I'll take 28 runs, but I'll take the cuttlefish instead of the 30 million points, Alex.

I'll go for 35 runs, A's 3 games to 1

36 runs and a split.

40 runs and they split.

I'll say 24 runs a and I had cuttlefish for dinner. It was excellent...

39 runs. Jays sweep.

Tom Cheek is missing his first game in team history tonight. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Seems kinda fitting that with all the injuries even the guy who has been there for over 4400 straight games goes down.

What's the origin of the cuttlefish running joke?

31 runs, most of them coming on Sunday. My collection of cephalopod squidlike marine mollusks is quite lacking. A cuttlefish here would be most excellent.

Tonight's lineups:

Blue Jays	Athletics
2B Menechino 3B Berg LF Johnson CF Wells C Zaun 1B Phelps DH Estalella RF Rios SS Gomez	CF Kotsay LF Byrnes 1B Hatteberg RF Dye DH Durazo 3B McLemore SS Crosby C Melhuse 2B Scutaro

I see Cheek's absence has already been discussed. Sorry to hear about his father. 4306 straight regular season and 41 post-season games. Amazing.

Oh yeah, let's go 47 runs and a split.

Any one else notice Cliff Lee is leading the AL in ERA ( as of a couple of days ago )...

With Estalella DHing, who is the back up catcher today? Clark, Hinske and Pond are the only available players on the bench as far as I can tell.

Bobby would still be the backup catcher. So, if Zaun goes down early for whatever reason, El Artista and his .096 batting average will grab a bat.

Hey, why not let the pitchers bat?

Menechino whacks a two-strike curveball through the box for a leadoff single. Good start...

Sparky runs his hitting streak to 10 with a double down the left field line, Mighty Mouse to third. Frankie Cat guesting with Jerry on the radio broadcast.

WOOHOO, another Mighty Mouse! This is catching on...

http://www.chancetolive.net
That was a killer curveball by Zito.

Here's to hoping Batista gets through the first without walking a batter.

Here's to hoping Batista gets through the first without walking a batter.

Not a chance in hell

And as Frank Menechino ran out to take his position in the field, some observers were surprised to hear him call out: "Here I come to save the day!"

AAARGH, what's Rios doing?

http://www.chancetolive.net
Yeah, Coach. That sounds pretty accurate to me. Rios is too athletic and too skilled in the field to let this keep up for very long. He'll pull it together.

On a totally unrelated Jays note, I'm going on vacation later this month to Cali, and there's a slim chance I might head out to see the Dodgers and Padres. I wanna check out Petco Park. The problem being is the people around me don't like baseball.

http://www.chancetolive.net
BTW, great strike-em-out, throw-em-out double-play there.

Why did Faulds call the high bounding groundball botched by Berg a rocket?
....Oh yeah, it's because he sucks!

Ron, I'm always surprised how much fun non-baseball people have at live games. Especially in places like Dodger Stadium and Petco.

Rios looks like I did in Little League. After the big screw-up he wanted to look cool handling the easy roller, and it got between his legs. Exact same thing happened to me. ' make this look real easy, like I know what I'm doing, woo sh*t ' Funny, I was just thinking of this when the ball went between Rios' legs. I still don't understand why he's not in left though.

Wouldn't lawn chairs in Oakland's foul territory be a great idea!

Or just make the vast expanses of foul ground a general admission picnic area, and let people bring towels to sit on, and coolers full of beer. In glass bottles.

Alternatively, they could create a ground rule that enables the defending team to strategically station its DH in a lawnchair anywhere in foul territory, and allow him to catch any fly balls hit near him but not move from the chair until the end of the inning. It would be unbelievably stupid, but it would provoke some entertaining responses from the baseball media.

cat said he might be back this weekend but will for sure be back tuesday against the dodgers.

Zito's always so frustrating to watch your guys hit against. As bad as a knuckleballer.

http://www.chancetolive.net
God! It's 6 2/3 innings in for the Jays and Zito's only thrown 79 pitches. This is frustrating to watch. Batista's pitching well too. It's a shame.

If they let him go 9, the jays will capitalize.

92 pitches for Zito through 7, 87 for El Artista after 6.

Am I reading this right?

4 K's and no walks? Against Billy Beane's club? Go Miguel!

Of course, Zito has to find his groove at the exact same time.

GOMEZ!! Leadoff man is aboard for Mighty Mouse.

Rally cap time...

lay down the bunt here!!!

I'm all for cheering on the Jays, but poor old Dave Berg inspires no confidence at all right now.

Sparky! Singles in the run, 1-1.

Team MVP = Reed Johnson

I don't know what stats can back this up, but it seems to me that Johnson comes through in situations like this more than anyone else.

How can anyone not root for Reed Johnson.

We dont need any "evidence" to label Sparky as Mr.Clutch. We can just do it because we like him. Jeter fans have been doing it for YEARS.

Zito in all probablity is done after the 8th.

Okay. Reed Johnson is now Mr. Clutch. Screw Jeter! :P

Duchsherer is up in the A's pen.

Atta boy Reed.

Berg strikes again!

Tell me why is he on the team?

CHEERS TO THAT!! Long live the NEW and IMPROVED Mr. Clutch!! Evidence and Yankee fans be damned, I will argue Reed Johnson's clutchness till I'm blue in the face, with no evidence behind me at all. If Jeter fans can do it, I can 10 times better!

Berg = BRUTAL!

From the Advance Scout thread.

#188029 Posted 06/03/2004 10:15 PM by Chris B.:

"Its supposedly from the Digital Daily a subsidary of the Tampa Bay News Network. I read about it on the jays insider board. I can't find a URL as of yet. There is apparently some validity to this rumor despite its seemingly flimsy origin. A reporter from the Tampa Tribune has supposedly acknowledged it though wants to wait for 100% verification until they report it. That is basically what I read."

Chris do you have a URL for the Jays Insider Board ? Thanks in advance. Jeff

No problem:
http://mb3.theinsiders.com/ftorontobluejaysfrm1.showMessage?topicID=3435.topic

Zito is out, Hinske should've been in for Berg.

explain this move to me...

you might have to scroll down through page 1 and then to page two to get the meaty info.

J.P buy out Berg's contract , let him go. Jeeeeez. I have a idea , donate to the please release Berg Fund.

read "Diablo111"'s posts on the insider URL.
Okay, now back to the regularly scheduled banter.

Thanks Chris B.

What purpose does Berg serve other than taking away at-bats from players who are actually good? Was the move tonight a case of Hinske needing a rest or Berg needing playing time? Is there anything Berg does that someone like Howie Clark or Simon Pond could not do?

Is there anything Berg does that someone like Howie Clark or Simon Pond could not do?

waste at bats?

The "no doubles" infield defense just doesn't make sense to me. I would think that it would make more sense to maximize the chance of getting an out rather than guard against the small chance of a ball right down the line. If Berg was playing one step to his left, he's still well within range of a ball down the line, and he gets that ball standing up.

Rios is just pounding the ground.

I like the call to get Frasor for the 9th and possibly the 10th.

If I was Tosca I would pull Berg for Hinske right now.

I just tuned in--is that Cat on the radio? Odd.

On the topic of Berg: in his first AB as a Blue Jay (second game of the '02 season against the Twins), he hit a PH homerun. So there: he's clearly clutch. That is his role.

I'm amazed Frasor continues to get the job done. He only throws 2 pitches, mostly fastball and mixes in a slider. He got hit hard for all 3 flyball outs yet there was no damage done.

Smiley: Tom Cheek's consecutive game streak sadly came to an end, so the Cat is filling in. Jerry Howarth just told us on the radio, if you missed it.

Yeah, but isn't Keith Foulke basically the same way? He basically just uses a low 90's fastball and that changeup, and yet as a closer he almost always gets the job done.

If he doesn't start spotting that slider in the strikezone, hes goig to get shelled eventually. He has to throw it a little more to keep the hitters honest. Its got a nice sharp drop.

Mecir has a wicked screwball.

Damn, Frank the Cat sounds like a pro calling the game tonight. Someone save that guys number, he could have a great post-playing career.

Well that's too bad about Tom's dad, and too bad about the streak. An unbelievable run, that.

Yeah, Cal Ripken has got nothing on Tom Cheek. Ripken would have to play 10+ more years to tie him.

let's go mr. clutch.

I bow down to Jason Frasor!!! How long has JP been scouting this guy, and now finally getting a trading partner willing to deal him?

How nice it is to have a relief pitcher with control!

these late games are killing me!!.. well Adams is in, he might cure my insomnia unfortunately.

Bloop double to byrnes. It will be tough for Adams to leave him stranded.

What the hell is Tosca thinking?

Dye comes up and I assumed Tosca would want to set up the inning ending DP, but no he doesn't do that.

Why?

Ugh Dammit. That hurts. Kinda wonder why they didn't IBB Dye to set up the DP, but not sure it would have made a difference.

Also by walking Dye, they would have had the infield pulled back a bit inside of moving everybody up leaving a greater chance for a bloop single.

Nice job of the Jays battling back but this loss stings.

we didn't even have one .250 hitter on the bench to pinch hit in the 10th or 11th.... we never had a shot.... we have no offence with these injuries....... and Adams is our Benedict Arnold

well Adams is in, he might cure my insomnia unfortunately

Yeah, the only good thing about this loss is that I can go to bed now...well, after Wilner, of course. :)

Sigh.

This was very painful.

As Alex said to me, at least the Flames won

If they needed to lose the game so badly, why didnt they have one of us pitch?
Adams as a cure for insomnia? for me he CAUSES insomnia.
I'm proud of Hinske these days eh, he's really battling.....a month ago I dont see him getting that late game hit.

we didn't even have one .250 hitter

Even sadder, make that no .210 hitters, with Clark and Pond at .208 and .167 (Delgado was not available tonight).

Speaking of which, will Delgado go on the DL? If so, who comes up? Is there anyone left in the minors to call up to Toronto?

I wish I could blame Adams for that...Anyhow, how about that Blue Jay pitching? A misplayed ball that ends up a triple, a bloop double and just an IBB.

I appreciate the love, Cristian. I can tell you've really taken a shine to me. I should warn you though, a mutual warmth is really as far as it can go...

What love? I found one thing you wrote funny. And how many things have you written Fawaz? Your batting average is south of Dave Berg country.

sweeeettt.... I found a wilner postgame webcast....

BAHHHH.... no jaystalk.... I was lookin forward to that....

Matt - you missed Jaystalk. It was on before the scoreboard tonight - didn't seem right to do everything the same as usual when Tom wasn't around.

Unrelated Hijack:

Ohmigod!!! I have a new favorite band (playing now)...

http://www.thedarknessrock.com/

Wow... These guys just ultra-mega-uber rock the house!!! And I've never said that before... Wow, I never lived in the 70s but now after having watched their videos its as if I captured an entire missed decade... AWESOME!!!!

I see Cheek's absence has already been discussed. Sorry to hear about his father. 4306 straight regular season and 41 post-season games. Amazing.

I can't find a thread talking about Tom, so I'll post here, sorry if I'm redundant..

About 4 years ago, I KNOW I went through all this before about Tom's streak ending.. I think it had to do with his son's wedding... anyway.. maybe it never happened...

Certainly this spring there was an article in the SUN about his streak and I wrote in and said the same thing, the writer wrote back and said, "everytime I make a statement about Tom's streak, several people write in and mention the event you are talking about, but there is no confirmation of it, both the Blue Jays and Tom maintain that the streak is intact"...

I know there was a game where he did the EPSN coverage, or something like that, but this was different...

probably I'm just crazy

http://www.chancetolive.net
To Matt: Yeah, the Darkness are alright. They're definitely fun, campy music with tinges of Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Queen. I wouldn't say they're one of my faves (I'm more into a mix of underground hip hop and proggish punk in the vein of The Mars Volta and Brazil), but they're definitely a good band and I'd love to see them live.