great start from josh.

Anyone else a little bit peeved when they see the MLB.tv ad for the AL East race, and it still shows Miguel Tejada and the Orioles as the third challenger? Baltimore is so 2 months ago.

Missed the game because I had a helicopter come, so was pleasanntly surprised to check Gameday and reconstruct.
Backtoback solo shots for Russ? I could see it coming.

Towers has made a nice contribution this year. His presence in the 2006 rotation would be a bad sign though.

I think when all is said and done, Russ Adams might end up having a more impressive season then Aaron Hill did. I still like Hill's future a little better, but to me Adams has gained some ground on Hill.

Ah, I just got back from the game. Great stuff! With Ozzie's ejection, the beanings, and the great 2nd inning, it was incredibly fun. Towers settled down nicely and appeared to be hitting his spots. Was he getting a generous zone? Where did Speier's pitch in the 9th hit Dye? It really looked like the face from where I was, yikes.

Garland looked very ordinary tonight, the Jays were whackin' him all over the ballpark. Always fun to hit for the cycle in order, and cap it with a second HR. And unlike the Sox/Sox game I went to last week, I did not get powdered sugar from my funnel cake all over me while retrieving a foul ball!

Looked like it hit him on the collarbone.

The essence of what Towers can be, in my opinion, was presented perfectly in the third during a three-pitch strikeout of Konerko to end the inning. First pitch strike on the inner edge, and then two straight on the outer half without a challenge from the batter. It was sweet.

there were probably a few generous strike calls behind the plate, but i think they went both ways. The 3rd strike pitch Everett complained about was a great pitch right over the inside corner half way between the belt and the letters. If he hadn't been standing on the plate maybe he would have realized it was a strike.

I'm pretty sure Ozzie was just arguing to try to fire the team up. I don't think any of the pitches immediately prior to his ejection were worth arguing over.

I thought Towers was getting squeezed a little bit on this slider down and in. There were a few at bats where it wasn't called a strike until he threw it over the heart of the plate.

I think Towers and Bush and McGowan pose an interesting question for 2006. You already have Doc and Lilly and if the Jays get another starter, where does that leave the back of the rotation?

I don't mind having the depth but it means someone goes to the pen as a long man. I'd be very interested to see if Bush's stuff would return to the mid-90's as a short reliever.

The Jays have a decision to make on Lilly. His contract expires this year and he made $3.1 million this season. It appears that he's entering his final year of arb-eligibility, and notwithstanding his below-average performance, he'd probably get a raise in arbitration due to service time. Whether he can be expected to deliver any better performance than Bush or Towers next year is a matter that reasonable people may differ on; it is a certainty though that he will cost a lot more.

I imagine we will see Lilly traded off somewhere, depending on if we can sign a guy that is a little more consistant as our number 2. Lilly has a lot of value as a cheap starter, that can be very good at times. I'm not sure the Jays want to rely on him to start hot, and stay free of injury all year.

Sweat, I don't know how much trade value Lilly has. Logically, you would think very little. But, some of the free agent contracts given out last year to average pitchers would suggest that Lilly might have value even if his salary were $4.5-$5.5 million next year.