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So Adam Lind looks good.
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The modern division of labour among the various members of the pitching staff puzzles me. You know the division I am speaking of- five starters whose role it is to throw 6-7 innings, a closer who takes the ninth inning with leads of 3 runs or less, and six other relievers who fill in between the starters and closer. I suppose it is not too bad if a team has four or five starters who can fulfil the role well. The Angels and White Sox of 2005 certainly made it work, but what if a team doesn’t have those starters on hand?

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Auburn and Dunedin both received superb work from their starters, but all three farm affiliates lost in playoff action.
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Anibal Sanchez threw a no-hitter tonight against the Diamondbacks. This was the first no-hitter since Randy Johnson threw one in May, 2004.

So naturally the Unit isn't happy about it and is throwing a no-hitter himself. The Royals are hitless through 6 innings.

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Going through Jesse Barfield's double plays on Retrosheet for a research project, Craig B came across this now-forgotten gem in the game log...
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What difference does September really make? How often does a team get to play in the post-season who would not have had the opportunity if the season had ended on August 31? Does it happen regularly?

Often enough.
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Love him or hate him -- I admit, I tend to the latter -- Curt Schilling has been one of the truly great (and I don't use that word lightly) pitchers of this generation. He's won World Series rings with more than one team, including a legendary melodramatic contribution to the Red Sox' first title since the Last Supper was being cooked. (Incidentally, Schillng is 8-2, 2.06 in 15 post-season starts. Nice Cooperstown bullet point, that.)

Today, Schilling became the 14th pitcher in major-league history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts. So here's my question ...

When and why did this Formerly Huge Milestone become basically an oh-by-they-way No Big Deal (not even the lead story on ESPN.com!) number?
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Canada beat Venezuela 7-5 in 10 innings today at the COPABE Olympic Qualifiers in Cuba.
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Let's begin with a Blue Jays Trivia Question, the answer to which seems unlikely to change in 2006.

Toronto has played 41 post-season games in their history. Who is the only Blue Jay to pitch a Complete Game in the post-season?
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Congratulations to former Jay Carlos Delgado, who hit his 400th career home run yesterday. I may be missing someone, but I believe only four men who have ever played with the Jays for any amount of time have reached that particular milestone -- Fred McGriff (493), Dave Winfield (465), Jose Canseco (462) and now Delgado. Joe Carter hit 396.

Though four of those five men have earned a place in Blue Jay lore -- one of them partly for being traded for one of the others -- is it safe to assume that Delgado will be the first Jay (of any length of service) to reach the once-magical 500 mark? How many will he end up with? Will he wear a Jay or "NYM" into Cooperstown? And are any other former Jays on the radar to reach the 400 and then 500 milestones?

It’s the fourth annual fielding survey.  Jays fans are always near the top in turnout, and that's in no small part to readers from this site.   Who else except a Jays fan could have told the world about Orlando Hudson last year?

Please take a few moments, and participate once more! 
http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/

The Good Doctor teased the fans a little yesterday, but just as we were starting to consider the possibilities... there weren't any.
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This just in: according to the Toronto Star, Scott Schoeneweis has been traded to Cincinnati for a player to be named later. (The Jays' official site confirms the trade.)
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You know you do it already in your head ... even as you groan at the nicknames ESPN's Chris Berman slaps on players from Cy Young to Michael Young, you think you could do better. Maybe even at a Hall of Fame level.

Okay, then, here's a complete list of Cooperstown inductees. Can you do better than a pedestrian Eddie "Walk the" Plank? Or an erudite Hank Aaron "on the side of caution"? Eddie "Tom" Collins is too easy, Bill "I'm feeling kind of ver" Klem"ft" is too much of a reach. Tris Speaker "of the House"? Joe Tinker "Bell" or Mel "There" Ott "to be a Law"?

You get the idea. Who's up next?

Here is yet another look at your Toronto Blue Jays, plus maybe a random thought or two. Enjoy and/or scroll past!

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