It's no secret that the Jays have hit a lot of home runs this year. They lead the majors with 181, 20 more than the Boston Red Sox, and are "on pace" to hit around 250, which would put them only 14 back of the all-time record.

Another thing we all know is that the home runs have been very evenly distributed - it seems like everyone is producing. But a closer look into this "everyone is producing" statement tells us that this year's team is approaching historical territory.

Some odds and ends from around the majors....

I had this mad idea...

Sometimes you want to write about something on the Jays blog that you write for, but your scheduled TDIB is one day removed from the thing you want to write about. That's okay, just write about it anyway!

The game looks different in three dimensions. There are things you see in person that you just can't see on the television.

Title says it all. Brad Mills has been recalled.

You might have heard ... a really good, somewhat stultifyingly annoying ballplayer, who will probably be a controversial Hall of Fame inductee in 10 or 12 years, hit his 600th career home run yesterday. He was once in the conversation for Greatest Shortstop of All Time and is arguably still the Greatest Third Baseman in the storied history of the Yankees. But Alex Rodriguez reaching this milestone? Apparently, not very many people actually, you know, care.

Various reports say this is because of the 'roid era, while others claim it has become more de riguer in baseball circles to reach what once was hallowed ground. I admit it, I don't remember a thing about Sosa's or Bonds' 600th dinger, or even Griffey's, which in baseball terms, just happened about 12 minutes ago. (Willie, Henry and the Babe were all before my time.)

So today's Questions of the Day: Do you care at all about A-Rod hitting this homer? Should we? If not, why not? And, just for the heckuvit, will any oher active players get there? (And if the answer to that last one is "no," does that change your thinking to the other questions?)

The Jays have the Rays this weekend. The Yankees have the Red Sox. They'll try not to look past each other as Shaun Marcum takes on Phil Hughes today.

Got all that other stuff out of the way - the trade deadline, the deeply irritating Cleveland team. It's show-time.

Nobody saw yesterday's trade coming. Anyone want to speculate on who's next?

Brad gets his shot.

I went to my first Jays game of the year last night (I've been out of the country most of the season), and had a great time enjoying what we've been treated to this whole year - home runs and starting pitching. Not to mention tiny crowds!

As longtime readers may have noticed, I am enamored with batter-pitcher match-ups. I take them seriously, I believe in them absolutely.

The Toronto Blue Jays were rained out in Detroit Friday night so that game will be made up as part of a doubleheader Sunday with game times of 1:05 and 6:05 in the post meridian.  We look west for our topic of the night where emotions ran a little high in the Mariners dugout during their 2-1 loss to Boston at Safeco Field.

We'll put it back together, raise up a giant ladder, with love and trust and friends and hammers, this summer. We're gonna lean this ladder up against the water tower, climb to the top and drink and talk, this summer.