The Jays have won five of their last six...and have lost ground to the front-running Orioles, who have rattled off eight consecutive wins -- all against division rivals.

Baltimore bats have been fearsome thus far and present a tall order from a Jays rotation that is starting to round into form. The back end of the O's bullpen isn't forgiving, either, so Toronto has to get to the Orioles' more suspect starters.

After this series, the Jays will be either 1, 3, 5, or 7 games out of first place. Can the Fighting Jays continue to jockey in the seemingly (and stunningly) wide-open AL East?

On to the Advance Scout!

The Jays are in Baltimore to take on the red hot Orioles. The O's are eight and two in their least ten and Miguel Tejada is on a 4 game homer streak, but they haven't seen anything like this Chacin kid yet.

Today, on his 43rd birthday, I pay homage to the man, the myth, the legend that is Jim Walewander.

Decepticons outwit the Brain.
Europe conquered by Pistol.
Brutes lose to Fruits.

I'm 100% pro-union, but I'm with Selig on this one. Somewhat.

With today's Photo of the Day, I hereby kick off my campaign to get Gregg Zaun onto the All-Star team. What's not to love about the guy?

So, I'm going to supply the picture, below, and I'd like to ask the rest of you to supply the reasons Gregg Zaun should make the All-Star team.

I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light
but no smoking pistol

The Blue Jays turned chippy offense and a good bullpen performance into a solid and satisfying 8-6 win in the Bronx.

The D-Jays had mostly good weather this April, and responded by scoring over 5 and 1/2 runs per game. Unfortunately, their fine pitching staff surrendered over 5 runs per game, and so the team ended up with a 13-10 record for the month. They are in third place, 3 games behind the Lakeland Tigers.

Tough times continue in Syracuse. New Hampshire didn't hit, Dunedin didn't pitch. Lansing salvaged one win for the minor league affiliates, thanks to Yates and his cast of characters. (I am posting this early because it is done, I will add links on Monday morning)

An empty glass, the lady sings
Eyes swollen like a bee sting
Blinded you lost your way
Through the side streets and the alleyway
Like a star exploding in the night
Falling to the city in broad daylight

It was another wet day, but a hard rain did not fall in Dunedin and Dayton, Ohio. The farm affiliates, led by Zach Jackson's gem, split their two games.

How many times have you woken up and prayed for the rain?
How many times have you seen the papers apportion the blame?
Who gets to say, who gets the work and gets to play?

Howdy, everybody. For those of you who joined us since the offseason: every month, I produce a Blue Jays report card, grading each Jay using my patented GPBRFON system (Grades Produced By Random Firing Of Neurons).

The first month of the season nears its conclusion, but before we get to the May Sweeps (and splits, for that matter), it's time to track down the members of the 11th of what will of course be 12 "all-month" teams for our Baseball's Hall of Names roster.

April is clearly the runaway month to have your kid born if you want him to be a Hall of Fame baseball player. No less than 28 current Cooperstown denizens have -- get this, now -- diamond birthstones, while another (Pete Rose) clearly racked up Hall-worthy numbers and started an ongoing debate that need not be rehashed here.

The number will continue to swell towards three dozen ...