Initially Speaking, That Is  (Part 3: G-J)

Back in August of '05, we started what we then termed "an interesting twist on the Hall of Names (initially speaking) ... who are the best double-initial players for each of the first 23 letters of the English alphabet?"

Unfortunately, after the first two installments, AA through CC and DD through FF, we just sort of ... stopped. But we're back, moving on from Barry Bonds and Frankie Frisch to the likes of Gary Gaetti, Harry Heilmann and Joe Jackson. Yes, we're skipping the vowel, and changing the above declared goal to read ...

How bad were the Jays going into last night's game? Well, someone on the Royals -- the Royals -- said they expect to win. If I may steal a line from Deadspin (and speak on behalf of Jays fans everywhere):

Suddenly, we can taste food again.

It was a rough night for the farm affiliates, who went 2-5, but a young kid gave us a sweet taste of what is to come.

The farm affiliates split 6 games, but some fine individual performances gave hope to the faithful.

Every now and then, I get it right.

Ty Taubenheim struggled last night. The resurgent Royals' bats boomed, while Jays fans performed unspeakable rituals in the hopes of resurrecting the bats of their heroes. But, there is good news...

Ugh. Let’s just forget Thursday ever happened. A loss to K.C., five losses on the farm and two poor pitching performances by two of Toronto’s best pitching prospects. At least a couple of the games were exciting, as two of the affiliates failed in comeback bids.

Here's some Friday Photo of the Day mojo for Alex Rios, in the hopes that he can get out of the hospital and down to Pittsburgh to participate in the All-Star festivities.  And if he adorned all of your desktops to send out a Get Well Soon vibe, I'm sure it would make a difference.

This is one of my favourite photographs so far in 2006 -- he looks so much more "ready" at the plate than he did last year:

The Jay offence has been humming along in the first half of the season. It's time for a statistical look at the individual performances, and at some platooning decisions facing John Gibbons.

It was not a night for starting pitchers on the farm, as either poor performance or North Carolina rain prevented any of the six starters from having a shutdown night.

Dane Johnson is the roving minor league pitching instructor for the Blue Jays.  Johnson spent a long time in the minor leagues before making the major leagues at age 31.  Johnson spent some time with the Blue Jays in 1996.  Johnson has been a coach in the Jays system and since 2004 has been the roving pitching instructor.  In that position Johnson shuttles between all the minor league teams working with the pitchers and supporting each teams pitching coach.  Batters Box caught up with Johnson last week in Syracuse where he took time to talk about some of the lesser known pitching prospects.

 

The glass is half-empty: two quality starts in Arlington, but the Blue Jays were life and death to escape with a single victory.

The glass is half full. Despite playing some pretty bad baseball, the Blue Jays actually won a game in Arlington, and no one suffered a season-ending injury. Time to get out of town...

As we march forwards in our countdown to the All-Star game, Photo of the Day continues to bring you All Stars for your desktop.  Today's subject is Roy Halladay:

Gerry and I got a chance to speak with Jon Lalonde regarding the team's most recent draft.

The good doctor shuts down the Rangers for 7-2/3. B.J. Ryan has a rare brush with human-ness, but gets it done for the Blue Jay win.