The day after a crazy series involving every relief pitcher on the roster (plus Jesus Figueroa, probably), Da Box welcomes a pinch-hit from longtime Bauxite and Cheer Club troublemaker Alex Obal on the state of the Blue Jays' bullpen.

Last weekend my wife and I spent a few days in New Hampshire, a trip that included four Fisher Cat games.  Merchantsauto.com stadium, otherwise known as the home of the Fisher Cats, is new and beautiful and a great setting for baseball.  During my visit the Fisher Cats were playing Portland, the RedSox AA affiliate, and the park was full with 7000 fans of both teams.  On our last night we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, just over the left field wall.  We had to have a room with a ballpark view and it is a treat to look out your hotel room window and see a gorgeous ballpark.  This trip summary is the first of a series of New Hampshire stories this week.  Tomorrow we will have an interview with Jesse Litsch, Wednesday an interview with Fisher Cat pitching coach Dave LaRoche, and Thursday an interview with Michael MacDonald.

Finally!

Yes, that's all I have to say.  A.J. Burnett didn't get the win yesterday, but you should put him on your desktop anyways.

Initially Speaking, That Is (Part 4: KLM)

If you've been reading recently, you know that we've taken up the yoke again that we started back in August of '05, what we then termed "an interesting twist on the Hall of Names (initially speaking) ... who are the best double-initial players for [...] letters of the English alphabet?"

The first two installments were done back then, and after a short (10 months, call it short of a year, anyway) recess, the third came online last week. So we now have, AA through CC, DD through FF and GG through JJ and here take a swing at KK, LL and MM. I feel confident we will see a couple of guys named Lajoie and Mantle in this story, but let's see how it plays out ...

Lydon continues to shine on Green Days, as the farm affiliates went 2-4 on Saturday night.

Lyle Overbay and Bengie Molina come through for the Jays in extra innings as Scott Downs gets the win. The Jays generated lots of news yesterday with the installation of a new infield, the recall of Vinnie Chulk and another staph infection on the team. With acknowledgements to all who have done this before me, here are ten things I think about the Jays.

Ty Taubenheim was placed on the 15 day disabled list with a foot infection. As a result of the unusual circumstances surrounding the infections of Taubenheim and Alex Rios, the Jay clubhouse including the shower area  was disinfected.  Vinny Chulk was called up from Syracuse to replace Taubenheim.

Aside from Dunedin splitting a doubleheader, Pulaski was the only team who didn't lose last night, and they did some crazy stuff.

That wasn't the best way to begin The Most Important Homestand of the Season.

The farm affiliates went 2-3 on the evening.

How could I forget that our beloved skipper went to the All-Star Game?  Well, somehow I did.  Belatedly, here's a Photo of the Day shout-out to John Gibbons, with some collateral Molina action:

We did something like this once before, but honestly, I can't find the thread, so let's start from scratch. Here's your challenge:

Using last (family) name-to-first (given) name overlaps, what is the longest string of players you can build? For instance, there's Mark Corey Thurman Munson, tying together the former Pittsburgh RHRP Mark Corey, recent Jay RHRP Corey Thurman and Yankee captain and catcher Thurman Munson. But that's just three guys ... surely someone can do better?

The only rules are these:

At the all-star break Syracuse are last in their division, again, a source of great disappointment for the players, the teams few fans in Syracuse, and the Blue Jay organization and their fans.  In broad terms, to be successful a baseball team needs to be above average in two or three of hitting, pitching and fielding.  The Chiefs are above average in none of these categories and, as a result, the team's record at the break is 40-50, eleven games back of the division leader.

The Cincinnati Reds have traded Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wagner to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Bill Bray, Gary Majewski, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris, and Daryl Thompson.

It was the All-Star Break for both the Triple-A and Double-A teams last night, leaving four games (and four wins). It's easy for the organization to sweep when Syracuse doesn't play. (And if you can believe it, not one of the six teams played on Tuesday. Let's see if we still remember how to do this.)