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Gustavo Chacin was uncharacteristically wild, walking a career high six batters in just five innings of work, and the bats couldn't get anything going against the immortal Aaron "Biggie" Small.

The Instant Replay has been transformed! It has undergone a metamorphosis!

Updated at 3:30 AM!

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I can see Earl Weaver smiling, and saying, "that is why I like the 3-run homer so much". The Jays did a masterful job of controlling the strike zone, and outplayed the Sox in most phases of the game, but some days that just isn't enough. Two Sox longballs and missed Jay opportunities were the story of this game.

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Despite losing two in a row to the Blue Jays, the White Sox look to be headed to the postseason. The Pale Hose haven't been there since waaayyy back in 2000 (that's the turn of the millennium, for those youngsters out there). They also starred in the postseason in 1993 (and we all know how that turned out) and 1983, but you have to go all the way back to 1959 to find the White Sox' last World Series appearance.

Before even 1959, and this is a time that only Magpie would remember, the White Sox starred against the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series that nearly destroyed baseball.

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Josh Towers and three home runs propel the Jays to victory. Your game report today is a double-header, notes on the game followed by the scoop on why the Jays did not make a deal at the deadline.
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Phil Nevin, one of the names involved in this year's Trading Deadline From Hell, appeared in yesterday's game and went 0-for-4 as Texas managed just one run against Chacin, Schoeneweis and Speier.

I mentioned Nevin to get on the subject of the trading deadline. It was, of course, yesterday, and in honour of this yearly occasion, I present to you a transcript of a Pinch-Hit Trading Deadline Roundtable Featuring Famous People Who Aren't Really Part Of The Roundtable (PHTDRFFPWARPOTR) from everybody's favourite Sicilian Cheer Clubber, Jobu. As with most things he does, this was done in the middle of the night, so be prepared for...well...this:

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Well they say I should approach you
With caution
But not to let you be aware of my fear
Never know what you'll find
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It was Korean Night at the Rogers Centre, and Chan Ho Park was even scheduled to pitch. So what does Texas do? They trade him to San Diego an hour before the game starts.

Then they send John "Way-Back" Wasdin to the mound, and Wasdin and Doug Brocail completely shut down the Toronto offense. The hitters, one assumes, must have been really, really tired, although Buck Showalter had no sympathy whatsoever:

We got to our hotel room at 4 a.m. two days in a row. I don't want to hear about 18 innings when they are at home and get to sleep in their own bed.

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My interesting life has led me to watch this game backwards: I heard the eighth and ninth innings on the radio, watched the game on TV from the tenth onwards, and now (now being Thursday night just past midnight) I'm watching a recording of the first nine innings that I missed. And I'm really tired, so here's an unranked, randomly ordered list of people who were all out of bubble gum so they had to do that other thing they came to do:
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There’s an intricate etiquette that applies to the ferry from Toronto Island Airport to the mainland, and this guy didn’t get it. Even though I was in the last row of the puddle-jumper that landed at the airport late yesterday afternoon, I had no luggage and I was an old hand at this. I strode past the other passengers – you mosey, you lose – and ended up fourth in the makeshift lineup that waits at the entrance for the ferry to return to the island.
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Gustavo Chacin pitched possibly the finest game of his young career. Corey Koskie returned to the lineup, Shea Hillenbrand homered and drove in four, Russ Adams reached base four times...

I mean, what's not to like?

Updated!! Now it's a Game Report!!

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I’d like to thank The_Game, who provided the comment in today’s Replay Thread that I have appropriated for the title of this piece.
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We were at the beach
Everybody had matching towels
Somebody went under a dock
And there they saw a rock
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In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
Laurence J. Peter

That's the Peter Principle - if you're good at something, you'll get promoted. And eventually you'll be doing something you're not good at.

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Well, that is how you hope everything is going to work out when Josh Towers starts.

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The Jays really throttled the Mariners last night, exploding for three home runs off beleaguered Mariner starter Ryan Franklin (5.2 IP, 8 R, 5 SO, 0 BB). But that's not what everybody cares about. We want to know whether the Jays will sweep Seattle, whether the Jays will make any moves before the waiver deadline, whether the Jays have a chance at the post-season this go-round, and whether Eric Hinske really has it figured out, magically turning back into the beautiful carriage we all thought we were getting in to in 2002.

Well, I've consulted my Magic 8 ball, and I'm afraid the answer to all those questions is the same: Outlook not so good.

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