Back in the playoffs
Unwieldy new name, but they're
Favoured in the West

To discuss the re-re-rechristened Los Angeles Angels...of Anaheim, I was considering challenging myself by coming up with a catchy St. Patrick's Day limerick for each key player on the squad. Alas, the challenge proved too daunting, particularly in light of the dearth of clever-sounding words that rhyme with "Rodriguez." So it's back to senryu, which is a haiku-style reflection that does not specifically pay homage to nature.

I'll put my money where my mouth is about limericks: The best Angels-related limerick submitted by a reader or Roster member in the thread below will receive two Cheer Club tickets for the Jays-Angels extravaganza on Thursday, July 28, at my expense.

But I digress. On to the preview!

A news release today from Rogers Media and the FAN 590 reported that Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek will require additional brain surgery next week.

Please be sure to include Tom and his family in your thoughts and prayers over the coming weeks. Batter's Box wishes him a successful surgery and speedy recovery, and if you'd like to add your good wishes for Tom please do so in this thread.

Looking at the schedule, a bunch of other grapefruit league games have already been cancelled due to rain, so I'm thinking that this game might not happen.

No TV, no radio from either side today, but those of you with Gameday can listen to a Toronto-helmed webcast. Well, you can if they play.

The baseball season is gearing up and Batter’s Box is excited to offer bigger and better coverage of the Blue Jays minor league system than ever before. Welcome to the first installment of our minor league team previews. We begin with the newest member of Toronto’s minor league kin, the Lansing Lugnuts, and will work our way up the ladder to the Syracuse Skychiefs over the next two weeks. Look for our previews of the short-season teams in June once the draft is wrapped up.

One week ago, the Blue Jays defeated the Devil Rays 5-0 in Grapefruit League action. Yesterday, exactly one week to the day, the Blue Jays lost to the Twins 5-0. Coincidence? Yes.

This story originally appeared on Batter's Box on March 17, 2003 -- two years ago today. That makes this our first Batter's Box Flashback ... or, I guess "FlashBox."

Get Your Irish Up (to the Plate)

It's an unorthodox take on an all-Irish Hall of Names team ... but no, sorry, Shawn Green didn't make the cut.

I've always thought that predicting an individual player's performance was next to impossible: there are just too many factors to consider, one of which is just plain luck. But, just for fun, I thought I'd make two predictions for each Blue Jay hitter and starting pitcher likely to make the team in 2005. The first prediction will be wildly optimistic, the second wildly pessimistic.

Apparently the Toronto Blue Jays are playing in the All-Twins division of the Grapefruit League this year. It doesn't bother me, but do the Twins fans get fed up with their former star being showcased at them over and over again?

I mean, think of what it would be like if we saw Carlos Delgado every other day during Spring Training! I feel a little bad for Twins followers.

(Bonus points to anyone who can name the 1980s Canadian band that debuted with that album title.)

There's a lot of sound and fury in sabrmetric circles today, and it's the doing of Bill James. He wrote an article for SABR's Baseball Research Journal titled "Underestimating the Fog," and he's gotten a lot of folks pretty riled up in the process. We don't have access to the essay itself, so here's a link to an article that discusses it.

Can we get something straight before I mail it in for this Game Report? A tie is not like kissing your sister.

Normally getting hired for his dream job would be the highlight of someone’s winter. However, on February 12, 2005 37-year-old Jamie Campbell married the new Mrs. Alison Campbell in Jordan, Ontario. Assuming that Campbell wants to stay happily married, it seems likely he’d prioritise his marriage over his baseball-related news. However, this does not lessen the enthusiasm of Sportsnet’s new Blue Jays announcer, who recently visited with Batter’s Box.

2004 was another disappointing year for the Mets. The team found itself in a division race in July, although not playing particularly well. Short 2 starting pitchers, the club traded away top prospect Scott Kazmir and Ty Wigginton in separate trades for Victor Zambrano and Kris Benson. Zambrano developed arm troubles and the team collapsed down the stretch to finish with 71 wins.

When Howie Clark signed with the Blue Jays in Novenber of 2002, a reader named "Travis" posted in our thread welcoming Howie to the team.

It's a safe bet that the most-linked-to site from Batter's Box is the sheer greatness of Sean Forman's Baseball-Reference.com. If you haven't ever seen the site, set aside seven or eight hours, then go spend a minute or two poking around (trust me; the seven or eight hours will disappear quickly).

I know my own pet project, Baseball's Hall of Names literally could not exist without the site we've come to know simply as "BBRef."

BBRef owner Forman recently sent an e-mail to his newsletter subscribers announcing updates to the site in time for Opening Day 2005.

Still killing time before the season starts, combing the archives for old, unused stuff. Found something a little different this week -- here's a photograph of my father's baseball glove, which he got for his tenth birthday: