Carlos Villanueva and David Cooper providing some sense of positivity for struggling Blue Jays

At first blush, it's no easy task finding any positive storyline surronding a Toronto Blue Jays team that's won just four of its last 18 games. A team that's had its pitching staff decimated by injuries and, a team that's seen the 1-2-3 hitters in its batting order go down, when hitting was about all that was going right.

And when October rolls around and the Jays — in all likelihood — sit out of the playoff picture again, at least they'll have injuries to blame for a season that some thought, would be a big step forward for the franchise.

What a story it would have been had the Jays been able to stay healthy and hot at the plate and earned the first playoff berth for the franchise in 19 years, in a city that for so long has been forced to embrace mediocrity in its pro sports teams. Instead here we stand, with the Jays sitting eight games below .500 and eight games out of the second Wildcard position, with many wishing they could fast-forward the rest of the season.

Amidst the downward spiral however, there have been a few Jays that have taken advantage of an injury plagued lineup, because one man's misfortune is another man's opportunity.

Carlos Villanueva has put together an effective string of starts going 4-2 with a 3.04 earned-run average over eight outings. Ricky Romero has been unable to find his footing all season and with three of the other four Jays starters out long-term with various injuries, Villanueva's ability to transfer from the bullpen to a starting role has helped stabilize the team's pitching staff. Unfortunately his contract is expiring at the end of this season and as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca put it, "any player [Alex Anthopoulos is] truly intent on keeping never gets to free agency" as we've seen so far this season with the re-signing of Edwin Encarnacion and Jeff Mathis.

Villanueva told Sportsnet.ca with regards to his contract situation:

At the plate David Cooper has found some consistency with his swing. Although his

statistics may not be jaw-dropping — just four home runs and 10 RBI's in 41 games with the Jays this season — he's currently riding a five-game hit streak that has included three multi-hit performances, and a game-winning RBI in the 11^th inning of a 3-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

Cooper was the Pacific Coast League batting champion in 2011 hitting .364 with the Las Vegas 51's, but with Edwin Encarnacion and the currently injured Adam Lind on the Jays roster, it's been hard to make room in the lineup for the Jays 17^th overall pick from 2008.

The success he's had at the plate recently is a big step for the 25-year-old Cooper who made his major-league debut with the Jays in April of last season and batted a measly .121 in a 13-game stint.

"That's a situation you want to be in every time," Cooper told the National Post after his big hit against the White Sox. "That's the most fun part of the game right there."