VOTE FOR TOM CHEEK – NO TAKING WEEKENDS OFF – DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST

6:40 PM Eastern

The script couldn’t have been written better.  Gregg Zaun, 0-for-August, sees Scott Rolen get pitched around to load the bases with two out in the 13th, and he takes the first pitch he gets from Troy Percival over the wall – barely – in right field for a walk-off Grand Slam.

The game was a roller-coaster ride for the Jays and their fans, with Shaun Marcum smoke-and-mirroring his way through three shutout innings before settling down for another four.  Lyle Overbay helped him out with a pair of solo homers, Alex Rios chipped in with an RBI double and the Jays led 3-0 with B.J. Ryan coming on to close the door in the 9th.

Ryan, who has been far shakier this year than in his dominant 2006 but has still been better than most people seem to think, hit Carlos Pena with his first pitch and then gave up a two-run homer to Rocco Baldelli.  He followed that with a five-pitch walk and Brandon League immediately got up and started throwing in the bullpen.  Ryan should have gotten out of it, though.  He struck out Justin Ruggiano and then Dioner Navarro hit a line drive right at Joe Inglett.  I’m not sure if the ball skipped through his legs or just went right through on a line, but if it didn’t bounce, it’s likely a game-ending double play.  Regardless, Inglett should have made the play, and that would have put the tying run on third with two out in the worst case.  Instead, the tying run scored.  Ryan then struck out Jason Bartlett.

The Jays almost won it in the bottom of the 9th, when Zaun followed Scott Rolen’s two-out double with an infield single into the 5-6 hole.  Bartlett made an incredible diving play to keep it in the infield, which Rolen didn’t see coming, and he rounded third too far, couldn’t get back, and was easy prey in a rundown.

The Rays went ahead in the top of the 13th on Navarro’s soft line single to right off Brian Tallet, and I’m betting most Jays fans found something else to do at that point – at least, those who weren’t beside themselves with joy having felt that they successfully predicted a Jays loss.

In the bottom of the inning, Wells reached on a one-out ground ball up the middle that Akinori Iwamura gloved but couldn’t do anything with, and Brad Wilkerson followed by hitting a two-strike pitch on a line just out of Bartlett’s reach to his right.  Overbay grounded to second, but not hard enough to turn two, setting up the Rolen walk and Zaun’s heroics.

It was Zaun’s fourth career Grand Slam, in 99 career at-bats with the bases loaded, and his second career walk-off Slam.  The other one came back in 2002, against Arizona’s Byung-Hyun Kim.  That one also came with two out, leading to a 7-4 win (eerie, huh?) but it was in the 9th inning, and Zaun was pinch-hitting.

Two other things before I go:

1 – Scott Downs was shaky today, to an extent that I can’t remember seeing in a long, long time.  After getting Bartlett to ground to short on a nice play by Scutaro, he threw 10 straight balls, walking Ben Zobrist and Iwamura then going 2-0 on B.J. Upton.  With ball 10, League and Jesse Carlson started throwing in the bullpen, but Downs came back with a strike and then got Upton to hit a comebacker that Downs turned into a 1-6-3 double play to get out of it.

2 – I still can’t get over how many of you commenters get so excited when it seems like the Jays are going to lose.  I’m hoping that someone can explain it to me.  I don’t want comments on this blog during the game that say stuff like “here we go again” or “Camp’s in, game over” or “B.J. Ryan sucks”.  I hadn’t been getting too many before today, and that was a good thing.  I don’t understand the psychology of it all.  Is it because you want to make sure you can tell everyone that you knew that the roof was going to fall in?  Is it because when you convince yourself that the Jays are going to lose it then becomes that much more exciting when they don’t?  I just don’t get it.

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

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Remember, Sunday there’s a pre-pre-game show here on the website and on the Fan590.  I’m planning to have former Expo Cliff Floyd on to talk about the ‘Spos,  the Rays and the Marlins, with whom he won the World Series.  Then, on The Blue Jays This Week, we’ve got Justin Morneau and ten questions with Marco Scutaro, and I’m hoping to also get Alex Rios and Travis Snider.

Also remember, today and every day in the month of September, please vote for Tom Cheek and ONLY for Tom Cheek to be on the ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award to gain entry into the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It’ll make more of an impact on the voters if Tom alone gets the overwhelming majority of the votes.  Just cut and paste the following link into your browser:http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2008/vote.jsp

It’s a bit of a pain to fill out all the info, but it only takes two minutes at the most, and Tom Cheek was certainly worth your time.  Thank you.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

VOTE FOR TOM CHEEK TODAY AND  EVERY DAY THIS MONTH!  NO TAKING WEEKENDS OFF!  DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST

12:35 AM Eastern

It turns out that when a team  has won five games in a row, it’s still allowed to go out onto the field again the next day and win again.  You’ll have to excuse Blue Jays watchers if we’re unfamiliar with the process, because the Jays hadn’t had a win streak longer than five games in over four freakin’ years!  The last time it happened was May 4-10, 2004 against the White Sox and Royals.  It doesn’t seem all that long ago, but the winning pitcher in the first and last games of the streak was Pat Hentgen.  Terry Adams and Kerry Ligtenberg each picked up a save.The Jays are 4-0 in September after winning their last two August games at Yankee Stadium, and now sit eight games over .500, with a chance to be just a half-game back of the Evil Empire when we all wake up in the morning.

As for tonight, the Blue Jays weren’t done after giving up a pair of unearned runs in the first.  Vernon Wells, Rod Barajas and Lyle Overbay all hit ropes around an Adam Lind bouncer to short (great screen job by Wells) to put together a three-run inning and Alex Rios provided the punch with a pair of homers.  If he gets hot, both he and Vernon could wind up hitting 20 homers this season.  He’d have to get really hot, though, and Vernon would have to go deep a little over once a week.

I hate to keep piling on Jays fans, but to the idiot commenter earlier this evening as well as the people who derisively applauded Joe Inglett after he fielded a ground ball cleanly following his first-inning error:  Please find someone to give you a good hard boot to the head, or administer the blow your own selves, because you’re all in dire need of some corporal punishment.  Yes, Inglett booted a very routine ground ball to start the game, which set the stage for Tampa’s first two runs.  It happens, get over it.  Inglett has basically been an everyday player since Aaron Hill got hurt at the end of May, and has now made THREE errors all season.

I’m having a harder and harder time sticking to my call that the Rays won’t make the playoffs – they’re going to have to work hard to blow this – but they’re 1-3 so far in September, and their next eight games are all on the road at Toronto, Boston and the Yankees, and they then come home for three with the Red Sox and four with the Twins.  That’s a tough, tough 19-game stretch, and we’ll get another chance to see of what they’re made.

Tonight, the Rays made a couple of big mistakes that helped them to the loss.  Actually, I’m thinking it was Gabe Gross who made a couple of big mistakes.  First, Gross didn’t throw home on Scott Rolen’s fly ball to medium-depth right-centre in the second, allowing Rod Barajas to tag and score.  I couldn’t believe that he threw to third.  The ball wasn’t hit high, but it wasn’t hit deep, and Barajas is nothing if not really slow.  He’s not Frank Thomas slow, but he’s a well below-average baserunner.  There’s no question that Gross had a play, and if he throws The Captain out, it’s a 2-2 tie after two instead of the Jays holding a 3-2 lead.

The second big mistake I’m not 100% sure was Gross’, but it sure looked like it.  After Jason Bartlett barely beat out a chopper to third to score a run and push Gross (the tying run) to third in the 7th, Akinori Iwamura came up to bunt.  The fact that Iwamura bunted the ball right back at Roy Halladay showed me that he thought the suicide squeeze was on, but Gross didn’t break, and was meatcake in a 1-5-2 rundown.

Two mistakes, each costing the Rays a run in a game they lost by two.  You can’t do that too often in a pennant race which, it should be noted, almost nobody on this T-Bay team has ever experienced before.  It’ll be interesting to see how they fare tomorrow against a slowed-down and humbled Shaun Marcum, making his first start since the demotion.

Congrats to Halladay on picking up his 129th career win – he’s now in sole possession of second place on the Jays’ all-time list, just 46 wins behind David Andrew Stieb.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure.  You’ll note I figured that the Jays have to go 18-4 the rest of the way to make the playoffs.  That’d give them 92 wins, and based on who they play the rest of the way, that would be enough to get them in.  Is it going to happen?  No.  Well……….stranger things have happened, just not too many.

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Remember, today and every day in the month of September (no taking weekends off!), please vote for Tom Cheek and ONLY for Tom Cheek to be on the ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award to gain entry into the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It’ll make more of an impact on the voters if Tom alone gets the overwhelming majority of the votes.  Just cut and paste the following link into your browser:

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2008/vote.jsp

It’s a bit of a pain to fill out all the info, but it only takes two minutes at the most, and Tom Cheek was certainly worth your time.  Thank you.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

VOTE FOR TOM CHEEK TODAY AND EVERY DAY THIS MONTH – DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST

1:55 AM Eastern

Too much of a reach?  Sorry – it’s really late, I had to sit in two massive construction tie-ups on the way to and from picking my wife up at the airport after the game and I’m really tired.

Travis Snider and Jesse Litsch combined to impose their will upon the Minnesota Twins, and help the Blue Jays sweep the season series.  The Jays were so dominant that the score would have been the same had the Twins not even bothered to show up at the ballpark.

Granted, the Twins were a tired, beaten team playing the last of 14 straight on the road (thanks to the Republican National Convention) and they clearly had nothing left to give as Litsch retired the last 13 hitters he faced, but the Jays still swept the season series from the Twins, who were in first place when they came to town on Tuesday.  They also have yet to lose to the White Sox, who now hold sole possession of first in the Central, this season.  Cleveland, though, they can’t beat.  Just as an aside, the Blue Jays scored a grand total of five runs in “regulation time” against the Indians in seven games this year.

But that’s bad, and what’s going on right now is good.  The dream of an unbeaten September is still alive in Blue Jay-land.  They scored an average of seven runs on an average of 15 hits in sweeping the Twins three straight, and they haven’t committed an error since the Reagan administration (note – that last bit is not true. Don’t leave a comment to say that I’m “lying”.  This is what’s known as exaggeration).

Travis Snider got the rousing ovation he deserved from the Rogers Centre crowd one night later, as he belted his first big-league homer leading off the 5th.  Snider clubbed the ball into the batter’s eye in dead centre.  He also added a pair of singles and a walk to complete a 3-for-3 day, and is now hitting .467/.500/.733 in his major-league career, sample size be damned.

What’s impressed me the most about Snider, among several things, is that of his six hits the last two games, three have come with two strikes.  As well, he was behind 0-2 before working the 8th-inning walk tonight.  I’m not sure he’s ready for prime time yet, very obviously, but it looks like this young man has a good chance to be very special.

Snider became the 4th-youngest player in Blue Jays history to hit a home run, the youngest being that great baseballist Danny Ainge, who was 136 days Snider’s junior (in relative terms) when he connected off the (now) late Joe Decker at the Kingdome in June of 1979.  Canada’s own Paul Hodgson and Lloyd Moseby are the other two Jays to have gone deep while being  younger than Snider is right now, each having broken his respective maiden in 1980.

I know many people are down on the Jays, and love to bring out the tired old saws like “they never get going until they’re out of the race” and “they’re still not playing any meaningful games in September”.  But the games they’re playing are VERY meaningful for the opposition, and the Jays are beating them.  They also got this thing started kinda early.  The Jays are 31-19 since July 7th, a .620 winning percentage (or a 100-win pace over a full season).  Surely the first week of July isn’t “too late”.  The problem is that none of the Rays, White Sox and Twins have fallen back as expected.

This ballclub has become a lot of fun to watch, with the occasional dip back into maddeningly frustrating, but we’re getting a lot more good than bad.

Adam Lind was working out at first base during batting practice today, a position he played in college.  That would be good news to the Over-haters, of which there are plenty.  Moving Lind to first and signing a big, scary DH makes a lot of sense if the Jays are ready to hand the keys to Snider, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Now that Scott Rolen is healthy, Cito Gaston is having a hard time getting John McDonald into the line-up.  It’s disappointing, because I thought Gaston wanted McDonald in there over Scutaro, but when asked why before the game, Cito said “who am I going to take out?”  I thought the answer to that question was Scutaro.  Cito said that McDonald will likely start in tomorrow’s series opener against the Rays, and would likely hit second (!), his goal being to bunt Joe Inglett over if he gets on leading off the 1st inning, so the Jays can score a quick run for Roy Halladay.

Gaston also mentioned that Snider will probably get a couple of games in right field against Tampa Bay, with Vernon Wells and Alex Rios each getting a turn at DH.

According to J.P. Ricciardi, tonight’s edition of Wednesday’s With J.P. (The Thursday Edition) was the best show he’s ever done, due to the quality of the callers.  Well done!  Here’s the show,  for your listening pleasure:

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Remember, today and every day in the month of September, please vote for Tom Cheek and ONLY for Tom Cheek to be on the ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award to gain entry into the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It’ll make more of an impact on the voters if Tom alone gets the overwhelming majority of the votes.  Just cut and paste the following link into your browser:

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2008/vote.jsp

It’s a bit of a pain to fill out all the info, but it only takes two minutes at the most, and Tom Cheek was certainly worth your time.  Thank you.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

VOTE FOR TOM CHEEK – DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST

12:25 AM Eastern

This was another fun game to watch, as many have been over the past two months.  A.J. Burnett was terrific for the most part, left with a shutout intact, the bullpen blew it (an extremely rare occurrence), but the Jays got to Joe Nathan, arguably the best closer in the game, and then Johnny Mac played hero in the 11th.

This was Travis Snider’s home debut as well as his coming-out party.  He wound up with three hits on the night, none bigger than the two-out single to right off Nathan in the bottom of the ninth that was kicked by Jason Pridie (making his major-league debut), which allowed Curtis Thigpen to score all the way from first to tie the game and force extras.  It was an incredible at-bat, top to bottom, by the 20 year-old, and gave us a big glimpse into the future, and why he’s going to be someone to be reckoned with for a while.  I said on the air that it was a “37 year-old” at-bat, and what I meant was that Snider certainly didn’t look like a kid coming to the plate for the 11th time in his major-league career, but like a seasoned veteran who wasn’t going to give in to an incredible pitcher.

Joe Nathan has spent this year making big-league hitters look foolish.  Coming into this game, he’d allowed 38 hits and 13 walks in 57 innings, striking out 62.  The league was hitting .186 against him and he had an ERA of 1.11.

Snider took a pitch, fouled off the next two pretty hard, and found himself in a 1-2 hole, the Jays one strike away from a loss.  He took a fastball away, then didn’t jump at a slider, working the count full before smoking a line drive to right on the 3-2 slider – a pitch he couldn’t have been counting on seeing.  That second foul ball he hit was a slider as well, and Snider made a great in-swing adjustment, because it appeared he was looking fastball, and he lashed it down the first-base side.

The kid has a tremendous idea at the plate, and the swing to back it up.  That’s not to say he should be handed the keys, or that he shouldn’t even start next season in AAA (Buffalo?), but it is to say that when he does get up here for good, it’s going to be fun.

Snider also hit a rocket to left that fell just in front of Jason Kubel for a single off Eddie Guardado in the 11th, helping set up McDonald’s warning-track winner.

He was incredibly impressive.  His welcome by the Rogers Centre faithful was shameful.  As this much-hyped prospect, 20 years old and in the big leagues, walked to the plate at home for the first time in his career, there was a smattering of applause.  Same as if Lyle Overbay was coming to the plate, less than what Vernon Wells gets on a regular basis.  It’s times like those when I just sit here and shake my head in a combination of amazement and embarrassment.  No wonder Toronto has the reputation of being a bad baseball town.  I’m still stunned, nearly four hours later, that that was all the welcome that Snider got.  Hopefully tomorrow night’s crowd can make up for it.

A couple of notes before I go:

-A.J. Burnett became just the 3rd Blue Jay in club history to record a 200-strikeout season when he fanned Denard Span for the second out in the 5th.  Burnett joins Roger Clemens and Roy Halladay in that select company.  He deserved his 17th win tonight, leaving ahead 2-0 in the 7th with two out, though he left the bases loaded.  That’s usually a situation from which the Jays’ bullpen can extricate its starter, but not tonight.  Scott Downs, against whom lefties were hitting .182/.229/.232, gave up a three-run double to Joe Mauer in the gap in left-centre to blow the save.  Mauer, by the way, was hitting .370/.421/.548 against lefties.

-I can’t believe that the ball Alex Rios hit for a one-out triple off the left-field wall in the 10th didn’t go out.  Off the bat, I thought it was at least halfway up the seats in the 100 level, if not farther, but it hit the wall as Kubel leapt to try to snare it.

-I’m puzzled as to why Cito Gaston went with Kevin Mench as a pinch-runner for Rod Barajas in the 7th inning with John McDonald, Brad Wilkerson and Curtis Thigpen on the bench.  I understand that Cito might have wanted to save McDonald and Wilkerson for defense if the Jays retook the lead, and might not have wanted to have their bats in there if they didn’t, but if that’s the best the Jays can do in that situation then Buck Coats should be called up immediately strictly for that purpose.

Lastly, Denard Span.  With the bases loaded and two out in the 7th inning, Span having just moved to centre field, Marco Scutaro hit a line drive into the gap in left-centre.  I thought it had a real shot at splitting the outfielders, and at the very least it would take a really nice play to chase it down.  Instead, Span came loping over, like it was nothing, and the ball settled in his glove for the third out.  I’ve seen a lot of terrific centrefielders over the last few years, but none have reminded me SO much of Devon White.  If Span had caught the ball at his waist, it would have been a carbon copy.  It was a weird deja-vu-y thing to watch.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure – no J.P., he’ll be here tomorrow for Wednesdays with J.P., The Thursday Edition:

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Remember, today and every day in the month of September, please vote for Tom Cheek and ONLY for Tom Cheek to be on the ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award to gain entry into the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It’ll make more of an impact on the voters if Tom alone gets the overwhelming majority of the votes.  Just cut and paste the following link:

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2008/vote.jsp

It’s a bit of a pain to fill out all the info, but it only takes two minutes at the most, and Tom Cheek was certainly worth your time.  Thank you.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

VOTE FOR TOM CHEEK – DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST

1:20 AM Eastern

I’m not sure that’s more appropriate a title for this post because it’s the legal first name of tonight’s losing pitcher or because it’s a cool Batman sound effect that makes for a solid descriptor of the Blue Jays’ home run barrage of this evening.

No, I can’t believe that he legally changed his name to Boof, either.  One thinks that legally changing his name to “Tool” or some such might have been more on-the-nose.

This is something that Jays fans could certainly get used to – down by four in the 5th and it’s NOT over?  How terribly unusual!  Home Runs to get back in a game and then another to take the lead?  Didn’t know you could do that.  Taking a starter off the hook after a poor outing?  Surely you jest.  And yet, as they say, all evidence to the contrary.

Alex Rios and Jose Bautista were the hitting stars tonight, each pounding out two singles, a double and a homer and driving in two. Their back-to-back jacks in the 5th got the Jays back to within a run so that Lyle Overbay could play hero the next inning with a two-run laser beam to right off of the much-maligned Boofinator.

Bautista, by the way, is proving to those fans of the fair-weather variety that sometimes things that look bad one week look really good the next.  Take, for example, young Jose:

Aug. 22 – halfway through the Aug. 30 game:  0-for-14, 5 strikeouts.

Halfway through the Aug. 30 game – present:  7-for-10, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 3 runs scored, 4 RBIs.

In the overall, he’s now hitting .292/.280/1.091 – and you thought he was awful.  That’s the thing about small sample sizes.  The 0-for-14 was no more indicative of his abilities as a hitter as the 7-for-10 is.

The Blue Jays’ bullpen is incredible.  Just thought that I’d point that out in case you weren’t aware.  Four relievers combined to throw six innings of two-hit shutout tonight, with Jesse Carlson, Scott Downs and B.J. Ryan getting together to finish the game with four perfect innings.  The Jays’ bullpen ERA is now a ridiculous 2.85 for the season.  They have a WHIP of 1.22 and a K/BB ratio of 2.14:1.  AS A COLLECTIVE.  The next-lowest bullpen ERA in the A.L. is over a half-run higher!

These guys need to be appreciated, and when you look at the bullpen it’s more apparent than ever that J.P. Ricciardi needs to be fired.  Why?  Because Brandon League was a Gord Ash draft pick.  Those other guys?  B.J. Ryan – expensive free agent signee, Scott Downs – waiver claim, Jesse Carlson – minor-league free agent, Brian Tallet – trade for Bubbie Buzachero, Brian Wolfe – throw-in in trade for Corey Koskie, Jason Frasor – trade for Jayson Werth, John Parrish -minor-league free agent.  And of course you can’t forget the injured – Jeremy Accardo – trade for Shea Hillenbrand, Casey Janssen – draft pick.

That’s a pretty cool way to put baseball’s best bullpen together.  Shame the starting staff is only……….ooooh, also first in the majors in WHIP.

One thing I wanted to make sure to note, and I said it during the broadcast, was that I really love the way that Cito Gaston argues with an umpire.  When Rios slid into third trying to advance on a Vernon Wells RBI single in the 3rd, he was tagged on the leg and called out by umpire Marty Foster.  Replays showed that Rios was, in fact, out, but Cito thought the tag had been applied higher up on his body and that Rios had slid in safely.

Gaston came charging out of the dugout as fast as I’ve seen him do it in years, but he wasn’t sprinting like some managers would.  When he got to Foster, he didn’t start yelling, didn’t turn his hat around to get in his face, didn’t storm about kicking dirt and making an idiot of himself.  He didn’t even look as though he’d lost his temper.  Instead, it looked as though he was almost SCOLDING the umpire.  Not saying “I’m right, you’re wrong, you’re an idiot and you’re killing us”, but saying “I’m right, and you know I’m right, and you’d better shape up because you don’t want me out here again telling you how wrong you are.”

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I love this.

Shaun Marcum got scrummed before the game, since nobody got to talk to him before he left for Syracuse in the surprise demotion almost a week and a half ago.  He said that the trip to Syracuse might have been just what he needed, and that Chiefs’ pitching coach Rick Langford, after seeing him throw one pitch, figured out that he was rushing and got him to slow down his delivery, almost like a Japanese pitcher, Marcum said, with a big pause at the top of the windup.  Marcum wasn’t sure he’d use the modified delivery on Saturday, when he’ll resume his spot in the rotation (he’ll keep it for the rest of the year).  He didn’t think that there were any attitude issues that needed to be resolved (though he did say the demotion was humbling), and he believes (and J.P. Ricciardi agreed after) that the rest of the season is an audition for him to secure a spot next year.

It’s amazing that a starting staff this good, with only one member likely not to return, will be in such disarray in the off-season.  Ricciardi said that they’ve even thought about moving Downs in to the rotation next year.

Marcum also mentioned something strange.  He said that when he was sent down, he “almost thought about going home” but he went down to Syracuse because he cared about his teammates too much to leave them like that.  That was kind of cryptic, and I think it’ll be misinterpreted by most.  I don’t believe Marcum ever actually thought about leaving the Jays, or quitting, or anything like that.  I think saying that was just his way of expressing how disappointed and upset he was at the demotion.

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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Remember, today and every day in the month of September, please vote for Tom Cheek and ONLY for Tom Cheek to be on the ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award to gain entry into the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It’ll make more of an impact on the voters if Tom alone gets the overwhelming majority of the votes.  Just cut and paste the following link:

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2008/vote.jsp

It’s a bit of a pain to fill out all the info, but it only takes two minutes at the most, and Tom Cheek was certainly worth your time.  Thank you.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

2:05 PM Eastern

There are about 100 comments that I still have to get to from Sunday’s post, and I’ll do that tonight, and the September call-ups have been announced (Marcum, Richmond, Wolfe, Thigpen, Mench, Wilkerson) but I didn’t want to wait until after the game to remind everyone of the following:

VOTING IS UNDERWAY FOR THE FORD C. FRICK AWARD for the broadcasters’ wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Fans don’t actually vote for who wins the award every year, but the top three vote-getters are assured of being placed on the final ballot of 10 that goes to the Frick committee, which makes the final decision.

Please, please, please, please – cast a ballot for Tom Cheek today and every day in the month of September.  I’ll even give you a link at the bottom of this post.

Tom was baseball on the radio in Toronto, the voice of summer, and had a dramatic effect on my love for the game growing up and I’m sure, on a lot of yours’.  If you’re too young to remember him, then talk to your parents, they’ll fill you in.  No one will ever forget “Touch ‘em all, Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life,” but that was only the tip of the iceberg that was  Tom Cheek, Voice of the Blue Jays.

He deserved this honour while he was still around to enjoy it, and the longer his family (and by extension, us, his family of listeners) has had to wait for him to be honoured, the more shameful it is on the part of the keepers of this great game’s history.

Everyone is allowed to vote once per day, for up to three broadcasters.  I’m asking that you vote everyday, but vote for Tom and only Tom.  That way, his name will show up even more strongly among his peers.  I know that close to 100,000 people check in on this blog every month, and I’m exceedingly grateful for that.  I would be even more grateful if we could get Tom even close to 100,000 votes, which would be the highest total everywhere.  Heck, why don’t we try for a million?

You’re already online, just click over here and vote – it’ll only take a minute, and a great broadcaster and an even better human being will be put in a position to get an honour that he so dearly deserves.

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/awards/frick_2008/vote.jsp

OK, so you have to cut and paste – I’m still not sure how to insert a link, but I’ll try hard to find out.

I’ll be posting this with a reminder with every blog post for the rest of this month.

Thank you.