In the NCAA basketball tournament, whenever an underdog gets down 8 points in a semi-away game and the crowd starts to stir, the commentators always say in ominous tones, "They're into the danger zone now." That's how I feel about today's matchup, with Toronto 5-6 and facing Boston and New York next. The Jays try to avoid an embarrassing sweep in the getaway game as Kyle Drabek takes on Jason Vargas.

I stayed up until 2 AM for that?

The Jays continue their trek through the Wild, Wild West. Tonight they get the reigning Cy Young winner.

Just a strange, compelling game.

One weekend down .... 155+ games to go. What's caught your eye?

The Orioles, Royals and Dodgers, respectively, are each alone in first place.

Those Royals took a series from the Angels. The Rangers swept the Red Sox. Those same Rangers are "on pace" to hit no less than 594  home runs this season. Like the Red Sox, the Rays and Brewers -- all popular pre-season picks to make the post-season -- are winless. (So are the Astros, but nobody was picking them, right?)

Howie Kendrick is tied for the MLB lead in home runs, along with Rangers Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz and ex-Ranger Mark Teixeira. All are "on pace" to slam 162 bombs in 2011.

So what else has caught YOUR attention?

The party is over. If you'll all just grab your stuff and leave, there won't be any hassle. The party's been closed, it's – the party is over with. Grab your stuff and go, and nobody goes to jail.

Everywhere else other than Baseball North, the big story in baseball has been dominated by one certain José Alberto Pujols Alcántara, better known as Albert Pujols.  A negotiating deadline set by Pujols for contract talks with the St. Louis Cardinals came and went this week without a new deal.  If Pujols sticks to his word, he will not negotiate during the 2011 season and become a free agent. 

Albert Pujols' game face can be seen as he stares down his bat during batting practice at the Dome June 24.

Well, the original trade thread filled up faster than the Skydome on a Tuesday in August. Wait...

Anyway, here's a new one for your AA venerating pleasure.

This isn't a trivia question; it's just something I've wondered about. Is it possible to select two baseball teams such that nobody on Team A was ever teammates with anybody on Team B? Were there any such pairs of teams in 2010? (I don't know if we should count players who were teammates in the minors or not.) I leave it as an exercise for the reader.

What else is going on that we want to talk about?

It’s 9:00 on a Saturday evening. Do you know which team Justin Upton plays for?

So Shawn Hill has been released, Uggla was traded for a LH reliever and a guy who has had 3 good years but still has a lifetime OPS+ of 90. Ken Rosenthal is reporting the Jays have acquired Rajai Davis for Trystan Magnuson and Dan Farquhar.  What else is going on?

Bob Elliot has posted a helpful article detailing the over 20 names that the Jays have already or will be interviewing to be the team’s manager in 2011.

Here's an all-purpose thread for day 1 of the Phil Cuzzi-free 2010 Division Series.

Cito Gaston was in a no-win situation with JP Arencibia yesterday. Meanwhile, on Wednesday Brian Tallet went to bat for a Blue Jays fan.

It's been a couple of years since I examined how the rotation was managed...