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Let's be honest: I have very little to offer in the way of analysis when it comes to baseball. If you want me to explain how David Peoples took a wonderful novel by Philip K. Dick and stripped it of its complexity by replacing the plot with that of Disney's Pinocchio, I could go on for hours. But baseball, I just enjoy watching it, especially when the home side wins.

That's why I am about to attempt to set down the rules to the Definitive Toronto Blue Jays Drinking Game. As always, I need your help and suggestions.
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Gregg Zaun did his best. Had his 9th-inning drive to left-centerfield fallen in, the Jays would've tied the game and would've had an excellent chance to win it. But Jeremy Reed made a fine running catch, and so my last Game Report of the year, just like the first 53 or so, ends with an L. I expect I'll be taking home the Unluckiest Rosterite Medal at the post-season Boxy Awards (televised live in Rogers Cable 23 in Iqaluit).
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Wasn't it nice to see a two-run ninth-inning lead protected without the usual hammering tension? Jason Frasor might have just been filling in for Miguel Batista, but I'd personally be happy to see him fill in a few more times before the season's done.

It's Pinch-Hit Wednesday again, and coming off the bench today is longtime Bauxite and Blue Jay Way regular MatthewE, with some further reflections on the Toronto bullpen. Take it away, Matthew!

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With increased workloads here, you'll have to be content with another "day in the life of" Game Report. This time, I move from the MLB.com GameDay experience to an explanation of the difficult process of finding a television showing the baseball game.

And by explanation, I mean running diary.

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A close victory against one of the seasons toughest oppenents.
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I'm not writing a Game Report today.
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When the Yankees scored in the first inning, on a Rodriguez walk and a Giambi double, one was able to absorb the blow. The Yankees lineup these days is extremely scary through the first five spots in the order: Jeter, Rodriguez, Giambi, Sheffield, and Matsui. I was thinking that if Bush could hold that crew to a single run each time through the order, he'd have a good chance to stay in the game.
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Everybody and his brother has an opinion on what Eric Hinske's deal is. It seems pretty clear that the promise he showed as a rookie is never going to develop into the star we all hoped the Jays were signing after his great 2002. (Incidentally, it also looks as though Wells might never develop into the superstar we thought he'd be after 2003 — but you'll recall that we on Batter's Box (and just about everybody else, actually) thought the Wells and Hinske long-term signings were good deals. Anyone who starts saying J.P. is an idiot for signing Hinske can be pointed to the past to say "What were you saying then?" That is the dual blessing and curse of the Internet.)

I do not aim to determine whether Hinske will ever be a good player. He is certainly a useful player, even now — except in June, of course. Instead, I want to figure out just when he becomes useful, and maybe a bit of why too.

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Our next Pinch-Hit Game Report belongs to regular Bauxite Four Seamer, who ran the gauntlet of Bay Street lawyers and their billable hour targets to bring you this account of last night's Blue Jays win. Take it away, FS!

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Owing to the twin demands of career and new fatherhood, I’m almost ashamed to admit that it has been several weeks since I was last able to sit down and enjoy a ballgame from start to finish.

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Seeing as how I did not get out of class and back to my room until 8:28 last night, here's a mailed in Game Report about watching baseball games without seeing them. Yes, it's Gameday...unmasked!
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This game report talks about why this loss particularly hurt, why Rick Short is becoming one of my favourite Nationals and includes a study that tells you nothing. So why wouldn’t you want to read it?
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A few thoughts about the Blue Jays on this somber anniversary.
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It is a dictum intoned by many a pundit - when your offense gets you some runs, you want your pitcher to go out there and shut the other team down in the next inning.

This Josh Towers failed to do in the first inning last night. Aside from that minor (as it turned out) lapse, he was just fine. Again.

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Well, that was a win for the Blue Jays. Not a very exciting win -- not the kind of game that you sit around years from now and say, "Hey, remember that 7-4 victory in Baltimore in September 2005? Man, that was classic." Now, if Orlando Hudson's injury turns out to be anything remotely serious, then yeah, we'll remember this one in a bad way. But otherwise, well, yawn, frankly. So what can we talk about this morning?
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When you have a lineup that’s really struggling to score runs, a young pitcher with dynamite stuff who chooses this night to put it all together, and a home-plate umpire who doesn’t feel like squeezing the strike zone, this is the kind of result you’re going to get: a 6-0 whitewash by the Orioles of a Blue Jays ballclub that’s stumbling down the stretch.
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