"Those things happen," said Larry Millson about last night's ninth-inning defensive meltdown.

Spencer Fordin doesn't even agree that Kevin Cash is pressing.

Richard Griffin commented on the team's shift in philosophy to a "developmental mode," as opposed to "being competitive."

When Mike Wilner asked the Writer's Round Table for a September preview. Griffin said it's important to improve on 78 wins, and Millson wisecracked about the new logo pushing them over that plateau.

Spencer Fordin agrees that Reed Johnson "sparks" the offence, but might drop him in the order; Millson is willing to give Sparky a chance in September. Griffin loves his style but typecasts him as a fourth outfielder.

Fordin thinks Escobar might get $8 MM or more as a free agent. See ya.

Griffin expects J.P. to keep bringing in "his" players and cites Jayson Werth as one from the previous regime who will be passed by Gabe Gross. I'm sure that will come up in our interview. Keep those ZLC questions coming!

Earlier, Carlos Tosca said Howie Clark, Brian Bowles and Dan Reichert are the only callups.

What a great throw! Reed fired a long strike to nail Nick Johnson trying to stretch a single. Right on the money. However, it cashed Soriano with the game's first run.

Nice glove work by Nick the Stick in the third, tracking a foul pop into the stands and saving an error with a fine scoop.

Doc really mowed down the heart of the order in the fourth. Fanned Giambi on a nasty curve, popped up Williams then got Matsui to ground to third after firing a fastball near his shins.

Still 1-0 after three and a half, but it's about time they got to Boomer.

I kinda like the pillbox black band effect on the sportsnet broadcast. Baseball as trendy art flick.

Anyone know how many games sportsnet are going to be doing in HD now ?

Their 13 home broadcasts this month.

On a Delgado ground out and a Phelps single, the Jays took a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

In the fifth, Woodward singled, then hustled around to score -- nice slide -- on a Hinske double the opposite way. Kevin Cash lined out to right, advancing the runner, and Sparky brought him home with a scorching line drive double. 4-1 Toronto.

Doc's thrown 63 pitches, struck out five. For a change, the Jays are playing well in front of a big crowd. I got a call expressing some surprise at the percentage of Yankee fans. My correspondent insists that Kielty beat out the double-play grounder.

A mammoth blast by Josh Phelps puts the exclamation point on this one. Teeing off on a hanging Jeff Weaver slider, Josh hit one straight away that bounced off the restaurant and rolled back toward the infield. It's now 8-1, and Doc, right on 100 pitches, should get a chance to finish his 4-hit, 10-K masterpiece.

I was starting to get really worried that Roy was showing the efects of the season and those 3 day rest stints.
Gratifying game in every sense.

I watched the game on Sportsnet HD (channel 277 on Rogers Digital here in Ottawa).

There was a scare at first: the first few minutes (pre-game) was just a 4:3 picture stretched to 16:9 (see players look like pancakes). But when the game started the proper 16:9 perspective was in effect (except a lot of the graphics were still stetched, though the bug in the upper-left was fine).

Apparently on the standard broadcast, they showed the 16:9 pictures also (with black bars at the top and bottom). So everyone was seeing the same widescreen picture, but the HD channel would be 5x more detailed. (I have a 4:3 HDTV, so I see the black bars at top and bottom for the 16:9 HD channels anyway.)

Watching in HD, the action in the foreground doesn't seem that much clearer. You notice the fans in the background more (but that's not what I want to notice). It makes me wonder if they had the focus off.

There's still a trail on the ball; it's especially noticeable in slow-motion replays. You can't see the pitcher's grip or the seams on the ball. Pitches are still a blur.

I flipped back to the regular digital channel and ick, it looked so much fuzzier than yesterday. I've noticed this before, i.e. that you notice the degrading when you switch from HD to standard more than the improvement in the other direction.

I didn't notice the sound being better. The ballpark sound seemed as muted on Sportsnet as usual.

Commericials and highlights from other games were still shown in standard definition (black bars on the left and right sides).

In the 7th inning, the HD picture started to flicker, and Sportsnet HD reverted to the standard video (with the sound behind by a second). The HD came back, but in the bottom of the 7th the flicker returned and they reverted to the standard feed for the rest of the game (but at least with the sound in sync). They still used widescreen in their standard feed. So for me, watching on a 4:3 TV, this meant a small picture inside 3 sets of black bars: the expected bars at top and bottom, the bars on the side added by conversion of 4:3 to 16:9, and the black bars top and bottom for showing widescreen on 4:3. (I could have switched back to a standard channel, but I didn't know HD wouldn't be coming back.) The announcers still talked about how nice the pictures were in the 8th inning when the HD feed was actually not being delivered.

It doesn't take long to get used to standard definition again. Technical problems with the video are actually a lot less annoying than audio difficulties would be. But I still hope they fix the HD for Wednesday.

Overall, yes, HD is a nicer picture, but it's not as good as the hype. If you're happy with your current TV, there's no reason to rush to buy a new one. If you're buying a new one anyway, HD support is probably a good idea; even standard definition can look better on a HD set (you can sit closer to the TV without seeing scan lines).

That's the kind of game that brings back memories of the second half last year, or May of this season. All around fun (only helped bythe fact Boomer and Weaver were among the opposition).

Boomer and Weaver top my list of pitchers who I enjoy watching fail.

I think that kid Josh has his confidence back.

Philadelphia's bullpen is imploding in a way that would make Blue Jays relievers proud. The Phillies had a two run lead going to the ninth, but Mesa loads the bases and allows one run to score before being taken out in favour of Turk Wendell. Wendell walks in the tying run and then gives up a grand slam to Trot Nixon. 13-9 Red Sox.

I think that kid Josh has his confidence back.

Does Tosca -- shudder -- dare start him against a RHP and risk his fragile psyche?

HD broadcasts are also good for those of us with big standard definition TVs -- caught some of the highlights after I came home from the game, and they looked a lot better than the Jays coverage usually does.

I'd be happier, though, if we had more HD coverage of away games, since I'd rather just go see the home game in Real Life Definition.

I just got back from the game now. It was my first trip to Skydome in 7 years (I grew up in WNY and now live in NE since graduating from college but am at my parents place in WNY).

This morning I was introduced to Tosca who was very friendly with me, including shaking my hand when we met and then when he left (which was about a minute apart).

Things looked good going into the game - Halladay was starting and Wells would force the Jays RH lineup on the field that I like (mostly Phelps and Kielty over Myers and Cat).

Got into the stadium a little after 12. My 9 year old cousin is a Yankee fan so we worked our way down and saw that Giambi was signing autographs. So we quickly worked our way down to the field. There was a mass where he was signing, but I found a free spot against the wall where I lifted him from the 2nd row to the first row. Eventually Giambi worked his way down and he scored an autograph which certainly made his day.

Halladay was on fire today. Besides the Johnson hit he was in control the whole time. And he was good to have on the mound to win free pizza! We cashed in on that on the way home.

Phelps going off the windows in dead center was pretty sweet. He'll free himself yet.

All in all a good day, even sitting 2 hours at the border didn't bother me.

I also got a verbal sneak preview of the Jays new uniforms (see the other thread).

Great to see Phelps not pinch hit for. Is it just me or did anyone notice that we still have Escobar, Lidle, Bordick and Cat who will all more than likely be gone next year while Baltimore managed to get Moss, Ainsworth a prospect plus 2 prospects from the Marlins for Conine and Ponson? If Escobar asks for a lot of cash we wont be keeping him so I wonder what we could have had if the asking price was right on those guys?

We'll get draft picks for Escobar.

We might get a first for Escobar which isnt nearly as good as the Orioles did for Ponson. One of the Boston papers reported that Fossum was offered straight up for Escobar which would have given us a young arm and the opportunity to still sign Escobar. We also heard Lilly and Blanton rumors and either of those pitchers for Escobar would have been better than a first round pick. The other rumor had JP wanting Delarosa from Boston for Bordick or Cat which is a ridiculous asking price and we wont get first round picks for any of those two. I love what JP has done I just think we missed the boat on trading Escobar and then trying to resign him.

Griffin from the star says JP will keep bringing in his guys and that Werth has been passed by Gross. I suppose Griffin knows that Gross was drafted by the Gord Ash regime. I heard Griffin once on the fan say that Quiroz had passed Cash as Quiroz was JP's guy yet Quiroz was signed well before JP got here.

Well, if you go by performance Gross has passed Werth. I don't think it has anything to do with being 'JP's guy'. And anyway Gross was drafted before JP got here (although I'd imagine Gross is the kind of player he would have drafted).