The 2006 season is two weeks old. So what have we learned about this year's edition of the Blue Jays and MLB in general?

Platoon Strength

The job sharing arrangement between Gregg Zaun and Bengie Molina could be a real hidden strength of the 2006 Jays. Neither will get particularly worn down and both will have the motivation of trying to earn more playing time. Further, they compliment each other's strengths nicely, with Molina's power and Zaun's spray hitting and ability to outpace at least a few land mammals.

New Brew?

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays continue to play above their station against the Jays. This is reminiscent of the way every Milwaukee Brewers team, no matter how bad, used to give Toronto fits. To compete in the AL East, the Jays will have to do as the Yankees and Red Sox have done and pound the league's weaker sisters.

There's also talk of the Rays changing their name for the 2007 season. This would be understandable from a pure marketing point of view, but apparently it's due in part to pressure from Christian groups that oppose the use of the word "Devil." Never mind that that's the actual name of the fish.

Incidentally, the original motion was put forth by the mayor of Devoidofrealproblemsburg, FLA.

Sartorial Splendour

It looks like the Jays have dropped their grey home caps. It was somewhat innovative to use a colour that had never appeared on a MLB cap before, but there was a good reason WHY it had never been used, as they looked washed out and not nearly as striking as the black caps.

Elsewhere, several teams have adopted the vented helmets commonly worn by Japanese teams. It's the first evolution of helmets since the Dave Winfield/Candy Maldonado ear-flapless lids disappeared.

Hot Starts...

Based on Vernon Wells' start, the Jays should lobby to make the World Baseball Classic an annual event. Failing that, sign him up for some winter ball - or beer league softball, or a cricket test - whatever it takes to get him going. Wells has hit the ground running and could eclipse his sensational 2003 season.

Aaron Hill may not be Orlando Hudson defensively, but he's made some very fine plays in the field so far, and he has flashed an O-Dog-esque amount of range chasing down short fly balls.

... And not so much

Josh Towers will fast become known as Mr. Christie if he keeps serving up this many cookies. He's a poor man's David Wells or a homeless man's Greg Maddux. Towers won't hurt himself by giving up walks, but he gets shelled so fast that by the time anyone gets up in the pen, the score is 6-0. Towers has shown a remarkable resiliency the last couple of seasons to rebound from shaky outings, but he'll have to do so quickly to keep his rotation spot.

Umps all wet

The umpires in the Chicago series could have very easily found themselves in the middle of a fiasco. The field at U.S. Cellular was in the process of becoming the sixth Great Lake on Sunday, but because the game hadn't reached the all-powerful middle of the 5th inning, officials refused to call it. Jays officials were probably glad that their team wasn't in the field at the time. Imagine if Bengie Molina hits a ball to the gap, and Jermaine Dye slips and comes up lame and ends up on the 60-day DL. How important would making the game "official" be then?

There's a good reason that baseball games are stopped during the rain. It would have served the umpires right if the Jays had clawed back to tie the game.

And Finally

The raucous Roger Centre crowd on Opening Night offered a tantalizing glimpse of what life might be like if the Jays do make a legitimate playoff run.

Shea Hillenbrand never met a double play he didn't like.

Troy Glaus is a large, powerful man. That is all.

A 6-6 start with a grand total of one quality start from Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett ain't too bad.