Last month, I received an invitation to a meeting of the Northwest Chapter of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) at Nat Bailey Stadium and one of the guest speakers was Vancouver Canadians pitcher Matt Johnson.  He shared some interesting stories about his baseball career.

Vancouver Canadians righthander Matt Johnson taking a breather after speaking at the August 11 SABR meeting at Nat Bailey Stadium.

There was discussion in the Bronx Therapy thread about the correlation between the Yankees reliably high total of walks and their reliably high total of runs scored.

Jose Bautista's season is over. He's having surgery on his wrist.

On July 28, despite all their trials and tribulations, the Blue Jays had a 51-49 record. While there was a posse of contenders in their way, they were still 3.5 games out of a post-season berth.

Then came what can best be described as a Death Spiral.

We can use a new thread - and besides, let's marvel at this lineup!

Having just vented on how much I hate seeing 21 year olds in a major league rotation, I thought I'd journey back through time and see if this franchise has ever made such a thing work.

 (HINT - They have. Once or twice.But it was a long, long time ago.)

I haven't given you a Data Table in a long time.

Consider this, then:

Lovely article in the Globe about Don Wakamatsu's practice of writing out the Jays daily lineup cards in near perfect Gothic script. He's a self taught “bootleg calligrapher”, who's glad he's not coaching Jarrod Saltalamacchia any more. Apparently they sell these things for charity, and I'd like to buy one.

92-93 shares with us his observations from the final game of the Las Vegas 51s first half (follow 92-93, and see more pictures, at @NorthYorkJays):

With the caveat that it's ridiculous to draw conclusions based on any one game, here're my thoughts from the 51s game I attended, with some shoddy iPhone video/camera links.

On a mostly quiet night on the farm, the clear offensive standout was Anthony Gose, and Travis Snider continues to demand the attention of decision makers in Toronto.

There has been a lot of talk about how the pen has been used lately. Is Farrell using it appropriately or is he giving the highest leverage outings to the worst pitchers? Lets see.

This is one of those reports which provides details of a bunch of relatively lackluster events.

One game of the four was canceled, the teams went 1-2 in the other three and no one really distinguished themselves.

Okay, no, they didn't ACTUALLY have six complete games on the farm on Thursday, but six official results went in the books, four of those wins.

Just was thinking about where the Jays are weakest so far and where improvements are needed so far in 2012.

Haven't done a song in a while here, and it's been even longer since we did one for a specific player anthem. Tonight's game makes this too easy ... The original is here if you want to compare these to the (clearly baseball-inferior) original lyrics, the box score is here and the new lyrics are … well, no link necessary, they’re right here, only on Batter’s Box!

B. Morrow
With profuse apologies to the creators of the Broadway musical Annie.

The shutout was thrown by Morrow
He three-hit the Mets and so B. Morrow (and the Jays) won …

Just watched that gem by Morrow
Batista tried but lost to Brandon Morrow … who won …

How about our Jays, who played their hearts out …
Our middle infielders, had four base-knocks
And both RBI

The sun'll come out thanks to Morrow
We'll hang in this race with Brandon Morrow
It’s only May …

Oh Morrow, B. Morrow,
We love Brandon Morrow
His next start’s just days away …

The shutout was thrown by Morrow
Eight K’s and just one walk for Brandon Morrow
How ‘bout them Jays?

Oh Morrow, B. Morrow,
5-and-2 B. Morrow
His next start’s just days away …

Oh Morrow, B. Morrow,
We love Brandon Morrow
We’re so glad that he’s a Jay …