The Toronto Blue Jays open up a four game series in Oakland. This is the beginning of a 10-game road trip that will swing through Anaheim and Tampa Bay.

R.A. Dickey gets the call for tonight's game at O.co Coliseum.

It's a one'o'clock start, people! Stat holiday!

Another first-place showdown is on the menu for the next three nights as the Blue Jays take on the Yankees at the Dome. As per usual, more roster moves have been made as outfielders Anthony Gose and Kevin Pillar have been summoned from Triple-A Buffalo. Catcher Erik Kratz goes back to Buffalo, Brett Lawrie is on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured digit and Jose Bautista has a sore left hamstring.

Anthony Gose will look to improve on his batting line of .233/.347/.291 in 34 games with Toronto this season. He is 3-for-6 in the stolen base department.

A first-place throwdown in the American League East begins tonight. Two teams enter the Bronx Zoo, one will emerge victorious. Maybe Munenori Kawasaki will be the difference. The Toronto Star says Kawasaki has been called up from Buffalo due to the possibility that first baseman Adam Lind or reliever Brett Cecil will head to the disabled list.


Munenori Kawasaki is back from Buffalo after hitting .276 with nine runs batted in. The 33 year-old lefthanded hitter was batting .378 in his past 10 contests with the Bisons. He was 3-for-12 in three games with the Jays earlier this season.

The Toronto Blue Jays open up a four-game series against the Orioles in Baltimore. Meantime, the Jays have acquired outfielder Adron Chambers from the Houston Astros for two minor leaguers.



Adron Chambers is now a member of the Blue Jays organization. Going to the other way to Houston are lefthander Alejandro Solarte and second baseman Will Dupont. Solarte posted a 2.98 earned run average and Dupont batted .262 for the Gulf Coast Blue Jays last season.

Casey Janssen just blew the save, and finally has an ERA. It's probably my fault. I fell asleep.

The Toronto Blue Jays are back home to take on the defending National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. The 25th anniversary of the SkyDome will also be celebrated with Jays alumni Jimmy Key and Ernie Whitt, the original battery for the first game back on June 5, 1989.


Domer  - the official mascot of SkyDome.

It is time for a very interesting series in Detroit. The Jays are 34-24, ten games over 500, the Tigers are 31-22, 9 games over. The Blue Jays run differential is +39, the Tigers is +17.

The Jays avoid Scherzer but they face three very good pitchers. The Jays record is slightly better but the Tigers are at home.

Winning is better than losing.

The Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays go at it for the first time since Opening Day in Tampa, when the Jays managed to split the first four games of the season.

Both teams look to keep the good times rolling with the Jays on a six game winning streak and the Rays on a four-gamer.

The Toronto Blue Jays will have a new member of the rotation to start this series against the two-time defending AL West Champion Athletics at the Dome. Say hello to Liam Hendriks, called up from the Bisons, and goodbye to Esmil Antonio, who has been designated for assignment.



Liam Hendriks earned the call to Baseball North after posting a 5-0 record with a 1.48 earned run average, walking just three hitters in 48.2 innings at Triple-A Buffalo. BlueJays.com says Hendriks will wear #34, Dave Stewart's old number. However, first base coach Tim Leiper currently wears #34 so we'll see what happens there. Ooh, the intrigue!

The Toronto Blue Jays pay their first visit to Fenway Park in 2014. They'll be joined by lefthander Rob Rasmussen, who has been called up from Buffalo.

Rob Rasmussen posted a 2.65 earned run average and struck out 19 batters in 17 innings with Buffalo this season. According to BlueJays.com, he will wear #59, joining the immortal Carlos Diaz, Mark Dalesandro, Adam Peterson, Curtis Thigpen, Jesse Carlson, Randy Wells and "Strasburg Canada" himself, Brad Mills to wear those digits.

Three games with the Rangers.

Greetings from your old pal Named For Hank. You may have thought that I abandoned you, but rest assured I have been in your basement the whole time and that the calls are coming from inside the house.

So how about that AL East, huh? Awfully polite of the whole division to get off to a rocky start to give us here in Jays-nation a fighting chance for relevance. Tonight, the just-under-.500 Anaheim Angels of Anaheim start a three game set at the Rogers Centre against the barely-over-.500 Jays. If we're lucky, we'll see some Rasmus-on-Rasmus action and give one Colby-Cory bragging rights.

So what on earth is going on? How nice of you to ask...

The Jays took the first two games of this extended series but the odds are more even for these next two. Toronto have the home field advantage but the Phillies are throwing their best two pitchers this year, Cliff Lee and AJ Burnett. The Jays respond with the senior members of the rotation, Mark Buehrle and RA Dickey.

Adam Lind should return tomorrow, there was no need to activate him today with Cliff Lee on the mound for the Phillies. The status of Dioner Navarro and Brett Lawrie is unknown at this point. The Jays bench will be down to one if they are unable to play.