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	Monday, July 17
	Midseason report: Toronto Blue Jays By Marty Bernoski ESPN.com
	Just about everyone penciled in the New York Yankees to win the AL East. Many picked the Boston Red Sox to compete for the wild card. The Toronto Blue Jays were an afterthought, that is, until the home runs starting flying. Let's examine the Blue Jays and their surprising first-half performance. First-half MVP:We'll take the easy way out and select co-MVPs. How could you choose between David Wells and Carlos Delgado? Through July 8, Wells' 15 wins led the majors and Delgado's 28 homers ranked second behind Mark McGwire's 30. Toronto's single-season records for wins (21--Roger Clemens, '97; Jack Morris, '92) and home runs (George Bell, '87) may be in jeopardy. At .361, Delgado is hitting 89 points higher than his 1999 average. Having won his last eight, Wells is poised to become a 20-game winner for the first time in his career. Biggest disappointment: Through 86 games, Homer Bush is hovering around the infamous Mendoza line. He's hitting a cool .200 with no homers and 14 RBI. Last year's 155 hits and .320 average are just a fond memory. It's been a rough first half for Bush, who hit .175 in April and missed five games with a left hamstring injury. May was not any better. He hit .229 and suffered a right hip strain, missing 14 games (May 22 - June 6). His luck didn't change in June, going hitless in 19 at-bats from June 12-21 en route to a .180 average. Biggest surprise: Did you know that Tony Batista has hit 50 homers in 175 career games with the Blue Jays? Batista's 31 homers and 100 RBI last season were shocking enough. Never mind this season. Through 86 games, he's doing it again. Batista's got 24 bombs and 68 RBI. Until he strained his left rib cage and missed eight games from May 31-June 7, Batista was the Jays' Iron Man having played in 151 straight games. Second-half goals: Keep the offensive machine rolling. The Jays homered in a club-record 23 consecutive games and set new records for homers in May (43) and June (47). They have five players with 10-plus homers. So what do the Blue Jays need to work on? Pitching. Through 86 games, Jays starters were 36-30 with a 5.51 ERA. Relievers fared no better, posting a 5.55 ERA. Frank Castillo (5-5, 4.29) is the only starter, besides Wells, to have an ERA below 5.00. Grade: -- Pitching wins more games than home runs. It's highly unlikely Wells will win another 15 games in the second half, so the Blue Jays will need to get their Ws from another source. The Jays need to see some improvement in Kelvim Escobar and Chris Carpenter. (Scale: 1 to 4 baseballs; 1 = worst, 4 = best) We told you what we thought of the Blue Jays' first-half performance, now you've told us. Here is what you had to say about what the Blue Jays have to do in the second half.		ALSO SEE Midseason Feedback: Blue Jays MLB midseason reports ESPN.com's All-Star Game coverage Kurkjian: Stories of the first half Ten second-half questions for the AL Ten second-half questions for the NL