News filtered down today that promising starting pitcher Justin Miller is going on the disabled list with a right hamstring injury. And now, staff ace Roy Halladay has been scratched from tonight's start due to soreness. Let's hope he can go tomorrow, or barring that, that Doc doesn't need a trip to the DL himself.

Justin Speier and Chris Woodward have begun their rehab assignments in Dundedin, so perhaps we've seen the worst as far as injuries go.

Jesse Harper was designated for assignment, but chances are good he'll clear waivers. Could this be a prelude to putting David Bush onto the 40-man roster and bringing him up to help out the hobbled pitching staff?

Or you're gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies
Cut you down to size

Three of the Jays minor league teams fail to win a game for the second straight day. Jesse Harper pitched well again for Dunedin. Francisco Rosario blew up good with a sore arm and Josh Banks has been promoted to AA. Chris Woodward and Justin Speier have been added to the Dunedin roster.

Much like its Canadian magazine equivalent, the Walrus stumbled a little last week, and the rest of the BBFL's Alomar Divison continued to take advantage. Riding All-Star performances from Mike Sweeney and Michael Barrett, the K-Town Mashers thumped the Walrus 7-4, pulling Coach's squad down and ever closer to the slavering hordes bunched below. One team in particular was the main beneficiary.

Just how bad it had gotten
And just how sick I had become

You think Toronto's baseball team has been a disappointment? What about a team that won 116 regular season games three years ago and over 90 wins each of the last two, and now sits at 18 and 31 (3.5 games worse than the Jays).

The M's replaced a young Carlos Guillen with an old Rich Aurilia and have lost on the deal. 2003 bullpen linchpin Rafael Soriano had dead arm to start the year and is now injured. Defensive anchor Mike Cameron departed in the off-season and young starters Gil Meche and Joel Pineiro have struggled. Edgar Martinez might finally be nearing the end of his shelf-life and there isn't much on the farm that will jump-start the offence.

Seattle has the worst slugging percentage in the American League and are 13th in runs scored.

I'm still visiting friends and family in Toronto, so this installment of the Scout will unfortunately be free of analysis and anecdotes. To get you started on the series, though, I've posted the lineups, probables and bullpen breakdown of the struggling M's. Note that flamethrowing reliever Rafael Soriano is on the DL and will not pitch this week.

Stay tuned on Thursday for a super-charged Advance Scout, previewing the Jays' series against our friends from Oakland. In the meantime, it was great meeting Named for Hank, Bird Droppings, Thomas, #2Brumfield and the gang in 518 yesterday. Coach was great company, as always.

Enjoy the series!

If momentum means anything in baseball (and there's little statistical evidence that it does), then the Blue Jays should be heavy favourites today against the Texas Rangers. After a strong start, the Rangers are skidding badly, while the Blue Jays, who looked hopeless a couple of weeks ago, are surging and looking for their 6th straight win. It'll be hard-throwing and often erratic Justin Miller today versus crafty lefthander (are there any other kinds?) Kenny Rogers. The Jays likely will face the next 15 days without Carlos Delgado, who seems headed for the DL -- that would make 6 regulars on the injury list, if you're counting. But the Jays need look only at the recently departed Anaheim Angels to find a squad that prospers despite numerous injuries. Expect to see a lot of Simon Pond over the next two weeks -- but today, the Dave Berg Fan Club will see their man playing first and batting ninth.

The farm affilliates took a good beating yesterday, with only Dunedin putting up much of a fight.

Another day, another win. Behind a strong performance by El Artista the Jays cruised to a 6-2 victory over Texas.

The results of the May prospect poll have been tabulated. To keep up with the escalating interest in the Blue Jays farm system, I asked readers to submit a ballot of the top 20 prospects: 21 ballots were posted. The top two positions are unchanged from the last poll, but there's been an overhaul in the rest of the top 10. Three pitchers were in contention for the mantle of top pitching prospect left open after Dustin McGowan's TJ surgery. 25 points were awarded for each first place vote, 22 for second, 20 for third, 18 for fourth, 16 for fifth and decreasing by 1 for every place thereafter.

The Jays won their 4th consectutive game in a row, all 1 run victories. This time it was a 5-4 victory over the Rangers.

The Charleston Alley-Cats were rained out early, so only three of the Jays’ farm teams took the field last night. Dunedin scored a huge victory, but New Hampshire and Syracuse lost close games.

In case you haven't read the news lately, here's the latest CNN report on "one of the worst natural disasters to hit the Caribbean". Valerio de los Santos and Miguel Batista, both natives of the Dominican Republic, are understandably worried about the safety of their own family and friends back home.

I would like to have co-ordinated a last-minute food/clothing drive for tomorrow's game at the SkyDome (the last game of the homestand), but my efforts at reaching someone at 1 Blue Jays Way have failed thus far.

For now, the best way to help seems to be to make a financial donation to the Red Cross:

The Jays will aim to make it five consecutive home wins this afternoon as they meet the Rangers in a 4:05 pm start. Young Juan Dominguez gets the start for Texas, while Miguel Batista takes the hill for Toronto. A win today would give the Jays a 14-5 record at home on their last 19 games -- which, thanks to their horrible April performance, would push them one game above .500 at Skydome. The Blue Jays are making Toronto a place other teams don't want to visit. Everyone except Ed Mirvish would probably say that's a good thing.