The Canadian Press reports that John Cerutti was found dead in his hotel room Sunday morning.

No details of the death have been given at this time.

We at Batters Box pass on our condolences to John's friends and family. This is shocking and horrible news.

now I can't see anything.
I made a mistake, chalked it up to design.
I cracked through time/space, godless and dry.
I point my nose to the northern star,
and watch the decline from a hazy distance.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat Detroit last night, a victory no doubt celebrated with champagne in the front office at Tropicana Field. With the win, the D-Rays assured themselves of escaping the AL East basement and finishing fourth for the first time in their brief history. The win also guaranteed another fact: with their worst record in 23 years, the Toronto Blue Jays are going to finish Dead Freakin' Last in 2004. They will choose either 4th, 5th or 6th in next June's draft, depending on the Expos and Brewers' final weekend performances. Welcome, in other words, to rock bottom.

Now, for Jays fans, this indisputably stinks. But if you're the kind of person who likes to find just one thing to feel positive about: try this: this is only the second time Toronto has finished last in any full season since 1982. Since then, the DFL position has been apportioned thus:

Well it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well it's all right, doing the best you can
Well it's all right, as long as you lend a hand

As October begins, the Blue Jays return to Toronto to start their last home series of the year. Less than six months ago, they were about to start their first Skydome series of 2004, against the lowly Detroit Tigers. Attitudes and expectations could not be more different today than they were then.

The Alley Cats were the Blue Jays Low-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League this year. Next year, the low-A affiliate will be the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League. Charleston drew 1,842 fans per game, well below league average, to old Watt Powell Park; they will be playing in a newly constructed stadium beginning next year.

A bird to bring my message home
Carry my obituary
My coffin doesn't have a phone

The Jays hope to salvage a split in the 4-game series and retain a faint hope of catching the Devil Rays for 4th place. The Rays were smoked by the Detroit Tigers 8-0 this afternoon and are tied 4-4 in the 8th of the second game of their doubleheader. The Jays sit 2 games behind Tampa Bay with 4 games to go.

As of Monday, Vernon Wells has 307 putouts, with an estimate of 334 balls in his "zone of responsibility". Zone rating (ZR) is simply balls caught per opportunity.

The play-by-play scorers make a note of exactly where in the field every ball landed or was caught using this grid:

It's over.

The Montréal Expos have played their last game in la belle province. Relocated to Washington, D.C., the city that to this date has failed to support three baseball franchises, Major League Baseball's Expos will at least have a single park to call their own, RFK stadium.

For the players, this is probably good news. For the owners, Major League Baseball, this is great news. The fans of Montréal—those that remain, anyway—are not so well served by the move. But when has baseball been about the fans?

Summer is officially heading out the door when the Arizona Fall League rumbles to life. Syracuse manager Marty Pevey has been rewarded for suffering through a brutal Skychiefs campaign with the reins of the Peoria Saguaros. Pevey should be considered a prospect himself: managerial stints in the AFL are often considered auditions for big-league positions. The AFL gets underway in the first week of October: for those of you who'll be in the 48th state this autumn, here's the Saguaros' home schedule. For those of you wondering what a saguaro is, we offer these tantalizing choices:

A) cigar
B) cactus
C) Padre Armand Saguaro, founder of a famed 19th-century Jesuit mission near present-day Peoria
D) scorpion

how the darkness doubled

I recall
lightning struck itself.

I was listening
listening to the rain

I was hearing
hearing something else.

For those of you who were not able to see Gustavo Chacin pitch last time out, you're in for a treat. Provided, of course, that he looks like the same pitcher I saw making his major league debut last week.

There are two distinct features in Chacin's delivery:

1) He has a hitch near the beginning of the windup which some observers think is a balk. By the rules, it is indeed, since he comes to a stop and restarts his motion. But since this is his normal full wind-up (and is not used with runners on base) the umpires will probably let it go.

2) He throws out his glove hand where the ball will come flying out from before his pitching arm comes forward; this probably distracts the hitter just a little bit. It looks a little like a windmill.

Ted Lilly's normal turn was to fall on the final day of the regular season. With the rainout, Ryan Glynn is now scheduled to get the last start for the Blue Jays, while Lilly makes the final start of an impressive season in Baltimore today.