It's my fault -- I recorded the game, expecting a good one. Every single time I do that, the Jays lose.

No kidding, every single time.

I was wondering what could possibly outweigh POTD mojo. It all fits - Doc was great, and pretty much everybody else... not so great.

How is it that both these positive and negative mojo forces come from me?

That's really unfair. Also, I'll start becoming paranoid about what socks I'm wearing when the Jays face a left-handed pitcher in case that matters too.

Uh, conspiracy anybody? Blame Jobu!

Wilner had a great point today...

Why ON EARTH did they not send Gaudin down and bring up another bat if they were planning to skip him? That is absolutely ridiculous!

Also, I heart Halladay. Days like this happen. They shouldn't happen against pitchers with ERA's over 4, but they happen (and seems more often or not to the Jays).

After what happened with Pete Walker last night and his 'bad' performance I really think he belongs in the rotation. He has EARNED a spot. Some people would say that almost every other team in baseball would give him a shot if they're rotations were in the shambles that ours is in!

On a happy note... Hill, 18 games. 17 RBI.

From Sportsline - Aaron Hill, the Blue Jays No. 1 draft pick in 2003, said he realized he was in the big leagues when he got his player's card. "It was kind of cool to have a card with 'Major League Baseball' on it," the rookie said. "It was a dream come true."

It's hard to score runs when a pitcher is rolling like that. It's also tough when your number 8 and 9 hitters are automatic outs.

I don't see any options in the farm, but I wonder how long is Huck going to stay on the Jays roster if he's going to hover around hitting 100-150pds.

I wouldn't mind giving a call to Benito (assuming he's not on another club right now).

I think a nice switch-up in the bullpen would be moving:

-Batista to long-reliever (since he was a starter last year he can probably throw a lot of innings)

-Chulk to closer (he doesn't pitch more than an inning usually, anyway and he's solid)

-Walker to the starting rotation (he's doing well this year), and

-Gaudin to Syracuse for a releiver or an extra player on the bench. (The Jays have a lot of pitchers in the bullpen, they can spare one)

Maybe this will clean up the pitching situation for the Jays. They don't usually have too much of a problem scoring runs, their pitching seems to be up and down all season.

RE: Extra bat for the bench.

I'm not sure what good it would do. I mean, the Jays never seem to use Menechino as it is. Do they really need another guy rotting on the bench.

That's why I think the calls to pick up Phelps are a little misguided. The Jays already have a lefty masher they never use. Do they really need a second one?

It might give them a little more diversity in different hitting situations. If Adams is playing, they have no left-handed hitters on the bench, so maybe a lefty is what they need

Assuming they have Catalanotto in LF

Well, what do we have here, in the past 3 years, frank menechino is hitting .346 at the SkyDome. Let's just start him when we're at home and keep him in TO, and save a plane ticket.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits3?statsId=6344&type=batting

Ah, 24. Great, great show.

Anyway, I was able to make it to the game today (didn't think I was). What terrific pitching. I had great seats to watch Mitre be as dominant as any pitcher I've seen live. I think someone hoodwinked him into thinking his name was actually-the guy the Jays face Friday-Roger Clemens. The Jays didn't appear to have any sort of plan at the plate and took some bad hacks at some good pitches. To watch no ball leave the infield-and most of those on weak grounders and choppers-in the first 6 was very frustrating. The amount of weak little nubbers foul on hitters counts was very indicative of how Mitre pitched.

Halladay was pretty darn good himself. A few opposite field doubles (Hollandsworth and Lee), a seeing eye single, lots of grounders...I'd imagine Roy will be having nightmares about that pitch that either the pitch that Mitre hit for a double, or the 0-2 pitch to Patterson that knocked in the 2nd run. What was Huck thinking calling an 0-2 fastball so near the plate? Patterson can't hit high cheese and always swings at it, and can't hit a breaking ball and always swings at them... Just seemed a very bad call. Roy/Huck wisened up for Patterson's next plate appearance as he got a bunch more junk and got himself out.

Hill again made some outstanding plays in the field. Two diving stops, although one was a foul ball. He had the best day at the plate as well, with a hit, albeit a cheesy one, and a walk. Yesterday in the 8th when tied 3-3 with 2 outs I said to my brother "I'm not sure there's anyone I'd rather have up right now than Hill." After my brother said "Aaron who again?" he made me look like a genius by getting a go ahead RBI.

Rios needed the day off. Even though he drew some walks yesterday, he was really scuffling, and it seemed to me to be a mechanical thing. He swung a few times yesterday and I swear he was trying to look at me way down the third base line as he did it.

Pretty disappointing to not have Doc finish off the sweep in a game the Cubs scored only 2 runs, but a nice series win. Now no more Jays games for me til August when they return to face the White Sox. Boo.

Thanks, Dr. Zarco, for your series reports. Until August, then.

I seem to remember hearing Gaudin was out of options, meaning he would have to be exposed to be sent back down. Any truth to that?

None. When a player is in an option year, which Gaudin is, he can be sent up and down as many times as you like without ever being put on waivers.

Frank Menechino is hitting .346 at the Skydome.

Ah yes, but he is only hitting .238 at the Rogers Centre.

A Jays fan in Chicago? :D

Well, the point is that the Jays aren't going to use Gaudin during the six days in the NL. There's no harm to sending him down and bringing up up Gross. If Gross never appears, there's no harm done and it gives you a left bat for the bench, which could come in handy. As much as Gross is scuffling, I'd rather have him hit than Frasor or Downs. There's no downside, and only upside.

westcoast dude-No problem, I'm happy to do it.

Alex0888, there sure weren't many fellow Jays fans at the games this week. I only saw about 8-10 each game, and a good Jays play got zero audible noise that I could hear-except for my wife and me jumping up and down cheering.

A few tidbits on how the Cubs fans get their reputation. Three quick examples, all from yesterday's game. Too many more in the three game set to explain.

Cubsfan1: Looks at me after a nice ODog play, "Aaah, the ref must be from Canada."
Cubsfan2: After Patterson's broken bat flies toward ODog, and the ball lands foul, "So, if the guy's bat breaks, the play doesn't count?"
Cubsfans3-10: Ratio of Pictures taken of each other:Pitches actually witnessed, 73:23. Only annoying because they were right in front of us.

We pretty much didn't get heckled at all, and it's not like the Cubs swept the Jays and had nothing to be bitter about. Just some scattered "Canada sucks" comments. Many simply couldn't comprehend that I was a Blue Jay fan...yet NOT from Canada. In the third inning (third, NOT first, I had been vocally cheering since the first of course), this little encounter happened with the man next me:
Dude-"Are you from Canada?"
Me-"Nope"
Dude-"Why did you just cheer that strikeout?"
Me-(Dumbfounded in my Halladay jersey and Jays hat)"Because I'm a...Blue Jay fan."
Dude-Pause..."Ohhhhhh."

Amazing.

Hillarious,

I have a random team association in that I'm a big Browns fan. It all comes from my obnoxious friend that was a Broncos fan when we were ten. Naturally, I chose the team that had the best chance to destroy his dreams.

Now 21 years later when I'm still a Browns fan, people run through the reasons someone from Toronto would care about the team and come up empty and look at me like I'm trying to learn esperanto.

There is always room for the outsider!

I'm just amazed that Hinske came into the stands and actually conversed with Dr. Zarco...

In regards to todays loss: DAMN YOU TONY ALMEIDA!! Damn Cubs agenda.