Gregg Zaun, 8-for-14 so far as a Jay including 3-for-3 off Garland, gets the start, which is hardly surprising. There's still no sign of Chris Woodward, but Chris Gomez, one of just three RH bats in the lineup, has had at least one hit in every game since Woody's hamstring acted up.

Lilly's not going to shut these guys out -- I'll consider it a good night if he just keeps the ball in the yard -- but with reasonable support, the good guys can win another. Time to get some revenge for last weekend, when the Jays let Garland wriggle off the hook several times.

Why in God's name do you bunt in the first inning? I'm not going to say that bunting is always a bad idea, but the first inning?

Congrats Carlos for tying Moseby for 2nd with 1319 Blue Jay hits. I'm going to assume Tony Fernandez is #1 alltime

Top 1: Some might say Hinske's weak arm led to Uribe's leadoff infield single, but that would have been a close play even for A-Rod, and Eric made a nice stop to save the double.

Ozzie Guillen immediately squandered one of his outs calling for the sacrifice, which Valentin popped up to the mound. When Lilly caught Ordonez looking, it gave him the luxury of pitching around the Big Hurt, then he managed to get Lee to loft a harmless fly ball to center.

Botton 1: The first two Jays hit routine groundouts to the right side before a patient Wells drew a 2-out walk. Delgado just missed the first pitch, pulling it foul, then Garland started nibbling. Carlos ripped the 3-1 through the shift for a single, advancing Vernon to third. Phelpsy (now 0-for-10 off Garland) had a mighty rip at the first one, fouling it straight back, then popped out to first to end the threat.

Lilly allowed a 2-out single to Rowand, then picked him off neatly on a steal attempt, but Delgado threw high to second so it goes as a SB. No harm done, as Ted painted the corner with a back-door curve that froze Olivo, who had been 3-for-3 with 2 HR off Lilly previously.

The sinking action on Garland's fastball has the Jays hitting almost everything into the ground. Evidence of how much it's moving? Tom Cheek called strike one to O-Dog a curve, then corrected himself when he noticed it registered 94 on the gun.

Scoreless through two.

The ex-switch-hitter Valentin hung tough in the lefty-lefty matchup, fouling off a couple full-count pitches before drawing a one-out walk with the heavy lumber coming up. Unfazed, Lilly managed to get Ordonez to hit an infield popup and Thomas on a one-hopper to short. Very nice job so far; a run or two would only help.

Vernon should have called off Hudson on that Ordonez popup. When Wells was slowly jogging in, I thought he had no play. It should have been a easy catch for Wells but he made things a little more difficult for the O-Dog.

Da Box seems quiet tonight. Just me and Mike Green over in the minor league thread, and he had to go a few minutes ago, so I'm all alone.
Shall I assume Garland is still a Jay killer?

In the third, Catalanotto flared a 2-out single up the middle, then Wells struck out. Vernon had a wicked rip at the first pitch, a high heater, which he fouled straight back, missing a homer to CF by a whisker, but the next two pitches from Garland were perfect. He would be giving any team trouble tonight; he hasn't made many mistakes.

What Ted Lilly should say to Miguel Olivo:

"I surrender."

Lilly gave up a walk and a single before his nemesis Olivo drilled a high hanger into the stands. That's now the third homer he's hit off Lilly in just 5 AB, and it gives the Sox a 3-0 lead.

Delgado reached on a Valentin error, but Phelps was jammed again, and popped out to an infielder again -- he's now 0-for-11 off Garland -- then Hinske grounded into a double play. It could be a long night; Garland looks even better than he did last time.

I seem to remember listening on a car radio a couple summers ago to Garland silencing the Yankee bats. Maybe he should consider relocating to the AL East; it might be the quickest way for him to get his career record over .500

Another tenacious AB for Valentin, until he looked for another breaking pitch on 3-2 and was frozen by a fastball down the middle. Ordonez singled off a great pitch, then Thomas walked again, but Lilly was able to dodge the bullet, getting Lee to line out to left and striking out Konerko looking.

Elsewhere, a couple of superb pitching performances are worth noting. Cory Lidle is spinning a 1-hitter vs. the Giants through six, retiring Barry Bonds twice so far. In Pittsburgh, Wilson Alvarez of the Dodgers (and the Walrus) set down the first 15 batters he faced before giving up a leadoff single in the sixth. Since he hasn't pitched more than three innings out of the bullpen, so you wonder how far he will be allowed to go, even working on a 1-hit shutout through six.

Rally time for the Jays? Two on, one out, top of the order...

Crap! Nice running catch by Rowand takes a 2-run double away from Cat and ends the inning.

Doubly crap for those of us Jays fans who have Catalanotto activated for tonight's game.

(although this owner is more sore about having Konerko active and Brad "Two-run homer in the First" Wilkerson benched)

That's all for Lilly, just 89 pitches and five innings. Nakamura comes on, in hopes of neutralizing all those RH batters until somebody can solve Garland.

You gotta like Mike; that little kick on his follow-through looks like he's jumping for joy after every pitch. He's now struck out 10 in seven innings, and hasn't walked a man.

Of course, it means nothing if the Jays can't get the bats going.

Nakamura has been my favorite pitcher to watch in quite a while. I don't want to jinx him, but so far, if the hitters have even made contact against him, it's been _slow_ grounders or _weak_ popups. He's been dominating.

Boom! Hinske rips a 2-run shot into the bullpen, scoring the Delgado single, and the good guys are within a run.

That's the happiest I've heard Tom Cheek sound all year! Nice hit, O-Dog!

Zaun on, and then one gone.

How about that! The O-Dog rips a 2-run shot, cashing the Zaun double, and it's 4-3 Jays, just like that.

Their motions are slightly different, but Nakamura looks a lot like a young Mark Eichhorn.

Is that our first 2 homer inning of the year?

Wells and Phelps both homered in the same inning Wednesday.

Just a reminder that the Lady Jays 5K Walk is tomorrow morning; you can still register, starting at 7:30 a.m.; the walk begins at 9:00, with all the proceeds going to Rethink Breast Cancer. If you're thinking about going to the game, why not get some exercise and help a great cause?

Hinske and O-Dog have also homered in the same inning earlier this year, surprisingly.

The Nakamura magic wears off; Chicago ties it up on a leadoff triple by Uribe and a Valentin single. There's no action in the Jays bullpen, so Mike's going to have to settle down.

I predict Wells doubles to cash in a run and that makes the difference in the game. In a slightly surprising move Jason Frasor comes in to shut the door in the ninth.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/news/tor_news.jsp?ymd=20040507&content_id=738255&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp
While my predictions were wildly wrong, the Frasor move might not be so surprising. Tosca said that he's beginning to consider Frasor as a closing candidate. COMN (it's the new Jays Notes).

Hudson leads off with a walk after working Politte nicely.

And Reed knocks him in. The White Sox' record in 1-run games now 11-2 and falling..

Who-hoo! Jays win!

Sounded like a lively crowd tonight, too, which was nice. I look forward to my trip to Seattle at the end of this month. The boys seem to be rolling.

Nice work on the FORGET APRIL sign, which Faulds worked into his closing.

I was a little surprised to see myself on TV with the FORGET APRIL sign, since I was watching at home. That footage is from Monday! But I was the guy with the goatee. The other end of the sign was being held by the Box's Andrew Edwards.

I feel a little bad for not going tonight, especially since it turned out to be such a great game. But I'll be there both Saturday and Sunday if anyone wants to join me, hold signs and yell like a maniac. COMN.

A proposition:

Chad Bradford : Oakland :: Mike Nakamura : Toronto

Discuss.

O-Doggggggggg!

U the man!

A little early for the Bradford-Nakamura comparisons methinks.

But the Jays didn't even have to give up a minor league "prospect" to get Nakamura too... good stuff

Hmmm...I was wondering why a brilliant outing by Cory Lidle turned into such a disappointment. It seems that the Cincinatti implosion occurred just after Coach jinxed Lidle on this board by praising him.

I was at the Dome. The crowd was energetic in spurts. In the later innings there were times when the crowd was quiet but intently focused on the action. The 100 level is starting to get a few pockets of active fans - there were definitely more than on Monday or Wednesday.

It was the most entertaining game I've been too this year. The Garland jinx seems to have run its course, even though he didn't get tagged for the loss. The bottom of the ninth was textbook small ball.

The Sox couldn't beat our lefthander, and our righthanded starters ought to do well against a righty-dominated lineup. I hope they open the lid up for tomorrow's day game.

Just returned home now after going to tonights game and it was a blast. THE HAMMER OF WISDOM was out in full force and I was completley flipping my wig when my hero of heroes, Sparky, spanked that shot to win the game, HAMMER clutched in my hand. I headed to section 518 first to see if NFH was there with an impromtu cheer club but no luck, so i made myself home in 524 right behind homeplate. I have about a 50/50 chance of catching 2morows game, so if anyone sees a guy there with THE HAMMER OF WISDOM its either me, or someone knocked me down and stole my cool hammer.

Kudos on that hammer of wisdom.

There is about a 50/50 chance you will be at the game tomorrow, but there is NO CHANCE IN HELL the white sox will defeat MIGUEL BATISTA. BOOOOOOOO YAAAAAAAAAAA.

How busy was 524? Maybe we should gather there. I like the middle.

524 was actually fairly crowded, well as much as you could expect for a 500 level dome seat. There were cetainly people around, and while you still had a row to yourself, there's usually someone in the row diectly infront of below you.