Same old, same old.

The first lefty had a great time, the second one had a blast, the third one fell in love and now he hopes it lasts.  The fourth lefty? Well anyway, it was a 2-for-4 night for the affiliates with three of the games decided in extra innings.  

One of the greatest-hitting catchers in the history of the Great Game, Mike Piazza, has decided to hang' em up after 16 years.

Questions for you:

• Where does Piazza rank on the list of All-Time Greatest Catchers? (Remember, that includes defense!)
• Is this the right time for him to go?
• Is there any question that he's a FBHOFer (First-ballot Hall-of-Famer)?

David Eckstein makes a rehab start in Dunedin and the D-Jays go crazy with the bats.

Hey, the guy beat cancer. Anyone surprised Jon Lester can no-hit a big league ballclub?

There is absolutely no end to the fun one can have with Retrosheet.

Rain wreaked havoc on the minor leagues on Sunday suspending games for the Chiefs and Fisher Cats.  The other two affiliates combined to split a pair.

It's not a particularly deep year for college pitchers.

It's an off-day for the Blue Jays, who open a homestand against the Angels tomorrow.

Watching the Red Sox on TV the other day, I realized that the Hall of Names archive, now with more than 300 entries, doesn't actually have an All-Ramirez squad. Just among active players, that will include arguably the best RBI guy in the big leagues (Manny), one of the best young middle infielders (Hanley) and an All-Star at the hot corner (Aramis). This should be a hell of a ballclub, right?

Um, actually, not so much ...

Jesus Gonzalez had a big day as Dunedin won.  Syracuse and Lansing had come from behind wins and in the process took advantage of errors by their opponents.  New Hampshire took the lone loss.

Syracuse had a come-from-behind win as Bill Murphy pitched well.  AJ Wideman looked good through six innings but picked up the loss in the seventh.  Travis Snider had two more hits as he gets back on track.  Dunedin lost when the bullpen couldn't hold back the Tigers.  Lansing split a double-header.  Randy Boone and Eric Eiland stayed hot.

We might as well start in on this author now, because we've got a lot of her books to get through!

Here to save us from the doldrums of another boring AL-style pitchers' duel, Interleague Play is back at last! The Jays will open up the NL portion of their schedule in Philly's bandbox against their 3-4-5 starters.

Everything's a little upside down
As a matter of fact
The wheels have stopped

(Anders needs a pinch-hitter? Here I come, to save the day.)

Anyway, I was watching a House re-run last night (Hugh Laurie is a Living God, and has been ever since Fry and Laurie) - and what happens at the end of the episode? Why, Dr Wilson curls up on his couch with either the 1987 or 1988 edition of the Bill James Baseball Abstract. Cool!