And again, that is me with the pithy post-game comments.

Magpie is out somewhere finding a good keyboard or a slice of pizza.

Possibly both.

Neither. (Thank you, Rob, I'll take it from here!) Anyway, my swinging single days are behind me once more.

Oh, thank you for the relief, Mr. Pie. I didn't think I could meet the demands of not doing anything further in this thread.

Oh shut up and pack. Get out of town.

Whoa. Carlos with a game-winning triple for the Marlins. Carlos?

Bush was on the first 4 innings. Well the first 4 innings after Brian Roberts. He threw some poor pitches to Mora to give up the second run and was higher up in the strikezone thereafter but he pitched a really strong game. He's been a lot more like the David Bush we wanted to see from last year I think.

It looks like the broadcasters have been picking up on the power theme as well which has been mentioned a lot by Baker lately. And that really is my big concern with this offence right now too. They just have to work too hard to score runs when they don't get the bounces.

I heard one caller after the show mention that the reason they lose a lot of one run games is that they can't score one run at a time enough. Well EVERY TEAM fails to move runners or get them in. Every team has bad days with runners in scoring position.

Today the Jays had a good day with RISP. Overall their RISP is about the same as their overall numbers which is what you would reasonably expect. I would be concerned if they were a lot higher since that might be an indication of luck. But right now the Jays are doing about as well offensively as they should be given the talent level of the team.

They need two or three legitimate middle order bats inserted around Vernon Wells. Koskie and Hillenbrand and Hinske are more 6-7-8 hitters. The question is whether they can get them.

Oh shut up and pack. Get out of town.

Rob: Burlington :: David Newhan : Ottawa.

What a game. Getting a good chunk of 518 into a chant of "shrunken genitals" at Palmeiro was well worth it.

Oooh, I like that. I hope his teamates told him in the locker room after the game because Palmiero was wearing earplugs with the kind of bandaids you put on blisters over top of the plugs.

With 1 game to go, Eric Hinske in the month of August:
.413/.500/.913
He just feels this close to being a useful player, a riddle wrapped in an enigma...

That's OBP/SLG/OPS, of course, not BA/OBP/SLG, which would have made for a positively Bondsian month of August.

Now we just need Eric Hinske to have a huge September to bring his season number to somewhere along the line of .275/.350/.450, so JP wouldn't have such a problem selling him at the end of the year. Because I feel like at least one or two of Hinske/Koskie/Hillenbrand has to go.

It seems like outside of Toronto, there are actually teams that would want Eric Hinske.

I was watching the Orioles' broadcast of this game, and their commentators (Buck Martinez and Jim Palmer) must have had the Texas Rangers on the brain, because they were musing that the Jays could be stealing signs. They hinted that there was something sinister about the RBIs the Jays got with runners on 2nd base. I would say that it wouldn't make sense for the Jays to start stealing signs in a home set against the struggling Orioles with the playoffs pretty much out of reach.

They've been accused of stealing signs all year. Personally, I think it would be kind of dumb not to attempt to relay something if you were on second base, assuming you could relay something actually helpful of course.

there is nothing wrong with stealing signs...if the opposing team is stupid enough to give em away, take em.

having said that, using a building across the street to signal them home is a bit much...

guy on 2nd stealing signs = a ok by me
guy in building with high power telescopic lens stealing signs = bush league

Didn't Ryan Franklin accuse the Jays of cheating only days before he was suspended for violating the steroid policy?

Pot "Hey Kettle, you're black!"

Does anyone else find it funny that while a lot of people here complain that the Jays can't hit in the clutch, around the league the impression is that the Jays hit so well with RISP that they must be stealing signs?

Both theories are the ramblings of crazy people.

Jays overall hit .269/.334/.417

Jays with RISP hit .267/.340/.439

They hit with a bit more power with runners on but their success rate is almost a spot on match with their overall success rate.

So if they're stealing signs it isn't helping them anymore than not stealing signs is. Or they are able to sometimes steal signs which is maybe leading to a lot of these big inning offensive explosions while at other times can't seem to hit at all for long stretches. So maybe there is something to it.

In any case, stealing signs or no the lineup is hardly a powerhouse. They're pretty much middle of the pack in run production, poor in power, slightly above average in onbase. They've probably scored more runs than their production level predicts they should. To me two serious bats for the middle of the order would probably take precedence or at least hold equal importance to adding a prominent pitcher.