The Blue Jays visit Chicago and Houston this week. When they do, they will be playing by National League rules. And you know what that means.

Are you as excited about seeing Gustavo Chacin swing the bat as I am?

Here, as usual, is my monthly report card for the Blue Jays.

With the largest number of votes ever cast in a Batter's Box poll already in as we pursue an answer to the eternal quesetion, "What should be The Official Batter's Box nickname for the Blue Jay bullpen?" it will be necessary, as we originally projected, that we go to a runoff.

The top two finishers in our poll are in the new followup poll at the top left of the site. So what's it gonna be, Bauxites? Arny's Army or The GO Train?

For a look at the original story which listed and described the original six finalists, click "More." The descriptions of our two new final-finalists remain as they originally were for your edification. And the results from that original vote are in the first comment posted to this reconstituted thread.

If you jumped ship on everybody every time they go bad, you'd never field a team in this league. (John Gibbons, May 28 2005.

Toronto Blue Jays optioned RHP Dave Bush to Triple-A Syracuse and recalled RHP Chad Gaudin from Triple-A Syracuse. (May 29, 2005)

I think this move is nuts on a number of levels...(Me, about six hours ago.)

Hopefully, you've already figured out the purpose of this thread.

The Rogers Centre may get a little more crowded than usuual for this mid-week set as Boston comes to town, likely accompanied by a sizable contigent of Boston fans making the trip for the series. There probably won't be as many as there usually is for a weekend series, but there will still be a good number of loud Bostonians in the stadium.

We've selected the six finalists in the Batter's Box Splashy Headline Contest. The winner of the tickets is up to you -- make sure you vote in our new poll!

Read on to see our finalists.

There's one reason, and one reason only, to ever check out the New York Post. The Post has headlines, both on the front page and the dedicated-to-sports back page, down to an absolute science.

And that's the basis for our latest contest!

Who is heading to the Rogers Centre this long weekend?

In Part II I look at Jason Frasor, Vinnie Chulk, Justin Speier and Scott Schoeneweis in April. Click here to read the first of my bullpen in review article, where I talked about Brandon League, Matt Whiteside, Miguel Batista and Pete Walker. It also allows me to draw some conclusions about who was the most effective and which pitchers were used in critical situations. There are some interesting conclusions, including the fact that only three of the eight relievers had positive contributions during the month and the, perhaps not surprising, fact that Batista was not the pitcher the Jays called upon in critical situations.

In this review article we’ll use win probability to examine the performances of the Blue Jays’ bullpen. Part I looks at Brandon League, Matt Whiteside, Pete Walker and Miguel Batista. Part II will be up on Friday or the weekend and will examine Justin Speier, Jason Frasor, Vinnie Chulk and Scott Schoeneweis.

So the Blue Jays don't have a game tonight. Looking for your baseball fix?

Try some Syracuse SkyChiefs baseball, in this, the first Batter's Box Minor League Game of the Week. Syracuse's Scott Downs, last year's Pacific Coast League Pitcher Of The Year as a member of the Edmonton Trappers, faces off against ex-White Sock James Baldwin of the Ottawa Lynx at 6:00.

Today, on his 43rd birthday, I pay homage to the man, the myth, the legend that is Jim Walewander.

Howdy, everybody. For those of you who joined us since the offseason: every month, I produce a Blue Jays report card, grading each Jay using my patented GPBRFON system (Grades Produced By Random Firing Of Neurons).

What's gone wrong with the Jays, you ask? Well, not as much as you might think: every team goes through bad stretches. (Ask the Yankees, who had to face The Boss's full-on wrath after punting a few games early in the season.) But one thing now seems clear to me: talent always trumps effort.