Tonight was a night to forget for the pitchers giving up a combined 25 runs over 4 games.  Daniel Norris had another terrible outing for Lansing, raising his ERA into the double digits.

"Are they booing the Blue Jays, Smithers?'"

"Uh, no! They're saying Boo-urns. Boo-urns!"

I rolled on as the sky grew dark, I put the pedal down to make some time.

This year, I've made some adjustments to my Dominance Ratio (DR) lists. I've tried to put all the pitchers on an equal footing, analytically speaking, instead of trying to subjectively adjust for age, level, experience and performance. It's not perfect, but my motto as regards sabermetrics is: let the numbers take us as far as they can... but no farther. An explanation of the method can be found at the conclusion of this article, for those inclined to read it.

About a year ago, I introduced a new stat called Dominance Ratio (DR), right here at the Box. Now that a year has passed, I thought I would revisit my top 10 list of dominant minor league starting pitchers and make a new top ten list for 2013.

It's finally Opening Day in Toronto. That means it's time for everyone to make some predictions about how this year's edition of the Jays will fare...

Two years ago, Mick ran a home run prediction contest. By popular request (one request), it's back!

Dust off your crystal balls, friends. It's prognosticatin' time.

After doing this for the past four years it's becoming increasingly clear that these things fluctuate year to year. Some seasons are just harder to call than others. 2012 was one of those years - in fact, the most difficult in the RPC's history. Let's get to the results.

This year we have what looks to be our strongest opening day rotation, but is that just hype or is it real?

Now that spring (training) is here it is time to go over the changes to the Jays roster this past winter.  Who has left, who has come and who is here now?

Now that the 25 man roster is pretty much set (save for 1-3 bullpen slots)  the question becomes who is likely to slump and need replacing and who are the replacements should a player get hurt/be ineffective.

The Jays and Mets have rached another deal, in a roundabout manner, filling the void left behind when R. A. Dickey packed his bags for Toronto. Former Jay hurler Shaun Marcum has signed a one-year deal with the Metsies and will slide into the #4//5 slot in the rotation, bumping all others up one notch, as the team attempts to cover for the loss of the 20-game winning 2012 NL Cy Young Award recipient.

Marcum won seven games (in 11 decisions) for Milwaukee last season.

Read all about it on ESPN New York. So, Bauxites, once again ... what's your take?

To celebrate the acquisition of R.A. Dickey by the Toronto Blue Jays, some friends and I watched the documentary Knuckleball! (recommended) followed by Dickey's destruction of the Orioles last June. It was a fun night.

When we paused the game to get more snacks, we accidentally discovered that Wilson Betemit looks exactly like Grumpy Cat when he strikes out.

Behold:

As I'm sure I've mentioned, I actually saw Stan Musial play baseball.

I wish I could actually remember it. I was a little wee kid, and my dad took me to see the Cardinals playing their A ball team, which was in Winnipeg at the time. Apparently the Cards made a practice of visiting a minor league affiliate on an off-day and playing an exhibition game against the prospects. I'm told The Man started, went 1-2 and came out of the game. My memory tells me the game was played at an open baseball field, with no outfield fence at all, and trees along the foul lines. I'm pretty sure that didn't happen...

When we're children we can believe that baseball players are heroes, people to look up to and admire without reservation. We all grow up, we all learn otherwise. But Stan Musial never let me down.