If Henderson Alvarez develops a change-up that he can use as an effective strikeout pitch, he could be the best pitcher in baseball. Discuss.

Friday night was a fun night at the ballpark for Blue Jay fans.  The Yankee fans in the house, and there were a lot of them, didn't have much to cheer about.  Jose Bautista was Da Man and Brett Cecil was outstanding too.

TAM (54-44)        000 001    422 001  10  17  1
TOR (47-51)        222 201    000 000   9  16  0
Price, Cormier (4), Thayer (6), Balfour (7),  Choate (8), Wheeler (8), Howell (6-2) (10), Nelson (12)
Tallet, League (7), Accardo (8), Downs (9), Frasor (10), Camp (0-5) (11)

And what did I think of today's game?

So apparently there was a baseball game on Tuesday night -- a Major League Baseball game, even, although it's true, it was an "exhibition." (Wait, this time it counts -- is that still an "exhibition"?) Some guy named Barry O'Bama (I think -- is that Irish?) threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Roy Halladay started the game for the winning team -- that's a sentence not written frequently enough in these parts! -- and the same team that always wins this game, they won the game. Woo -- surprise, surprise, surprise.

So our Question(s) of the Day ... Did you watch any of it? Did anyone watch all of it? If so (or if not), why? (or why not?) For those who did watch, did anything stick with you as truly memorable?

Dear Batter's Box faithful,

I don't understand. There was a baseball game yesterday involving the Blue Jays, and there hasn't been a game thread posted. There's always a game thread posted -- why just yesterday, there was one extolling all the "positive firsts" of the series opener in Da Bronx.

Today, nothing. Did something ... different ... happen yesterday?

Best regards,
Mick Doherty
Batter's Box resident Yankee fan

Friend of Batter's Box Jamey Newberg, proprietor of the best major league baseball e-mail newsletter on the planet, just posted a special edition of his daily missive to Texas Rangers (and other baseball) fans everywhere. Here's part of what he wrote:

We were on the road, starting a seven-game trip, losers of seven out of nine, facing the team with the best record in the American League, matched up against perhaps the most consistently dominating pitcher in the league ...

Tell me about today's game, I missed most of it.

Some pitchers are poker players.  Their faces tell you nothing, or a message that they want you to receive.  Jimmy Key might have been a boiling cauldron of emotion on the mound, but you would never know it by looking at him.  Dave Stewart's death glare was dishonest but quite effective in producing somewhat intimidated hitters. Other pitchers show anger, frustration and other lively feelings more  readily on the mound.  Yesterday's game in Toronto featured high anxiety from Josh Towers.

The sixth inning was the pivotal one last night. Things went from bright to ugly real fast, but my mood was for some unknown reason light. No drugs were involved.

Shall we, pardon the pun, rehash it?

It is quite possible that Reed Johnson, with his frankly incredible diving catch to rob Victor Martinez of a double in the ninth inning tonight, may have saved the Blue Jays' season.

Yeah, so it was all my fault. 2006, I mean. Seriously. It's why I've been so quiet lately.

Before we get to that, though, I have to say that sometimes it sucks to be Kenny Rogers: his third baseman and his own throwing ability picked a fine time to leave him, and very quickly the Jays were up 2-0 in the first. The good guys went on to score another pile of runs, and the Tigers made it interesting by mounting a late comeback against the Jays' pen, but B.J. Ryan did the job he's paid the big dollars to do.

So now let's talk about how this season was my fault.

I wanted to see some good baseball on Saturday.

Obviously, this ruled out Yankees-Red Sox. As it turned out, Orioles-Blue Jays was something of a stinker as well. But none of this was my concern, for I was at Smythe Park.

Think about who you think is the worst (or least valuable) member of the Blue Jays bullpen. If you have trouble with recent promotions and demotions, just think back a few weeks and see who you would have thought then. We’re not looking for a Matt Whiteside here. Which relatively consistent member do you think? Get that name in mind.

The three games with Baltimore provided an interesting perspective on the bullpen, for both the balance of this year as well as next.

There's nothing like breaking your coffee maker to reveal to you just how much you need coffee.

Maybe it's the three days with no coffee, or maybe this road trip has finally crushed my hopes for the season. But regardless of the cause, I have lost most if not all of my enthusiasm over the last week or so.