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I'm listening to the game on the radio (one of the Yankees stations), and I'm following the game on Yahoo sports.

Yahoo sports seems to be *ahead* of the radio broadcast. Has anyone else seen this happen?

MP

For those watching hockey (I'm flipping):

Berg didn't like umpire Kerwin Danley's first-inning call for strike three on a big back-door hook; as Cerutti said, "that may have gone around the plate." After Vernon's flare and Delgado's rope just inside the line, Phelps was inches from an RBI single, but Almonte made a nice play to his right.

Lidle retired Soriano on a sky-high pop to short, then walked Johnson on four pitches (I thought the 2-0 was a strike). Cory went right after his former high school teammate and current nemesis, Jason Giambi, getting a 1-2 ground ball to force the runner. Bernie Williams is awesome; unable to pull Lidle, he went with a good pitch for a single the other way to keep the rally going, but a Matsui grounder ended the threat.

Boomer fanned Wilson with the high heat and Hinske with a wicked slider. Eric may have hurt his right wrist chasing that pitch. O-Dog rolled to 3B on the first pitch -- Woodward would have had a better at-bat. Lidle got Posada on a foul pop, then blew a fastball by Ventura for his first K. Cory froze Mondesi with a gorgeous first-pitch curve, painted the black with a fastball, then somehow lost him. Raul immediately stole second with a great jump; Wilson's throw was fine, but he had no chance. No harm done, as Almonte grounded out; it's scoreless after two.

Yahoo! can update realtime. Radio broadcasts are on an FCC-mandated seven-second delay.

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Oh.. I had no idea about the seven-second delay.

You learn something new every day.

MP

Third Inning: Bordick ripped one down the line, just inside the bag, but a Yankee bounce and the alert Matsui held him to a single. Stewart skied to CF. Boomer is starting a lot of people with the hook; Berg watched it for a strike and eventually lofted a harmless fly ball to right. Our Wells got his second straight soft single off their Wells, this one a Huckaby hit into shallow RF. Boomer threw an unhittable curve to Delgado for 0-2, then got him on a weak grounder.

Lidle, keeping his team in the game, had no trouble with the top of the order the second time around: Soriano grounder to SS, Johnson K on the high heat, Giambi fly ball to left.

Fourth: Phelps made a six inch adjustment and pulled a single through the 5.5 hole. Wilson smoked one over Bernie's head and off the wall, but Butter held Josh at third and Tom nearly ran over him. Fortunately, Soriano wasn't near the 2B bag and Wilson scampered back safely. On a slow Hinske roller, Phelps scored the game's first run. Not a pretty inning , but we'll take it. O-Dog whiffed on a fastball at his chin. Mondesi lazily watched a catchable Bordick fly fall "harmlessly" -- sorry, Raul, right on the foul line -- and it's 2-0 Jays.

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Given how much trouble the Jays have had holding a lead lately, you've got to wonder what the over/under is on how many innings it will take the Yankees to catch up.

MP

Mike, I don't think Mr. Lidle is in a mood to give up anything tonight. I really enjoy watching him work. But his pitch count is a bit high (63 through 4) so the bullpen will be involved at some point. I'll say he leaves after seven with the lead; after that, I'm making no promises.

Very nice play by O-Dog on a shot up the middle by Matsui; he can be spectacular -- if only he made more of the easy plays.

WOO-HOO!!!!!!

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YES!!!!!

Delgado is proving me wrong.. and I'm loving it!

The Yankees annoucers have been complementing Delgado for the entire series. He seems more popular in New York than he is in Toronto.

MP

Carlos, if you're just catching up here, hit a 3-run shot to CF (he really just used one hand!) to cash Berg (single) and Vernon (double) and give his pitcher a more comfortable cushion. 5-0 Jays, and there's action in the Yankee 'pen.

Where's the new guy? I'm still waiting to "see" Reed Johnson. Seems like if you're going to throw Dave Berg out there for a start in RF, you might as well see what Johnson could do instead.

Reed should be a defensive replacement for Berg in just a few minutes...

Although this is a bit deja-vu Lidle's pattern has been to sail through the lineup and bunch his hits. His WHIP is about 1.1, but his ERA is over 5. He runs hot and cold.

Should have been, but wasn't. Damn.

Seriously, why does Berg deserve an error when the throw was accurate and to the cutoff man? Delgado missed it and then Wilson did as well. Wasn't Berg's fault.

This is getting ugly. Lidle stopped hitting his spots, and while I agree with Spicol that Delgado should have handled that throw, if Berg's a RF, I'm Casey Stengel. Giambi just doubled, it's 5-5, still nobody out. Un-freakin'-believable.

Lidle is trying to do the bullpens job for them! :-(

Giambi just doubled, it's 5-5, still nobody out. Un-freakin'-believable.

You're right, Casey...it is unbelievable. But, according to John Cerutti, you have to "save the bullpen". It's a good thing Tosca is saving the bullpen. I hope Griffin writes a nice column tomorrow on how nice and fresh the bullpen is.

Hey John, did you bother to realize that, except for maybe Aquilino Lopez, everyone in the pen is available and quite rested already? Of course you didn't. That would have been insightful.

Berg cashed in Stewart (aggressive -- and correct -- call by Butter to send Shannon) and it's 6-5 for the good guys.

Was Lidle leaving pitches over the middle, or what? Following it over the internet was agonizing-Yankee after Yankee reaching base, no one making outs...I just want them to beat New York once. And you'd think that with a five-run lead, and a decent pitcher on the mound, that it would happen, but...

I watch the beginning of the Canucks game, take an ad break to catch up on the Jays, and cry as Lidle gets lit up in the fifth. It's just not my year so far in roto ball either. Lidle's ERA doesn't match his K/W ratio; Hinske looks lost out there, and the young Cleveland hitters (with the notable exception of Milton Bradley) I drafted have yet to cross the Mendoza line. Great.

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I'm surprised anyone is here, considering the Leafs are playing.

Nine shots partway into the third?!? And they're tied 2-2?!? The Flyers could use anyone else in goal, up to and including the fat kid from the Goonies.

Good to see the Jays get the lead. I'll cross my fingers extra hard.

MP

Brian Butterfield 1, Willie Randolph 0 -- I know there's nobody out, but why would you not wave around the tying run on Stewart's "arm"? It's an E-10 charged to the 3B coach.

I hate the bullpen.

Jeff Tam made a perfect pitch on 2-2 to Almonte, and umpy just stood there. Fortunately, the next one was even better.

I walk Soriano here and bring in Creek to face Johnson (or Zeile), but that's just me.

You voluntarily bring in Creek?

I think I'd walk Soriano as well, but Creek? Why not oh, I don't know, anybody else, up to and including Gil Patterson? Remember, Gil taught himself to throw lefty...

Alternately, one could just hope that Alfonso strikes out...

Actually, I would have gone to Kershner, but that option's not available to Carlos yet. First base open, I don't want Soriano to golf a sinker out of here. But Tosca showed amazing faith in Tam, and Jeff came through. The longer the inning went on, the more that thing moved.

Assuming that first pitch (fastball up and in) was intentional, to set up his slider away, and the ump missed another call on the second one, Trever Miller did OK. The strike zone just won't stay in one place tonight; hard to hit a moving target.

Easy on the celebration, Trev -- act like this has happened before.

Nothing quite like an inning where you put guys on second and third and then strike out the side. Whew.

Do people think that Kershner will be up soon, or will they stick with Creek and Miller for a while longer?

Anyone else catch that nancy-boy skip by Miller after striking out Johnson? The funny thing is he composed himself right away and had his game face back on when he left the mound. Funny stuff.

The guy boy may have just saved the game. A little fist pump was certainly in order (by the fairyland skip WAS a bit much).

That made no sense but y'all know what I meant.

Hey King, are you any relation to my hero, the White Rat? Miller just won himself a reprieve by punching out Johnson. Trever also earned the confidence of his team with that clutch out. He's always been closer to the bubble than Creek, so I don't anticipate a change right away, but had he lost Johnson and given up a bomb to Giambi, it could have happened tomorrow. All Kershner can do is keep throwing zeros and be ready for the call; the incumbents haven't lost their jobs yet.

No it didn't make much sense but I thought 'fairyland' was a much better description than the 'nancy-boy' description I used.

(quoting myself) Brian Butterfield 1, Willie Randolph 0 -- I know there's nobody out, but why would you not wave around the tying run on Stewart's "arm"? It's an E-10 charged to the 3B coach.

Ahem. Costly, too.

That's quite the big trade in the BBFL, Coach.

The Moscow Rats trade Torii Hunter, Scott Spiezio and TJ Tucker
for
Travis Hafner, Joe Borowski and Josh Fogg of the Toronto Walrus

I can't really tell who benefits most from this one right now. It all hinges on Borowski. If Alfonseca gets his job back when he returns, it's looking bad for the Rats. But if he's this year's Eric Gagne, it's a great trade for the Moscovites.

Nice job by Miller to fan Giambi, and I was surprised he was so aggressive against Bernie (batting right). Even after the Matsui single, Trever's confidence was visible. A very good sign.

Most of us are watching hockey now -- I need another TV.

Did Rob Faulds just call a jersey a baseball 'sweater'?

Well, there's no question that Miller's greatly helped his position in the last fifteen minutes or so. That was a damn good inning and a third. I'd still rather have Kershner than Creek, but I realize that it's still really early. As for being related to Whitey...no. But I do like the stolen base. Referring to yesterday's free for all on the subject, I think I have o side with the people who say it should be used, if only sparingly. Maybe part of the reason that the Jays are so loathe to use it is bad memories of the Buckball caught stealing extravaganza?

It's either a little known or a highly glossed over fact, but the Jays actually had a higher SB% under Buck (83%) than under Tosca (78%) last season.

Spicol, I prefer trades that help both teams, and I hope this is one of them. Ian has Beltran about to come off the DL, making Torii expendable. It may be heresy, but I actually did have "too much" pitching (I still have three closers left, if anybody wants one for an equivalent starter) and not enough hitting. Since I'm still nervous about 3B, Spezio's my insurance policy, and I'm confident Hunter (0-for-4 tonight) won't be hitting under .150 much longer.

Nice shot, Tommy, but let's not give Kelvim too many insurance runs.

Escobar gives half his lead away -- opposite-field Soriano HR makes it 7-6, with the lefty hitters coming up and nobody out. Kelvim was baffling him with splitters and he (or Wilson) went to the fastball. Why?

Shannon Stewart already led the universe in pulling up on catchable balls, but he just padded his stats. That's another E-10 -- a routine play not made, yet not scored an error. Shannon is much better when he's running to either side, and partially redeemed himself by catching up to the Bernie Williams gapper.

Chris Latham -- remember him? -- steals second easily on Escobar, who is always in Kelvim-land. Better to walk Matsui on 3-1 than to challenge him, but not to let Latham stroll to third!

Ugliest save in a long time, but we'll take it. Jays win!

You might take that save, but I'm steamed that he cost Lidle the win. Again, nothing is going right for the Cyphers. :(

Hmm, I was wrong as Lidle was still in line for the win--I'll have to check the box score more closely--but Escobar is just sooo agonizing to watch.

When was the last time the Jays had a closer who would simply slam the door? Aaaargh. At least Kelvim keeps the games interesting...:-)

Lidle got the win.

These baserunners stealing uncontested is starting to piss me off.

It's hard to do because he did get the save, but I'd banish Kelvim to mop up duty for 3 weeks just for not paying attention to the baserunners.

What the Yankees pulled off with their intelligent baserunning in a very close game in the ninth inning tonight is *precisely* why the Jays' complete indifference to stolen bases, both for and against, should be heavily criticized. I'm all in favour of banishing Escobar to Boston. Given how poor the Red Sox bullpen personnel is, I'm sure even Epstein & James would see Kelvim as an improvement over the pitchers they're putting out there.

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A big win for the Jays. They *really* needed it.

Can somebody remind me why JP offered Escobar arbitration? I still don't get it. The Jays could have had Kenny Rogers for half of his price.

MP

Just getting off my couch. The colour is returning to my knuckles. What has the cult been up to tonight?

Mick: Radio broadcasts are on an FCC-mandated seven-second delay.

Kind of like the delay between the time Escobar releases a pitch and realizes that there's a man on base who just stole off him. How do you say d'oh in Spanish?

Coach: I don't think Mr. Lidle is in a mood to give up anything tonight.

Cue the foreboding foreshadowing music...

Spicol: Did Rob Faulds just call a jersey a baseball 'sweater'?

It certainly beats his hyperexcited play-by-play calling when a runner routinely returns to his base after a flyball is routinely caught.

Coach: Shannon Stewart already led the universe in pulling up on catchable balls, but he just padded his stats.

Reminds me of when I was a kid playing pop 500. Instead of risking the 100 points and attempting to catch a flyball, sucky kids would let the ball bounce once and take the easy 75 points. Maybe that should be Shannon's new number.

Coach: Kelvim was baffling him with splitters and he (or Wilson) went to the fastball. Why?

I noticed Wilson continually looking into the dugout in the 9th. Could be that Tosca was calling the pitches?

Other notes:

* Tosca's steadfast refusal to pinch-hit these days worked in the 8th and 9th, with Berg and Wilson both getting hits off righties. Still, is having to play 1 or 2 innings not almost like a day off? He's treating Catalanotto and Myers like porcelain dolls.

* Do we just never pinch-hit for Bordick? Ever?

* Given the 20-20 hindsight of Berg's great game, I can't complain about Johnson not starting. But where was he as a defensive replacement? Should he not have pinch-run for Berg in the 8th and stayed in to play defense? Tosca's looking an awful lot like Cito lately. "You nine start and play the whole game. Bench, you've got the night off no matter how things play out."

* And while Escobar has been awful in 3 of his 4 innings this year, why has he logged just 4 innings in 15 games? If we operate on the theory that he might turn back into a semi-useful player, shouldn't he log the odd inning in losses just to regain his confidence. Yes, I know his would-be brain turns into silly putty if no one dangles a carrot called a save.

* Don't want to panic about Hinske. Too early to panic. Must resist panicking (have I said that?). But even now that he's started hitting a bit, is it me or does he still seem awfully tentative at the plate? A lot of his swings can better be characterized as waves.

Onward. No problems tomorrow. We've got the ace going.

These baserunners stealing uncontested is starting to piss me off.

I couldn't agree more. Gil Patterson needs to address this with the pitchers. When Tosca took over last year, he made a point of addressing the battery's basestealing woes... mandating that the pitchers deliver the ball to the plate within 1.3 seconds.

I get the feeling that some of the pitchers, and maybe some of the holdovers in particular, have backslid on that. Considering the emphasis Tosca placed on this last year, I think we can count on it being addressed in short order. I *hope* we can. If teams are going to run on you, you want to make them pay.

Reminds me of when I was a kid playing pop 500. Instead of risking the 100 points and attempting to catch a flyball, sucky kids would let the ball bounce once and take the easy 75 points. Maybe that should be Shannon's new number.

I guess we played straightedge... if it hit the ground, no points. And for some reason, I've never heard of "pop 500"... we played "500 Up" in Nova Scotia. I did this for "baserunners" before on Primer, and got interesting answers... what other names did people use for 500 Up (which, incidentally, later became the title of a great song for Sloan)?

We also called it 500 Up, but our normal rules were 100 for the catch, 50 on a bounce, and 25 for multiple bounces. Alternate rule was for the batter to arbitrarily call out how much each ball was worth as he hit it.

Craig, just to give your etymological exercise some context, we did occasionally call the game "500 up", but "pop 500" was its more familiar name. This was in the early to mid-70's in suburban Montreal.

Into my late teens, the game took a more interesting twist. Full body contact among the would be fly catchers was not only prohibited, but encouraged. Games did have a tendency to last a while.

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In London, ON we called it "500 Up". We played with the 100-75-50-25 rule. Sometimes we'd play that anything over 3 bounces wasn't worth anything, and sometimes we'd have anything still moving worth atleast 25.

MP

We just called it '500'

The Jays weren't indifferent to Latham, only their idiot pitcher was. Escobar's so frustrating -- absolutely superior stuff, without the foggiest notion of how to use it, and no sense of responsibility to his teammates. It's hard to give up on a guy who has that much talent, even if he is a prima donna, and I'm sure J.P. signed him in hopes of making a trade. According to many different rumours, they were very close to a deadline deal last year, so keep your fingers crossed that Kelvim gets hot for a month or so, just as a contender's closer gets hurt.

Somehow I don't think Theo Epstein will bite; maybe a GM who relies more on scouting and tools. Hello, Ed Wade? I'm sure Mesa's 9.82 ERA last week was just a blip, but...

Coach: Game 15: Where's Woody?

On a plane to Japan? Let's hope Buzz finds him in time for tomorrow's game.

I noticed Wilson continually looking into the dugout in the 9th. Could be that Tosca was calling the pitches?

Possibly, or Tom was hoping someone would get him a new pitcher.

"500" in my neighbourhood, but a few kids called it "500 Up". Running Bases, definitely, not "baserunners".

Coach: I'm sure J.P. signed him in hopes of making a trade.

I agree. It certainly wasn't to share time with him at Mensa meetings.

The thing is, Escobar has to log 15 straight scoreless innings just to get his ERA into the 4's and look halfway attractive. (19 scoreless inning gets into the 3's. I'm elected pope right around then.)

I know we were all hoping for 20 saves and a mid-2 ERA at the All Star break. I guess that ain't going to happen.

I cannot fathom that the Epstein/James/McCracken trifecta would entertain the idea of welcoming Escobar to the stop-calling-it-a-committee.

It'll take some team who's closer is hurt or ineffective -- like Philly with Mesa -- and with an appetite for tools to pull the trigger. I'm thinking it would have to be an NL team hoping to capitalize on Escobar being an unknown quantity.

Still, my prediction is that nothing really useful gets offered for Escobar all year long, leaving Ricciardi trying to decide what's worth more: the draft pick for losing him to free agency, or the $2M they'd save by dumping him mid-season.

You only get a draftpick if you offer arbitration. Do you think J.P. is going to do that?

She comes running down like water
To splash around with the ones that taught her
She's just like that farmer's daughter
Everybody laughs at the joke

And we're laughing
She don't know what it means
She just knows that it's not what it seems

Robert: You only get a draftpick if you offer arbitration. Do you think J.P. is going to do that?

Good point. There's always the chance Escobar would accept, much like David Segui did a few years ago when he discovered his value on the open market was nowhere near what he imagined, saddling the Jays with a player and salary they didn't want.

If we then go with the premise that Escobar will not be offered arbitration and that the Jays, thus, have no ulterior motive to keep him all year, what do they do to increase his value?

It's virtually impossible for him to salvage his ERA, though he could start logging some saves once the Jays are out of the painful-20 woods. But he'd have to make a remarkable turnaround to start looking valuable to anyone as a closer.

What about dropping him into the 5-hole in the rotation (promoting Politte to closer and Walker to setup man)? I'm not optimistic that Escobar could be an effective starter, but it seems to be a worthwhile gamble. He'd not be stealing anyone's innings and if he magically were to become effective in that capacity, he'd gain a lot of trade value. At the very least, the team would get some innings for their $4M.

It sounds mercenary, but he's not a long term investment. The organization doesn't really have to worry about Escobar's health or ego.

It's early but I think Delgado has probably been the best hitter in the AL so far this year. (Bernie Williams comes in 2nd.)

If Carlos continues to hit this way, and finishes the year as the best hitter in the AL, how many games do the Jays have to win for him to be voted MVP? He's certainly going to rack up the RBI's this year.

I think we've learned from A-Rod last year, that your team should be at least at .500 to win the MVP award.

Looking at last night's Astros box score, I noticed some remarkable coincidences. One team built a 5-run lead, and the other rallied to tie it in the fifth. Then Houston handed the ball to its relievers. Rookie Brad Lidge (ERA 0.90) shut down the Giants for two innings, Octavio Dotel (1.13) was even better in his two frames, and Wags (1.00) sealed the deal. This lights-out group resembles the Jays' bullpen -- Aquilino is our Lidge, Politte plays the role of Octavio, and... never mind, bad comparison.

what do they do to increase his value?

Chuck, I'd prefer to see Politte in the ninth, or better still, utilized as the Ace Reliever™, but I don't think putting Kelvim in the rotation will make him more valuable in the trade market, mostly because he'll pout and get clobbered. All the Jays can do is get more leads, and get him regular work. Escobar will have a three-save week soon enough, maybe a 10-SV month, and if we're lucky, the phones will start ringing. I don't even care what the return is -- a couple of A-ball prospects would be fine with me, and anything better is a bonus. Remember, there's talent stockpiled in the Jays system, so J.P. can sweeten the pot; I can't help wondering -- how much is a Duckworth?

We just called it '500'

I grew up near London, ON and we called it 7-Up with 7-5-3-1 scoring. You played to 20 or 30 or whatever you wanted. But most of the time, we played Pepper instead. To this day I love fielding grounders.

And Running Bases was called Pickle.

It's early but I think Delgado has probably been the best hitter in the AL so far this year. (Bernie Williams comes in 2nd.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing ...
Mr. Brent Mayne.

In the Star today, Politte makes leadership sounds: "We're like our own little team down there. When one of us fails, he feels like he's let our whole little team down. A night like tonight — and it's just awesome beating this club in this ballpark — can become contagious."

I think Escobar having only 4 innings after 15 games is a good point. I think he needs to work every second to third day so he doesn't forget how to find the strike zone in good places.

He went four days until his next appearance after his first (disastrous) game. And he was actually quite sharp against the Twins. Three days later he face Boston and allowed two singles but got through the inning. Then it was another four days until he faced the Twins and couldn't record an out. Then four days after that he had last night's game which should have been a lot easier if the Jays would just stop throwing fastballs to Soriano thinking they can "sneak one by him". I'm not sure if he called that pitch but whoever did needs to lay off the sauce.

The point is, his command is very delicate. He needs the regular work. Four days between single inning appearances isn't going to do it.