I'm all lost in the supermarket. Clash. London Calling. Perhaps the most influencial punk rock albums of all time. Good werk Moffat.

Further to yesterday's Rios rumours - holy crap. I'd really like to see who they're talking about in return.

I don't even want to think about where this organization would be had they selected Stewart over Ricciardi.

http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=2252078
In his inside dish, Sporting News' Ken Rosenthal mentions the following:
"Blue Jays G.M. J.P. Ricciardi says he would not be surprised if his team's 25-man roster included seven or eight rookies in 2005. Guillermo Quiroz likely will take over at catcher, Russ Adams and Aaron Hill could be in the infield and Alexis Rios and Gabe Gross might be in the outfield. The fourth and fifth starters and one or two relievers could come from a group of outstanding righthanded prospects that include David Bush, Dustin McGowan and Francisco Rosario, plus Jason Arnold, Adam Peterson and Brandon League."

COMN for link.

Last year or especially the year before, if Bruce Chen had a 24.00 ERA, eight walks and no strikeouts in spring training, he might have still made the team. Fortunately, de los Santos, after his late start, has looked very good -- one hit, one walk and no runs in his first three outings -- and Kershner is also pitching well. I guess Dave Maurer is next in line, but two lefty relievers is plenty, so he'll probably end up in Syracuse.

Very encouraging news on Lilly; all the reports seem to indicate that he'll face the Tiggers in the third game instead of the Red Sox in the Good Friday matinee, as some of us were speculating. Perhaps they want his first start, on a tight pitch count, to be less pressure-packed.

The big boys don't play today, although Batista gets the start for the Chiefs in order to get his regular work in. Here's yesterday's minor league recap from the SkyChiefs website.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/sports/baseball/21QUAN.html
Nice NY Times article about our man Paul Quantrill. Sounds like his son is going to have to learn to be a good catcher.

After spring training workouts, he sometimes gets in 100 more throws with his 9-year-old son, Cal. (''He's a big enough kid now that I'm whipping it to him,'' Quantrill said.)

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COMN

Did anybody catch the Dan Patrick show today? Justin Miller was on to talk about the tattoo issue with Dibble.

Anyways, Miller has "I love Billy Koch" tattooed on his butt. Was this common knowledge? I'd never heard it before. Apparently he put it there not because he lost a bet, but because Koch paid him $1500.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/news/tor_news.jsp?ymd=20040322&content_id=665856&vkey=spt2004news&fext=.jsp
COMN for the recap of Batista's start today for the SkyChiefs. 5 innings, 5 hits, 1 run on a homer and one BB. Only two runners made it to second and one was nailed at third by Cash.

Looks like Batista is rounding into form nicely. Great news.

Lilly injured his wrist over 1 month ago, and according to Rutsey's article, says that it is still not 100%. He has not yet pitched in a spring training game. It's not wise to have him scheduled to pitch for keepers in the first week of April. Let him have a proper rehab process.

Anyways, Miller has "I love Billy Koch" tattooed on his butt.

When were Miller and Koch teammates? There were traded for each other. If they were not teammates, the story is even more strange.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/columnist.jsp?content=20040224_205545_4632
Marty York talks about this in his February 24 column. It all stems back to a bet the two made. COMN for link.

From the official site on Bruce Chen and the decision to have him drop down his delivery:

"That's a choice he's going to have to make on his own, whether he wants to be that type of pitcher or not," he said. "That falls in his court. Now it's up to our minor league people to put him in whatever role they're going to use him in."

Sounds like his last chance is to become a LOOGY

Once upon a time Chen was a great prospect (I believe). A good reminder that most of the Jays propsects will not be making it either.

Did anyone happen to catch Mike Wilner's update today, when he talked to Terry Adams? It was about what you would expect -- he doesn't have a big ego, is happy to work the seventh or eighth inning, just wants to pitch in meaningful situations -- until the last question.

As he promised he would, on behalf of Bauxites (though he didn't give us any credit) Wilner asked the pitcher, since he was going to fill the hole between the rotation and the closer, if he thought the nickname "Patch" Adams might stick.

"I guess that's pretty cool," he replied. "Good movie."

For the record, I still like Yardmaster. And Bridgekeeper.

FYI,

ESPN Classic is showing Game 6 of the 93 Series RIGHT NOW.