Who else knew that there was a city named Anton in French Guiana?

Those were the good times last year, when Bergie was just fourth on the OF depth chart.

You only thought you were kidding, Rob. At Lynx Stadium, it's a big deal if a foul ball actually hits a person rather than a collection of empty blue seats.

Good game tonight -- I was in attendance with my old friend Mike, a left-handed pitcher of some renown in our high school days, and Ottawa Bauxites Mosely and Mark J. Here are some notes on tonight's game; my fellow attendees may chime in later with their own impressions.

- Scott Downs pitched himself a pretty fine ballgame. He seemed to waffle a bit in the first inning, but by the second he had settled down and threw bullets thereafter. He scattered 5 hits over 7 shutout innings, and while he went to a few three-ball counts, he didn't walk anyone and struck out 4. Downs could probably help the Jays, but I don't think he's a LOOGY; he's just an effective pitcher who happens to be left-handed. Ottawa stacked the lineup with righties, and hardly any of them was late on his pitches -- a lot of balls pulled fair and foul. He's not going to overpower you, but he can be (and was tonight) very effective.

- Spike Lundberg finished up the last 2 innings, and I think he could pitch in the majors right now. He was quick and effective, and was throwing some pretty nasty stuff. He whiffed 2 guys and gave up just one run, on a blast over the left-field wall by Alejando Freire, a minor-league veteran with power to spare (he also doubled) and who could probably platoon effectively at first base with Rafael Palmeiro in Baltimore -- he entered the game at .365/.426/.612. Anyway, Spike was sharp.

- The Skychiefs scored 3 runs in an excruciatingly long top of the ninth, robbing us of the chance to see Jason Arnold come out for a save.

- James Baldwin looked lost in the first inning and looked brilliant the rest of the way. After allowing a run on a single, stolen base (Anton French can fly), balk and groundout, he shut down the Skychiefs from that point onwards.

- That RBI groundout in the first inning was a weird play -- Gabe Gross shattered his bat on the pitch, and the largest jagged piece hurtled over our heads (we were behind the on-deck circle near the visitors' dugout) and helicoptered into an empty seat about 15 rows up the first-base side. Two fans were sitting on either side of the seat, which was holding their jackets; six inches either way and either of the guys could have been impaled. Crazy play, and the run scored easily.

- Gross had a bad night at the plate -- he seemed to be tentative and guessing wrong on a lot of breaking pitches. He grounded out five times and didn't hit the ball hard once. However, he made a game-saving play by throwing out Enrique Wilson from right field. He loped to the ball, gathered it up, and fired a laser to the infield, one hop and directly into Andy Dominique's waiting glove for the out (Dominique and Wilson had quite a collision, but Andy held his ground -- he's something of a fireplug). When the Blue Jays get around to fielding a Gross-Wells-Rios outfield, they're going to have one of the best defensive alignments in the league. Gross, though, seems to be messed up at the plate right now -- he'll come around, but he's currently slumping.

- Aaron Hill was a mixed bag. I saw him in action on three ground balls. One was a single up the middle that he wasn't close to -- unlike Russ Adams, he doesn't appear to have great range to his left. The second was a shot deep in the hole to his right; he grabbed it, leaped, and fired a very strong throw to first to nail the runner by a full step. The third was a routine grounder that he short-hopped to first base for an error (and nearly an injury, because Dominique and first baseman Eric Crozier collided chasing the ball). It's only one game, but my assessment is in line with what we've heard from scouts: okay range, tremendous arm, doesn't always make the basic plays. He also basically jogged out one groundout, which I didn't much care for, but he hustled on another one and was safe on an error by his opposite number. He's really fast on the basepaths and takes the extra base well. He had only one hit, but it was a ringing single into left field. I think his bat is pretty much ready for the big leagues right now (he came in at .312/.359/.516), but defensively, Russ Adams is ahead of him (although, give Hill a month with Brian Butterfield and we could see something). It wouldn't be fair for me to say, based on one game, that Hill's concentration isn't 100% -- but if he had several more games like that, I might be more confident in saying so. I look forward to seeing him in Toronto before September.

- John-Ford Griffin went 0-for-3; his worst at-bat was his first, when he watched three straight pitches sail by for strikes and sat down without taking the bat off his shoulder. He was busier in subsequent plate appearances, but I had wondered if he suffered from a certain lack of aggressiveness -- all those walks and strikeouts pointed in that direction -- and it seemed to be exemplified there. But as I say, this was just one game.

- Among the non-prospects: Bryant Nelson has a quick bat, and he's clearly been a very smart pickup by the Skychiefs (good roster construction on this club, a mix of veterans and prospects). Jason Alfaro plays a terrific third base -- he has a sure glove and a rocket arm. Chad Mottola, a former Lynx, crushed a huge home run late in the game and got an ovation from his former home fans. Crozier is terrific to look at, but he's struggling with the bat right now, and I'm rethinking my desire to have him on the Toronto bench at the moment.

- Walter Young is big. No, I mean big. He's David Ortiz big, and maybe larger. And when he runs, he's like a 300-pound ballet dancer tipping his way up the first-base line. This is what Babe Ruth must have looked like: massive torso, delicate shins and feet, bouncing along. If you moved the fences out to 600 feet and only played one outfielder, I'm pretty sure Walter still couldn't get an inside-the-park home run. He sure is fun to watch, though.

- They have this between-innings Musical Chairs game at the ballpark where six kids run around a circle of five chairs till the music stops; as each kid left standing is eliminated, another chair is removed. My standard prediction for this event is that the last two contestants will be a girl and the smallest boy of the group; tonight, I was wrong on both counts. But what struck me was that the music they were playing was Billy Idol's Mony Mony. I turned to my companions and said, "Isn't this a little inappropriate for Musical Chairs?"

Anyway, there you go. Good night at the ballyard, Skychiefs win. We'll do it again later this summer, when sweatshirts and coats won't be (as) necessary.

There was a generic invite right here :)

Send an email to either Jordan or me and we'll CC you next time we meet up. The SkyChiefs aren't back in Ottawa until late August but we may try to catch another Lynx game in the meantime.

I'm sure as the assistant travelling secretary to the Yankees you'll have a lot of good insights ;)

Good observations on the game. Dominique's bunt was very nicely placed indeed.

Thankfully for local fans, this year the team has a couple good vets like James Baldwin. The team's actually sitting in first place and looking pretty good, yet even without the NHL, the Sports section of today's Ottawa Sun is apparently still full of articles about playoff hockey... (the online edition is, anyways).

I too would love to see the Jays' farm team here, but I doubt the team would want to end the long relationship with Syracuse to get a team that's seems certain to be US-bound pretty soon... (Having Erik Bedard pitch in his hometown would've been a great coup... too bad injuries effectively scuttled that)

Thanks for the note about the uniforms, NYJaysFan. I can't believe I didn't pick up on the similarity to the big club's duds. (Speaking of unis, it was a bit "confusing" watching the Lynx home opener against Rochester, as the Red Wings are still wearing "Oriole colours", while the Lynx certainly are not).

Lefty, it's funny you'd make the Wells comparison with Gross, as the optimist in me was saying something similar last night. Once guys have gotten a real "taste" of the majors, it can't be easy to go back to AAA. I'm wondering if something similar is going on with B.J. Upton...

Oh, and Mark J., don't you remember? I was traded to Tyler Chicken! :)