I miss Roy Orbison.

It's not the sports pages, but the headlines of many North American newspapers these day contain the name "Ike," a reference to the latest hurricane headed out of the Gulf Coast.

Out of deference to the many afflicted -- most of whom are here in Texas where I live -- men like Bob "Hurricane" Hazle and Clint "The Hondo Hurricane" Hartung will not be considered in this article.

There hasn't been an "Ike" active in the major leagues since 1979, but that won't stop us from seeing if we can't throw together (see, there, I didn't write "whip up") a Hall of Names team, Ike-style ...

The Advance Scout also jumps back on the Blue Jays bandwagon, for the series that Alex and I are tentatively calling THE BIGGEST SERIES EVER. Not to, you know, jinx it or anything. On to... the Advance Scout!

The Jays return to their winning ways. If you tuned in late the 6-4 score looks much like last night, with the key difference being that the good guys one. Far from it, my friend. Both starters were very good, only to see their bullpens implode behind them. Fortunately the Jays imploded the least. Can you say another ten straight? Also, this game featured one of the worst strike zones I think I have ever seen.

Oh, look: Alison Gordon again.

The streak is over, but the Jays did not go gentle into that good night.

We're at the semi-final stage.

It's one of my favourite plays in baseball.

Yup, the Jays are hot and could be viewed as in the race for the first time since the 90's in mid-September.

 Quick! Without looking it up!

For those that missed it, there have now been 249,996 HRs hit in MLB history after Delgado's 2 HRs last night.

Sometime early tonight HR #250,000 will likely be hit.  Here's a list of the players that hit the previous milestones.

Predict who it will be!

Bauxite zeppelinkm has prepared a Data Table that examines this  year's work by Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, with particular focus on the Quality of the Opposition. I'm just the middle-man!

I’ll let J.P. keep his job if the Jays beat Garza … fair enough? (sly wink)
 - John Brattain, 1:03 PM Sunday

Done!

A Phelps had a multi-homer game. But, this Phelps wasn’t Josh, or even Michael, who apparently can accomplish nearly anything. Instead, this Phelps was a second baseman who slugged his Mahoning Valley Scrappers to victory over Auburn.

Tell me about today's game, I missed most of it.