Maybe it is better to suffer from what one knew than to expose oneself to new suffering. – Emile Zola.

Strange as it may seem, Zola was no pessimist. Or at least I don't think he was a pessimist. Now, Blue Jays fans in the last few years: they have a right to be a bit pessimistic about their bullpen, though this year's version has been fairly reliable. So maybe pessimistic is too strong. Lugubrious? Nah, too bombastic. Wait, here's the word, especially after last night's misery: pissed.

This was, for the most part, a terrific game. It started out as a fine, tight pitcher's duel between Al Leiter and Josh Towers. The Jays took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 8th, but Schoeneweis and Speier let the Yankees tie it up. So the Jays took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 9th against Mariano Rivera himself, only to see Miguel Batista spit it right back up, as if he played for the 1978 Red Sox or something: a leadoff homer to Matsui, three bases on balls, and a game-winning hit by Felix Escalona.

Felix Friggin' Escalona? There are no words...

Two weeks remain in the regular season. Get out your Maalox.

I wasn't able to get an AL East report up this week due to illness, so I hope this suffices.

Unicorns and cannonballs, palaces and piers,
trumpets, towers and tenements
wide oceans full of tears
flags, rags, ferryboats, scimitars and scarves
every precious dream and vision underneath the stars

Gregg Zaun chucks a paper cup over his shoulder as he leaves the game, ejected for arguing a call at the plate during a game against Tampa Bay at the Rogers Centre:

What to discuss, what to discuss... Well, you cannot, by definition, have a positive discussion about the offense when the team does not score a run (and nobody has more than one hit), so that leaves the pitchers.

I have nothing against Pete Walker -- sources indicate he's great at ogling the Queen with Jeff Tam in unaired 2003 commercials -- but his ERA wasn't going to stay at 2.66 all year. (Nor will it stay at 3.12.) This wasn't a surprise. Scott "Schotime" Schoeneweis has a fun last name, but he faced just two batters. Vinnie Chulk didn't have three inherited runners to strand, so he was fairly unmemorable.

You have to love any Blue Jays game where the best part of it all was the losing pitcher. And he is the focus of today's Game Report. Sort of...

The Lugnuts win big, but the rest of the farm scores a collective 13 runs while allowing 30.

No.

Well, he tried.

Technical difficulties have gobbled up the Advance Scout report for the Yankees series. Sincere apologies, folks.

Here's the chart breaking down the matchups for this crucial four-game set.

New York is waiting for you and me, baby
Waiting to swallow us down
New York, we're coming to see what you're made of
Are you as great as you sound?

It's not often a team finds itself down by 15 runs....

For those of us who need a little inspiration, here's Justin Speier:

With the end of the season just over two weeks away some of the Jays affiliates are chasing playoff spots. Syracuse rode Gabe Gross' hot bat to beat Ottawa. The Chiefs need to win again today in Ottawa to set themselves up for a four game showdown against division leading Buffalo this week. New Hampshire were swept by Portland but are still in a playoff spot. Dunedin and Auburn would also be in the playoffs if the season ended today. And Josh Banks walked a batter, his first since June.

With the minor league season entering the final two weeks it was a good time to catch up with Omar Malave, the manager of the Dunedin Blue Jays. Malave is a long time Blue Jay having been signed in 1980 as a free agent out of Venezuela. Malave played in the Jays minor league system until 1989 when he ended his minor league career hitting .220 between Knoxville and Syracuse. In 1990 Malave joined the Jays team in Medicine Hat as a coach and he has been a manager at all levels of the Blue Jay system since 1991. This is Malave’s second year managing the Dunedin Blue Jays in the Florida State League.

Well that was no fun.