My Sentiment Exactly, Boys.

Mike Wilner postulates that yesterday's loss marked rock bottom for this team. I have to concur. I don't know what was more painful: not having that all-but-guaranteed gift-wrapped opportunity to win from Roy Halladay, or the offense getting shut down by Paul Byrd.

On Friday morning, I wanted to reply to Ian's Obligatory Scott Richmond Update. Bleary-eyed and insufficiently caffeinated to form complete sentences, I had to dash out the door to work. Now I forget what I was going to say, and too grumpy to give a f*ck.

(What was I going to say? Oh yeah.)

In speculating on reasons for his decline:

• It's more like just coming down to Earth, now that he's being seen for the second and third time. I'm too grumpy and lazy to go through the game-by-game stats, but off the top of my head, he did well against the Halos on the 22nd. They hadn't seen him before.
• If pitchers like Roy Halladay depend on their routines for their success, it should stand to reason that a lack of routine isn't going to do many guys many favours. Being shipped off to the 'pen (as recently as the 7th of this month), skipping his starts on off-days, plus weeks on the DL doesn't exactly sound like the path to throwing well consistently.
• On Friday night, the Sportsnet crew said that Roy Halladay and Kevin Millar caught him tipping during a previous start. I wonder how long that had been happening. (Kevin Yousuck Millar is useful for something, haters!)

If you aren't yet completely fed up of watching this team, don't forget, Sportsnet will be carrying four games in three days from Texas! Load up on the beer and nachos, baseball fans!

Photos Wanted

I started a new tumblelog. It was inspired by the Keggers of Yore tumblelog, which was recommended by Dave of Go Jays Go. Days earlier, I had been going through my own old family photos while visiting my folks. I get a kick out of humourous old photographs, and thought maybe others would, too. So I bring you... Retro Jays Fans.

The trouble is, material is difficult to come by. While everyone uploads digital photos to sites like Photobucket and Flickr these days, few people have scanned old shots and posted them. So I humbly solicit your contributions. If you've got old pictures of yourself in Jays garb or at Exhibition Stadium for a game, I'd love it if you'd scan them for me and let me post them. I will buy you a beer at the Rogers Centre!

My only "rule" is that it's truly old: wearing the retro garb they sell today doesn't count. As a guideline, if the picture is old enough that it's funny, I'll go for it. For example, if you were a gal wearing, say, a world series T-shirt with your baggy pants safety-pinned at the calves and your hair in a blunt cut with a spiral perm, that's pretty funny and retro.

I don't know anyone personally who fit such a description back in the early 90s. No-sir-ee.

Another Tidbit I Didn't Know...

Wayne The Beer Guy is back at the Rogers Centre! He's now a Jays Care Foundation volunteer schlepping Ice... Cold... 50/50 tickets.

Now there's a guy who obviously loved his job. How many of us would return on a volunteer basis to a workplace from which we were fired?

Indifference.

Indifference seems to be plaguing the Jays fan base of late. I'm no exception. That's sad. They say that the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference.

That said, though, plain old burnout is inevitable. Even if the Jays were in a knuckle-biting playoff race, I'd need a break.

I've only been half-assedly paying attention to the Jays blogs and news lately. I never even noticed that I could have been following Alex Rios on Twitter, if I missed him. And I never noticed that a young pitcher drafted by the Jays back in June shares a good whack of DNA with one of their current starters.

Yet, apparently, I will be dragging my ass out of bed at 7:00 on a Sunday morning to make the trek to the Rogers Centre and watch a ball game.

The days are notably shorter, school supplies lines the store aisles, and I need to enjoy baseball while I still can.

I would first like to apologize to Ian. He was kind enough to host a liveblog of Wednesday's game, and despite The Tao of Stieb suggesting that a few adult beverages make those liveblogs fun, Yours Truly tends to forget that there are those who are relying on such liveblogs for their coverage of the game. Yours Truly recalls the conversation straying to everything from the Muppets to the shittiness of suburban Pizza Pizza locations.

My bad.

In my defense, I think ScribbleLive and similar liveblogging software lends itself better toward a good old-fashioned chat than something like a news update. It would be cool if said liveblogging software allowed for two separate streams: one for official commentary from the host, and one for all other chatter. Of course, there's already Twitter for that.

Okay. So something interesting to share with all y'all about last night's game:

As a car-less pedestrian, I take advantage of the 'net to check local weather via radar if I think there's a chance it'll rain. I kept a close eye on it last night, while I tried to find the perfect time to split from work to home at around 7:00 pm.

Long story short: I mentioned on Drew's liveblog last night that I was surprised that the lid at the Rogers Centre was being peeled back in the 5th inning, because it was obvious that it was about to piss rain again.

Environment Canada did not call it:



The arrow is the direction of the precipitation.

The NOAA's Buffalo radar, OTOH, seems to be far sharper:



That 5th inning break in the rain was just that - a break. Hey Rogers Centre grounds crew - take the radar images from Buffalo.

Goodbye, Alex

Like The Blue Jay Hunter, my desktop collection of baseball toys has just gotten a little more passé.

Who will thirteen-year-old girls cheer for at the Rogers Centre now?

I hope Rios earns his playing time in CF and thrives. I don't understand, however, why the Jays couldn't even get a box of donuts for him. Was there really nothing on the scrap heap in Chicago?

B2B Reunion Friday

- Cito underhanding the ceremonial first pitch to Pat Borders.

It was a hectic day for many Jays fans yesterday.

It was a beautiful afternoon for the lunch time barbecue and autograph signing at the TD court on Wellington St. On a sour note, though, most of us were caught off guard by the extra $20 charge for the autograph portion of the gig that the organizers conveniently omitted from their announcements of the event. A woman behind me in line was even reassured on the phone that it would only cost her ten bucks.

I have no objection to the extra cost considering it was going to charity, but I find it extremely tacky that the organizers felt it necessary to resort to the old bait-and-switch. They made it sound more affordable than it was, and there were a lot of disappointed people who either didn't have the money or couldn't get it because there's no way they could have made it back from a bank machine and still gotten a spot in line.

At least I left with a full gut and a few decent pictures. I headed to Chapters and picked up "Fantasyland" by Sam Walker. Thanks for the suggestions on books, by the way.

There was a signing for season ticket holders, a Q & A with Tom Henke for fan club members, and five autograph tables set up throughout the Rogers Centre prior to the game. Not surprisingly, it was chaos. I don't think I've seen actual chaos at the Rogers Centre since Opening Day.

The nostalgic love-fest before the game was fun to watch. My favorite moment occurred as the Jays Vision cameras were panning along the alumni. Cheers followed as each name was announced. As Dave Winfield's face was shown on the screen, the loudest cheering of the night was given up for him before his name was even announced. May Winfield forever get noise.

...and then there was a baseball game, the results of which you can find at bluejays.com or elsewhere on the blogosphere.

Overall, though, it was an enjoyable day. I'm going for round two tomorrow (Sunday.)

Friday Rock-Out?

"(Barry Zito) recorded this as his Demo (got leaked to me from studio) and thinks he has a shot at becoming a huge singer. I don’t understand why he just can’t stick to doing what he does best- ripping off the Giants."

I don't know if it's for real or not, but anything that can make me laugh this hard at 5:48 am is pretty damn funny.

HT, again, to Crane via Twitter.

HB, Mr Olerud

I'm about to dive into the sea of powder blue and hit a Flashback Friday game. It took the B2B reunion and a coincidental reprieve from work to convince me to pry my money from my wallet and make the trek.

(Eyeballing credit card menacingly... )



Before there was Johnny Mac, there was Johnny O. Olerud was my favorite player for a long time. Yesterday marked his 41st birthday.

(Begin Aaron-Hill-esque Dos Equis ad spoof)

His resting heart rate is lower than the number many MLB players wear on their backs.

He jumped directly from college to the SkyDome with no use whatsoever for minor league baseball.

His eye in the batter's box was so superior, he had no need to tarnish his good name by committing theft of the basepads.

He is... The Most Interesting Jays Alumnus In The World.

(ETA) All you stank-ass MFers going back on Sunday, getting there at ridiculous o'clock to get your Henke figurine, for the love of gawd, wear lots of deodorant and dress cool. It's going to be about 41° on the humidex.

Soliciting Baseball Book Recommendations

I have: (a) a Chapters gift card, and (b) several hours to burn between tomorrow's barbecue and the ball game. As I was too dumb to write them down, I'll have to plow back through the blogosphere in search of the books I had in mind to pick up. Feel free to leave a comment with your favorite baseball books.

Best Facial Expressions Around MLB, Aug 5 '09

Amusing facial expressions:



The preceding were in response to:
1. Almost getting beaned,
2. Giving up a home run,
3. Loss,
4. Win, and
5. Dazed cat running around Kauffman Stadium.

Strange things happen during a full moon.

HT to Crane via Twitter.