By amazing coincidence, there have been forty-seven (47) major league ballplayers to bear the last/family name of "Taylor" which is #10 on the list of "Most Common North American Surnames." The "coincidence" part comes from the fact that the last team we did, the All-Moore squad, also had 47 candidates.

Actually, come to think of it, that's less of an amazing coincidence and more of a statistical likelihood; pulling from approximately the same-sized population pool, there have been an identical number of Moores and Taylors to make the big leagues so far. (There has never been a player named "Taylor Moore," though.)

Obviously, that Taylor total does not include the four men who bore that appellation as a first/given name, nor the dozen who had it as a middle name. None of those 15 were All-Stars, either, with 2B Elliott Taylor "Bump" Wills the biggest name and 1920s-era OF Taylor Douthit probably the best player.

As with the Moores, no Taylor has yet been inducted to the Hall of Fame; but where the Moores had five former All-Stars available for roster selection, the Taylors have managed just one, former PHI 2B Tony Taylor. One place the Taylors have the advantage on the Moores ...

The Royals did their best to give this one away, but the Jays resisted the temptation...

I wish I'd thought of this when there were more than two games left in the season. But what the hell... you guys have been watching the Blue Jays all year long, right?

Before last night's game I asked a few people around the press box the following question: "If you had known that Josh Towers would lead this rotation in wins, innings, quality starts, and ERA, what do you think Toronto's Won-Loss Record would be?" As I recollect, I don't think anyone anticipated even 70 wins...

Hey, who knew?

You know what? The kids are all ri-i-i-ght, the kids are all ri-i-i-ght, the kids are alright! (John-Ford Griffin with 4 RBIs in his first ML start. Hey...)

And Josh Towers finishes his fine season with 208.2 innings and a 3.71 ERA.

Alas, this will be the only October baseball played at the Rogers Centre. And after seven pulsating games in Boston and the Bronx, the meaningfulness of the games played by the Jays couldn't take any more dramatic of a turn than to welcome the Kansas City Royals to town. That doesn't mean there's nothing to play for; a sweep will bring the Jays back to .500 -- a mark that most honest observers of the club would admit the team deserves, at a minimum.

As this is the final series of the season, so too is it the final Advance Scout. It'll be back next year, so please feel free to offer comments and criticism about how to make it better. I'm always open to suggestions!

This week's Scout features some young arms, a no-hitter (interrupted) and a bonus baby signed by a team that has had some rotten luck with bonus babies.

On to the Advance Scout!

There have been forty-seven (47) major league ballplayers to bear the last/family name of "Moore," which is #9 -- a good baseball number, that -- on the list of "Most Common North American Surnames." Obviously, that total does not include the two men -- including Toronto's own Russ Moore Adams -- who have had it as a middle name.

Although no Moore has yet been inducted to the Hall of Fame, this Hall of Names squad may feature up to five former All-Stars. There have been two Moores to manage in the big leagues, both of whom might also make the squad as players.

We're going to uproot this franchise and move the whole happy bunch to Smith County, Texas, where they will be known as ...

Here it is, the season's final photo of the day. For the winter it'll revert back to once a week.

Ernie and the troops on the mound await a certain inspiring bullpen guy:

I posted my thoughts at BTF on how to deter behaviours that MLB and the union deem inappropriate (i.e., steroids). Here they are, in a somewhat orderly fashhion. You can skip to my solution at the end, if you are pressed for time.

We have a winner, ladies and gentlemen! The 2005 San Diego Padres! And if they win one just one game this weekend from the reeling Dodgers, they will not be taking a losing record into the post-season.

Which is an enormous relief to everyone, I'm sure.

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz laid waste to the recently lights-out bullpen. But, hey, they're in a pennant race, and there's no shame in losing this way.

Big Papi does the clutch thing again, as the Bosox ensure that it will be an interesting final weekend. Your thoughts?

Once again, the baseball deities have conspired to remind me of the advice David Letterman offers whenever the "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment begins:

"No wagering!"

I was wrong, and Leigh was right, about Cleveland's prospects of success this season. And with the team suffering from last-week jitters, I thought I'd offer them a boost by posting my "public contrition thread" tonight.

Bonus Thursday! Your intrepid minor-league crew is back with even more cool features on the Blue Jays farm system.

Jonny German has assembled a nifty Organizational Depth Chart, which gives an early glimpse of the expected rosters for the Jays’ four full-season farm teams. Meanwhile, the whole crew collaborated on a list we call “Rising and Falling”: players who aren’t on the Top 30 List, but who are either rising towards it or falling away from it. Gerry McDonald wrote the summaries for the rising stars, while yours truly penned the tales of the less fortunate.

It was two of these that did in Cat's chances for the cycle last night: