TORONTO - It's getting awfully difficult not to take notice of Brett Cecil lately. However, unlike April and throughout most of June, that is meant in a good way.

The early part of the season was a struggle. Installed as the closer coming out of spring training, Cecil was quickly removed from that role after a blown save on April 8th against the Yankees. He finished the month with an ERA of 5.14 in seven innings of work.

May brought improvement with a 1.13 ERA over eight innings but June, for the most part, was ugly finishing with an ERA of 9.00 in 10 innings. But after allowing a season high four earned runs in 2/3 of an inning on June 21st against Baltimore, Cecil has been a different pitcher. It was at that point that Roberto Osuna took over the closer's role, allowing Cecil to work in situations more suited to his strengths.

Starting on June 24th with a scoreless inning against the Tampa Bay Rays, the 29-year-old has been virtually flawless tossing 21 consecutive scoreless innings over 23 straight scoreless outings. He has surrendered a mere 13 hits and four walks while striking out 22 during that stretch.

So what has led to the difference? Mechanically, Cecil explained he has made some changes that have helped him get the bite back on his curveball – his bread and butter pitch – and command his fastball better.

"I've dropped my hands down, it's been easier to get the ball out and I've been picking my leg up a little bit higher," said Cecil. "I think early on I was not picking it up high enough, it would get my foot down too early causing my arm to drag."

Manager John Gibbons agreed that earlier in the year, Cecil's stuff lacked the kind of quality needed to get batters out consistently.

"He's commanding his curveball better now and it's sharper," he said, moments after Cecil closed out a win on Saturday with a 1-2-3 9th inning. "I think it was just rolling a little bit earlier in the year. He's locating his fastball better, that kind of had gotten away from him too. They (opponents) know his go-to pitch is his curveball so he's got to be able to stick the fastball when he needs it otherwise it makes it tougher on him."

So by keeping his leg a bit higher and landing a bit later in his delivery, Cecil seems to have rediscovered the recipe that made him an All-Star in 2013. But what seemingly is such a minor change has led to a major effect on the caliber of his pitches.

"Getting my leg down a little bit later and allowing my arm to get up lets me get more behind the ball and with an off-speed pitch, it lets me get more spin and rotation on the ball," Cecil explained. "It allows me to get my fastball down in the zone and throw it for more strikes.

"I think early in the year my fastball was nothing but a 'show me' pitch. For any pitcher, you have to be able to throw a fastball for a strike at any given time in any count, that's a number one priority for any pitcher. The fact that it was just a 'show me' pitch earlier in the year in that rough stretch, guys were either just sitting back waiting for a walk or a spinner to come up there where they could hit it."

Cecil missed about a week during spring training after developing some inflammation in his throwing shoulder. It wasn't a major injury but it did upset his routine and left him unprepared for the start of the season. While everyone else was in regular season form once April rolled around, Cecil felt he was still trying to find his groove.

"Any kind of setback in spring training whether it's missing one appearance or a week's worth, it's tough," said Cecil. "I've told everybody I think April was my spring training and a lot of that I attribute to not pitching well in April."

After Miguel Castro (since traded to Colorado), who stepped into the closer's role in April when Cecil was removed, faltered and was demoted to the minor leagues, Cecil was reinstalled as the stopper. But when he was removed for a second time in favour of Roberto Osuna in mid-June and the bullpen started to take shape, Cecil put aside his ego and delivered a message to his manager.

"I'm comfortable in any role really. It wasn't a matter of being comfortable but I pitched bad in April and got some bad luck and didn't pitch so good in June," explained Cecil. "But like I told them (the team) when they took me out of the (closer) role the second time, I said, 'listen, if (Roberto) Osuna's doing well and I'm doing well, I'm not telling you guys what to do, I don't know what your plans are, but my feelings are leave it that way. I wouldn't want to keep messing with everybody's heads flip flopping all the time'."

Gibbons was left impressed.

"That didn't surprise me at all," said Gibbons. "Brett's always been a team first guy."

He also wasn't surprised that Cecil has rediscovered his form.

"He's got a number of innings under his belt and it really just came together," said Gibbons. "I mean he's been so good for this team for a few years now, it was just a matter of time."

"He's done pretty well," added Jose Bautista. "He's a great pitcher and he's been an All-Star here. He's done a terrific job in the last few years and he continues to do so. There's always going to be streaks where a reliever runs into a few months where he may not be his best but at the end of the year, you always look at his stats and he has a pretty solid year every year. He's just one of those guys that you can rely upon especially with how tough he is on lefties. He's one of those guys that is going to be situational for us coming down the road and we need him so it's good that he's on a streak like that because that way his confidence is up."

Now in the midst of working 21 scoreless innings – the longest current active streak in the majors – things are very much brighter than they were for Cecil at the start of the season. But the last thing on his mind when he takes the mound is the streak itself.

"No, (I don't think about it)," he said. "I think about getting the one guy in the box out and that's it. If it doesn't happen, then I get taken out of the game and my bullpen mates will take care of business."

The Hawkins Affect

While much of the attention was focused on Troy Tulowitzki when the Blue Jays made that blockbuster deal with the Colorado Rockies at the end of July, the impact that 42-year-old LaTroy Hawkins has had on the bullpen cannot be ignored.

"I feel like our bullpen has become more about unity and it's our own little community down there," said Cecil. "We pick each other up a lot."

A lot of that started when Hawkins arrived.

"Yeah, first thing he (Hawkins) said, normally when we leave the bullpen we'd all just kind of trickled out and walked in a long line to get back to the dugout and I've always thought about this but I didn't think anybody else would think it's a big deal so I never said anything but as soon as I walked out, he said, 'hey come back here. I've got one rule. I don't care how we get here but we leave together' and that right there just triggered for everybody."