The Jays outlasted the Orioles yesterday winning 5-4 in 12 innings. Toronto goes for the series win, 3 out of 4, and the season's first winning streak today with Doc on the mound.

Despite a rare losing day (1-3) for the Jays' minor league system, four Canadians (Pond, Logan, Perkins, and Galloway) had an opportunity to shine. Add to the mix Montrealer Max St Pierre, an opponent, and there was a nice Canadian thread weaving itself through yesterday's action.

Two blown leads in the upper minors, two shutouts in the lower minors, and two home runs by Guillermo Quiroz.

Erik Bedard will make his second major league start, this one against the team from his home province.

The Jays have still not had a winning streak this year, as they lost 11-3 to the Orioles on Friday Night.

Charleston were the only minor league team to win last night and they now have the best record in baseball. The Jays are considering a new method for calling up players from Syracuse. Chad Hermanson was called up after hitting .350 at Syracuse and went o-fer the major leagues. Howie Clark was hitting a buck eighty at Syracuse and had four hits last night.

And when I’m lost you’ll be my guide
I just turn around and you’re by my side

Josh Towers faces Eric Dubose (damn those lefties) tonight in Baltimore. If the Jays take two out of three this weekend, they'll have started the season 2-4 v Detroit, 2-4 v Boston and 2-4 v Baltimore. Only the first of those can be viewed as very disappointing.

Just how important was the Jays' come-from-behind victory last night? Time will tell. While it could just be a blip of Chris Gomez magic, it might also be the game when the Jays, facing a stud starter with nary a break to be found, reversed their slide and began their ascension into relevance in the American League East.

In recent years, the Jays have owned the Orioles, but the new-look Birds trounced Toronto in three straight at SkyDome last weekend. Will it be "road sweet road" for the Jays?

The Orioles' offensive acquisitions have been hitting up a storm. More impressive, though -- and possibly more important to the club's early success -- has been the outstanding work up and down the Orioles bullpen. Other than a Jorge Julio gag job in Tampa a week and a half ago, Baltimore's bullpen has been as lights-out as any in baseball. Here's hoping the Jays channel some of last night's late-inning magic -- but a few early leads wouldn't hurt, either.

On to the Advance Scout!

I'm stealing ideas from the Will Carroll Weblog, but I thought this would be fun.

I'm not sure when it happened, but Clay Davenport has started updating his "Current Equivalent Averages" page. Javy Lopez of the Orioles is leading the AL with a 0.431 EqA, while Android Bonds is leading the NL with a 0.577 EqA!

The Blue Jays EqA's really show how badly the Jays bats are slumping:

It’s been a rough week for sports fans in the National Capital Region. It’s all bad enough that the Senators were subject to a depressingly predictable first-round elimination by the hated Maple Leafs (it says here, BTW, that Patrick Lalime wears the goat horns unfairly in Ottawa; his high-scoring linemates were shut out three separate times by an inferior Maple Leafs squad), but there’s also the hapless Lynx, who have lately run into a buzzsaw called the Syracuse Skychiefs. Last night’s 10-7 Chiefs win wasn’t as close as it seemed.

Much later baby you'll be saying never mind.
You know life is cruel, life is never kind.

If you've been following the Jays at all lately, you know all too well that they haven't been hitting. The best guess as to why is that they're trying too hard. No doubt, they're all busy watching game films, endlessly practicing, and otherwise behaving like hardworking, type-A professionals. I'm thinking perhaps it's time for them to loosen up and do something silly.

There are worse things than getting swept at home by a key divisional rival and starting the year 0-9 on your own turf. Getting malaria, for one thing. Finding a fire ant colony in your backyard. Owning several thousand shares of Air Canada stock. Being Courtney Love's personal assistant. Being Courtney Love. The point is, things aren't all that bad so long as you look at it the right way. Miguel Batista is way overdue for a good game, Delgado and Hinske can't bat less than .180 much longer, and the Red Sox don't have anyone better to send to the mound tonight than Curt Schill ... er... have I mentioned that nobody has malaria? It's still baseball, folks, and that in itself is reason to smile; enjoy the game.