Sad news coming in that George Steinbrenner has passed away this morning (heart attack). He'd just turned 80 (July 4th). However you feel about the evil empire, it's a sad day for baseball.

RIP The Boss

Back to business tonight and a brand new shortstop to boot. Whether or not the deal will turn out to be a good one for us remains to be seen, but Atlanta are competing this season and adding Gonzo as SS will help them no end with the way he's been producing at the plate. We'll see if a move can bring around what was a very promising talent in Yunel Escobar. He's definitely come to the right place to rediscover his power at the plate, that's for sure. Even if the move doesn't work out, it's not like we're going to make the playoffs this year so losing Gonzalez is hardly going to bite us in the .

Our rookie GM is trying to build something in TO and he's trading while his stop gap players stock is very high rather than hanging onto them in the desperate hope that we might make a run. That was never the plan and he has no intention of deviating by the looks of it. He's impressed me immensely so far.

So second half hopes:

be competitive enough to finish above 500
see Hill & Lind turn things around
see our young starters continue to shine
see the back of Brian Tallet (that one really is wishful thinking)
see some of the young prospects have a go once the rosters get extended - in particular catcher JP Arencibia who now has 26 HR at AAA Vegas and who has come on leaps and bounds both offensively and defensively since last year.

So what are your second half hopes?

So second half hopes:

To be involved in the play offs. I'd have settled for a winning record at the start but now we've put ourselves in such a great position and have some big names to come back into our rotation winning the division has to be the aim now. That's all there is. If we achieve that everything else will have fallen into place i.e. progression of our young starters e.g. Bailey, Cueto, Wood, Maloney and even the returning Volquez who is still only in his fifth season and 27.

Second half hopes for the White Sox is to just keep playing like we have for the last month.

I wish the Jays would hury up and trade away some of our Bullpen. Sadly a few scouts were present to witness Kevin Gregg walk the bases loaded and then react angrily when the manager took him out of the game (which super reliever Shawn Camp then went on to save). Two games later Gregg is given another save opp and he blows it. We'll never get rid of him now!!!

Lots of interest in Scott Downs, who has been a bit off this year. Also plenty sniffing around Buck and Bautista, which is to be expected given their power bats this year.

I think we'll trade Buck and Downs (if the offers are reasonable) but have a feeling that Bautista is going to be offered a multi year deal by the Jays come the end of the season.

As for ou new SS - that power drought didn't take long to remedy. 2 HRs in 4 games (one a Grand Slam). So far I'm liking what i see from him. He's got a canon for an arm and looks very agile. He's also bunted his way on base twice already - although I'm sure the manager will soon put a stop to that. We're the Blue Jays, we don't play small ball.

599 for A-Rod

I think I jinxed Shawn Camp. Ever since i called him a super reliever he's been awful.



Our BP threw another one away yesterday.

I see Matt 'Chia Chin' Garza threw a no hitter last night. It's all getting a bit silly now isn't it?

Adding two big bats this weekend in Kearns and Berkman. Both won't be starters and we're not giving up much to get them. They will replace Miranda and Curtis. The legend of George lives on.

Bit of a surprising win for the Jays last night. AJ really doesn't enjoy pitching against his old team. He helped us tie an AL record with 6 2Bs in one inning.

That said, I predict that normal service will resume tonight and A-Rod will finally get #600, either off Romero or Tallet.

Wish A-Rod would hit his 600th. Bogging the team down.

Spectacularly wrong there - thankfully. Ricky Ro was fantastic last night, as were the rest of the Jays. Great performance offensively and defensively. Going for the sweep this afternoon. That would be something.

TBH I think there's too much fuss being made over this #600 milestone and would agree that it's starting to affect the whole team. The thing with the different balls for A-Rod is ridiculous. It's like the significance of every AB A-Rod has is being hammered home - which with all this pressure is the one thing he can't seem to do.

Going for a 5-1 Yankees win with A-Rod homering in the 1st.

Haha. Nice editing



The cloud from yesterday's game is that John Buck was placed on the DL with a cut to his finger. The silver lining is that the Jays called up their AAA catching prospect JP Arencibia. He's averaged 303 average with 31 home runs, 79 RBI amd 64 extra base hits in 95 games for the Vegas 51s this season. We're all very excited in Jaysland to see what he can do in the bigs. Let's just hope the manager actaully plays him now.

Dunno what you're talking about? Check the time out?

Makes me laugh how you swing at anything, think you avergae 3.5 pitches per plate appearance which is 3rd behind the orioles and royals.

That's what happens when your manager is really a hitting coach. It's the Cito philosophy. Swing for the fences or die trying. Hopefully there's only 2 more months left of that philosophy. Although all the HRs this season have been fun to watch.

Funnily enough it's Bautista who seems to show the most patience at the plate, walking 64 times so far this season. That makes his HR tally even more incredible.

Well Youk goes down a few days before the Yankees series in the Bronx and another thing is trying to ruin our season.

5.5 games behind after the season we have had is i think quite impressive.

Although i dont hold out much hope for this upcoming series.

Damnitalltohell, I hate playing the Red Sox this year.



That said, I wont let it spoil what what was a magnificent weekend at the Rogers Centre. Firstly, we swept the Rays - no mean feat given our recent history against them. Secondly, JP Arencibia made one hell of a debut in the Majors with a HR off the first pitch he saw follwed by a double, a single and another HR to go 4-5 on the day, something that nobody has done in the modern era of the game (and by that I mean 1900 onwards!). Finally, Brandon Morrow gets 1 out away from a no hitter and finishes with his first complete game, a shut out in which he had 17ks. I was glad that we had an off day on Monday because I needed to breathe after all that.

Going to the game tonight and hoping for some Shauny Marcum magic on the mound. He's not a glitzy pitcher and has to work hard for everything out there, but he fights like hell for every out and he's proven himself an unlikely leader for the Jays young pitching staff.

Two stinkers at the hands of the Cards. Just watching today's game at the moment. Down by four in the bottom of the fifth after another grand slam. Need to win tonight if only to stop the losing streak. We've not lost a series since just before the All-Star break either.

Murdered last night - by the long ball too. How ironic.

Ah well. Crappy day game today (which I forgot to record - bugger!) and then it's off to the West coast and hopefully back to winning ways.

OK, so not such a crappy day game

Finally the Jays get to Papelbum, who until yesterady had never blown a save against us. Kind of made up for the losing the series that did. Also coming back from a 3 run deficit in the 9th was pretty sweet too.

I take it we're all bored with baseball now



I might have to give up going to Jays games. They seem to get hammered every time I grace them with my presence. Went to both kickings vs Detroit and the one against Boston.

One consolation yesterday was that I got to see Johnny Mac hit a home run. Worth the entrance fee and sun burn that was.

ManRam to the ChiSox. What is it with them and making big waiver claims?

Not me. Still tuning in regularly and a few times a day to catch up with the latest news. Bad news for Strasberg after such promise. Hopefully he will come back stronger.

Yeah hopefully he'll come back just fine. Young Kyle Drabek (the star piece in the Halladay trade) seems to have recovered from his TJ suregery OK. He threw a no hitter in AA this year and just won Eastern League pitcher of the year. Wouldn't be surprised to see him jump from AA to the majors next year, expecially if our AAA team is still Vegas next year. It's not a great league for developing pitchers.

Jays taking no chances with their young pitching staff. Brandon Morrow is going to be shut down after his next start due to number of innings pitched, even though there's a month of the season left.