Much more than the A.L. Central is on the line over this four-game set. For those of you who don't recall, I also have a standing wager with Robert Dudek of a 100-level ticket on whether Cleveland will finish above .500 this season. Robert's in a slightly better position, as the Tribe sits at 53-52.

No matter the outcome, Cleveland has pleasantly surprised me. They have an excellent lineup capable of wearing pitchers out by going deep into counts. They have help on the way with some solid starting prospects. And their bullpen...well, let's just say that the bullpen remains my ace in the hole.

This week's Scout features some hot young hitters, a veteran that keeps on keepin' on, and an obstinate draft pick that might throw a wrench into GM Mark Shapiro's best-laid plans.

On to the Advance Scout!

The millionth post weekend seemed a good time to dust off the bba.
The Batters Box Average(bba) is a quick and simple look at who posts how often, it's the number of comments* by a bauxite divided by the number of active threads.

bauxite		posts	bba

Coach		3305	1.498
Craig B		3266	1.481
Mike Moffatt	2919	1.323
Robert Dudek	2095	0.950
Mike Green	2079	0.942
Jordan		1573	0.713
Pistol		1534	0.695
R Billie	1431	0.649
Named For Hank	1316	0.597

Now that the excitement of the trade deadline has passed -- with all the news seeming to come in the hour after the actual deadline expired -- it's time to take a look around the World of the Web to see what others are saying.

Sure, Bauxites had plenty to say immediately following the flurry of non-Unit moves. But of course, so did newspaper writers in the home cities of the teams most affected. Here's a starting sample.

Close but no cigar in yesterday's game: Dave Bush was victimised by some well-placed ground balls, and the offence couldn't climb out of the hole.

Sean Douglass locks horns with Dewon Brazelton.

July ended with a Syracuse win and an Auburn loss. Youneverknow, but I do know that the affiliates continued their fine overall play with a 5-2 record on Saturday.

Not only deadlier but smarter too smarter too
All along the tomb, all along the ruin

Back in April, the first time we invited you to Ask Jerry Howarth your questions, the response was overwhelming. The Blue Jays radio voice answered Bauxites in a thread we creatively dubbed Jerry Howarth Q & A (Vol. 1), because we both wanted to make this a regular feature.

A lot has happened, on and off the field, since our last chat. Because of his partner Tom Cheek's illness, Jerry has worked solo, and with numerous other broadcasters. The Jays have been through a devastating series of injuries, and although there are signs of turning the corner, remain in last place. Here's your chance to get the perspective of someone who knows the club as well as anyone.

Please take a moment to review the previous Q & A, then step into Da Box with your questions. The floor is open until Monday evening, then Jerry will answer as many as he can while the Indians are in town and we'll post the full interview late next week.

But for the struggling Skychiefs and a Pulaski rainout, it would have been another clean sweep for the Jays' farm system. Also struggling is my computer, which wouldn't access several sites this morning, including MiLB.com and the New-Hampshire Union-Leader. Accordingly, if I've missed any highlights, stories or other aspects of last night's minor-league action, please add them to the thread.

But still it's farewell
And maybe we'll come back
To earth, who can tell?

I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground
Will things ever be the same again?

As usual, here's my monthly report card for July. It wasn't a good month, but it could have been worse: only one star player went on the disabled list. And nobody got arrested or anything like that.

On the occasion of our 1,000,000th hit (look at the counter at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar) we at Batter's Box would like to thank all our readers for supporting the site through thick and thin, good times and bad, hot stove and day games and night games. We hope we can continue to entertain and inform you into the future. Thanks for your eyeballs, your e-mails, your camaraderie and your comments.

The trade deadline has come and gone quietly for the Blue Jays.

Today, David Bush takes on the Devil Rays for the second time. A day after talking to us, Bush battled the Rays in Skydome and earned his first major league win. Bush threw nearly 70% of his pitches for strikes and gave up 3 runs (only 1 earned) in 7.1 innings. He walked 1 batter, struck out 2 and gave up a solo dinger to Aubrey Huff.

With Victor Zambrano now a Met, the Rays throw Jorge Sosa against Toronto.

Lee Sinins's daily reports are a great place to get your baseball news in digest form. There were several juicy rumours and of course some trades (both high and low impact) on the penultimate day before the "first" trading deadline. Here are the trades in distilled form:

LA gets Brad Penny, Hee Seop Choi and minor league P Bill Murphy
FLA gets Guillermo Mota, Paul Lo Duca and Juan Encarnacion

METS get Kris Benson, minor league 2B Jeff Keppinger
PIT gets Ty Wigginton, minor league P Matt Peterson, INF Jose Bautista
KCR gets mior league C Justin Huber

TBD gets minor league Ps Scott Kazmir and Jose Diaz
METS get Victor Zambrano and minor league P Bartolome Fortunato

SFG gets Ricky Ledee, minor league P Alfredo Simon
PHI gets Felix Rodriguez

PHI gets Todd Jones, minor league OF Brad Correll
CIN gets minor league P Josh Hancock and minor league SS Anderson Machado

A losing night overall down on the farm. Adam Peterson blew up good, again.

Our only goal will be the western shore.
So now you’d better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day