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While the A's have their seemingly annual hot streak as they head toward another division crown, the Jays find themselves at the other end of the standings spectrum. As the Jays approach the final 4 weeks of the season they find themselves in last place 3.5 games behind the Devil Rays who have lost their last 7 games. The Jays are 7 games behind 3rd place Baltimore, and barring another diastorous September by the O's, that looks unobtainable.
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Despite my sub-par showingupness against the Mariners (I came to one game, late, and ended up by myself because the CC snuck down), or perhaps because of it, I am coming to all three against Oakland.
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There's just nothing like a Batter's Box Game Thread to inspire creativity in the denizens (and, in this case, the Denyszyn) of Da Box ... in yesterday's Yo No Soy Marinero thread, frequent contributor Rob mused, "Hmmm...Da Box needs to do an All-Sesame Street Team." And after the gritty, painful pop culture homage of the July 23 All-Grease Team, how can we refuse such a request for our ongoing Baseball's Hall of Names collection? Ask and ye shall receive here at Da Box; hell, usually, don't ask and you'll receive anyway. But before we get to our All-Sesame Street team, please rise for our national anthem:
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So I can show you how your money's spent
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A tough opponent and a great pitching matchup are on tap at Skydome tonight. The AL West-leading Oakland A's are sending ace Tim Hudson to the mound against the Blue Jays, who will counter with their best pitcher, former Athletic Ted Lilly. It should be a pitcher's duel, but Oakland can still knock the ball around, and for Toronto, Vernon Wells might finally be breaking out of his horrific slump. No word yet on whether the Syracuse call-ups will be starting tonight; the lineups should be available inside the hour.
A review of the classic baseball novel The Natural by Bernard Malamud.
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Do I have to stay here ’til the end of time
I’m - good lookin’ and bright
I wanna see life after ten at night
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Today's headline goes out to Mike "Tenacious" D. My Spanish is limited to what I picked up on the PBS version of Sesame Street, so I'll leave it to other Bauxites to identify the phrase and its origins. The Blue Jays try to take the rubber match of their series with the Mariners tonight, as rookie Cha Seung Baek gets his first major-league start for Seattle. Opposing him will be Justin Miller, who has one month to show the front office he should be part of the team's 2005 plans.
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And tell with poison pills
Bitten in the valley of thirst
The body kills
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Let's start with the good news: the Jays no longer seem demoralized: they're fighting hard to try to win every game, and they're not getting five hits a game any more. The bad news is: well, you probably know the bad news already.
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Whenever things are going badly for the Blue Jays this season -- or indeed, for the rest of time immemorial -- you can always comfort yourself by saying, "Well, at least Toronto has never lost a game 22-0 at home." Two interesting young pitchers hook up tonight at Skydome. The home team sends out Dave Bush, who's been very solid in his rookie campaign for the Jays, though he needs to build up more stamina to get himself consistently past the 6th inning. For the visiting Mariners, one-time phenom Gil Meche continues his comeback from injuries and setbacks, throwing much better since his return from the minors. This one should be close and low-scoring through the middle innings, but after that, it could be anyone's ballgame. Ichiro Suzuki has more base hits this season than Carlos Delgado, Frank Catalanotto and Chris Woodward combined.
Smokin' our axle grease
Oh, the backstage is rockin'
And we're coppin' from the local police
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Here come two shellshocked squads. The Mariners and Blue Jays must be just astonished to enter this game a combined 53 games below .500 -- and in case you don't appreciate how dramatic their reversal has been, consider that the Jays and M's finished 2003 a combined 34 games above .500 -- that's an 87-game turnaround. Which Aug. 31 statistics would have amazed fans more in the pre-season: that Alex Rios leads the Blue Jays in batting average, Frank Menechino in OBP and Dave Bush in starters' ERA? Or that Randy Winn has more home runs than Edgar Martinez, Ichiro is the only Mariner batting above .290, and Jamie Moyer and Joel Piniero lead Seattle's pitching staff with 6 wins each? Baseball, among its many other attractions, will never allow you to figure it out. The rapidly unravelling Moyer pitches for the M's tonight, against the recently-hammered Josh Towers; bad hitting still usually beats mediocre pitching, so this shouldn't be a low-scoring affair.
Well, that sure was a rough week for the Cheer Club. Not in terms of the losses, but in terms of the physical and mental strain of dealing with Yankees fans, Red Sox fans and a guy from SkyDome security who didn't read his morning memo.
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Running after somebody, you gotta get him somehow
I think you've got to slow down, before you start to blow it
I think you're headed for a breakdown, so be careful not to show it.


Power outages, a salute to Tom Cheek, and a win over the Yankees -- what more could you ask for? The Jays enjoy an off-day today to savour a remarkable Sunday afternoon.
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