It's not THAT early and Blue Jays still are waiting for runs to come. So what now?

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These are tough days for anyone and everyone around the Blue Jays.

Tough for the “it’s early crowd,” who may need to be reminded that after that in the middle of the six-game home stand that gets under way on Tuesday, the team will be a fifth of the way through the season.

Tough as well for those buying “the runs will come” mantra after a trip in which the team mustered just nine in six games. In fairness, what else is manager John Schneider to say about the struggles, even if he’s on what feels like season-long repeat?

And it’s tough mentally for a grinding team that has dropped seven of its past eight, including a 1-5 trip through Houston and the Bronx before returning to Toronto for Monday’s off day..

It is early enough in that there is a mammoth amount of games left — 134 of them. But for a team that has yet to find it’s way at the plate, there are more questions than answers.

With that, on to our latest off-day edition of 3 UP, 3 DOWN.

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UP

The return of Daulton Varsho — likely for Tuesday’s first of three against the Red Sox — will be a welcome arrival on a number of counts and undoubtedly will provide a boost.

Varsho is a popular figure in the clubhouse and brings an elite level of defensive play in centre field, further cementing that proven strength of the team.

He also offers some power, albeit muted with inconsistency.

But to expect Varsho to be an instant salvation to the lagging offence — as some fans might — would be a misguided and potentially counter-productive stance. Varsho was swinging the bat solidly in spring training, a good sign for sure, but one that guarantees nothing.

Schneider is wise enough not to put too much pressure on Varsho in that regard, nor should fans. Coming off of shoulder surgery and a long spring of mostly meaningless games is a promising start, but Varsho will need some time to get up to big-league speed.

DOWN

The top of the order takes much of the heat for the Jays offensive struggles — for good reason given the team has neither a true leadoff or cleanup hitter. At the top of the order, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander have never been needed more, but each have lacked consistent production.

But the lack of defensive depth also is frightful. On Sunday, Schneider was forced to trot out a lineup for the second game of the doubleheader against the Yankees that had four players with a batting average of less than .200 — Santander (.179), Andres Gimenez (.176), Will Wagner (.186) and Alan Roden (.188).

It was a rough look for a team looking to avoid a doubleheader sweep. and predictably the Jays meekly exited after a three-hit contest in a 5-1 loss.

UP

For a brief moment in Sunday’s second game, it looked like there were signs of life from the offence. Santander hit his third homer of the season — which ties him for the team’s underwhelming lead — and the game was tied at 1-1. Alas, that was it.

As the poster boy for the slow-start excuse, Santander also remains the beacon of optimism given that last season with the Orioles he had four homers in his first 32 games before going on a tear and ending the season with 44.

Will Santander heat up with the weather? The Jays made a $92.5-million US bet that he will.

DOWN

Can the bumbling bats be turned around? Sure. But to do so, the Jays will have to find a way first to exit one of the worst stretches in the past two seasons.

Losing seven of their past eight is surpassed only by that unsightly mail-it-in September stretch in which the Jays lost 10 of their final 12 games with half-hearted play that punctuated their 88-loss season. There also was that seven-game losing streak in June that catapulted the Jays on their way to being trade-deadline sellers.

Meanwhile, the broken-record playlist of Schneider — the poor sod who has to answer for the performance on a daily basis — is the offence. The Jays have a minus-39 run differential and are averaging a pathetic 3.39 runs per game.

UP

The Baltimore Orioles.

Yes, it’s a reach, but the glass-half-full view on the Jays predicament is that at least there’s one team below them in the AL East standings.

The O’s can’t hit or pitch, it seems, and at 10-17 have the second-worst record in the AL.

DOWN

The starting rotation remains the strength of this team and, in all likelihood, will have to remain so if the Jay are going to pretend to contend.

That said, the wear and tear already is worrisome.

A well-intentioned team operating with a four-man rotation in late April is less than ideal, obviously, especially when it has dropped seven of eight.

Schneider is doing the right thing by insisting the four-man configuration lasted for just one turn, but now the team has to figure out what’s next. And ‘next’ comes for Wednesday’s second game against the Red Sox when the scheduled starter is TBD.

The group of Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios and Bowden Francis have been excellent for the most part. But Gausman’s disastrous Sunday outing — when he walked five in the third inning of an 11-2 Jays loss — was concerning.

Leaving Gausman to melt down through a club-record 53-pitch inning was excruciating, not to mention a lot of strain for the veteran’s 34-year-old arm.