MLB.com Draft Central provides comprehensive coverage of today Entry Draft.

The MLB.com Draft Show will feature live video of the first few rounds as well as on-the-scene reports, and is available free of charge. An audio version of the entire draft is available from MLB.com Radio (for subscibers).

John Sickels has a new article up discussing many of the likely first round picks. You're not likely to find as much good info in one place on potential draftees anywhere else online. Curiously, Brad Sullivan is not among those listed.

I'll invite readers to post their predictions for the Jays' first round pick.

That's what the crowd in St. Louis will be wondering. The Jays lineup features an anonymous rookie leadoff man (Reed Johnson, as Shannon Stewart is still sitting but not yet on the DL) followed by a singles-hitting utility man (not my description; merely a casual NL fan's impression of Catalanotto) and a sophomore CF who has yet to put up "three-hole" numbers. I'm sure they've heard of Carlos Delgado, and can appreciate the monster year he's having. But Greg Myers? Unless you're a devoted member of the ZLC -- and many of you were hard to convince -- he's that aging backup guy who hits .220, right? Very few Cards fans will know anything about Orlando Hudson, Howie Clark (starting at 3B against the nasty righty) or Chris Woodward, and while they might recognize Kelvim Escobar's name, I'm sure they aren't too worried about Drew, Pujols, Edmonds and Rolen teeing off three times each against a failed closer.

A Marlins pitcher being overworked? Say it isn't so! Tim Spooneybarger is complaining of being overused in relief. His arm is tired and he was "concerned" when he was asked to get warm on Sunday after throwing two innings Friday and one Saturday. He's on pace to make 84 appearances and throw 103 innings this year, but if he continues at the pace since Jack McKeon took over from Bobo Torborg, that pace would be 111 innings. Spooneybarger is 23, he's never really been worked hard before, so there might be a period of adjustment before he takes to the increased workload... or blows out his arm.

The top four teams in the Batter's Box Fantasy league had close matchups last week. First-place Gashouse Gorillas and second-place Billie's Bashers battled to a 6-6 tie, and after leading Baird Brain all week, my Toronto Walrus went to the Carl Pavano well once too often, coughing up three pitching categories on Sunday to lose 6-5. Ouch.

Division Leaders:
1. Seattle Mariners ------ 55 -- 37-18 -- 0.0 (6-0)
2. New York Yankees ---- 56 -- 33-23 -- 4.5 (4-2)
3. Minnesota Twins ------ 55 -- 31-24 -- 6.0 (2-4)

Wildcard:
1. Oakland Athletics ----- 55 -- 32-23 -- 0.0 (3-3)
2. Boston Red Sox ------- 55 -- 31-24 -- 1.0 (1-5)
3. Toronto Blue Jays ---- 58 -- 32-26 -- 1.5 (5-2)
4. Baltimore Orioles ------ 55 -- 28-27 -- 4.0 (5-1)
5T. Anaheim Angels ------ 54 -- 27-27 -- 4.5 (3-3)
5T. Kansas City Royals --- 54 -- 27-27 -- 4.5 (1-5)

Projected Playoff Matchups: Minnesota vs Seattle; Oakland vs New York Yankees

Thanks to Geoff for alerting us to this in another thread. ESPN's Rob Neyer has plenty to say about the Blue Jays, the four-man rotation and the "patently ridiculous" response of one Richard Griffin. Neyer explains, "In Toronto, J.P. Ricciardi has radically transformed the Blue Jays, both on and off the field ... and yet there remain idiots who simply assume that he doesn't know what he's doing."

There's also a zombie-like cult of statistical seamheads (we are grateful to Griffin for naming us) who get it, and appreciate it. Rob mentions he might have a new favorite team, and his rave review of the J.P. Jays will cause others to take notice of what's going on in Toronto baseball. Maybe even at the Star.

With all three clubs off today in preparation fro inter-league games, this seems an approapriate time to compare and contrast the clubs battling for the division lead.

Starting Staffs:

team ------- GS  IP    IP/GS      RA   ERA  UER  Outs% Krate Wrate BIPavg  HRrate GB/FB
Yankees  --- 56  370.0   6.6    4.33  3.89  18   .711  .194  .051   .310   .040   0.96
Red Sox ---- 55  315.7   5.7    5.53  5.16  13   .690  .180  .088   .304   .034   0.98
Blue Jays -- 58  341.7   5.9    5.56  4.93  24   .693  .143  .064   .302   .026   1.30

Bullpens:

team ----- RApp  RApp/G    IP    RA    ERA  UER   Outs% Krate Wrate BIPavg HRrate GB/FB
Yankees ---- 117  2.09   139.3  4.52  4.39   2    .692  .177  .078   .320   .016   0.80
Red Sox ---- 141  2.56   178.3  5.96  5.55   8    .665  .163  .072   .325   .035   0.93
Blue Jays -- 180  3.10   170.3  5.23  4.86   7    .661  .188  .091   .301   .053   1.01

Overall:

team ------ Games   IP       RA   ERA  UER   Outs% Krate Wrate BIPavg  HRrate  GB/FB
Yankees ----- 56  509.3    4.38  4.03  20    .706  .189  .059   .313    .023   0.92
Red Sox ----- 55  494.0    5.68  5.30  21    .680  .174  .082   .312    .034   0.96
Blue Jays --- 58  512.0    5.45  4.90  31    .682  .158  .073   .302    .044   1.20

Roy Halladay threw seven excellent innings the last time he faced the Red Sox at SkyDome, striking out 10 and allowing just three earned runs, but he settled for no decision, as the April defence and bullpen caved in. Doc has a different team behind him this afternoon, and he's been a much better pitcher in May, winning all six of his starts. Boston, reeling from four straight losses, will counter with Tim Wakefield, who kept the Jays off-balance at Fenway earlier this year. It could be a close one, or the Toronto hitters might just continue to pound everyone.

I'll be at the game with an old friend from Halifax (I'm also looking forward to meeting Mike D for the first time) so I'll check in here this evening. Enjoy.

Spot the contradiction in the following excerpt from a CP report:

The Toronto Blue Jays optioned right-hander Josh Towers to triple-A Syracuse on Sunday to make room for an additional bat as they head into interleague play.

Catcher Ken Huckaby was recalled later Sunday and will join the team Monday.

I guess Doc gets his personal catcher back.

In other news: Doug Creek was moved to the 60-day DL, and likely needs elbow surgery.

Part II of my May report card - this time, it's the pitchers. This month's pitching report card isn't the Gallery of Horror that last month's card was. But beware of dark clouds, no larger than men's hands...

It’s a new month, so it must be time for a system-wide update on the Blue Jays’ most noteworthy prospects. Most of these guys were assessed in my end-of-April report -- there’ve been a couple of additions and subtractions since then, but most of the cast remains the same. Stats are current to May 30. Comments and questions, as always, are welcome, though I'm away till June 5 and won't be able to respond till then; criticisms will be forwarded to Ontario Agriculture Minister Helen Johns (no relation to Doug).

I enjoy doing monthly report cards, so here's one for the Jays' hitters for May.

Yes, batting average does not tell the whole story, but the top five in the AL as of Saturday is worthy of some sort of short story, at least:

1. Hank Blalock, .360
2. Melvin Mora, .351
3. Milton Bradley, .342
4. Rocco Baldelli, .340
5. Michael Young, .333

Server problems seem to be over, so here's a game thread in progress. Hendrickson has just turned a timely 1-6-3 double play, and the Jays lead 2-1 as they come to bat in the bottom of the third.

Win or lose this afternoon, the Blue Jays complete a magnificent May. A record-setting 21st victory would be a nice touch, and make the standings even more interesting, but no matter what happens today, the big boys of the AL East know they have company.

There's no such thing as "June Fool's Day", but I thought there might be when I saw this announcement from the Blue Jays that they would employ a four-man rotation for the month of June. Doug Davis is slated to hit the pen.