Hi Gary,

Off the top, I want to say a couple of things. First, the timing of this letter is not designed to disrupt opening day for the NHL -- I decided not to wait a few days before writing and posting it because I think that this is a really urgent issue that needs to be dealt with right away. Second, I'm not sending this to you privately because I'm pretty certain that you'd never see it. I'm hoping that by putting it out here on the internet it draws enough attention for this matter to be dealt with immediately.

What's the issue? I went to NHL.com yesterday and I saw something that thoroughly disgusted me:

The incomparable Sean Forman of Baseball-Reference.com has released the 2006 statistics.  Remarkable speed!

This link will take you to the 2006 Blue Jays statistics.  A few things that jump out at me...

The Jays 2006 season was quite a ride.  Here are a few of the dizzying highs and the devastating lows from the perspective of pinch-hitter Joanna, who has put together her perspective on the 2006 season.

Everything about the batting stance of Oakland A's catcher Jason Kendall makes me think of an axe murderer:

Special No-Prize to the first person to explain the significance of the headline!

Let's be clear about how much rules can suck sometimes. There have been about 100 major league ballplayers in the game's history to bear the given first name "Kenneth."

Unfortunately, that does NOT include what would be two-thirds of a mighty fine starting outfield in father/son duo George Kenneth Griffey(s) Sr. and Jr. But even without their combined 700+ homers and two All-Star MVP trophies (one each), this could be a pretty good ballclub, as we meet ...

Mike Emeigh of Baseball Think Factory has posted the 2007 draft order.  The Jays pick 21st in what is reputed to be a deep draft.  Who might be available in the first round when #21 comes around?

By request, here's our first Photo of the Day: Playoff Edition desktop, featuring Detroit's Curtis Granderson.  Details on who's available for you to request next can be found in the thread.

Your 2006 Champions:
Alomar Division: Edmonton Decepticons
Barfield Division: Pohnpei Papayas
Carter Division: The Wedding Singers

So you (like everyone, pretty much) figured Florida's Joe Girardi would be the first manager dismissed after the end of the regular season? No so fast my friend ... this morning the loveable, loseable Cubbies axed Dusty Baker to start what may or may not be an off-season managerial merry-go-round.

• Late Update: Dusty's old team, the Giants, hurried into second place in the axe-the-skip sweepstakes by firing Felipe Alou.
• Still Later Update: And Girardi, as expected, is gone -- the fourth skipper to get a pink slip, along with Alou, Baker and Frank Robinson on Saturday. ESPN.com is tracking all the 2006 MLB managerial changes.
• Yep, A Still Later Later Update: The Rangers say Bye-Bye, Buck and bring to five the number of '06 managers now out of work.
  

So ...

So that was 2006, eh?

The baseball season, at least for the Jays, is over.  However, I'm going to use some of my coverage of the Jays' opposition this year to keep Photo of the Day running for at least the first round of the playoffs -- we'll see how quickly I run out of material.

Of the American League teams that made the post-season, I have photographs of all of them that aren't the Yankees.  Please feel free to request players you'd like to see in the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, here are your Toronto Blue Jays, marching off the field and delivering high-fives all around:

The Tigers in the playoffs? The Red Sox in third place? The Royals losing 100 games? (Okay, ignore the last one.) It appears there is a new order in this league, or at least two isolated events that allow me to come up with some sort of introduction to this, the last day of the season.

Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the #1 sports story of the past week has been the (repeat after me, Niner and Eagle fans) Terrell Owens controversy. It's bumped politics and warfare off the front page; it's dominated the radio talk shows. The Rangers and Mavericks and Stars (Oh My) are just rumors; the local 24-hour Sports Radio station, KTCK, just about turned its format over to "All T.O, All the Time."

So yes, I have tired head about T.O. But as should surprise absolutely nobody at Batter's Box, in my head, this became a prime Hall of Names opportunity. We've done a few initial teams in the past -- All-G.M., for instance, and All-M.D., among others.

So you can see what's coming, right? It's time to Cowboy up and meet the All-T.O. team, which (with a nod to the wide receiver's acclaimed "hot dog" status), we will dub ...

Alas, this will be the only October baseball played by the Fighting Jays. And after three pulsating games in Detroit, the meaningfulness of the games played by the Jays couldn't take any more dramatic of a turn than to check into the Bronx for three days against a team coasting towards yet another division title. That doesn't mean there's nothing to play for; two games out of three will bring the Jays back to 86 wins, just where they were three years and several million dollars ago. If that sounds familiar, you're either Mike Denyszyn, or your memory is scary-good.

As Mike D also said last year, "please feel free to offer comments and criticism about how to make [the Advance Scout] better". We hope you enjoyed reading these just as much as we enjoyed scrambling between classes to find out just how well Delmon Young hit lefties in Triple-A (answer: not very). The final Scout for 2006 features Tom Cheek's #1 Fan, a new infielder, and several other men making a fair bit of coin.

On to the Advance Scout!

Yeah, so it was all my fault. 2006, I mean. Seriously. It's why I've been so quiet lately.

Before we get to that, though, I have to say that sometimes it sucks to be Kenny Rogers: his third baseman and his own throwing ability picked a fine time to leave him, and very quickly the Jays were up 2-0 in the first. The good guys went on to score another pile of runs, and the Tigers made it interesting by mounting a late comeback against the Jays' pen, but B.J. Ryan did the job he's paid the big dollars to do.

So now let's talk about how this season was my fault.