I agree that trading Hinske for something of equivalent value to this year's team is highly unlikely (as the last week or so has shown, Hinske can play a very valuable role for this year's Jays).  Hillenbrand is slightly more tradeable, although at his salary it would be a difficult move.  If (and I emphasize if) you make the decision that you must move some hitting for some pitching help then F-Cat would be the easiest to move and likely return the most value, with Hinske taking over as the platoon partner in left.  My own view is that I would like to see the team try some of the internal options (Marcum and League) first prior to jettisoning some offense.

It was defiantly a surreal experience watching BJ almost squander a 3 run lead.

Plate appearances against BJ are like riding a bull in a rodeo. Naturally, BJ is the bull. He just keeps attacking the zone, and typically (for better or for worse), he produces quick outcomes (usually for the better).

After last nights close call, BJ saw his era balloon to .86. And his whip is a now a very unsavory 70. I wonder if JP now realizes that he made a mistake in signing the guy.

I wouldn't move a single hitter unless and until the team decides to pack it in for '06.  The Jays have an excellent bench, which seemingly implies "hey, let's trade from our surplus," but no depth beyond the big-league roster in terms of MLB-ready position players toiling in the minors (save Jason Phillips).

Unless you want a Mottola or a Figueroa coming off the bench in the heat of a pennant race, it's best to leave well enough alone with the offence.  Toronto has covered for injuries to Rios and Zaun nicely this season, and like it or not, there are more to come.

I could have sworn the first base ump signaled that there was no swing, but the game log shows the AB as a strikeout.  The Ranger announcers were talking that it was scored a walk as well.

On the replay it looks like the home plate is signalling strike 3.  They never had time to appeal to the 1st base ump.  I think the 1st base ump is signalling that Barajas is safe at 1st.

I was hoping they'd just walk Barajas since he was so "on" the pitches and take their chance with Mathews from the right side.  Eventually it sort of worked out that way.

The unofficial dailies all recorded it as a strikeout, so you can safely assume that the official scorer recorded it as a strikeout.  From what I remember, there was a strike signal by the umpire, but in any case I thought it was obvious that he swung at the pitch, which is consistent with Barajas racing as fast as he could to first base.

As for whether it could have been caught... it's not 100% outside the realm of possiblilty that it could have been caught, but the pitch bounced off the front edge of the plate (only BJ Ryan could get a batter to swing at a pitch that bounces *in front* of the plate) and flew unaccountably high - really high, when it would have been expected to be in the dirt.  Houdini, or Nijinsky, or Johnny Bench might have blocked it (I don't see how any human being could have caught it) but Molina was sensibly on his way down into the dirt to block the ball and I think he's essentially blameless.

(I wished I could say "Houdini/Nijinsky/Pierzynski" but it wouldn't be accurate)

The catcher normally sets up about five or six feet behind the front edge of the plate, right?  That gives Molina 0.04-0.05 seconds to readjust to the ball's odd flight; I don't think that's humanly possible.

Right now, I wouldn't be exercising the second year of Molina's contract. Everyone we face seems to have a better catcher, 300 average or not.

Since Bengie Molina would probably be the best catcher in the National League (McCann excepted), I have to think that this isn't right.   Though I'd agree that the AL is full of good catchers, at least as long as Posada and Varitek can hang on to their old form.  Barajas, though, is essentially a carbon copy of Bengie with a little more power and less average.

Since Bengie Molina would probably be the best catcher in the National League (McCann excepted), I have to think that this isn't right.   Though I'd agree that the AL is full of good catchers, at least as long as Posada and Varitek can hang on to their old form.  Barajas, though, is essentially a carbon copy of Bengie with a little more power and less average.

Barrett, Piazza and Estrada are all having better years and I would consider them superior catchers to Bengie.

Russell Martin over in LA is putting up quite the nice rookie season, also better #s than Bengie.  That is 5 NL catchers right there.

See I have no doubt that after they had thrown Barajas everything they could, inside, outside, fastball, slider, and he was right on everything, fouling straight back or pulling it hard but foul, Molina and Ryan determined they would pitch around him and see if he would chase...if he didn't they could still face the lefty Matthews against whom the prospects were better for Ryan or at least they couldn't be any worse than the marathon at bat they were facing.  The count was 2-2 so they threw the first pitch inside to see if he would jam himself.  Then they went with the slider in the dirt.

Barajas bit unable to hold back his swing.  The problem is the pitch hit the front edge of the plate and deflected clean over Molina who was dropping to a crouch by about a foot.  He had no chance to block it unless his torso gained in length like Inspector Gadget or something.  Not quite the same thing as Dave Stieb losing a no hitter to a divot in the infield but along similar lines of back luck plays.  If it goes clean off the dirt or even the plate, there's a much better chance it hits Molina somewhere and he keeps it in front of him to complete the K.

Martin and McCann are easily the best young catchers in the game, assuming we don't count Mauer as a new guy anymore.  McCann has a chance to be a real star with the bat along the lines of Victor Martinez but Martin looks rock solid in every facet of the game as well...kind of like a better version of Paul LoDuca.  There were rumours of the Jays interested in both players and either would have been more than ideal.

Molina can hit for average, do a decent job of making contact, but his power is modest and mostly exists against lefties, he doesn't walk a whole lot, is one of the few players whose speed changes a game in the negative direction, and his defence is not nearly what it once was.  It seems unfathomable to me that the Jays would exercise the $7M option on him.  I think they'll bring back Zaun for a decent raise on a one or two year deal and find a younger guy in his prime to continue with the bulk of the catching.  Maybe a Barrett.

1) Is it wrong for me to expect a sweep of the Royals? (Worst ERA in baseball alone, and how good could their offence be really?...)

When we entered June I thought the month would be a cakewalk. Our easiest monyhly schedule, I expected us to be in, or tied for, first by July 1st. Wrong.

We, me in particular, should give up "expect(ing)" and concentrate on todays match up. No team is going to play dead. Unfortunately the only way to the post season is one game at a time... deep down inside I think we (me) all know this.

MyLegacy, the Jays won 16 and lost 11 in June, giving them 3 winning months in a row; amortized over 162 games that's 96 wins.  I'm not sure how much more one can expect from a team without a winning record the past 2 years.

The only difference is, the BoSox won 17 and lost 9 (with a couple of rainouts); amortized over 162 games that's 106 wins.  That's life in the AL East.

Of course, the Jays are still in a better situation than the Twinkies, who only have one more loss than the Jays but are 9.5 back instead of 4, thanks to the ChiSox and Tigers.

(Is it still too early to watch the standings because I'm failing miserably).