Lilly! Wells! Hill!

So what did you think?

Interleague play begins early this year, with a visit from the ex-Expos. Gone are the days, alas, when the Expos and Jays used to play before large and loudly bipartisan crowds at the Dome; the slow death of the Expos turned this matchup into a non-event some years ago. There's talk of now making Philadelphia the "natural rival" for interleague purposes, starting next year.

But there are still two series to play this year, and Frank Robinson's Nats are playing inspired ball of late, parlaying quality starts, a tough bullpen and a solid middle of the order into victories despite a slew of injuries (most notably to Jose Vidro). The good news for the Jays is that John Patterson's achy back means the Jays get an unrested pitcher today, and likely an untested pitcher on Sunday. In between, the Doctor is in on Saturday.

This week's Scout features a resurgent corner infield, an anomalous outfielder and a closer putting it all together.

On to the Advance Scout!

For most of the last decade, the AL Central has featured one good-but-unspectacular squad and four teams ranging from average to poor. So far in 2005, the AL West is trying hard to usurp that hollow crown.

I keep getting more and more e-mail about how I don't put up enough pictures of Eric Hinske. Well, I'm nothing if not a slave to requests sent to me by e-mail, so here's more of Eric. This time he's hitting a ball real hard:

There's one reason, and one reason only, to ever check out the New York Post. The Post has headlines, both on the front page and the dedicated-to-sports back page, down to an absolute science.

And that's the basis for our latest contest!

Welcome to Toronto, Aaron Hill. Syracuse's loss is our gain. Speaking of which, Syracuse and Dunedin lost games late yesterday, while the Fisher Cats behind Shaun Marcum cruised to victory.

Who is heading to the Rogers Centre this long weekend?

Very rarely, there's a baseball game that I just can't get excited about. Sadly, the finale against the Twins was one of those.

OK, not really Hall of Names. Mick holds proprietary rights there, and I've been doing enough poaching in other people's fields, surely. This is more like the Lobby of Numbers.

The CNW has reported that Aaron Hill will be called up from AAA Syracuse to replace Corey Koskie who heads to the DL after breaking a finger in today's 4-0 loss to the Twins.

An early one today, and sadly with no Toronto-area television available. Joe Mays is on the hill for the Twins, against the mighty Gus Chacin for the Jays.

The Twins win 4-0, and the thread is open.

In honor of Gregg Zaun's imminent return, here are the guys waiting for him at home plate as he rounds the bases after hitting his grand slam.

Remember to vote Zaun when filling in your All-Star ballots.

Morning start times across the board, and a 1-2 record for the affiliates. It's certainly an odd feeling when the Minor League Update is done at 3:16 PM the day before publication. I believe that's a new record.

Like Dave Bush, your humble correspondent is now 0-4 this season, and is the only winless member of the Batter's Box rotation. Appropriately, then, I have some nice things to say about my on-field shadow later in this Game Report.

A tough loss for the Jays last night, one they might easily have won had a few breaks fallen their way. They hit the ball hard and put plenty of runners on base, but they just couldn’t break through against pretty fortunate Twins starter Kyle Lohse.

Dave Bush versus Kyle Lohse, and it turned out to be a pitchers' duel after all, a 3-2 Toronto loss. The Jays had their chances, but couldn't break through against Lohse before the Twins' bullpen put it away. Bush was the hard-luck loser, tossing a complete game. Until we post the Game Report tomorrow morning, you can share your observations about tonight's game right here.