Well, I give up. It grieves me to say this, but I'm pretty sure the Tampa Bay Rays are not going to lose 90 games this season. I suppose a little respect would not be out of line.

After Roy Halladay's thoroughly satisfying whitewash of the Yankees last week, I got to wondering where that game stood on the All-Time Pantheon of Doc's Masterpieces.

Pretty close to the top, you might well expect.

My friends tell me to leave you, that you're bad news, bad news, bad news. That you're bad news, baby, you're bad news, and you're bad news, baby, you're bad news. And you're bad news. I don't care. I like you, and you're bad news. I don't care. I like you.

The Jays won both games of an unusual double header - it was the first time the Jays had completed an postponed game since 1996. The two wins, combined with a Rays loss, brought the Jays 1.5 games closer to the playoff race, though they are still 8.5 out.

Hey, double digit run production! Only the sixth time all year, and first since June 24.

After another poor game the Jays see the return of Shaun Marcum tonight.

They're something all baseball teams spend the off-season trying to accomplish. Who's been succeeding? Where, and how can we tell?

So much for the first half. Less than overwhelming.

We are one
So much time wasted, playing games with love
So many tears I've cried
So much pain inside

The Jays win a thriller to get within two games of .500, but lose Vernon Wells in the process. D'oh.

3 shortstops + 2 catchers = 9 runs.  Who knew?

With Sabathia traded AJ Burnett becomes one of the more attractive pitchers to trade for.

I wasn't able to follow yesterday's game. My custom in such circumstances is to immediately send Liam a text message as soon as possible to find out what's going on. Here's the exchange:

Me: Jays update?
Liam: Don't ask.
Me: We suck.
Liam: We sure do.

Bone and steel
Rictus grin

Angels of Anaheim 8, Jays 2. The Angels hang 12 hits on A.J. Burnett to snap his winning streak at two games. No point talking about a game like that. Instead, I have two unrelated findings.

With the 2008 season seemingly slipping further out of the Jays grasp every day, and in the wake of recent managerial changes, now seems as good a time as any for a review of General Manager J.P. Ricciardi’s record.