A friend of mine at work just had a baby, and several others working on the same floor are due shortly, so a propos of nothing, I thought I'd see what the most popular baby names in the U.S.A. are right now. That, of course, spurred a Hall of Names project ...

Every year, there are a few numbers that just jump off the Sunday sports stats wrapups (okay, these days, off the ESPN.com MLB screen) screaming, in a Harry Carey voice, "Holy Cow!"

Oh, I don't mean the Bonds-73 and McLain-31 types of numbers -- those jump off the page/screen at even the most casual of fan. But in just skimming the nearly-complete 2007 season numbers, I found myself shaking my head a number of times. For instance, did you realize ...

Baseball America will announce their top 20 prospects in each minor league over the next couple of weeks.  The top 20's start Thursday with the Gulf Coast League.  Two Blue Jays are featured, John Tolisano and Kevin Ahrens.  As BA moves through the minor leagues players like Brett Cecil, JP Arencibia, Travis Snider and Kyle Ginley will be looking to make the lists.  Snider will likely be the #1 prospect in the Midwest League.  Robinzon Diaz and Brian Jeroloman have outside chances of being named in the Eastern League and the Florida State League respectively, perhaps Adam Lind in the International League if enough managers saw him play.

The latest on injuries, according to MLB.com:

• Overbay out with a hand injury & will have another surgery
  
• Downs out with a foot injury
• Glaus had successful surgery
• BJ Ryan has begun light throwing
  

For today's assignment, you get to be the Yankee manager in the World Series.  It will be October then, so pretending to be the leader of an Evil Empire should be a piece of cake.

How would the Doubledays and starter Brett Cecil perform in the second game of the Best-of-3 series against a very good Brooklyn Cyclones team, knowing that the first league title in franchise history was only one win away?

Auburn took the opening game of their 3 game set with Brooklyn by a 7-1 score.

Third baseman Troy Glaus will miss the remainder of the 2007 season, as he is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery next week to repair a nerve in his left foot.

Russ Adams started at third base for Toronto today and, according to wire reports, is expected to split time with Hector Luna over the Jays' final 18 games.

So ... your thoughts, Bauxites?

Auburn moves onto the NY-Penn League Championship after defeating Oneonta 4-3.

Buster Olney, apparently busy using his Canadian phone minutes, reports that Vernon Wells will have offseason shoulder surgery to remove a cyst.

The Auburn Doubledays live to fight another day thanks to a dominating pitching performance from the hardest name to spell in the system.  The relief pitching wasn't half bad either and the offence finally showed up in the series.  It all boils down to a third and deciding game between Auburn and Oneonta tonight at Falcon Park. 

Buster Olney reports the Jays are close to signing John McDonald to a 2 year extension for about $2 million/year.

EDIT:  Jeff Blair reports that it's 2 years at $1.9 million/year.

Auburn began their playoff run Sunday with game one, on the road, in Oneonta.  Games two and three are back in Auburn Monday and Tuesday.  This was a close game, read on to see what happened.

Sports Illustrated is reporting that Troy Glaus received shipments of steroids in 2003 and 2004.  The story notes that Glaus was recovering from shoulder surgery at that time.  This is the latest name to emerge from various investigations of clinics and pharmacies in the US.  It is unclear what the repercussions could be for Glaus.

I hear many voices saying: "What in the name of Ruth is he talking about?".  And that's fine with me.  The sooner the Gleeman-Green bet is forgotten, the happier I will be.