Re item 3, I've seen a couple of shots of Tosca at spring training smiling with his head at an angle and with the sunglasses, and I thought he looked like somebody but couldn't place who. Now, it's clear to me, it's JP.

They say that married couples start to look like each other after several years together. Does it happen to GMs and Managers? I haven't seen any shots of Branch Rickey and Leo Durocher together, and somehow I doubt that they took on each other's facial expressions. Durocher always looked too lecherous.

http://economics.about.com
You get a better deal when you buy the sunglasses in bulk. :)

Cheers,

Mike

I read the DiManno story this morning shotrly after I woke up, and I thought I didn't understand it because I was still half-asleep. I shrugged and moved on.

I just went back, and realized it wasn't *my* brain that was fuzzy. I could barely make head or tail of that article.

Dimanno's article was brutal. There goes 5 minutes of my day that I'll never get back. Thanks Rosie.

Re: the song - it was in a car ad a few years back. I can't think of the group name or song name...

http://economics.about.com
Re: the song - it was in a car ad a few years back.

Yep.. I remember that. I always thought it was a really funny choice to advertise a product given the content of the song.

I thought yesterday's was more obscure. Today's is an absolutely classic tune. Oh well. :)

Cheers,

Mike

I think the song is called 88 Lines about 44 women. The band is foggy, something to do with Nails.

My brain is bursting with useless information, but I have no clue on this one. The only band I know with Nails in it are Nine Inch Nails.

http://economics.about.com
I think the song is called 88 Lines about 44 women. The band is foggy, something to do with Nails.

Yep. Here's the song info. You can find some info about the band here.

I highly recommend tracking down the song.. it's way too catchy.

Cheers,

Mike

I think the Jackie Harvey reference iks funnier than the music stuff...I for one would love to see a Jim Anchower spring training report.

I think the Jackie Harvey reference is funnier than the music stuff...I for one would love to see a Jim Anchower spring training report.

http://www.canoe.ca/Slam040227/mlb_tor2-sun.html
The Sun's got a piece about Guillermo Quiroz and his lung. COMN

"Poor old Johnny Ray ... "

I never could figure out how the old Pirates 2B worked into "Come On Eileen."

As Ken mentioned at the end of yesterdays round up, Baseball America has posted their Top 100. The top ten and an internal chat transcript between the 5 creators of the list is available for non-subscribers. Six Jays made the list:

#6 Rios
#18 McGowan
#35 Quiroz
#72 Gross
#87 Rosario
#96 Hill

http://mothershipconnection.blogspot.com/
Re: Rosie's "article"

Leon doesn't approve of his image being used as motivation without his permission. Expect Tosca to hear from Leon's attorney about this unathorized use of his character.

JP deserves a ton of credit for snagging Pete Walker. He got almost a full season's worth of performance out of a journeyman pitcher and turned him into a cash windfall at the end. That's completely aside from the human element, that he gave a career and a pension to a guy who had little but minor-league bus tickets to show for ten years of toil in the game. This is a real feel-good story, and it should've gotten more play than it did.

It certainly would've been a preferable subject to Rosie DiManno's aimless stroll through the sports page, The Speech I Didn't Hear. Rosie used to at least have an ear for the human, even poetic side of the game, but that's long gone. The same malaise is all through her other work too: she's now a poor man's Christie Blatchford, and that's not a compliment.

Mike, kudos to you for pulling all these articles together. This one-stop shopping and mini-capsules of each of the beat writers' reports is terrific!

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7121708
Just found this story on
[a href="http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7121708"]sportsline.com[/a] check it out.
Made my name goto the same link, incase my post doesnt work.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7124084
Another story, this one concerning Greg myers plans for next season. possibly retirement. The previous posts link goes to an aticle mostly about pat hentgen.

The Pete Walker story is an interesting one. People can say that its no loss and in long run that is likely true. However, I have a feeling that for the first half of the year he may be the best internal alternative as the 6th starter (maybe 5th if the Jays have to start giving away batting helmets to the fans in the bleachers on the days that Towers starts - a very real possibility). I don't suspect that JP will be too keen on using any of the kids for the first half until they prove they've had success at AAA so that means Arnold, Chulk and Bush are likely out. The other options are: Bruce Chen and he likely needs some AAA time to straighten himself out if that's possible and Justin Miller but he needs AAA time to prove he's back. The only other realistic alternative is Adams and that's not very appealing based upon last year's efforts at starting.

I agree that as the kids mature Walker was not any kind of long term solution but in the short term as insurance he had a useful role to play. I think JP knew this and let him go anyway. For that I think JP deserves some kudos on the human side of the equation. Let's hope the pitchers stay healthy or he's got another plan I haven't thought of (something that's very likely!).

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/specials/spring_training/2004/athlon/blue_jays.html
and lastly, the cnnsi.com preview for the jays. click my name...
If any of these 3 stories have been posted, i apolagize, but as i had not seen any of them here before i thought i would post them. Just incase!!

http://economics.about.com
Mike, kudos to you for pulling all these articles together. This one-stop shopping and mini-capsules of each of the beat writers' reports is terrific!

Thanks, I appreciate that. It only takes about 15-20 minutes, and it's nice to have all these articles in one place.

I'll be doing this every weekday from now on, so I hope Batter's Box becomes the first place all Jays fans come for news on their team (if it isn't already!). It also gives me an excuse to quote early 80's songs, because as we know, everybody wants to rule the world.

Cheers,

Mike

Huh. The picture of the two pitchers (can't tell who) in the Star article features quite an interesting cutline. I never knew protective netting at hockey games was that hard to see through.

former Jays CEO Peter Hardy has been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

When I was temping, one of my jobs was data entry at a large financial institution. I processed the form that transferred Peter Hardy's pension benefits to his widow after his death. Man, did that make me feel weird.

Mike, you've should've helped me sell your soul.

Jim Callis is having a "chat" on both ESPN, currently, and Baseball America, 4pm E, today to discuss their Top 100 prospects.

Nothing news, but here's a Jays overview.