Good column in the Star today about the Jays bullpen. Yes, it's by Richard Griffin, who admits that "even the fiercest critics" are realizing what the ZLC has known all along about the renaissance of baseball around here.

Tosca's standing by Cliff Politte as his closer, citing Dusty Baker's faith in Robb Nen a while back. Carlos is the man who has to manage all those personalities, and he supports his guy. Ricciardi mentions Juan Acevedo's saves in 2002 and earlier this year, and suggests the word "closer" may be obsolete:

"We have to go with the best way that we can win games. Because we don't have that flat-out closer-type guy."

J.P. also said "once we get him rolling," which suggests Juan's been working closely with Gil Patterson and Bruce Walton on some changes. Sounds like an opportunity to at least share the high-leverage work in a bullpen without a nominal closer. Whatever makes Politte better, I'm all for it.

Its the Birds again. Better get used to it, 7 of the next 13 games are against Baltimore. A 4 set this week in Skydome and then three in Baltimore July 4th weekend.The Jays have won 30 of the last 41 between these two.

The good news is Baltimore aren't quite as hopeless as they have been in recent years. Mora, Gibbons, Matos and Hairston are showing signs of becoming the core of a decent offense. That offense has scored a creditable 366 runs (through Saturday) thats more than the Giants, Mets, White Sox, Cubs,
Indians, Expos and Phillies and only one less than the Rangers.

The Orioles are entering a stretch of the schedule not even Montreal would envy, they are in a stretch of 50 games where only two are against teams under .500.

On to the advanced scout...

Inspired by the "real" swap of Mark Bellhorn and Jose Hernandez, Jordan's Sub-Urban Shockers and Spicol's Red Mosquitos agreed on a mega-deal last week that saw Mark Prior and Jim Thome also change teams. Sean Casey replaces Thome at 1B for the rebuilt Shockers, and the Mosquitos managed to get Octavio Dotel. A trade of this magnitude is hard to assess (who "won" depends on Prior's continued good health and the possibility that he will be even more awesome in the future) but it has changed the personality of two contending teams. Making it even more exciting, the negotiations were public; I thought I was reading Moneyball instead of a BB thread.

Congratulations -- and thanks -- to the Chatsworth Halos for edging the first-place Gashouse Gorillas 6-5. Coupled with my 9-3 win over Mebion Glyndwr (it's better to be lucky than good; almost every category was very close) Snellville's lead is back down to single digits. I'm also grateful to Jason Giambi for his belated contributions, and to all my fellow owners for refusing to trade pitching for Milton Bradley. In addition to going 500/516/731 at the plate this week, he singlehandedly won me a category with five steals.

It could be Souvenir Baseball Night down at the Skydome this evening --- both the Orioles and Jays can mash the ball, and neither starter (Omar Daal or Doug Davis) is likely to inspire much fear in the batter's box (the one on the field, that is). Daal did pitch decently his last time out against Toronto, but still yielded 3 runs and 9 baserunners in 5 innings (4 BBs, 1 K); he may not be able to dodge the bullet again tonight. Davis, for his part, continues to hang by a thread: with Mark Hendrickson solidifying his spot in the rotation lately, Doug has very little margin for error.

The big news: Shannon Stewart is back! Off the DL and starting in left field. The offensive juggernaut gets a little more jugged. And check it out: his summer replacement, Reed Johnson, bats right behind him and plays right field. I'm looking forward to seeing those two guys bat back-to-back. Josh Phelps and Dave Berg also return, from National-League- and dizziness-related causes, respectively.

Thanks to rodent (who spilled the beans on the Bandwagon thread), we now know that today is not just any day -- it's the 50th birthday of Coach Kent Williams! No time to arrange anything like a card or celebration, so this thread will have to do -- please sign in and wish a very happy milestone birthday to the man who has done far more than anyone else to make Batter's Box not just a reality, but a top-notch close-to-100,000-visitor Blue Jays Weblog.

The Bandwagon Update is now going to run once every two weeks. It will become official only when Toronto has finished playing Oakland and Seattle and if they have a realistic shot at a playoff birth.

Team	Games	Wins	Losses	Behind	Last 2 Weeks
Seattle Mariners	74	49	25	0.0 (+5.5)	7-6
New York Yankees	73	44	29	4.5 (+2.0)	9-2
Minnesota Twins	74	40	34	9.0 (+1.0)	5-8

Oakland Athletics	73	43	30	0.0 (-5.5)	9-3
Toronto Blue Jays	75	43	32	1.0 (-2.0)	9-2
Boston Red Sox	73	41	32	2.0 (-3.0)	6-6
Kansas City Royals	72	38	34	4.5 (-1.0)	8-4

It's unlikely, on short rest, that Roy Halladay will be allowed to finish what he starts, so the Jays bullpen will get involved at some point, and sooner or later, Acevedo's audition will begin. Livan, also returning a day early, will have his hands full with the Jays hitters.

Vernon Wells is getting his first day off of the season. Reed Johnson plays CF, Howie Clark is in RF batting second and Cat's in the three-hole. Bordick is at third, batting eighth, and Doc will no doubt be trying to match Lurch in the home run derby.

There's a storm brewing... over the Yankees postponing Thursday afternoon's game against the Devil Rays due to "expected rain", on an afternoon that turned out to be lovely.

Perhaps you are aware of the best leadoff prospect in baseball since Wade Boggs. He happens to play third base and is property of the Boston Red Sox. His name is Kevin Youkilis - a minor deity featured in Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game and coveted by Oakland GM Billy Beane. One wonders how much the presence of Youkilis in the Sox' organisation weighed on Beane's original decision to jump ship. One also wonders whether the negotiated compensation for Oakland (Youkilis) was what pulled Billy back aboard. But I digress...

We were discussing crappy "All-Stars" in yesterday's Notes thread, and I thought I'd take a shot at compiling a preliminary list of some really pathetic All-Stars from the last thirty-five years. Here they are:

Well, they're there for the time being, anyway -- maybe even through 2004, according to recent reports. Canadian baseball fans should enjoy these Toronto-Montreal matchups while we can: we're seeing the tail end of history unfolding. Mark Hendrickson, whose performances are being watched closely by a front office with a gradually increasing number of starting options in the minors, pitches for the Jays, while Sun-Woo Kim gets the call for les Expos. If you hear a loud roar of engines, some gunfire and lots of police sirens during the game, that'll be Jose Theodore 's box.

On many clubs, the first-base coach is a former player who remains popular with the fans. It's almost an honourary position, with limited responsibilities. Not so with the Blue Jays, who want every coach to be an experienced teacher. John Gibbons, who has manned the post in Toronto since last summer, has paid his professional dues, and then some. Don't let the laid-back country-boy exterior fool you; a shrewd baseball mind lurks beneath.

As a minor-league manager in the Mets' system, Gibbons won championships in the Appalachian League and Florida State League, then guided AAA Norfolk to a division title in 2001. The 41-year old is also unbeaten as a bench boss in the majors -- when Carlos Tosca attended his daughter's graduation in early May, "Gibby" stepped in as interim skipper for two straight wins. After watching him hit ground balls during batting practice prior to a recent game, Batter's Box caught up with #58 in the Jays' dugout.

The lower minors are in full swing, which is a good thing in Auburn and a not-so-good thing in Pulaski. Rain in Dunedin and Charleston, but otherwise, some interesting results down on the farm last night.

Cory Lidle was against the four-man rotation idea. If he believes that he's better pitching every fifth day, that makes it so. Robert examined the signifcance of Lidle's rest prior to his latest start. If the Jays can adjust their rotation to accomodate Cory in a week with an off-day and a rainout, so much the better.

He was cruising along for five innings against the Cubs that afternoon, then about ten minutes after I typed, "How do we like Lidle on normal rest?" in Sunday's game thread, he imploded. I don't know why, but it wasn't the first time. Keep repeating: Cory gets better in the second half. An unknown quantity to the exhausted, depleted Expos, Lidle has sharp control of an assortment of pitches, so I don't see why he shouldn't join Doc as a 10-game winner. Mr Tosca will have lots of pinch-hitting options, including Josh Phelps, so depending on the score and the batting order, we should see the bullpen in action early and the debuts of both new Toronto relievers.

Javier Vazquez, one of the pitchers I would most like to see in a Toronto uniform, has retired countryman Carlos Delgado in eight previous at-bats, but this is a different year. He tired in the seventh against Oakland in his latest at around the 100-pitch mark, so the Jays will again be conscious of their deep-in-the-count philosophy. Should be a good game, the best of the series on paper, and if the Jays win, another sweep is a distinct possibility.

We all know about the "big picture" difficulties baseball's most mistreated franchise continues to face. But this weekend features a variety of intriguing "small picture" issues that will more directly impact the Expos' Pearson Cup series against the Jays. Simply put, the Expos aren't just doomed; they're also tired and injured heading into this weekend.

Will the tremendously-relieved-to-be-home club resume its excellent play at the Big O, charged with adrenaline? Or will they have nothing left in the tank after a 22-game road trip that included three games in their last two days?

Will the Expos get any offensive production whatsoever beyond Brad Wilkerson and their outstanding middle infield? Or will pitching, including their surprising bullpen, carry them through the weekend?

Javier Vazquez, the man on the mound in tonight's opener, presents the toughest match-up for the Jays this weekend -- though he's been susceptible to the longball. The pitches of Sun Woo Kim and Livan Hernandez will probably be more to the liking of the Jays' eager bats.

On a more personal note, I'm checking out for vacation. Look for Coach and/or Gitz to pinch-Scout for me for two of the next three series.

On to the Advance Scout!