In a follow-up to yesterday's post I decided to look at the strength of each AL division from 1994 (the first year of the 3-division setup) to present. Below the cut is the data.

One night after a sweep New Hampshire were the only team with a win.  Brett Cecil pitched well and Travis Snider hit a three run home run.  David Purcey and Randy Boone pitched OK but both lost.  Dunedin Jays took the example of the big club and were blown out.

A common theme around the Box for the last 6 years is the claim that being in the AL East is killing the Jays. If only they were in a weaker division, like the AL Central, where teams do not have to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox. Then the Jays would be contenders!

But if you look at the data, it is almost impossible to draw that conclusion...

This is why outfielders are often encouraged not to dive after fly balls.

Vernon Wells will be out for 6-8 weeks with a broken wrist, and Jeremy Accardo joins him on the DL with "a right forearm strain." Joe Inglett is back, again, along with.. Armando Benitez?

You say you got a real solution
Well you know
we'd all love to see the plan
- John Lennon

Well, in this case you be the General Manager.

It's not brain surgery, right? We apply a few sabermetric principles, add in $100 million dollars of Ted's money and PRESTO! A 90 win team! Wham, bam, next case.

All four affiliates won.  New Hampshire scored three in the eighth to win 12-11.  Scott Campbell had five RBI's while the number 7, 8, 9, and 1 hitters went 13-16 with five walks.  Brad Mills pitched a great game as Lansing got a big win against division leader West Michigan.  Syracuse easily handled Durham behind a good start from John Parish and Dunedin survived a ninth inning scare to win 7-6.

But enough about the Jays - on to the Advance Scout!

The Blue Jays are looking at some more bats, adding Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson to the lineup. Mench was obtained from Texas for "cash considerations." Wilkerson was signed off the scrap heap. Joe Inglett has been optioned back to Syracuse.

To make room on the 40-man roster, Gustavo Chacin and Sergio Santos have been designated for assignment. After they clear waivers, which seems probable, they can be outrighted to Syracuse.

The Jays stormed back to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th against the resurgent Troy Pervical, only to see an Alex Rios leadoff triple in the bottom of the 10th go uncashed. A sac fly from Bossman Junior and a Dioner Navarro grand slam later and that was all she wrote. Those with a need to see the gruesome details can do so, here.

Seriously. It was a bloodbath. The Jays just can't hit right now... from the majors right on down.

This website was born at around the time the Blue Jays introduced new General Manager J.P. Ricciardi. Most of us remember the dark times of the Ash regime, particularly how the team spun its wheels with overpaid veterans and mostly disappointing young players. J.P.'s arrival from the Oakland Athletics front office lifted our hopes. We believed that J.P. would rebuild the organisation utilizing "sabermetric"-inspired ideas, as his mentor Billy Beane had done in Oakland. The immediate future would be a tough transition due to budget cuts, but the following years would be glorious.

I attended three Lansing Lugnuts games from Sunday through Tuesday in downtown Lansing, the home of never ending construction.  Oldsmobile Park is the lovely home for the Lugnuts and as always in a minor league park there was lots of entertainment for the fans.  Lansing is two hours from the border at Sarnia so it is easily driveable in a half day.

... the great Jim "Catfish" Hunter spun a perfect game for the Oakland A's, topping the powerful (Carew/Killebrew/Oliva) Minnesota Twins, 4-0.

So, it's story time here at Batter's Box. Have you ever seen a perfect game? Or even a no-hitter? That means, live -- not "Oh, yeah, I saw Lenny Barker's perfecto on TV" (which I did, but that don't count here!) ... 

No-hitters have always fascinated me. So tell your story of seeing one, or sometimes just as interesting, almost seeing one (Dave Stieb fans out there?) ... My own painful story of almost seeing one is a bit different ...

Five runs in one Inning ? I'm a bit perturbed, these things are precious this year, five is practically a weeks worth, they shouldn't go using them all up at once.

A rain-out and a day off led to a 1-1 day.  Dunedin won with ten runs but three of the runs scored on bases-loaded walks, two on bases-loaded hit batters and two on wild pitches.  New Hampshire were blasted, they had one hit and gave up ten runs.