I'm flying solo this week -- the inimitable Alex Obal turned in his radar gun for a canoe paddle. It's not like he'll miss anything in the Indians-Jays series, involving a third-place team and a fourth-place team. But, hey, Joaquin Andujar's "youneverknow" warning must be recognized. After all, who expected a complete game shutout from Runelvys Hernandez?

This Scout features some interesting starters, Buffalo Bison after Buffalo Bison and a couple of my absolute favourite players.

On to the Advance Scout!

Entering the 2006 season, former Jay hero Carlos Delgado had played more than 1,500 career games without a playoff appearance, second most among all active players behind only the ill-fated Jeromy Burnitz, whose current employer in Pittsburgh doesn't appear likely to break that streak. Delgado's streak, however, appears likely to come to a screeching halt as his New York Mets are running away and hiding from the rest of the AAAA National League.

Actually, 13 players in the history of the Great Game have more than 2,000 career appearances without so much as a sniff at the post-season. leading the way, as many would guess, is the indomitable Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks at 2,528. But then -- Luke Appling, Mickey Vernon and Buddy Bell come between Banks and his old teammate, Ron Santo. Others on the 2000+ career games without a playoff appearance list include Joe Torre, who has more than made up for his ring-less playing career as a manager in the Bronx, and Hall of Famers like Harry Heilmann and George Sisler.

In fact, thanks to this new feature at BaseballReference.com ...

Only eight days left in the minor league season, other than in Auburn (10 days) and Pulaski (3 days). PUlaski were eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend leaving Auburn, who are in a three way tie for first place, as the only second half hope for the affiliates.  Dunedin and Lansing earned playoff spots in the first half.  Four wins against one loss for the affiliates on Sunday.  Good pitching led Syracuse to victory while New Hampshire, Auburn and Pulaski wielded the lumber.

Let's begin with a Blue Jays Trivia Question, the answer to which seems unlikely to change in 2006.

Toronto has played 41 post-season games in their history. Who is the only Blue Jay to pitch a Complete Game in the post-season?

I'm on vacation this week, but the miracle of internet technology still allows me to bring you this photograph of Alex Rios glaring at Jay Witasick after being blown over by an inside pitch:

Royals 2, Jays 0 as Roy Halladay comes out on the wrong end of a shutout for a change.

Penn blew away the Sky Chiefs tonight in Ottawa.  He will be in Baltimore shortly.  

The farm affiliates went 1-5 on Saturday night.

You may recall some time back we introduced a new wing to the Hall of Names, when in late July we looked at a team composed of players who had the greatest Age 40 seasons in MLB history, Making the Top 40.

We now revisit that concept with a Plus-One twist and find that indeed, life just begins at 40 and actually gets better with a team we can only call ...

Shaun Marcum rights himself and the Jays take the all-important first game of the series.

The farm affiliates swept all seven of their games. The bats boomed, the pitchers threw strikes, the fielders caught the ball, and all was right with the world.

Oh great. The Royals.

If the Jays were a couple of games closer to the teams they're (theoretically) chasing, I would be psyched for this one. Christmas in August. Finally a break from the schedule maker. But now that the Jays need a miracle instead of a mere .700 run, this has all the trappings of one of those mid-September series at home against another eliminated team, and it's not even September yet.

At least you'll get to read about KC ace Luke H. from Tennessee and his dreaded one-seamer, Ryan Shealy getting his chance to shine, a 31-year-old rookie Disciple of Gagne and a guy who can jump over a car if you follow us...

On to the Advance Scout!

...but there was no confusion about it, as the farm affiliates went 5-1 behind some superb pitching and a couple of late rallies.  Turnabout is fair play.

Today's photo features Gregg Zaun leaping up from behind the plate to throw out a base stealer at second:

That didn't quite go according to plan.

Continuing yesterday's theme, today's photo features another collision.  In this picture, Payton has just crashed into Hill's legs to disrupt Hill's double-play throw to first -- the two of them are tangled on the ground, watching first base to see the outcome of the throw: