Dick Scott, the Blue Jays’ Director of Player Development, spoke to us by telephone from Florida. He was in the Sunshine State making sure the Instructional League was operating smoothly -- a challenge this year, thanks to some decidedly un-sunny weather.

When we spoke, Scott was just getting back to baseball after a three-day break caused by Hurricane Jeanne, which damaged the Jays’ Dunedin facility in addition to creating general inconveniences like power outages and flooding. Jeanne hit Dunedin harder than the other hurricanes this season.

What a season! The Fisher Cats first season was a resounding success, as they caught fire in July and August, and stormed to an Eastern League title.

With a wine glass in my hand
Whose wine, what wine, where the hell did I dine?
Must have been a dream I don't believe where I've been

The National League is in action today. The Braves seek to rebound from the thumping they took in game 1, but Roy Oswalt will be a tough nut to crack. They'll need to play great defence and a solid effort from Mike Hampton to win.

Tonight, it's Jeff Weaver's turn to take a stroll through Assasins' Alley. Look for the Sea of Red to win another one and for Eric Gagne to have a tuneup inning at the end of the game.

First in a three-part series.

Although my magnum opus -- okay, mildly interesting account -- of the greatest postseason games in baseball history remains a work in progress, I've decided to pen some shorter, more concise articles in the meantime.

After the Santana-Mussina matchup last night, I thought I'd snap up a list of the top ten pitching duels in Division Series history.

The Dunedin Blue Jays had another successful year winning a first half title, finishing second in the back half of the season, but ending the season with a disappointing loss to Tampa in the playoffs. They played in front of generally small crowds, home attendance averaged 594, second lowest in the league. Cross-town neighbours Clearwater, led by rookie manager Mike Schmidt, led the league with 2078 average home attendance.

Feel just fine
Your face
Fills my mind
I get religion quick

Three more games on tap today. In a few minutes, the Astros will open their 2004 playoff series against their perennial post-season nightmare, Atlanta. The pitching matchup is Roger Clemens versus Jaret Wright, so if the 'Stros don't take this first game, they're at a decided disadvantage from here on out. The 7:00 EST game sees a rematch of the Twins and Yankees from the Bronx, with groundballers extraordinaire Jon Lieber and Brad Radke facing off. And in the west coast game, the Angels find themselves in the unenviable position of being down 1-0 at home and facing Pedro Martinez. Thanks to their 1-2 starters, the Red Sox are going to be a very dangerous post-season opponent. Enjoy.

Voting has closed.

Cardinals and Astros 69.7%
Cardinals and Braves 17.4%
Dodgers and Astros 11.0%
Braves and Dodgers 1.8%

Here's the last in a series of monthly report cards for the Blue Jays for 2004. Executive summary: blaah.

Told me I go what it takes
She said "I'll turn you on sonny to something strong,
play the song with the funky break"
And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Pearly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride
Asked me if I needed a ride

A number of you wanted to evaluate how well JPs free agent signings have performed. To help you out in doing this, here are some stats.

They are underway in Saint Louis. After one inning, a two-out solo blast to straightaway centre by Albert Pujols has given the Cards a 1-0 lead.

Periodically throughout the offseason, I'll be posting snapshots of how next years team is shaping up. This will include the likely 25-man roster if the season started today, and discussion of payroll, recent changes(trades, free agent signings), and specific positions of weakness or potential change.

The ambiguity about whether my team name is singular or plural was deliberate. I'm the guy who suggested Miami Humidity when they had a contest to name the Marlins, just because it would have been so much fun to say "The Heat isn't so bad, but the Humidity is brutal."

My players may be Walruses, Walri or even Walrera (think opus) but I am the Toronto Walrus, 2004 champion of the BBFL Alomar Division. Led by a slew of free agent pitchers who outperformed expectations, my club defeated Lars Kvale’s AGF 9-3 in the two-week final. The jubilation I was feeling on the weekend is muted today, and fantasy baseball seems trivial indeed, but it was a satisfying finish to a successful year, in which I took over the lead in Week 2 and never looked back.