As Junior Griffey wished his dad (and his son, Trey) a "Happy Father's Day" with his 500th career home run yesterday, the thought bubbled ... this might be the first era in baseball history in which it's possible to build a complete All-Star team of sons of former players.

So here we go. It's not precisely "Hall of Names" fodder, but these are names you'll recognize.

We’ve reached the midway point of the regular season. This report will be longer than usual, as your not-so-humble correspondent reflects on the week — and the first half — that was.

Here's some Monday morning food for thought for y'all.

Some cross to bear
I'm hiding in the trees with a picnic
She's over there

A tough, late-night loss to the Padres. The bullpen gave up 2 runs in the 8th that led to the 3-2 loss.

The last two games were winnable for both teams, so a split is nothing to be ashamed of. I expect another low scoring contest with Batista and Lawrence hooking up. No TV in Canada for this one.

In the 11 inter-league games so far, the Jays have a 4 and 7 record, and their runs cored per 9 innings rates have been: 5.45 (innings 1 to 3), 3.82 (innings 4 to 6) and 3.30 (innings 7 to 9). The last category includes 0 runs in the ninth inning (out of the 8 they've batted in).

A solid performance by Ted Lilly, the bullpen and Frank Menechino led to a much-needed win over David Wells and the Padres. Tonight, the Jays face one of San Diego's stable of young hurlers - Dennis Tankersley. PETCO park (which certainly looks beautiful on TV) has very generous power alleys, which should in theory help a control pitcher like Josh Towers.

If you're like me you don't know the result of last night's game until now. Good news! The Jays won 3-2 as Ted Lilly outdueled David Wells in San Diego last night.

Continuing our series of pieces on the Blue Jays' new draftees, Ryan Levy of tamu-and-baseball.com tells us about the team's two draftees from Texas A&M University. First up, 6th round draftpick Cory Patton. Enjoy everyone!

I'm now convinced that whatever is afflicting the Blue Jays is not just bad luck. It wasn't the spate of injuries that sold me, though they provide the supporting evidence. It wasn't the end of Iron Man Tom Cheek's legendary broadcasting streak.

What convinced me?

And found nothing there
To ease the pressure off
My ever worried mind

The main reason the Jays are under .500 is the offence. They've hit the second-fewest homeruns in the AL (50), and have the second lowest slugging percentage (.396); they're 12th in the league in runs scored per game.

As Aaron Gleeman recounts over on his blog, Phil Cuzzi, by now so familiar to Blue Jays fans, was at it again last night in Montreal. In the top of the ninth inning, home plate Cuzzi stopped calling strikes for Montreal's rookie closer Chad Cordero, and eventually cost them the game when his crew inexplicably turned an extra-inning foul ball by Luis Rivas into a home run, as the Expos surrendered a 4-2 lead to lose 5-4 in 11 innings.

For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins.

It's an early one today, and no Barry Bonds. Game on!