515? Is that really Toronto's Adam Lind leading the major leagues with 12 RBI?

So exactly what -- teams, players, individual feats -- is surprising you so far this 2009 season? Who will keep it up? Who is destined for a spectacular fall?

Poaching a headline off Braden, or Ned as I like to call him, the Jays could not use the brooms in Cleveland, falling 8-4 to the Tribe Sunday afternoon. 

Okay, who had Jason Frasor getting the Jays first save of the season?  The reliever with one foot always seemingly out the door got the final out in the nervous ninth to preserve a 5-4 victory over Cleveland Saturday afternoon in the state of Ohio.

The Jays are off to their best start in eight years after ruining the Indians home opener with a 13-7 win Friday night at Progressive Energy Field.

In a first time showdown of two first round picks making their major league debut on the mound, "Rockin' " Ricky Romero bested Rick Porcello in Thursday afternoon's 6-2 victory at the stadium formerly known as SkyDome.

The first inning was the worst inning as the Jays lost their first game of 2009, a 5-1 setback to the Tigers at Ted's Shed Wednesday night.

The Fighting Jays moved into sole possession of top spot in the American League East with a 5-4 walkoff win against the Tigers at the Rogers Centre Tuesday night.  The magic number for the Mighty Jays to clinch the East is only 161 while the wild card magic number is a mere 160. 

That makes up for Opening Day 2004!  The Maple Leaf wearing Blue Jays hammered the Tigers 12-5 Monday night at the Rogers Centre to grab a share of first place in the American League East.

Giving the Tigers a false sense of security before they're swept in next week's four game series at the Rogers Centre, the Jays lost 8-5 to Detroit Thursday afternoon in Lakeland. 

Roy Halladay crafted together another fine outing as the Jays beat the Nationals 7-6 in the home finale of the spring season in Dunedin.

The defending World Series Champions may have guaranteed Brad Mills a one way ticket to Las Vegas after a 9-1 bombing of the Jays Tuesday night in Clearwater.

UPDATE April 1/09 @ 12:26 p.m. EDT:  Blue Jays assistant GM Alex Anthopoulos tells the FAN 590 that Scott Richmond will be the number five starter in the rotation, Michael Barrett will be the backup catcher, and Kevin Millar is heading to Baseball North as well.

I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m close to something real
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along
Somewhere I belong.

It's not a lock that it'll be B.J. Ryan charging out of the Rogers Centre bullpen in the ninth to the dulcet tones of Slipknot.  Concerns about the big lefty's lack of velocity this spring means he may be sharing the closer's role with fellow southpaw Scott Downs.

UPDATE:  03/31 @ 6:30 P.M. - Jeremy Accardo and Joe Inglett have been demoted to Las Vegas.