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11:05 PM Eastern

I got to go to a baseball game tonight!

I saw a typical Matt Garza special, but at least I got to go to a baseball game tonight.  I really do appreciate all the kind words and wishes from so many of you out there - really, it was no major illness or anything.  At least, not the one I had.  Still, being away from the ballpark really sucked.

While I was gone, so did the Blue Jays, and the ol’ magic didn’t kick in upon my return.

Scott Richmond had a fine outing, allowing three solo homers over seven innings of work, but for the way the Blue Jays have been hitting lately, that was more than enough for the Rays to pick up another win.  The Jays picked up just a solitary run tonight to give them six over the last four games - they’ve scored just twice over the last 24 innings.

It’s pretty amazing that they only managed the one run tonight when you look at the scoresheet.  Marco Scutaro and Aaron Hill combined to reach a total of five times, Scott Rolen extended his hit streak to 18 games and Adam Lind had a pair of hits.  Seems as though that would be the recipe to score more than once, but the Jays’ only run came on a double-play ball by Lyle Overbay in the second.

Scott Downs and Jake Eliopoulos threw in the bullpen before the game, and I spoke to both afterwards.  Downs says he felt fine, but he hasn’t tried to run yet.  His arm felt fresh, but he said it could be three days, a week or two weeks until he’s back.  The test is going to be when he runs, but the toe didn’t give him any trouble as far as his mechanics were concerned.  He’s eligible to come off the disabled list on Friday, when the Jays open up in New York.

Eliopoulos hasn’t signed with the Jays yet - he was their second-round pick in the draft earlier this month, but he was out here to throw for them.  He’s headed south with the national team.  I made sure to say hi and to thank him for coming on the pre-pre-game show a couple of weeks ago.  He smiled politely and agreed when I said that I hoped he got signed soon  so that he could come out here and pitch for real.

I was pretty surprised to see Brett Cecil come out of the bullpen in the 9th inning - I thought something had changed pretty drastically since I’d been gone - but it turns out that Cecil is the guy who is getting skipped with Thursday’s off-day.  He’s not scheduled to start again until Tuesday in T-Bay so Cito will have him available out of the bullpen for the next few days.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk - with me! - for your listening pleasure:

Tomorrow, this ugly homestand comes to an end with a Canada Day game that will have Ricky Romero on the hill against the Rays’ inappropriately-nicknamed “Big Game” James Shields.  The Blue Jays need a win to wind up with a poor homestand of 4-5.  We’re on at 1:00 PM Eastern for a 1:07 first pitch, and there’ll be fireworks after the game!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

12:00 PM Eastern

It’s rare enough to see a guy hit a foul ball with home run distance and then later in the same at-bat fix that and hit a home run, but it’s even more rare to see that happen when Roy Halladay is on the mound.  That’s what Carl Crawford did last night, though, getting it right with a mammoth blast to the back of the 200-level in right.

The homer scored a walk ahead of it, and that was all the damage the Rays did to the good doctor, but it was enough, because there was no support to be had from the offensive side.

Not counting the game he had to leave in the 4th inning with the groin strain against Florida, Halladay has no-decisions in three of his last five starts, and he pitched well enough to win them all.  He’s 10-2 now, but he really should be 13-1 with two starts left before the all-star break.

Here’s last night’s edition of The JaysTalk, with Zack Cooper and Jerry Howarth, for your listening pleasure:

Tonight, the series with the Rays continues with Scott Richmond (on Canada Day Eve) taking on noted Blue Jay killer Matt Garza, who posted a 0.47 ERA in five starts against the Jays last season (though he only went 3-2).  I’ll be back in harness tonight after a long 5-day stint on the disabled list.  The Jays went 1-4 without me, as opposed to the 7-7 they went while Halladay was on the shelf.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

9:30 PM Eastern

The Blue Jays are done with interleague play!  Huzzah!

They finished an ugly 7-11 on the year - only the last-place Indians and A’s were worse in the American League (at 5-13).  And the Jays got to play the NL East, where EVERY team had a losing record in interleague, as well as a set with the Reds, for some reason, who were 6-9.

It’s amazing how bad this team is at beating the National League, and how much it always costs them in the standings.

This year, in interleague, the Jays finished three games worse than the Yankees (if the Yanks hold on to win tonight), SIX games worse than the Rays and four games in arrears of Boston.  To put it another way, that’s how many games they lost to three teams they are now chasing.  When interleague started, all those teams were chasing the Jays.

If the Yankees hold on to win tonight, they’ll lead the Jays by three for the wild card.  Granted, the Yanks played six against the Mets (and went 4-1 going into tonight) and the Jays didn’t play the Mets at all.  But the Jays got swept by the Marlins - at home - and the Rays went 5-1 against Florida.

Watch at the end of the season how important three games against the Yankees, four games against the Red Sox and six games against the Rays might be.  It’s astounding how the Jays simply can’t take care of business against the senior circuit.

Here’s today’s Alex Seixierofied version of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

Kudos to Aaron Hill for the two home runs to make him the Jays’ all-time single-season leader in homers by a second baseman.  Don’t tell the guy I just traded him in the Fat Elvis league.

Tomorrow night, to celebrate my final day on the disabled list, Roy Halladay will be activated and tasked with taking down T-Bay as the Jays try to move back into a tie for third in the East.  Make sure you tune in Jerry, Alan and Zack Cooper at 7:00 PM Eastern!  I’ll be on with Hogan and Toth at 10:30 AM Eastern to help break down the weekend and set up the rest of the homestand.  If the Jays take the series from the Rays 2-1, it’ll be their second straight 5-4 homestand.  That’s not exactly making hay while the barn door is closed, or some such.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

1:55 PM Eastern

Nuff said about yesterday, though it doesn’t seem to have affected them much in looking to take the series with a win today.

Here’s yesterday’s edition of The JaysTalk with Zack Cooper and Jerry Howarth, for your listening pleasure:

I’ll put up today’s The JaysTalk later on this afternoon, and remember to tune in at 7:00 PM Eastern tonight for The Blue Jays This Week!  I’ll be hosting it (since I can do that from home) and we’ll be hearing from Ricky Romero, Rod Barajas and maybe Cliff Johnson.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

12:45 PM Eastern

You know, in all my years of following this great game, I have never seen a no-hitter live.  It would have been just my luck to have Ricky Romero throw one while I was on the DL.  Romero fell short, but he dazzled again.  He’s been phenomenal in every single one of his big-league starts with the exception of those first two after he came off his stint on the shelf.

I’ve answered a few more comments and put them up, and I’m leaving a spot here for last night’s edition of The JaysTalk, with Alex Seixeiro.  I told Alex that he’s a lot nicer than I am, I would have been pretty rough on that first caller who said he’d found four good left-handed bats that would help the Jays - and two of them were Derrek Lee and Paul Konerko!

Here it is, for your listening pleasure:

OK, well, time to go lie down again.  Only three more days to go until I can be activated!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

7:40 PM Eastern

Unfortunately, I’m down with that crazy flu thing that’s been going around, and I’m not allowed to go into work until Tuesday night.

That sucks.

I hope you enjoyed Zack Cooper last night, he and Alex Seixeiro will be handling The JaysTalk duties for the next few days.  I’ll host The Blue Jays This Week on Sunday night, because I can do it from home, but you won’t hear me from the ballpark until June 30th.

So instead of the usual post-game bloggage, and since I figure I’ll be bored to tears over the next few days, this is what I’m gonna do.  I’ll post nightly just to get that night’s JaysTalk up, but I’ll check back regularly and answer comments throughout the next few days.

I just sat here and went through a bunch over about an hour, and now I really need to lie down.

Thanks for the kind wishes!

10:35 PM Eastern

What, you didn’t think a little swine flu was going to keep me down, did you?  OK, well, it’s probably not swine flu (for some reason they didn’t test me), but I have to pass along my regrets for not being able to answer the bell tonight.  Only my second sick day in eight seasons in that booth, and hopefully I’ll be back in there tomorrow night.

The operative word for Brett Cecil tonight was “up”.  Everything he threw was up, and unfortunately for Brett, it was up in the strike zone, and his stuff got pounded.  The Reds climbed all over the rookie almost like the Jays did with Bronson Arroyo last night, but the Jays had a comeback in them.

Vernon Wells and Scott (The Caveman) Rolen came up huge in that 5th inning rally to tie the game and rev up what was settling into being a pretty boring evening. Wells with the two-out, two-run double and Rolen following with the game-tying two-run single up the middle.  Unfortunately, the Jays didn’t get any hits after that Rolen single.

I have to say that when the 7th inning started, my first thought was “Shawn Camp is coming out for a FOURTH inning of work?  Really?”  Then Joey Votto took him over the right-field wall for the margin of victory.  Still, no complaints about Camp tonight - any time a long reliever throws down four innings of one-run ball, you should be very, very happy.

Rolen, Marco Scutaro (throwing out a runner from the seat of his pants) and Aaron Hill flashed the leather beautifully tonight - again.  It’s such a pleasure to watch this team play defense on a nightly basis.

Finally, huge ups to Zack Cooper for stepping into the breach in my absence.  He did a great job during the game, and as I type this, he’s doing a terrific job (with Jerry) on The JaysTalk.  Don’t believe me?  Here, listen for yourself:

Tomorrow the Phillies come to town having lost eight of their last nine, a run that started when the Jays swept them last week.  Ricky Romero meets Cole Hamels, and hopefully I’ll be back in harness for that one.  Just nobody come too close.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

11:10 PM Eastern

Even though the Blue Jays nearly blew a six-run lead far later on in last night’s game, you kind of got the feeling this one was over after the Jays simply took Bronson Arroyo to the woodshed off the hop.  Five batters into the bottom of the first inning, the Jays had a 5-0 lead.  Marco Scutaro worked an eight-pitch walk and Aaron Hill took the next pitch into the seats beyond the Jays’ pen in left.  Vernon Wells took the pitch after that into the seats beyond the Jays’ pen in left, and after Scott Rolen Charlie Browned Arroyo with a line drive up the middle, Adam Lind went deep, though his didn’t make the seats.

It was the 27th time the Jays have hit three homers in an inning - the last time was on May 20th, 2007 when Alex Rios, Wells and Matt Stairs did it.  When Hill and Wells went back to back (and belly to belly), it was only the second time all season that the Jays have had back-to-back jacks - Lind and Rolen in Cleveland May 5th.

Scott Richmond had his struggles early on, though there wasn’t much damage.  He gave up a one-out solo shot to Jonny Gomes in the second and then a couple of wild pitches following a walk and a broken-bat single got the Reds a run in the third.  But through those three innings, Richmond had real trouble closing out at-bats.  He only allowed four baserunners through the first three innings, but threw 66 pitches.

Then, it clicked.  After a rough, 26-pitch third inning that featured those two wild pitches, Richmond needed only 25 pitches to get through the next THREE innings!  Richmond closed out his night with four perfect innings, retiring the last 14 hitters he faced, and Hey Dirkhurst came in to finish up.

On the lefty-meter, southpaws went 0-for-12 off Richmond with two walks and one strikeout.  And this after he shut down all those left-handed-hitting Phillies in his last start!  Very, very nice.

Even though it felt over early, the Blue Jays broke with tradition and continued to add a run here and there - one thanks to a terrible throw by Adam Rosales on a hard ground ball by Wells that had a good chance to be an inning-ending double play in the 4th, another on a Wells double in the 2nd (hey, he’s 13-for-his-last-32 <.406> and has an extra-base hit in four straight games!), and another when Russ Adams showed his wheels coming around on a hard line single by Hill in the 8th.

They didn’t need it, though, with the Reds managing a grand total of two singles after the third inning.

Scott Rolen shone again - first he extended his hit streak to 13 games (over which he’s hitting.446 - take that, Vernon!), and then he CLIMBED THE LADDER to pull down what should have been a two-run double by Jerry Hairston, Jr. in the eighth.  If Rolen doesn’t get way up there, I’m thinking it was about 16 or 17 feet, it’s a 7-4 game with the tying run on deck, one out in the 8th, and the 3-4-5 hitters up, and who knows where things go from there.

I have said a few times on the air that Scott Rolen may just be the best defensive third baseman in the history of the game, and there are many around the game who agree with me, including Hall-of-Famer and 10-time Gold Glover Mike Schmidt.

GBOAT is a solid nickname for Rolen, no doubt, and I was all over that early, referring to him as the Greatest Blue Jay Of All Time when he started his career here late last April, but the more I see him, the more I want to call him The Caveman.  I don’t know if I can accurately describe why, but just watch him in the batters’ box with that ferocious line-drive swing, watch the way he throws the ball, with that strange, raised-middle-finger grip, the way he snatches at those short hops off to his left.  I say this with all due respect - its wonderful in its neanderthalicity.

And hey, that way we get The Captain and The Caveman!

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

Tomorrow night, the brooms is out!  Brett Cecil against Johnny Cueto, tune us in at 7:00 PM Eastern!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome.

11:05 PM Eastern

It’s been a season of ups and downs so far for the Blue Jays - or maybe better said a season of “up” and “down”.  A 27-14 start meant that the Jays, in many people’s minds, went from a last-place team to a playoff pretender to a playoff contender to a playoff lock.  Then a nine-game losing streak and a bucket load of mediocrity since (12-10 since the losing streak) had ankles breaking all over the GTA from fans throwing themselves off the bandwagon.  We’ve had more than a few “season is over” and “now we’re seeing the real Blue Jays” comments over the course of the Jays’ 12-19 run.

But with tonight’s win over the Reds - one that was far closer than it ought to have been thanks to Shawn Camp and Jesse Carlson - the Blue Jays are tied for the American League wild card spot.  Quibble over percentage points and the loss column if you will, but in the crucial “games behind” column, the Blue Jays and Yankees are tied atop the American League wild card race.  To quote a great Yankee announcer who has long since left us, “How about that?”

Brian Tallet was sensational, pitching on three days’ rest following his shortened outing in Washington - he left after five (76 pitches) having been pinch-hit for.  He shut the Reds down on just three hits over six, none of which were hit hard, walked one, struck out seven and left with a 6-0 lead that Camp did his best to give back.  Carlson came in to clean up Camp’s bases-loaded, none-out mess, and gave up four fly balls.  Problem is, one of them fell in for a two-run double and two others went for sac flies.

Jason Frasor stood tall, though, nailing down just his second save working around a Chris Dickerson single in the 9th.  The offense was terrific, with home runs by Scott Rolen, The Captain and Marco Scutaro (his first since Tax Day) and Alex Rios and Vernon Wells running wild on the basepaths.  The Jays cashed their opportunities tonight, scoring three of their four runners who were on third with less than two out.

We also saw Scoot’s baserunning derring-do rubbing off on Aaron Hill a bit, with Hill tagging from first and going to second on Wells’ fly out in the 5th.

Before the game, Reds’ first baseman Joey Votto held court in the Cinci dugout to talk about his time on the disabled list with anxiety disorder.  Votto seemed to really let us in, giving us a clear picture of the difficulties through which he has been going in the aftermath of his father’s passing last summer.  You’ll be able to read a story about it pretty much anywhere you want to go in the morning (or even overnight on the internets), so I won’t go into too much depth, but he has suffered through a combination of panic attacks, depression and anxiety.  He couldn’t be alone at night, he had all the physical symptoms of heart attack, there were occasions when he honestly thought he was going to die.

Votto was near tears several times when he told us his story, and I empathize with him tremendously.  He seemed incredibly genuine, and it’s most assuredly as open as he’s ever been with me and the rest of the media corps.  It’s kind of strange to say, because I don’t really know the guy other than spending five or ten minutes with him every time the Reds have played the Jays (including spring training games) and, of course, during the WBC, but I’m really proud of him.

The world of professional athletics is one where machismo tends to be in overdrive and anything viewed as a weakness is jumped on and pounded away at from all angles.  Those weaknesses can include such things as kindness and intelligence, believe it or not, but a psychological issue is a whole other matter indeed.  To admit and then to be so open about about a mental issue is a very daring thing for a pro athlete.  Bravo, Joe.

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

Tomorrow, Scott Richmond takes the mound for the first time after his valiant extra-inning sojourn in Washington, facing Bronson Arroyo who is, in fact, named after the Death Wish guy.  We’re on at 7:00 PM Eastern for a 7:07 first pitch.  Tune us in then, and tune in The Fan590 (or right here on the website) Wednesday morning, I want to say 10:20 AM, I’ll be hopping on with the Mikes, Hogan and Toth, on The Bullpen.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

5:00 PM Eastern

And in honour of the day for Dads, there will be no bloggage today.