The reservation is now made, for 4pm, under the name "Batter's Box". I made sure that we have a good view of the TV.

I'll be there around 3:30 or so. If you see a guy with a shaved head, reading the Times, and answers to the name of Matt, it'll probably be me.

I've never been to this Hard Rock. I take it they ahve a big screen TV, and that we are planning to sit near it (when not jumping and cheering Adams turning a routine 6-3 putout in the first, allaying fears about his throwing ability)

I guess that answers my question, Craig. Thanks.

BTW, I saw the THT predictions this morning. Good to see the Jays getting some voted for 3rd, but I think Halladay as Cy might be a bit of a stretch.

mathesond, I'll be the guy who looks like Bill James in dire need of a haircut. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends, meeting new ones and cheering myself hoarse as Hinske silences that idiot heckler. I also hope Sportsnet gives us several shots of Billy Koch; pouting infants are so cute.

Finally, the day I have waited for all year.....

Its time to play ball.

Go Get em Blue Jays

I'll be there (hopefully at 4) I'm coming from the gym, so I'll be the guy with the nike bag :)

Nice to hear you've got a reservation, Craig. I hope the TV situation is good there.

If being sick was ever a good thing I think it was today. I was supposed to work through the came this afternoon but "luckily" after about two hours on the job I started to puke! I let the first one go but 20 minutes later I was doing it again. I told my manager and he told me to go home right away. I left work feeling ill but then thought to myself, "Wait, now I won't miss the game!" So I guess today is a good day to be sick.

I'd love to join you guys at the Rock but I just don't think I have 8 hours of driving in me today.

Any predictions on today’s game?

I have the Jays winning 4-2 with Halladay picking up the win and Lance Carter taking the loss. Batista will get the save only after giving up a home run to Carl Crawford.

Off topic, but as far as I know this has not been posted on any other thread.

Fresh from the Lansing website, here is the official roster for the Lugnuts.

Pitchers

Chi-Hung Chen
Daryl Harang
Danny Hill
Casey Janssen
Po-Hsuan Keng
Joey McLaughlin
Juan Perez
Eric Rico
Mark Sopko
Jordy Templet
A.J. Wideman
Kyle Yates

Catchers

Curtis Thigpen
David Corrente
Joey Wolfe

Infielders

Jason Armstrong
Chip Cannon
David Hicks
Ryan Klosterman
Juan Peralta
Christian Snavely

Outfielders

Luke Hetherington
Eric Neilson
Cory Patton
Yuber Rodriguez

Interesting to see that Thigpen starts here. Obviously Robinson Diaz will start in Dunedin. Likely that Brian Hall and Adam Lind will be in Dunedin also. To the best of my knowledge, their roster has not yet been published.

Peter G, this has already been posted & is currently being discussed in the Minor League Update II thread.

Does anyone happen to know of any bars in Western New York that have MLB Extra Innings?
Please Help!

Just wrote the following letter to Brian Murphy at ESPN is respone to this column (Hey, I just wanted to give the Beer Club a plug)

Happy Cooler Day to you, Murph, and don't forget to include your neighbours north of the border in the celebration - after all, the Blue Jays Beer Club will be meeting at the Hard Rock Cafe in SkyDome (I still can't call it Rogers Centre; we already have the Air Canada Centre and the Convention Centre within a few blocks of the Dome) to watch a pair of teams that only their fans could care about - and for some reason MLB thinks there is a history of bad blood in the Jays-Rays feud. Us Torontonians remember Halladay getting ejected from a September game in '03 against the Rays for hitting some scrub. Fortunately, he still rolled the rest of the month and brought a 4th Cy to T.O. in 8 years, beating out the Castoff Who Shall Remain Nameless. Oh yeah, Doc's going today. As is Corey Koskie, who's natural move from Manitoba to Ontario was finally completed this past offseason. We also like our college hoops here, and don't forget Mike Weir winning a Green Jacket a couple years back. Add in the melting ice and the start of bbq season, and it's a celebration worthy of a 7-game Stanley Cup between the Leafs and the Habs ('course, the Bettman crowd has made sure that won't happen, but that's a rant for a different day) Cheers, and keep the pints of Anchor Steam coming our way ~Matt

With Roberto Alomar and Danny Bautista retiring during spring training, Baldelli on the DL, and now Alex Sanchez (the guy TBD signed to replace some of the offensive drain the retirements caused) out for the entire series and more due to steroids use, Toronto's pitching should hopefully have an easy time...

Yargh. You and your drinking. Im only 11 1/2 months away, darnit.
Legally anyway.

This is why Im going to University in Quebec.

I did not know where to post this, and seeing how I cannot be at the Beer Club tonight I will pass it on to Da Club.

Dmitri Young is on pace to hit 324 home runs this year - discuss.

You are welcome.

Adam Dunn is also on pace for 500+ Home runs this season. Homering in his first AB.

Actually, Dmitri hit 3 HRs today, putting him on pace for 486 HRs.

Anyone in Barfield want to trade one of their keepers for him?

Good showing today guys. Glad we had a good turnout, and it turned out to be pretty damn good time. Nice meeting everyone, VBF, Jobu, Coach, etc. :)

C'mon guys. 486 home runs is a little bit of a stretch. I think Vernon's, Corey's, and Orlando's projection of hitting 162 home runs each this season is a little more credible ;)

By the way, great meeting all you guys today, it was fun.

Amen. It was very cool to put some faces to the names of longtime Bauxites.

I dunno, I kind of expected Vernon's Biggest Fan to look more like... Vernon?

(He doesn't.)

You guys take any pics at the Hard Rock?

I could shave my head and talk with virtually no emotion.

Nothing could have capped off this Opening Day better than 1980s music videos on a large screen in the background. Truly captivating.

I took pictures, Ron, but they were all of the crew working overtime to finish the Field Turf installation. Check out Picture of the Week around lunchtime tomorrow.

That's interesting. Doesn't Fieldturf need time (weeks, not days) to settle? Wasn't Myers injured on bad turf in Minnesota last year because of a lack of settling?

We saw them pouring the rubber pellets onto the turf that are supposed to make it less spongy. I think that the problem in Minnesota was that they hadn't decided how spongy was spongy enough or too spongy. But I don't know for sure.

The turf itself appeared to be all down, but I don't think there was any dirt in the cutouts, and they were also using a small steamroller-like device (which could have been intended to despongify the turf as well).