I come from downtown
Born ready for you
Armed with will and determination
And grace, too

Here's some windy baseball lore, to tide us through a Day With No Baseball.

You see, it struck me that we might have just seen, in a little more than 24 hours, the worst start by a Blue Jays pitcher in their post-season history, quickly  followed by the best start in the team's post-season history.

There's no simple explanation
for anything important any of us do
And yeah, the human tragedy
consists in the necessity
of living with the consequences
under pressure

I can cry, beg and whine
To every rebel I find
Just to give me a line
I could use to describe

Tom Thomson came paddling past
I'm pretty sure it was him
And he spoke so softly in accordance
To the growing of the dim
He said, "Bring on a brand new renaissance
'Cause I think I'm ready
I've been shaking all night long
But my hands are steady"

I know your crowd
And they're not that proud
At least not from what I've seen
Flies in the ink leave
Footprints across the sea
Trace them back to where it all gets had
You find the cuts never run too deep
The cuts never run too deep

Take out the part that breaks my heart
And makes me sound uncaring
If you eliminate the swearing
Then I could show my mother
That you can go from one chord to another

I had the good fortune (and deep pockets -- thanks so much, ticket resellers) to attend games one and two of the ALDS at Rogers Centre. I've been to a lot of baseball in that ol' barn -- my personal record was 66 games in 2003 -- and Bauxites, nothing came close to this in terms of noise. Sure, opening day and Mr. Sub gym bag day had sold out crowds, but they were never into watching the ballgame. This was something entirely different, and amazing.

I was also fortunate to be able to take my dad to game one and my oldest son, who attended thirty or so games as an infant in 2005, to game two. We sat in the finest cheap seats in baseball, one section removed from the Cheer Club's beloved 518.

Here was our view. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

The best of luck in the ALCS, gentlemen.

Hello, Bauxites. I made you something stupid:

Your pal,

NFH

Wouldn't you like to keep moving
Your life would be slightly improving
When you better come on by
And take a letter down
And send it out as sympathy

She cried "Bingo", you finally clued in
I guess I never thought to look there
What you took you can give back
But I never kept track

I made a list of all the ways to get even
If I'm gonna get back at them
I made the list up and you made it, I'm teasing
But it's hard to keep track
When you're watching your back
But I gotta get back at them

If at first you don't succeed...

It's on, babies.

A passing remark from my man Dave Till:

"All I can say for sure is that I've never seen a period of short-term dominance greater than what the Jays were doing this August."