Why Jays fans shouldn’t participate in a Hunger Strike

First of all, let me give props to Mike Meech over at the excellent Phillies blog The Fightins. If you haven’t heard by now, Mike is on a self-imposed hunger strike and isn’t eating again until the Phillies score a run.

Surprisingly, the New York Mets entirely shut out the Philadelphia Phillies in their three game series, which means Mike hasn’t eaten a morsel since Wednesday night.

So why does any of this news concern the Toronto Blue Jays?


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While I commend Mike’s bravery for taking on such a daunting task, I’m begging Blue Jays fans to never ever offer up a similar Hunger Strike for the Blue Jays.

If you recall, there was a period back in 2008 when the Blue Jays went 31 consecutive innings without scoring a single run. It wasn’t until the 10th inning in the final game of a double header against the Cleveland Indians on May 12th 2008 that the Jays exploded for three runs.

I did the rough math and that means if anyone was on a Shutout Hunger Strike during those 31 consecutive scoreless innings, they wouldn’t have eaten for approximately 74 hours … which is just over 3 days.

I’m sorry, I love the Toronto Blue Jays but there is no way I could go without eating my Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Reese Peanut Butter Puffs for three days.

Best of luck to the Phillies and Mike from The Fightins on ending the scoring drought, but if things continue like this for the next few weeks, hopefully the Phillies will be weak enough so the Blue Jays can take advantage when they come to Citizens Bank Park on June 25th.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.