1:25 AM Eastern

No, not THAT dream!  Sheesh!  I mean, all it took was for me to open my big keyboard last night and write that I was starting to think that the Jays may actually have a legit shot at the wild card for them to go out and lay an egg like they did tonight.  Has my opinion changed over the last 24 hours?  Of course not, that would be ridiculous.

The dream that sadly died before our very ears (you all listen to all the games on the radio, right?) was that dream of not losing a single series all season.  The best the Jays can do now is split with KC, and with Brian Burres on the mound for the finale, that’s not terribly likely – though not as incredibly unlikely as many of the callers and commenters seem to believe.

Brian Tallet got beat up tonight, far worse than he ever had in his big-league career.  Granted, he’s pitched almost solely out of the bullpen, but only once prior to tonight had Tallet ever given up as many as four runs in one outing – and that was in a game the Jays won!  Tonight, Tallet stayed out to give up 10 runs on 11 hits in just four-plus innings, and he wasn’t happy about it.

There was some real tension between Tallet and Cito Gaston after the lefty came out of the game, likely going back to Cito’s visit to the mound in the third inning.  They even had a not-quite-animated discussion in the dugout afterwards.  Rarely does Gaston go out to the mound when it’s not to make a pitching change, and when he does, it’s to deliver a message.  Tonight, the message was delivered after Tallet gave up a two-out, two-run double to Billy Butler on an 0-2 pitch to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.

I’m not sure what Cito’s philosophy is on throwing 0-2 strikes, but I do know that no manager likes to see a pitcher give up a big hit 0-2, especially if it’s not a good pitch that the hitter somehow went out and got.

It is kind of interesting that Gaston takes such great care of his hitters’ psyches – keeping Travis Snider in the 9th spot, shielding him from lefties, not pinch-hitting, never disturbing his batting order – but he doesn’t seem to have the same philosophy about dealing with his pitchers.  He’s great at giving them rope, testing their fortitude by allowing them to work out of jams, but he’s not shy about showing his disappointment in a public forum when he feels it’s required.

That’s not to say he does it all the time, or even often, but it seems in opposition to the way he handles his hitters.

It’s true, though, ahead 0-2 with two on and two out in a game you’re leading by one, you have to give a guy like Butler at least a couple of chances to get himself out.  But I’m sure Tallet was well aware of that, pretty much as soon as that ball got down the line past Scott Rolen.

I wonder how much of Tallet’s irkedness was due to the fact that he was left out there to give up nine runs (the 10th scoring after he was yanked).  In a situation like that (facing Greinke and with Burres going the next day), he had to give them as many innings as he could, so I don’t have a problem with him being left out that long.

Butler was the star of the show, for sure, going four-for-four with two homers, that double and four RBIs.  Zack Greinke pitched awfully well, but he was finally touched up – allowing two earned runs over the first three innings before settling down for four innings of one-hitter as his Royals built their big lead.

And that Vernon Wells!  He drove in a run in the first, the first earned run Greinke has allowed this season, and gave the Jays a 1-0 lead.  Thing is, though, he never drives in runs in important games.  They wound up losing by eight, Wells is so not clutch.

Before I go, I have commented in the past on how much I love the way that Cito Gaston argues with umpires.  I love that he goes out there disappointed, as opposed to angry.  In an almost fatherly way, as though he’s saying “Son, I know you messed up, and you know you messed up, now what are we going to do about it?”  Tonight was different, and with good reason.

In the bottom of the 5th, Alberto Callaspo hit a line drive that appeared to land on the foul line in right field.  That would make it a fair ball, but first-base umpire Lance Barksdale called it foul, threw his hands up in the air to stop play (prompting an “are you kidding me” reaction from Callaspo as he ran towards first), then immediately signalled “fair ball” and allowed play to continue.

Rios hadn’t given up on the ball in right, though he wouldn’t have been wrong to have done so, and Callaspo kept running once he saw Barksdale change the signal, but that doesn’t really matter.  An umpire changing a call mid-stream,  while play is going on, should never happen.  Even if he believes he made the wrong call, he has to let it stand, and that’s why Cito was out there arguing.  This one wasn’t a typical mistake to be calmly discussed and I’m glad that Cito let him have it.

Three editions of The JaysTalk for your listening pleasure tonight!

First, the pre-pre-game show:

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Then the Rain Delay Programme:

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Finally, The JaysTalk:

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At least there’s a day game coming after the night game (weather permitting) so it doesn’t leave THAT much time for the mass rending of garments what with the blowout loss and the prospect of a Brian Burres start.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

1:20 AM Eastern

OK, so the Royals had more than two hits, but otherwise it was pretty much a mirror-image of Monday night’s affair that had the Chicken Littles diving off the bandwagon looking for cover.

Seriously, a baseball season is a LONG one.  The best teams will lose at least a third of their games, so you can’t take every loss as though it’s the end of the world.  A team that wins three out of five, every time, will make the playoffs.  That also means they’ll lose two out of every five.  It doesn’t mean it’s all over when the Jays lose a game – heck, they still haven’t lost two in a row.

I understand that most people believed that the second of the first two in a row would happen tonight, and I understand that most Jays fans believe that the Jays will lose their next two, what with facing Zack Greinke tomorrow night and with Brian Burres scheduled to start Thursday afternoon, but it might not happen. In fact, neither of the actual games may happen- there’s an ugly weather forecast for KC the next couple of days.  But even if the Jays do lose both, please don’t pull the chute on your enjoyment of this team for the rest of the summer.

As amazing as it sounds, Scott Richmond has been the saving grace of the Jays’ starting rotation so far this season.  Who would have thought two months ago that he and Ricky Romero would combine to go 5-0 in the month of April?  Richmond seemingly gets better every time out.

Tonight he really helped himself with a great play to throw out Mike Aviles at third on Coco Crisp’s 3rd-inning bunt, when it was still a 1-0 game.  Then, after getting David DeJesus on a comebacker, he knew to bypass the lefty Mark Teahen in favour of the right-handed hitting Jose Guillen, who was completely overmatched  in each of his three trips against Richmond tonight.

You can get lit up by lefties if you absolutely destroy righties, or so Richmond is teaching us.  On that note, left-handed hitters hit .267/.389/.333 against Richmond tonight, which isn’t awful, but isn’t good at all.  The righties?  Par for the course – .111/.111/.111.  And this time, Richmond faced six lefties and three righties and still put up a great line.

Lyle Overbay showed once again that he has the best arm of any first baseman in the game, and a better arm than a lot of right fielders, throwing out DeJesus at third to complete a 4-3-5 double play in the first.

Poor Vernon Wells went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, and would have had a fourth hit but for a great catch by Crisp at the wall in right-centre.  Yes, Wells is miscast as a clean-up hitter, and no, he’ll never have a high enough on-base to be one of the elite hitters in the game, but the constant chirping about how bad he is has to stop.

I loved seeing that Tony Fernandez-esque fake-bunt-slap-hit by Marco Scutaro in the 8th.  The man has phenomenal bat control.  His emergence almost rivals Richmond’s for the most pleasant surprise on the Jays so far this year.

Two editions of The JaysTalk for your listening pleasure tonight!  First, the pre-pre-game:

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And the regular edition – shorter than usual tonight:

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With the Red Sox and Cardinals losing, the Jays once again have the best record in all of Major League Baseball.  Believe it or not, I’m starting to think that this Jays team may actually have a legit shot at the wild card, but I really don’t want to speak to soon.  Let’s see how they can do until Ricky Romero, Casey Janssen and Jesse Litsch come back over the next 2-5 weeks, and then let’s see if Romero and Richmond can keep it up, if Janssen can get back into his 2007 form, and if Litsch is really for real.  It’s a long season, and it’s going to take a long time to figure out just how good this Jays team can be.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

1:10 AM Eastern

And that’s  all I’m gonna say about that one.  Sorry I didn’t blog last night, but my B.J. Ryanesque tight left trapezius muscle is making it difficult for me to even hold my head up without quite a bit of pain.  I’m astonished that B.J. is able to do so with that gigantic cranium of his.

Hopefully, I’ll feel more like pounding something out after tomorrow night’s game against the Royals.  And hopefully Scott Richmond goes out and has another one of his typical outings – maybe then his pops will say something nice about me in the comments section!

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

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Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

11:25 PM Eastern

As much as last night’s game was a laugher in favour of the Jays, this one was the same from a paler hosiery point of view.

It’s the first time this season that the Jays have been blown out of a ballgame, but the funny thing is, it didn’t have to be.

It’s easy to measure pitching, and easy to measure offense, and now that it’s getting easier to measure defense that part of the game isn’t getting as short a shrift as it used to, but defense was the difference tonight.

Two incredible plays made by the White Sox on D helped keep the game a 2-2 tie going into the bottom of the 5th, when the Sox’ patience finally paid off and Brian Burres fell apart.

In the top of the 4th, Aaron Hill was absolutely robbed by Chicago second baseman Brent Lillibridge on a hot smash that was headed up the middle for a tie-breaking single.  Lillibridge, who was playing centre in the original starting line-up prior to Chris Getz coming up lame, broke hard to his right, made an incredible diving stab, and threw out Hill to end the inning and preserve the tie.

Just as an aside, Hill once again lunged for the bag with his final stride towards first.  He does that all the time, and I can’t stand it.  I’d even prefer if he dove head-first.  Lunging slows you down almost as much as sliding into the bag slows you down, and one of these days, Hill is going to blow a hamstring or an achilles, or Moises Alou himself doing that.  Just run through the bag, it’s the fastest way to do it.

Jerry Owens robbed Vernon Wells of at least a double, maybe a triple, with a fantastic diving catch along the warning track in the left-centre gap with one out in the 5th.  If Wells reaches there, the Jays have a great chance to take the lead.  Instead, the Sox’ gloves come up huge once again, and then the bats jump on Burres in the bottom of the 5th and put the game away.

Could we really have expected much more from Burres, by the way?  Well, yeah, I guess, given that he allowed six runs on seven hits and four walks in just 4 1/3 innings.  Burres has a sparkling 12.46 ERA after his first outing as a Blue Jay.  Any way you slice it, he was awful.  But then, he was pretty awful for the Orioles last year and the year before, too.

Could Burres be another one of the foundlings who have gone on to great success with the Jays, joining luminaries such as Scott Downs and Jesse Carlson?  Maybe.  He’s got a big hill to climb, though, and a lot of history to overcome.  So much so, in fact, that I was going to title this post “Seriously, What Did You Expect?” but I thought that was just too mean.

Bryan Bullington, on the other hand?  There may be quite a bit of there there, as it turns out.  Bullington struck out the side in the 8th, around a walk and a couple of base hits.  He steeled himself with the sacks juiced and the heart of the order up, though, and whiffed Paul Konerko and Corky Miller (OK, well, they were the 5-6 hitters) to end the inning, showing a great slider in the bargain. Alan Ashby spent the entire inning raving about Bullington’s arm, and he’s a man who should know a good arm when he sees one, given the pitchers he caught when he was in Houston.

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

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And as an extra added bonus – here’s the Rain Delay Programme:

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Tomorrow afternoon, we’re on at 1:30 PM Eastern as the Jays go for their third straight road series win to start the season, which would be a franchise first.  Roy Halladay gets the ball against Jose Contreras, so it looks pretty good but then……. Halladay has never won at U.S Cellular Field/ComiskeyII!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow night, make sure to tune in at 7:00 PM Eastern for The Blue Jays This Week – it’s network-only because of the Toronto FC game on the Fan590.  You’ll hear from Ricky Romero, and that great conversation between John McDonald and Omar Vizquel.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome.

1:25 AM Eastern

Well, that was certainly something.

In the midst of a Chicago windstorm the Blue Jays added plenty of thunder and simply blew the White Sox right out of their own building.

The Jays continued to show their opportunistic side, taking advantage of a double-play ball that Alexei Ramirez dropped, then kicked, in the first inning to score three runs thanks to the big bats of Vernon Wells and Adam Lind.  Scott Rolen got a big two-out hit in the 3rd, then it just got silly.  Fun, but silly.

Brian Tallet was terrific in awful conditions, and the conditions are the only reason I can imagine Bill Murphy would issue three walks with no less than a 12-run lead.

There’s really nothing more to say about this game, it was one of those 60 that go in the “you’re gonna win” column.  A couple of interesting notes, though:

-Gavin Floyd was one of the worst pitchers in the majors at holding runners last season (and A.J. Pierzynski is no great shakes his own self), and the Jays were prepared and took great advantage of that early.  They stole three bases in the first three innings, increasing the team’s season total by 50%.  The most daring theft was that of Wells stealing third in the 3rd.  He took off, and was a good three steps gone while Floyd was still in his stretch, and Floyd wound up coming home anyway.

-A little bit of fun in the outfield, as Brent Lillibridge hit a fly ball to left-centre in the 6th.  It was the centrefielder’s ball, but Wells let Travis Snider call him off, what with the score 12-0, and then high-fived the rookie after he made the routine catch.  Fun stuff, and the kind of thing over which people would be blowing their tops if the Jays had a losing record.

One hopes they’ll still have something left in the tank for Saturday night’s date with Mark Buehrle, but that may not matter.  The forecast calls for rain, so we may well see a wash-out.  This being the Jays’ only visit to Chicago this year, that might mean a double-header Sunday, but that’s doubtful at this point in the season.  They’d likely try to find a mutual off-day and (hopefully) give us the pleasure of a Buerhle/Roy Halladay match-up Sunday afternoon, a game that should take about an hour and a half to play.

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

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Remember to tune in for some pre-pre-game JaysTalk Saturday at 6:00 PM Eastern!  Rational,  reasonable comments are always welcome!

12:55 AM Eastern

Just a quick post tonight because, and this is kind of funny, I woke up this morning with a stiff neck, so it’s hard to sit at the computer and type too long, especially since I’ve been doing it all night at the ballpark.

What’s kind of funny is that if I really think about it, this stiff neck could probably be called a tight trapezius muscle on my left side.  Although I think my lat is a little sketchy too.  So dig me, I’m a combo of Brandon League 2007 and B.J. Ryan 2009.  Anyway, I’m hoping it gets better in a hurry, since my old-man softball team is having its first practice on Saturday.

I’m starting to think that Scott Richmond might be a lot better than I, and many others, thought he was.  Granted, he has no pedigree whatsoever, he’s a 29 year-old rookie and his numbers in independent ball weren’t especially impressive.  He was just OK in his five-start stint last year, with the overall numbers helped out a lot by a rain-shortened six-inning shutout in Baltimore on the next-to-penultimate day of the season.  He didn’t pitch that well in the spring, and was in the process of getting lit up when the rain yanked him from his first start this season.

There was really no reason to think of him as anything but a decent-enough 5th-starter type who would hold onto that job until someone better was ready.

But then there were his last two starts.  He shut down a lefty-heavy line-up in Minnesota, and came back tonight and stuffed one of the best-hitting teams in the majors.  As I wrote before that Twins start, Richmond was going to have to find a way to get lefties out if he was going to be able to stick in the majors.

Tonight, lefties went 3-for-10 against Richmond, posting an ugly .300/.417/1.000 line.  Ugly if you’re the pitcher, that is.  But the thing is, Richmond destroys right-handed hitters.  Going into this game, Richmond had held right-handed hitters to a ridiculous line of .143/.191/.175.  That’s just wrong.

Tonight, Richmond gave up two singles to Nelson Cruz and one to Michael Young.  The righties combined to go  .214/.214/.214  with six strikeouts in 14 at-bats.

I’m not sure what to make of this, but it seems that the facts that Richmond rarely walks anybody and that righties can’t touch him mean he can be bad against lefties and still pitch effectively.  If he perfects that change-up and makes it a real weapon against lefties, or gets them fishing for his curveball on a regular basis as he did with Chris Davis tonight, Richmond’s ceiling could wind up being way higher than I thought, and I would love to be proven wrong on him.

Bryan Bullington wound up getting the call to take B.J. Ryan’s spot in the bullpen.  The first overall pick in 2002 by the Pirates, Bullington has allowed 10 hits and a walk in 9 2/3 innings with Las Vegas, striking out 10 and allowing just two earned runs.   He’s worked at least three innings in two of his four appearances, and gives the Jays a long-relief option, with everyone else moving up a spot. Scott Downs is the closer, Jason Frasor and Jesse Carlson likely handle the 8th and Brandon League the 7th.

It was a good edition of The JaysTalk tonight, second in a row where there haven’t been any irrational whiners calling in.  A caller mused, and probably rightly so, that it was because Rios, Wells and Overbay all homered and Ryan didn’t pitch.  None of the favourite targets were in the sights.  Here it is, for your listening pleasure:

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Tomorrow, a special treat for you FAN590 listeners.  I have been trying all week to get a John McDonald/Omar Vizquel interview done, the two of them being good friends, two of the best defensive shortstops ever and former teammates with the Indians.  This afternoon, it finally happened.  It started off with Vizquel interviewing McDonald, but Johnny Mac switched sides halfway through or so.  It’s nine minutes of radio gold, and even though I plan to use it on The Blue Jays This Week this week, I’m going to play it for you during the pre-pre-game show Friday at 7:05 pm Eastern.  Make sure you tune in!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

EDIT 6:00 PM Eastern

I went on the air with this at 5:00, but haven’t had a chance to get back to the ol’ laptop until now.  You’ll see below that I reported Brett Cecil will make the start for Romero on Saturday night in Chicago – that’s wrong.  Totally my fault, as the source to whom I spoke gave me a very broad hint which I misinterpreted.  Brian Burres will be called up to make that start instead.

Also, B.J. Ryan was placed on the 15-day DL this afternoon with tightness in his left trapezius muscle (connects the shoulder and neck on the back side).  He’s going to see a specialist in Dallas on Monday.  This was the first the Jays were made aware of the problem, and when asked if this might have been an issue in the spring, J.P. Ricciardi said “You’ll have to ask (Ryan).”  We wanted to, but according to the communications department, Ryan was “not interested in discussing the injury.”

Other updates – Casey Janssen is expected to throw two or three innings in a minor-league game early next week.  Jesse Litsch will throw off flat ground tomorrow, and if it goes well, he’ll get into a minor-league game early next week, as well.  Shaun Marcum is going to throw a bullpen tomorrow or Saturday, and will throw another bullpen for the big team in Kansas City when the Jays visit next week.  Ricciardi seemed to think that he’ll probably be able to pitch for the Jays at some point this season.  J.P. said he’s hopeful that all of Romero, Janssen and Litsch will be back with the big club by mid-May.

1:48 PM Eastern

Ricky Romero’s early chase for the rookie of the year/Cy Young award hit a bump in the road this afternoon when he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right oblique strain.  There’s no word yet on how long he’s expected to be out, but one would think it’ll be more than the 15 days, probably closer to a month.

Romero was off to an incredible start to his major-league career, with three fantastic outings in a row.  He had become the de facto number two pitcher in the rotation, so he’ll be missed.  I should have known something was up yesterday, because now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing him participating in the Pitchers’ Fielding Practice drill before batting practice.

Brian Tallet will move up a day to start Friday night’s opener in Chicago – he’ll be working on five days’ rest – and Brett Cecil will be called up from Las Vegas to make his major-league debut on Saturday night.

Check out The Grill Room on SUNTV tonight at 6:30 PM if you’re in the Toronto viewing area.  I’ll be on there and it could be a lot of fun.  I woke up with a stiff neck today so TV is going to be a bit of a challenge!

Also, there are over 100 comments from last night/this morning that I need to get to.  They’ll be posted during tonight’s game.

1:23 AM Eastern

And that’s what it really comes down to, isn’t it?  There was a myriad of decisions that one could pick apart in tonight’s win over the Rangers, but when it’s all said and done, it was tonight’s WIN over the Rangers, and that’s what counts.

So Travis Snider was used as a pinch-runner, then asked to bunt because he was facing a lefty.  So Lyle Overbay wasn’t inserted for defense in the 9th inning, and then wasn’t used to pinch-hit for Kevin Millar in the 11th.  You could call it a “bad beat” for Texas if they had deserved to be in extra innings in the first place, which they didn’t.

These kinds of games are the reason that more people are excited about the Blue Jays now than they have been in years, even though this is arguably the worst team the Jays have put on the field in the last four seasons.  These are the kinds of games they just plain didn’t win on a regular basis for the last few years.

Cito Gaston comes out smelling like a rose, because Millar winds up getting the game-winning hit off a Rule 5 pitcher who had just showed up at the ballpark and had to wear somebody else’s uniform.  Stunningly, the ruling is that the Millar hit will be charged to Kason Gabbard.

Truth is, though, there were things that Gaston could have done that may have made this win a little easier, or made it happen a little earlier.  Of course, they may not have.  Would Overbay have driven in Vernon Wells in the 11th? Maybe not, but there’s no way I have a righty hit against a right-handed side-armer if I have a better option.  Would Overbay have held on to that wild throw by Aaron Hill in the bottom of the 9th?  Probably, but they still likely wouldn’t have gotten the double play, and so maybe Michael Young’s homer would have been a game-tying three-run shot.  Would Travis Snider have been better suited to be used as a pinch-hitter for one of Rod Barajas, Millar or Bautista down the stretch?  Probably, but Bautista wound up with four hits and Millar took care of things in the 11th with Barajas on deck.

Hey, it worked.

As for B.J. Ryan, after the game he used words like “brutal”, “terrible” and “stupid” when discussing his performance.  So at least we know he has a good sense of self-awareness.  Aaron Hill shoulders some of the blame for throwing away what I believed to be a routine double-play ball, but the fact remains that Ryan still wound up with a one-run lead with two out and nobody on even after that, and couldn’t get the job done.  Location is the issue with Ryan – when he throws strikes, he’s good, when he doesn’t, he’s really not.  He only gave up the one hit tonight, hanging an 0-1 slider to Young.

Will he be the closer tomorrow night?  I doubt it, having thrown 23 pitches in that ugly 9th.  Scott Downs gave up a run in the 8th – his first of the year – but still only needed 13 pitches to get out of it, and he’ll get the call if necessary, but does that mean Ryan has lost the job?  I don’t think so, not yet.  One more and maybe he goes to work in lower-leverage situations earlier in games until he figures things out, and then Downs will be the closer.  Jason Frasor certainly seems ready to step in for Downs and work the 8th.  He was great again tonight.

Alex Rios had four hits tonight.  Just thought I would mention that.

Here’s tonight’s edition of the JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure.  It was very civil tonight, the callers certainly raised the level from where it had been the last couple of nights, and I appreciate that.  It couldn’t just have been because the Jays won, because Ryan did give up three runs and Vernon Wells went 0-for-4.

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Tomorrow, a chance for the Jays to win a 5th straight series, something they haven’t done to start a season in eight years.  As well, a chance for them to exceed their win total for all of last April.  Scott Richmond is charged with slowing down this incredible Texas offense.  The good news?  He’s only likely to face four left-handed bats.  The bad news?  They belong to Josh Hamilton, Hank Blalock, Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Richmond is one of a VERY few starting pitchers to go his first seven career starts and not once allow more than three earned runs.  Among those with whom Richmond does not share that distinction?  Roy Halladay (more than three runs 4 times in his first seven starts), Dave Stieb (3), Jimmy Key (1), Roger Clemens (5), Pedro Martinez (2), Randy Johnson (2) and Greg Maddux (4).  And just for the heck of it, Johan Santana (5), Roy Oswalt (1), CC Sabathia (1),  Cliff Lee (2), John Smoltz (3) and Cole Hamels (4).  And Tom Seaver (1) and Nolan Ryan (2).

And you know the funny thing?  I put all those names up there before I even checked whether or not they’d given up more than three runs in any of their first seven career starts, and I only had to take one name off the list – Brandon Webb.  It took him until his 14th start to give up more than three runs.

What does this all mean?  Nothing, but it’s kinda cool.  Also, I have to imagine I’m not the only one thinking that Richmond’s streak is likely to end tomorrow.  But plenty of people have thought that before.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

12:30 AM Eastern

The Blue Jays came within a hair of beating the Texas Rangers tonight.  Ok, maybe not a hair, but less than a foot.  That was how much higher, or further to the left or right, Rod Barajas’ screaming liner in the 8th had to be for it to have wound up a two-run single or three-run double, rather than an out.

Michael Young made an incredible catch on that laser beam, snaring it after it had already gone past his head.  Michael Young. Just imagine what the Jays would have looked like the past seven years if they had never traded Michael Young.  Oh, well, at least Esteban Loaiza gave us some laughs along the way.

With the bases loaded and one out in a one-run game in the 8th, Barajas fouled off a couple of two-strike pitches from Frank Francisco, then barreled one up about as well as possible and hit that line drive just about as hard as anyone can.  Right at Michael Young.

And so the post-game was full of people who wanted to talk about how terrible Vernon Wells and Alex Rios are.  It’s nights like these that make me keep having to remind myself how much I love my job.

I think Helia, the caller whose name I mispronounced, had the best take on the whole thing.  I just wish I heard from the silent majority more often, rather than the fairweathers and clowns who seem to call in on a regular basis.  It’s the “smartest guy in the room” syndrome.  The believe that everybody else might be pleased with a 10-5 start, but only they see what’s really going on, and they want to make sure nobody gets too excited.

Roy Halladay wasn’t Roy Halladay tonight – he rarely is against the Rangers, for some reason, Rios and Wells didn’t contribute (other than knocking in half the team’s runs), and yet they were still a hair’s breadth away from coming out of it 11-4.

It’s funny how timing is everything.  The Blue Jays played May of last year at exactly the same rate as they have played April so far this season, winning two out of every three games.  Yet this year, the people who aren’t incessantly negative talk about how they seem more confident, how they have a certain look, how this is a more exciting team than we’ve had around these parts in years.  I didn’t hear any of that last May.

Maybe it’s not timing, maybe it’s expectations.  It definitely happened with the Leafs this year – they were 18th in the league in December instead of the 29th that we all expected and people raved about what a great year they were having.  I wonder if there would be such excitement about this team a year ago if they’d started 10-5.  It doesn’t matter, really, what fans should be doing is enjoying it, but so many seem not to have the capacity to live in the moment.

Why can’t we talk about what a great start Ricky Romero is having without talking about him being a Cy Young candidate?  Why can’t we enjoy the fact that the Jays are in first place without worrying about whether they’ll make the playoffs, or when it’s all going to come crashing down?  I don’t get it, and I doubt I ever will.

All I know is that if the Jays are 78-63 in September and three games up on everybody else, I’ll still be taking calls about how bad Alex Rios and Lyle Overbay are, how B.J. Ryan is done and how Vernon Wells makes too much money.

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

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Honestly, rational and reasonable, please!  It’s not even May yet, I can’t be coming home angry from work every night.

4:50 PM Eastern

I daresay that it’d be near impossible to start a big-league career on the mound better than Ricky Romero has.  Three starts, all brilliant, and but for a bobbled double play ball he’d be 3-0 with an ERA of 0.78.  He has allowed 23 baserunners in 21 innings and has struck out 13 against four walks.

Romero dominated the Oakland A’s today, though he needed a great Vernon Wells to Aaron Hill to Raul Chavez relay to keep the shutout intact.  That was pretty amazing, because there was a buzz in the building as soon as the ball got to Hill.  You could hear the 22,000+ getting ready to roar once Hill turned and threw home to nail Mark Ellis by plenty.

Lyle Overbay, the guy I don’t even think should be in the line-up against lefties, drove in the game’s only run with a solid line single to centre in the second inning.  Hey, it was his bobblehead day, he needed to be in there.

Scott Downs followed up his 2 1/3 inning, 20-pitch, facing-the-minimum outing yesterday with a perfect eighth, B.J. Ryan looked terrific in picking up the save, allowing only a flare single to right, and the defense shone again.

One great thing about this Jays team that often goes unnoticed (though people are starting to come around) is just how great the gloves are.  Marco Scutaro made another phenomenal play (yes, I like that word), diving to his right while in the shift to grab a Jack Cust liner in the second, taking away a hit.  Scutaro has taken a giant leap forward defensively – to go with his new Rickey Henderson-ness at the plate, and when the Jays have the seven guys they had behind the pitcher today, the defense is airtight.  That makes the pitchers better, and will no doubt lead to a few more wins than you’d otherwise expect.

Alex Rios even got a hit, though it was only an infield single.  Still, a very hard-hit ball into the 5-6 hole.  He lost a ball in the lights in the first inning, unfairly scored an error, though I’m sure some people are pretty upset about it.  I’ll wager that Rios comes out of the off-day a new man.

The Jays lead the American League at 10-4 after two weeks, their best start since 2001, and they have won each of their first four series of at least three games to start the season.  It’s the first time that’s ever happened for this team, but only by the very strictest definition, and I apologize for the confusion yesterday.  That’s what I get for taking others’ word for things without doing the research myself.  In 2001, the Jays won their first six series of the season, but the first one was only a one-gamer, that season opener against the Rangers in Puerto Rico.

Travis Snider got a start against the lefty today, and went 0-for-3, striking out looking twice and hitting a fly ball to deep right-centre.  Here’s hoping it’s just the first of many starts against southpaws this season and beyond.

I love me a good 1-0 game, and this was certainly a good one.  Quick, well-played, marvelous.  And now, the season’s first off-day!

Make sure you tune in to The Blue Jays This Week tonight at 7:00 PM Eastern.  I’m actually not sure where you can get it, because it won’t be on the FAN590 because of Marlies hockey and Toronto FC soccer.  I talked to Scutaro about his start to the season (and about Alex Rios’), and Downs answered 10 questions.  If you can’t find it on the radio or online, the interviews will be posted here on the website shortly.

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

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Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!