11:20 PM Eastern

Ramon Hernandez homered off Jason Frasor in the 8th inning of tonight’s game, a no-doubt shot to dead centre at Camden Yards.

That home run gave the BALTIMORE FREAKIN’ ORIOLES six players with double-digit home run totals for the season.  That’s six more than the Blue Jays.  That is all.

Oh, here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk – I don’t know if it was a full moon or what, but wow:

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Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

12:55 AM Eastern

Turns out it was less than a 24-hour stay back in last place in the A.L. East, and now the Jays have a chance to put some serious room between themselves and the Orioles with the four-day trip to Baltimore.

Is the bloom off the John Parrish rose just yet?  Parrish showed why he hasn’t been able to keep a regular job in the big leagues with his three-inning stint this afternoon.  He was all over the place – a pair of wild pitches, several others that Gregg Zaun had to almost separate a shoulder to snare well above his head, a couple of walks and a throwing error – and when he was around the plate, he didn’t miss all that many bats.  Also, Parrish had a pretty big mental lapse on Akinori Iwamura’s leadoff grounder in the 3rd.  It got past him and he stopped running for a second, then realized that Lyle Overbay was going to grab it and he should probably try to get to first base for a play, but didn’t make it.

I don’t think Parrish pitched himself out of the rotation, he deserves one more shot after two pretty good starts preceding this one, but a leopard doesn’t often change his spots, especially not after he hits 30.  Shaun Marcum will be back Tuesday, and if it turns out Dustin McGowan will miss the rest of the season (not unlikely) then that fifth spot in the rotation will be handed over to David Purcey pretty soon, I think.

The bats and the bullpen did a phenomenal job.  It’s funny, I come out and say that Marco Scutaro is in the line-up for all the wrong reasons, and he goes out and hits the three-run homer that puts the Jays on top for good.  Since Cito took over and pretty much installed Scutaro as the everyday shortstop (I know he played second today), he’s hitting .278/.343/.378, which isn’t great but isn’t awful, and certainly not good for a top of the line-up hitter.  But in 23 games he has scored 18 runs.  That makes an impression on a manager, and that’s why he’s in there.  I’m not saying it’s right – because it isn’t – I’m just saying that I’ve figured out why he’s hitting second every day.

It was great to see Alex Rios heat up, as well.  The mercurial centrefielder-by-injury hit a no-doubt homer in the 3rd to break a 1-1 tie and added a pair of doubles.  Yes, he’s having a disappointing season, but can we please cut it with the hand-wringing?  For all the rending of garments, Rios is hitting .285/.336/.411 – nowhere close to where we believe he should be, but still above average in all categories.  He’s also on pace to hit 43 doubles and steal 40 bases.

As for the ‘pen, Cito had it working, using six relievers who combined to throw six innings of two-hit shutout, allowing the Jays time to come back and win it.  I’m not sure I’ve ever used that phrase before this season – time for the Jays to come back and win, interesting concept.  Anyway, all six were terrific, and they wound up retiring the last 12 Tampas in order.  Everyone but Brandon League and Scott Downs got in on the fun.  It was nice to see them all, because there’ll be one fewer there on Tuesday, when Marcum is activated off the D.L.  My money’s on League, though it’d be too bad to hand him another ticket to Syracuse after he stepped up and drilled Dioner Navarro Saturday night.

About that, I know I said yesterday that I didn’t think that League hit Navarro intentionally and made a crack about his lack of control, but it turns out that he did.  Gaston said as much in his pre-game interview with Jerry.  Cito didn’t like that Navarro dropped down a bunt with a five-run lead two batters after Evan Longoria hit his slam off Roy Halladay.  I forgot that the Jays were being run by an old-school manager, that five-run leads used to be really big, and that there’s an unwritten rule against bunting with a big lead.

Personally, I’m of the mindset that so long as the opposition is still trying to score, I’m going to try to score as well, but Cito made it quite clear that he didn’t respect Navarro’s play, and that if he kept it up, he’d keep getting drilled.

Here’s this afternoon’s edition of The JaysTalk:

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Rational, reasonable comments are always encouraged!

10:33 PM Eastern

Was the bottom of the 6th inning one of the most ridiculous half-innings of the recent past, or is it just me?

Going into that inning, Roy Halladay and Matt Garza were locked up in a great duel, throwing twin one-hit shutouts, both dominating, but here’s what happened next:

-Ben Zobrist led off with a grounder to third that took a crazy hop over the head of Scott Rolen, who stands 6’4″, and into left field for a single.

-Akinori Iwamura dropped down a bunt to move the runner, but it was a great one and he just beat Scott Rolen’s throw for a single.

-Carl Crawford couldn’t bunt the runners over, and instead hit a roller right down the first-base line that flirted with foul territory right up until the point when Halladay picked it up and home plate ump Mike DiMuro called it fair (it probably was) and Halladay, Barajas and Lyle Overbay all flipped out.

-Carlos Pena dropped a blooper just over Marco Scutaro’s head and just in front of Adam Lind for an RBI single.

-Evan Longoria fouled a pair of two-strike pitches off his leg, hobbling around in a great deal of pain on two separate occasions, then belted a 3-2 pitch (10th delivery of the at-bat) into the left-field seats for his first career Grand Slam.

In all, the Rays sent 10 players to the plate in that 5-run inning, and exactly ONE of them hit the ball hard. The two hits after the slam were an infield single in the 5-6 hole off Rolen’s glove by B.J. Upton and a surprise bunt single by Dioner Navarro.

In that one inning, Tampa did everything that the Blue Jays haven’t been able to do all season. They were even 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

The Jays finally woke up in the 9th, with a nice four-run rally, but it ended with Scott Rolen continuing his brutal July, popping up foul to the catcher. Rolen is now hitting .149/.245/.191 in the 13 games since (and including) Canada Day.

What was the deal with DiMuro tonight, by the way? It seemed like it was one of those rare games where an umpire wants to make himself the show. Granted, the slow-motion replay on Crawford’s dribbler was pretty inconclusive, and I’m inclined to say that he likely made the right call, but how do you not ask the first base ump for help? Then DiMuro squeezed Jesse Carlson to such a great extent that Brad Arnsberg went to the mound to talk to him for no other reason than to wait for the ump to come out and break it up so he could let him have it (and get tossed in the bargain). Then DiMuro ran Brandon League for hitting Dioner Navarro in the knee in the 8th, when anyone who has seen League pitch all season would realize that there was no way he hit the guy on purpose. If he was trying to hit him, he probably would have painted the outside black!

Lastly, I’ve been fighting a throat thing since Thursday – maybe from pushing myself so hard with the late nights at Yankee Stadium, combined with the heat in NYC and moving back and forth from it to severe air conditioning, maybe Letterman’s studio has something to do with it – heck, maybe I got it from Tim Lincecum! Regardless, it wasn’t the best night for the feed to drop from the stadium, though it was a lot of fun to take over the play-by-play for the final five batters of the ballgame. No crowd noise behind me made it weird, we should have pumped some in, NFL-style, but it was pretty cool. The longest I’ve gone, I think, doing play-by-play on an emergency basis like that. It would have been incredible if the Jays had tied it.

Here’s tonight’s The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

1:20 AM Eastern

The Blue Jays didn’t exactly come swinging out of the all-star break, proving wrong my theory that going into the break hot would work for them as much as going in cold would work against the Tampa Bay Rays. Now, the Rays didn’t exactly light it up, either, but they got the big hit when they needed it and the Jays didn’t.

Those of you who believe in jinxes can blame me for this one. I wrote “Devil Rays” on my scorecard, and surely that mistake had something to do with the Tampa win.

A.J. Burnett looked terrific for a second straight start – and I do mean a second straight start! For the first time (that I could find) in club history, the Jays had the same starting pitcher in consecutive regular season games. Admittedly, I only checked around all-star breaks and before and after the ’81 strike, so I could be very wrong. Over the back-to-back starts, Burnett has gone 1-1, 1.76, allowing 11 hits, walking four and striking out 14 in 15 1/3 innings. .500 pitcher, that guy.

Anyway, he dealt tonight with what the Jays’ pitchers have dealt with all season – the almost complete lack of a margin for error, and he wasn’t perfect. The way the shutout broke was tough, with 9-hitter Ben Zobrist yanking one out down the right-field line after the two-out walk to Eric Hinske, but Burnett wasn’t going to win this one unless he threw a shutout. All the Jays could muster was a solo shot by Adam Lind in the third inning.

The Jays didn’t even blow a bunch of chances in this one, either – they left Lyle Overbay’s one-out double at second in the 7th, and had just one other chance, but a big one. A two-base throwing error by Zobrist on Lind’s leadoff grounder in the 8th got things going, and Joe Inglett dutifully (argh!) bunted Lind to third for Marco Scutaro, who just happens to be the worst hitter among Blue Jays starters. He got ahead 2-0, then watched two strikes go by before grounding to a drawn-in Carlos Pena at first. Alex Rios then struck out on ball four to end the inning.

I’m not sure which I like worse – bunting with the top of the line-up up down a run on the road in the 8th inning, bunting with a better hitter than the guy who follows, or having Scutaro hit so high in the line-up.

Before the season started, I said that David Eckstein was the wrong choice to lead off for this team, that the lion’s share of the at-bats shouldn’t be given to someone who doesn’t get on base well, and that by season’s end, Eckstein would lead the Jays in outs made by a wide margin. Had I known that Scutaro was going to play so much, I’d never have said that last part.

Marco Scutaro, among Blue Jays with over 100 at-bats this season, has a better OPS than only Brad Wilkerson and Shannon Stewart. This is not the man who should be hitting second in the order, and this is not the man up for whom Joe Inglett (believe it or not, the TEAM LEADER in OPS among Blue Jays with over 100 at-bats this season) should be giving himself.

The fact that Inglett is the Jays’ OPS leader is a whole other issue altogether.

We had another brain cramp from Alex Rios, forgetting the number of outs when he caught Hinske’s fly ball at the wall in the 2nd. Dioner Navarro was the Rays’ runner at second, which is a good thing for the Blue Jays, because anyone else on that team scores on that play. Hopefully now that the baby is born, Rios can regain his focus, bit by bit. At least, if that’s the reason for its lack.

Before I get to the all-star game and my trip to New York, here’s tonight’s The JaysTalk:

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Now, the all-star game – four hours and 50 minutes of mostly really good, tight baseball. It was a very intense game, stupidly managed (I’ll get into that lower down), with a ton of terrific defensive plays and some pretty big swings.

The best thing about it, though, was probably the pre-game. That ceremony where almost every living Hall of Famer showed up and came onto the field at his respective position, to be joined by the all-star starter, was mind-blowing. The biggest applause of the night came last, when Yogi Berra was introduced. Seeing all those legends down there on that legendary piece of real estate was incredible, but it also made me angry, because Roy Halladay deserved to be out there shaking all those legends’ hands, not Cliff Freakin’ Lee.

I got to see a piece of the all-star parade that afternoon, and that stuff doesn’t usually impress me, but when Hank Aaron’s car drove by I stopped, watched, took out the cell phone and took (sadly) a really crappy picture.

I thought the way that Terry Francona treated the three Yankees who made the AL team was great. He removed both Alex Rodriguez (in the 5th) and Derek Jeter (in the 6th) while the A.L. was on defense, in the middle of the half-inning, so that the crowd could give them a great send-off. He also brought in Mariano Rivera in the middle of the 9th, while the game was tied – which was a good move, since if the A.L. had scored in the bottom of the 9th while Francona was holding onto Rivera, he wouldn’t have wound up pitching at all.

The Canadians were fantastic. After winning the Home Run Derby on Monday, Justin Morneau wound up 2-for-4, scoring the A.L.’s first run on J.D. Drew’s homer and the game-winning run on the Michael Young sac fly. Russell Martin caught 10 innings, had a hit and a sac bunt, threw out Ian Kinsler trying to steal in the 11th and made a couple of sensational plays at the plate. Ryan Dempster pitched the 9th for the N.L. and struck out Kinsler, Dioner Navarro and Drew in order.

In the overall, though, the game was a mess. Is it supposed to be about winning or is it supposed to be about getting everybody in? Obviously, it “matters” now, but it’s still about making sure everyone plays. Francona was on his third catcher by the 7th inning! Ryan Braun was the only starter on either side who even saw the 7th, everyone else was gone in the 5th or 6th, and this was a 2-0 game after six! Clint Hurdle at least showed some sense by having his first three pitchers go two innings each, and he used Aaron Cook (his own guy) for three innings, from the 10th through the 12th, but Francona, having used nine pitchers over the first nine innings, was forced to extend Rivera into the 10th and then have George Sherrill, the Baltimore closer, throw 2 1/3 innings!

It’s ridiculous.

Look, count me among those who believe that the all-star game should be an exhibition based on popularity. The fans want to see the stars play? Marvelous! Get the stars out there to play, and let’s see as many of them as we can. Let the better team after 162 games have home-field advantage in the World Series – it works in the other sports (save for the NFL). But MLB has decided that it had to attach meaning to the game, and now it has to be played to win.

So, damnit, play it to win! And if 10 guys a side don’t get in, then 10 guys a side don’t get in. It’s not like the second wave of all-stars were bums, but who would you rather have in there when you need a big hit – Chase Utley or Dan Uggla? Chipper Jones or Cristian Guzman? Alex Rodriguez or Carlos Guillen? Josh Hamilton or Carlos Quentin? And in a game I’m looking to win, am I going to have Roy Halladay throw just nine pitches? Starting pitchers should go three innings, and so should the pitcher who follows. Play from there, you’ll have three innings to use 10 pitchers. If somebody doesn’t get in, hey, it’s about the win. I have a feeling we might see that next year in St. Louis.

As for Yankee Stadium, it really seemed, as the game continued to continue, that the ballpark just didn’t want to let the game go. It was a real treat for me, since they almost made up for the Opening Day rainout by giving me two full games Tuesday night. But at 3:00 AM, while I was listening to the tape I’d gathered and writing up voicers that may or may not have made it to air, I took another look around the place and was saddened by the fact that I’ll never be there again. I don’t have any particular attachment to Yankee Stadium in particular, other than loving baseball in general, but I’m really glad that I got to spend so much time there this week, and I’ll most definitely miss it when it’s gone.

Now a quick note, for those who are interested, about the two-day mini-vacation following the game. I woke up Wednesday morning to find my wife had arrived, which was awesome, and we thought what the heck, why not try to get Letterman tickets? So we headed over to the box office, and Terrence the security guy sent us down to Times Square, where they were giving away tickets to that night’s show (seemed a big group had cancelled). I know people wait months to get in, but we saw Letterman that night. I had a terrific seat, on the aisle, five rows up, but he never came into the audience. Maggie Gyllenhall (plugging The Dark Knight), Neil Young (plugging his 100-mile-per-gallon prototype) and The Hold Steady were the guests. Having done a bit of TV, it was really interesting to watch all the behind-the-scenes stuff, and having been a big fan of Letterman’s for over 20 years now, it was fantastic to be there. Not as cold as they tell you, either. I was comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt.

Afterwards, we wandered back to Times Square to look for something to do that night, and bought a couple of tickets to Dangerfield’s comedy club from a jerk who told us that among that night’s performers would be Charlie Murphy, Dave Attell and some other great comics, none of whom wound up being there. Still, it was a pretty good show, but some idiots brought their 11 year-old daughter! There was also a 13 year-old there. Not cool, and it made the comics really uncomfortable. It was an awful house, but they soldiered through and we really enjoyed it, at least.

Yesterday we figured we’d hit Broadway, but first we went for lunch at a place called “Empanada Mama” in Hell’s Kitchen. My wife is from Argentina, and she’s crazy about the empanadas (as am I – they’re like little panzerotti but filled with all kinds of great stuff). We walked up to Columbus Circle, hit Central Park, and then went down to Greenwich Village to visit my cousin Steve and his wife Hiroko. They just opened a very upscale men’s shoe store called Leffot (www.leffot.com) – it’s a great place, but I couldn’t even afford to buy one shoe, let alone a pair. Sadly, I didn’t rate a mention in his blog, but he gets one in mine anyway!

We then entered the lottery for tickets to Wicked (The Lovely Wife really wanted to see it), but didn’t hit, so we wound up going to a show called “Boeing Boeing” (TLW is a flight attendant, so I figured it’d be fun). Good show, if a bit overacted, with a great cast that includes Brad Whitford (from two of my favourite shows – West Wing and Studio 60) and Gina Gershon. Finished up with dinner at the Carnegie Deli (matzo ball soup and a pastrami/corned beef knish, what else?). A terrific trip, and a great way to recharge the batteries for another 3 1/2 months of baseball (hey, I get to work the playoffs whether the Jays make it or not).

Reasonable, rational comments are always encouraged! The 24/7 JaysTalk is the thing!

5:05 AM Eastern

It was an incredible night, fantastic game (the Blue Jays aren’t the only ones who can leave the bases loaded with nobody out, see?) and an even better Opening ceremony.  Seeing all those Hall of Famers, at Yankee Stadium, was just phenomenal.  And the baseball gods even tried to pay me back for the Opening Day rainout by almost giving me two games tonight!

I do have a lot to say about the game, about how they have to decide whether it’s meaningful or whether the goal is to get everyone in, about the classy way that Terry Francona dealt with the Yankees in his line-up, about Russ Martin catching 10 innings, about Roy Halladay, about Alyssa Milano,  about poor Dan Uggla and much more but you all can see the time tag on this thing.

The game ended at 1:37 AM, and after heading down to the clubhouse to gather tape, I made it onto the last shuttle bus, which left The Stadium at 3:30.  As I write this, I have just finished cutting everything up, recording voicers and e-mailing the audio to the radio station.  I’m exhausted, but it has been a pretty terrific two days.

My wife is coming to NYC in the morning (in about four hours, I guess), and we’re going to spend a couple of days here on a bit of a mini-vacation.  I wasn’t planning to touch the blog until Friday, but I’ll try to find some time Wednesday to fill in the blanks on this post.  No promises, though.

2:45 AM Eastern

I wasn’t looking forward to going to the HR Derby tonight.  I was at the ones in Detroit and Pittsburgh, and the latter really made an impression on me, and not a good one.  While watching Ryan Howard and others launch baseballs into one of those Pittsburghy rivers (one or two of the Allegheny, Monongohela and Ohio – I can’t remember which), all I could think was “why are we doing this?”  Why was baseball putting all its focus on how far players can hit baseballs with all the crap that was going on at the time with the Mitchell Inquiry and Barry Bonds chasing Hank Aaron and the Commissioner turning up his nose at it.  It seemed anachronistic, and I couldn’t watch without thinking about syringes filled with all sorts of illegal, muscle-building juice.  The contests also took forever, with tons of drawn-out, boring pauses for TV stuff.  I don’t think I left the ballpark until well after 2:00 AM either year.

So I was expecting more of the same this year, although most of the contestants were more human-sized, and the field included a few players whom I enjoy watching.  There was The Hebrew Hammer, Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun, Justin Morneau for some Canadian content, Dan Uggla, who I will always like because I used to call him Ooooooooooogla on the radio before I learned how to correctly pronounce his name (I should still call him that, though, it’s more fun), and, of course, Joshua Holt Hamilton.  He’ll always hold a special place for me because last March, I happened to select him with the last overall pick of the Fat Elvis Prospect Draft.  Therefore, I feel happy every time he does something good.

My seat, being an unimportant radio broadcaster from some strange foreign country, was in the auxiliary press box.  Auxiliary to the auxiliary press box which was auxiliary to the REAL auxiliary press box (which is, of course, auxiliary to the press box).  I was in the upper deck, seven rows from the top of the stadium, two sections away from the foul pole down the third base line.  Officially, my seat was Tier 22 Row R, Seat 19 (though someone was sitting in my seat, so I took 21).  I’m not complaining, mind you, this was a bonus.  Having never seen a game at Yankee Stadium, I’m happy to know that my only such experience will be from the stands, inches away from the paying customers.  The same ones who booed Morneau when his introduction included the fact that he was the A.L. MVP in 2006 (the unbiased Yankee faithful felt the award should have gone to Derek Jeter that year).

I was way too high to be close to any home run balls, unlike 2005 in Detroit when I was dive-bombed by Bobby Abreu.

Anyway, the Derby started with guys putting up some 6s, 7s and 8s.  Braun had a tough time getting going, failing in his first five attempts, but then started hitting some bombs – a couple in the upper deck just a few sections over from me.  But the final hitter of the first round was the show – and what a show it was.

Hamilton battered Baseball’s Great Cathedral.  Just destroyed it.  He belted a record 28 home runs and loved every minute of it.  He played to the crowd, signed autographs between pitches, took a couple of drinks delivered by Hanley Ramirez’ kid, removed some sort of mystery briefcase that Edinson Volquez put in the batters’ box, and hit some beautiful, majestic home runs.

The right-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium have a back wall, covered with huge ads, and Hamilton hit one of them – the Bank of America sign.  He had a couple of other homers that were almost as jaw-dropping in their awsemnity, and launched majestic, high, arcing  home run after beautiful home run.  Like I said, I don’t usually get excited about stuff like that, but it was a real treat to watch.  A guy who a year ago I thought was as likely to win rookie of the year as get found in a gutter with a syringe in his neck seems totally to have turned his life around, and his star shone the brightest on baseball’s biggest mid-season stage.  It was fantastic.

Talking to him afterwards was great, too, even though the P.R. stuff kind of jerked us around by having him come into the interview room, then leave, then say he was coming back, but after Morneau finished talking tell us to go get Hamilton in the clubhouse, by which time he had to leave in 5 minutes.  But he was modest, self-effacing, and really enjoying himself.  A little too Bible-thumpy at times for my liking, but hey, whatever gets him through the day clean.  He was on the verge of throwing away a world of talent and woke up to it and got right.  It wouldn’t surprise me if he went on to be the MVP of the game tomorrow, the MVP of the American League this year, and an honest-to-goodness superstar for years to come.  The talent is overwhelming, and now it seems the head is on straight, too.

Hamilton took nothing away from Morneau’s victory, even though he hit more homers in the first round than Morneau did all night, and Morneau was only too happy to share the spotlight with Hamilton, saying that he was just happy to be a part of Josh’s night.  And yes, Canadians can certainly do more than just play hockey.

So, my faith in the HR Derby is restored, and I hope they can put on just as good a show in St. Louis next year.

In finishing up cutting the Morneau and Hamilton clips to send off to the radio station, I stopped and took a look around the empty Yankee Stadium.  I tried to drink it all in, and honestly, I got chills.  This place is what baseball is all about, Yankee fan or Yankee hater, and I’m so glad that I got to see it, walk around it and kick its proverbial tires before they put it out to pasture.  I have now seen baseball-related activities on two separate occasions at the House That Ruth Built, and tomorrow I get to see a game!

Oh, and a note about media day.  It’s shameful that Terry Francona selected Cliff Lee as the starter for the American League, but worse that he said it was because “nobody measured up to Cliff” and that Lee “has been the most outstanding starting pitcher in the league.”  That’s a complete load of crap.  At the very least, it’s highly debatable, and the argument could be made pretty easily that Roy Halladay is having a better year.

In the scrums afterwards, most of the Toronto media swooped in on Halladay, who said he wasn’t disappointed not to be named the starter, and went on to talk about his future in Toronto.  He reiterated that he doesn’t want to be the final piece to any puzzle, nor does he want to be in a situation where they might win regardless of his presence.  He said that he would prefer A.J. Burnett not be traded, but that he has faith in J.P. Ricciardi.  He also credited the Tampa Bay Rays for doing what the Jays haven’t been able to do for years, which is to capitalize when the Yankees or Red Sox show vulnerability.  Halladay said that it’s too early to turn the page on this season, but seemed resigned to the fact that the Jays weren’t going to be in it.  Shi Davidi of the Canadian Press went back for more when I went to hit up Justin Morneau, Carlos Quentin, Ian Kinsler and others, and his story is bound to be pretty good.

After a break to grab some lunch with Jeff Blair and the Washington Post’s Dave Sheinin (shawafel at the Grand Central Station food court), we went back in to talk to the National Leaguers.  Obviously, I had to talk to Ryan Dempster and Russell Martin.  Dempster was raving about the addition of fellow B.C.ite Rich Harden to the Cubs’ rotation, and didn’t even hold it against him that Harden is from Victoria.  Dempster is from farther north, in Gibsons, but he says that he and Harden bonded over ferry stories – chili dogs, arcade games and the like.  I also asked Tim Lincecum what he thought of the trade rumours over the winter (he said he was told not to think about it, but he did, and thought it would be crazy to move to another organization so soon after being drafted).

As well, I did some short interviews with Brandon Webb (he LOVES Halladay), Matt Holliday and, of course, teen heartthrob Corey Hart, who said his favourite Corey Hart song is “Never Surrender”.  I expected “Sunglasses At Night” but was hopeful that he’d pull out something like “Young Man Running” or “Boy In A Box”.  Does he wear high socks?

Tomorrow, the 79th All-Star Game! Comments are encouraged, as always!

11:30 PM Eastern

I was hoping to write this post from my luxurious hotel room in Manhattan, getting set  for Monday’s pre-all-star festivities – among them, the official announcement of the starting pitchers (please Roy Halladay!  Please!  Please!) and the intense 45-minute players scrums.

See, what they do is they put all the players from one all-star team in a room, each sits at his own little table, and for 45 minutes, every credentialed media member gets to go in there and go nuts.  Then they do it again with the other team. I go get the guys I feel I absolutely need to get, and then wander around and chat with the poor guys who don’t have anyone at their table.  You’ll definitely hear from the Canadians – Dempster, Martin and Morneau, as well as Halladay, and I’ll try to get as many of the others as is humanly possible.  If we can’t get the interviews on the air, they’ll be available here on the website.

It was a fun outing at the airport after witnessing A.J. Burnett’s Tour De Force (maybe the answer is to always throw him on three days’ rest!).  Waiting in the U.S. Customs line with me were David Eckstein and his lovely wife, heading home to Orlando.  Seriously, they looked like a pair of college kids off on a vacation.  Behind us were Lyle and Sara Overbay and the Overboys.  Way up front was Joe Thornton and a couple of buddies of his whom I failed to recognize.

When I got to the gate, I met up with Sweenty Murti, who is the Howard Berger of the FAN New York, covering the Yankees.  I’m a big fan, got to know him in Spring Training a few years back, really nice guy.  He and I were set to go on the same flight, but when I got there they had just announced that we’d been delayed half an hour because of “ground issues” at Laguardia.  Seconds later, Sweeny got a text from a buddy who had seen online that the flight was cancelled, and about three minutes later they announced just that.  Last flight of the night – done.

We went back upstairs so Sweeny could rebook for tomorrow and who was in line there?  Nick Leyva, whose flight home to Philly was also scratched, and Ted Nolan.

What did it mean for me?  Two hours at the lovely Lester B. Pearson International Airport, two chances to pass through U.S. Customs, and one more night of sleeping at home with my wife and kids.  And hey, since the flight was cancelled, my Manhattan hotel let me off the hook for the late cancellation – so Nelson Millman saves himself about $350, too!  Good news all around, except for the waking up at 4:30 AM part.

So, the next few posts will be from All-Star Monday, I promise.

Sorry that I didn’t touch on the game much tonight, but it sure illustrated the power of the home run, something the Jays have been sorely lacking.  Marco Scutaro’s none-out jack turned a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 lead, and even though they couldn’t muster any more, it was enough.  As for Burnett, he was quite simply out of his skull.  It made me wonder two things:

1 – Is he doing this to show the Phillies, Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers, Tigers, etc. that he can be this good, in case they’ve forgotten?

2 – Is he doing this because he’s seriously beginning to worry about the effect a crappy 5.00+ ERA season could have on his potential future earning power?

Whatever it was, it looked amazing, and if the offers don’t get serious over the next four days, the Jays should hold on and give him another 2-3 pre-deadline starts – let him keep pitching with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, and let the ransom grow.

And since it’s baseball – you never know.  The Jays are riding the high of this 5-1 homestand, and get four days of to enjoy the warm, fuzzy feeling, while the Rays get four days off to doubt themselves as a result of their current 7-game slide (funny how there haven’t been too many shots taken at me lately about the Rays).  If the Jays can sneak three out of four in Tampa, then drop Baltimore and Seattle, and then Vernon Wells comes back, well, we could have ourselves a race after all.

Here’s tonight’s The JaysTalk for your listening pleasure:

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Sorry that there won’t be any more until Friday night.

By the way, if you haven’t gotten a chance to listen to it yet, the interview I did this afternoon with Brandy Halladay was one of the best I’ve ever been a part of.  She was  fantastic!  As shy as her husband is, she’s the complete opposite, and we got into a good discussion about how the Halladays feel about the Blue Jays and about Toronto, and I almost Barbara Waltersed her when we talked about the line drive off Halladay’s melon.  REALLY worth a listen if I do say so myself.

Comments are always encouraged – who knows, I might have time to get to them if I’m delayed in the airport in the morning!

5:43 PM Eastern

That was the sound of the air being sucked out of the Blue Jays’ mini-resurgence.  They played an awful game from the second inning on, and now can’t reach the stated goal of “.500 by the all-star break”.  Granted, that goal was stated before they left on the road trip on which they went 2-4, and when they still had a healthy Vernon Wells and Dustin McGowan.  And yet, even with all of the above, they can still get to the break just a game under with a win tomorrow.

The Blue Jays, as has rarely been the case this season, lost this game because of their defense.  In the second inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out and Derek Jeter (who rarely makes an out in an important situation, it must be believed) hit a textbook double play ball that Marco Scutaro couldn’t handle.  Scoot kicked it and bobbled it and by the time he picked it up, couldn’t make a play anywhere.  The inning should have been over, but the Yanks tacked on two more runs (in addition to the one that scored on the error itself) on an Alex Rodriguez single and led 5-4.

In the third, John McDonald ranged to his left to snare Robinson Cano’s grounder, then threw high, pulling Lyle Overbay off the bag.  Three unearned runs eventually scored as a result.

Now, that’s not to say that this loss was entirely the fault of Scutaro and McDonald – Jesse Litsch still gave up some big hits after the errors – but the defense was a major, major factor.

So too was the fact that the bats couldn’t get a thing done after the first inning.  In that first, Adam Lind had the huge hit – a three-run triple that couldn’t have been rolled better between Melky Cabrera and Bobby Abreu in right-centre, but that was it.  The Jays loaded the bases with one out in the second, thanks in part to a Cano error, but couldn’t cash.  First and second in the fourth, and they couldn’t even move a runner 90 feet.  Leadoff double in the 5th, and nothing.  And that leadoff double by Brad Wilkerson was the last hit the Jays managed.

They’re not going to go into the all-star break on a six-game win streak, though if the Rays’ slide continues, who knows – they could be in the middle of a 10-3 or 11-2 even as we speak.  That’s definitely a stretch, though.

Here’s today’s edition of The JaysTalk, brief but entertaining:

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One thing about the calls, and the comments – if you’re going to rip me for something I said, please make sure I actually said it.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
Rational, reasonable comments are always encouraged.

11:50 PM Eastern

There’s a day game coming up after this night game, so I’d like to be brief, but I also want to wax eloquent about the efforts of Roy Halladay tonight. I’ll try to do both, though Halladay’s thorough domination of the Yankees almost leaves one lost for words.

He was spectacular. Outstanding. Maybe the best he’s ever been. For the game, Halladay allowed the Yankees to hit just five balls out of the infield. He gave up just two hits, but neither were legitimate. The first was a line drive to centre to whichBrad Wilkerson, third on the Jays’ depth chart at the position, took a very odd route and it wound up dropping less than a foot in front of him as he made an awkward half-dive. In his defense, Wilkerson had played exactly three innings in centrefield since 2005 before tonight. It’s not a stretch at all to say that both Vernon Wells and Alex Rios would have made the play.

With one out in the 9th, Derek Jeter sliced a line drive down the right-field line. It landed fair by a couple of feet, then hopped into the stands for a ground-rule double.

Those two hits were all that stood between Halladay and immortality. And just as a “by the way”, Halladay has seven complete games this season. If Halladay was removed from the equation, not a single major-league TEAM would have seven complete games.

The defense helped more than it hurt, with Joe Inglett making a really nice running/diving catch of a Melky Cabrera liner, and Marco Scutaro and John McDonald putting on a circus act in the 8th. The 4-6-3 groundout by Wilson Betemit was jaw-dropping in its awesemnity. Scutaro took the grounder on his backhand with all his momentum carrying him towards left field. He flipped the ball from his glove to McDonald, who took the pass, spun around, and made a perfect throw to first. Just beautiful. Really, really beautiful.

In the overall, this was an amazing game. Better-than-great pitching, outstanding defense (for the most part) and, to top it off, more than enough hitting. Lyle Overbay came through in a DP situation again, lining a one-out single to centre with runners on the corners in the third to open the scoring – one of his three hits from the three-hole. Rod Barajas hit a no-doubt bomb to left in the 6th, and Matt Stairs took a lefty out of the yard in the 8th, his 250th career home run. Stairs also moved into a tie for the team lead in homers, he and Vernon Wells both have nine.

The atmosphere at the ballpark was electric, and the Jays’ fans were much, much louder than the Yankees’. I especially enjoyed pretty much the entire stadium breaking into a chorus of “Yankees Suck” somewhere around the 8th inning.

These kinds of games are what this city has been missing over the last 15 years, and it’s too bad that this week more than likely won’t be a jumping off point for the Jays, simply because of the injuries they’re dealing with from this point on. That’s not to say that it couldn’t happen. They could keep this up and work their way back into contention, if, as I mentioned last night, guys like Lind and Inglett keep hitting and if John Parrish can adequately hold on to Dustin McGowan’s innings, but it would be unexpected and near-miraculous.

It’s funny how three weeks ago everyone was begging me to “admit” that the season is over, and now that they’ve won four in a row but have clearly reached the “it’ll take a miracle” stage, people are wondering why I won’t say that they’re thisclose to being right there. Sorry about that. Timing can be a real pain in the butt.

The Blue Jays are certainly not where they are because of injuries, but injuries will be the reason that they won’t be able to get back into it.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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Tomorrow, make sure to tune in to the FAN590 or this very website at noon Eastern for the pre-pre-game show. I don’t have anything planned yet, but I’m hoping that one of the Lady Jays (who will be out for the food drive) will join me on the air and maybe take a few phone calls.

Comments are welcome, as always, and I have to say that I really liked what the Southpaw had to say in comment #98 of the last post.

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2:00 AM Eastern

Wouldn’t you know it? At the point in time where it is most rational to be incredibly pessimistic about the 2008 season, Blue Jayically, the Jays go out and play as well as they have at any point in the season.

Dustin McGowan has a tear in his rotator cuff and is probably out for most of the rest of the year, at least? Big deal, let’s come back from four runs down for the first time all season and win, and get our first walk-off in the process.

Vernon Wells has a Grade 2 hamstring strain and is going to miss a month again?  No problemo – how about overcoming a three-run deficit for only the third time all season and walking it off again, but this time with a hit?

The Blue Jays have reached the point where it will take a miracle for them to make the playoffs, and here they are winning three straight one-run games, scoring 22 runs in the bargain, and sweeping the Baltimore Orioles down into a 4th-place tie in the division.  And how about this – they’ve picked up 3 1/2 games on the Tampa Bay Rays in the last four days!

Things are looking up, except for the fact that McGowan and Wells are going to be gone for a while, which means things aren’t looking up at all.

Now, if the Jays hit like they should, they can overcome the loss of Wells.  Rios, Rolen, Overbay, Lind, Stairs and the surging Joe Inglett have more than enough in them to pick up the slack.  For the most part, though, they haven’t done it all year, so to ask them to get back to a little bit better than where they should be after not having done it for a long while is a lot to ask.

Even if they do, will the offense generated be enough to support a pitching staff that has Jesse Litsch as the number three guy?  Very doubtful.   And if Marcum’s return is stalled and A.J. Burnett gets traded, then Litsch becomes the number two for a while, with a merry band of lefties (John Parrish, David Purcey and Brian Tallet) behind him.

How amazing would it be if the Blue Jays crawled back into the race on the backs of guys like Lind and Inglett, Parrish and Purcey – people who weren’t even supposed to be here this year?  As I said, we have reached the “need a miracle” stage, but stranger things have happened.

Just to clarify the McGowan thing, by the way, I had an e-mail conversation with the great Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus tonight, and we discussed the whole rotator cuff tear thing.  The Jays are saying that it’s the same tear that was on an MRI of McGowan’s shoulder last season.  Carroll said that doesn’t account for the body’s capacity to heal, and that over the course of a year a small tear would likely have healed on its own, which means that McGowan has torn it again, and that likely means he’ll keep tearing it over and over again until they can get it fixed.  That fix might not require surgery, but almost certainly requires McGowan being shut down for the season.  If he does need surgery, we’ll see McGowan again around the all-star break in 2009.  We’ll find out more during this year’s break – McGowan is scheduled to see Dr. Timothy Kremchek on Monday.

As I mentioned on The JaysTalk, a bunch of us media types spent dinnertime trying to figure out who the Jays would call up to replace Vernon, and the Jays settled on Kevin Mench, who would have been my last choice.  I know, I was happy when they brought him in the first time, because he was a legit lefty-masher and they needed one, but that was in May, with still well over 100 games left in the season, and with things very different in Blue Jay land.  Mench came, he saw, and, well, he didn’t really do much – hitting .210/.282/.290 and even worse, “mashing” lefties to the tune of .214/.286/.262 in (granted) 42 at-bats.  He’s still looking for his first major-league home run of the season.  He did go deep in Syracuse, though, hitting .283/.313/.391 in 13 games down there to “earn” the call back.

I hoped that the Jays would call up either Matt Watson or Travis Snider to fill in for Wells, taking the position they’re in and the point of the season at which they find themselves into account.  Watson was the Syracuse Chiefs player of the month for June, having hit .375/.494/.594 .  For the season, the 29 year-old is hitting .307/.414/.449.

Snider we all know about.  After a slow start in AA, he hit eight homers in May, then hit .313/.371/.469 in June.  He has seriously fallen off the table through the Fisher Cats’ first 11 games of July, though, going just .238/.233/.429, still with two doubles and two homers.

What better chance to get one of these guys some big-league experience?  It certainly would be more exciting to watch than trotting Brad Wilkerson out there every day in right field.  As good as Wilkerson was pre-2005, he hasn’t been close to the same since, and given the opportunity for regular playing time during Wells’ last injury, he didn’t produce (though he did seem to be in the middle of a lot of stuff).  Cito Gaston recognized early that he wasn’t going to have much use for Wilkerson.

Look, this is a team that is more than likely going nowhere this season, with 70 games left, a 9-game deficit in the wild card race and with Marcum, McGowan, Accardo, Hill and Wells all on the shelf for extended periods of time.  Why not take a look at one of the kids?  Yes, you’d be starting Snider’s clock early, but he still wouldn’t be arbitration-eligible until after the 2011 season (assuming he hits well enough to stick), nor would he be eligible for free agency until after 2014.  What’s to be lost by giving him a look?

Instead, they go the safe route and call up Mench, who will DH against lefties instead of David Eckstein and we all get to watch Brad Wilkerson play right every day.  I think I’d rather have Richie Sexson for that.

The only saving grace to this move is that maybe they re-tool over the all-star break.  If Mench is just here for three days, then during the break they trade Eckstein and Burnett, find out McGowan is gone for the year and then bring up one of the kids, fine by me, but I doubt that’ll happen.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk:

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Before I go, I have to mention how great it was to see Lyle Overbay come through tonight.  Two hits, and then when he came up with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 9th down by a run, he jumped on George Sherrill’s first pitch and smacked it to deep enough centre field to get the tying run home.  That’s the same George Sherrill against whom lefties have hit .143/.260/.238 this year.  Then another lefty, Adam Lind, picks up the game-winning hit!  No love for Overbay on the post-game though, which is pretty unfair since I think that about 80% of you fully expected him to hit into a double play in that situation and I believe I would have heard from every single one of you if he had.

Comments are encouraged, as always, and I’ll try my best to get them up sooner.   One change, though – I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to respond to those comments that take shots at me for being an “apologist” for the Jays or for J.P. Ricciardi.  I’m most assuredly not, what I am is fair.  So many commenters and some media members take whatever opportunity they can to be negative, regardless of the situation, and it’s really wearing on me.  It’s just not worth it for me to respond to those types of comments, it makes me too angry.