Weaver's First Law: No one's going to give a damn in July if you lost a game in March.

On the topic of strategy, we'll discuss bench strategies the Jays could employ against right-handed pitchers this season.

Ah, the weekend. The time for all of us to say thanks and offer panegyrics to the good people behind the labour movement, without whom we'd all be toiling away in sugar factories on Saturday instead of enjoying some yerba mate, some Liquid Paper, a few calendars, an apple, myriad envelopes, a five-line telephone, UW directories . . . wait a second. Those are the contents of my desk! Ugh. It was a long week. Count me amongst the grateful masses for having two days of semi-freedom—though I'm not always as grateful as I should be.

The BBFL concluded its offseason trading window with a modest amount of activity: five trades in the Alomar Division and seven in Barfield.

MLB determined that there was "bad blood" between Toronto and Tampa Bay back in '03, maybe because the Rays thought the Jays were rhyming copycats intent on stealing their cleverly original idea of a black alternate jersey. Since that fateful homestand with its manufactured enmity, well, there has been some halfhearted bad blood.

Sadly, without Victor "My balls, they got a lot of move" Zambrano pitching for Tampa, there's not much of a chance that we'll see a half-dozen hit batsmen, ejections, or a bench-clearing brawl. Or at least we won't see all that started by a perfectly innocent series of wild pitches.

The Jays started playing baseball again yesterday, even if it didn't count. So, naturally, I want to think about the last baseball game that most of us saw.

Remember? October 27, 2004; the final game of the 100th World Series. That night we all saw something we had never seen before.

No, not Boston winning a big game.

The Jays opened their grapefruit schedule yesterday against the defending AL Central champs.

They played the game, there were umpires and everything. I'm sure someone was even keeping score.

But no one cares about any of that stuff. It's spring training.

Kansas City headed into 2004 coming off of a surprising 83-79 record. Hopes were high that the team would improve and challenge for the AL Central crown. However, those hopes didn't materialize as the team managed just 58 wins and saw Carlos Beltran leave town.

Gil Hodges and Ron Santo were the leading vote-getters in yesterday's Veterans' Committee election, but fell 10% shy of the 75% required for admission.

The moment is finally here: the Jays are playing an actual baseball game! Gustavo Chacin is starting for the good guys, and personally I'm hoping that he displays a little more of that magic that we saw at the end of last season.

Start time is listed as 1:05pm. Last time I checked there wasn't a Jays broadcast of the game, but the Twins are running it on their radio network. Internet feeds are supposed to be blacked out, but maybe we'll get lucky and find one that works.

The Globe & Mail reports this morning that Jamie Campbell has been named the voice of the Blue Jays for Rogers Sportsnet.

Campbell told the G&M, "Because I am a hard-core baseball fan, I know how a lot of baseball fans are going to react to this announcement. Baseball fans are an interesting bunch. And, for the hard core, this might not be a popular choice."

Hey Jamie, here at Batter's Box, we're the people you're referring to. And you had us at "I am a hard-core baseball fan."

Congratulations, and welcome aboard!

Editor's Note: Campbell has tentatively agreed to an interview with Batter's Box. Details will be announced as they become available. Questions for Jamie? Ask'em here and we'll pass them along.

So, we’re not going to underestimate the Atlanta Braves again?

We’re not going to assume that this is the year they finally release their stranglehold on their division?

We’re not going to write them off until some other team actually beats them?

Good. Let’s proceed.

So as Mike Green ("Eggs and Ham") examines a Sosa candidacy for what seems inevitable enshrinement in the halls of Cooperstown, here we run a simple sidebar, Sam I am.

Will this team be more than So-so?
Is Juan Samuel a last-name no-no?
Will you all even give a damn?
For this Hall of Names is new ... All-Sam.

Sammy Sosa hit another 35 homers in 2004, but left Chicago on a sour note. He now has 574 career homers, and his Baseball Reference comparables read like a "who's who?" of inner-circle Hall of Famers- Mantle, Mays, Mathews, Frank Robinson.

Somehow, I doubt that history will see him this way, but is it possible that he could not be admitted to the Hall of Fame?

Spring training is the time of year where you hear a ton of projections on what will happen in the upcoming season. Will Bonds hit 50 home runs? Can the Red Sox repeat? Is this the year the Braves won't win the NL East? These projections are all over the place: In fantasy baseball magazines, websites such as ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus, and newspapers such as USA Today. Often the most accurate predictions come from gambling lines. We look at over/under lines for 2005 team wins and discuss which teams we think Vegas is overrating, and which teams aren't getting enough credit from the gambling community.

As predicted by many, the 2004 San Diego Padres were much superior to the 2003 rendition of the franchise. They opened PETCO Park in style, jumping from 64 wins to 87 to stake claim to the title of Most Improved Team in the National League. While the Pads fell 5 games short of the playoffs in the end, they were in first place as late as July 7.