That's what the crowd in St. Louis will be wondering. The Jays lineup features an anonymous rookie leadoff man (Reed Johnson, as Shannon Stewart is still sitting but not yet on the DL) followed by a singles-hitting utility man (not my description; merely a casual NL fan's impression of Catalanotto) and a sophomore CF who has yet to put up "three-hole" numbers. I'm sure they've heard of Carlos Delgado, and can appreciate the monster year he's having. But Greg Myers? Unless you're a devoted member of the ZLC -- and many of you were hard to convince -- he's that aging backup guy who hits .220, right? Very few Cards fans will know anything about Orlando Hudson, Howie Clark (starting at 3B against the nasty righty) or Chris Woodward, and while they might recognize Kelvim Escobar's name, I'm sure they aren't too worried about Drew, Pujols, Edmonds and Rolen teeing off three times each against a failed closer.


I doubt it will be as one-sided as the Missouri faithful expect. If Kelvim has his (air)head in the right place, he has the stuff to keep his team in a low-scoring game, and with all due respect to Matt Morris, he won't find any easy outs in the Toronto lineup. Carlos Tosca should be pushing plenty of buttons; Escobar may bat twice, but (even if he's pitching well) is unlikely to go beyond six innings, then the parade of relievers and pinch-hitters will begin. Sure, it's a National League game, but there's a more important reason to play "little ball" tonight -- Morris doesn't allow many crooked numbers.

I don't like the fact that AL pitchers have to hit; that's downright dangerous. I hate that the AL pennant race could be decided by how teams fare in these games against random opponents. I would do a dance of joy if interleague play was abolished. However, once it starts, I'll be fascinated, and while I'm not optimistic enough about Kelvim's concentration to predict a victory, I do anticipate a close, exciting game.