Where can I find a link to listen to the game w.out paying MLB radio?

Thanks!

http://www.fan590.com
I'm hoping it's on the Fan590. COMN for the homepage. We'll only know for sure when the first pitch rolls around.

since i can't be there in person may i just say:

LETS GO BLUE JAYS!

Predictions?

Jays 8-3.

http://www.immune26.tv
Lets go Blue Jays

Lets play ball!

BUT, REMEMBER, it's a marathon not a 100 yard dash!

O-Dog's in the line up today. Wilner doesn't expect him to play tomorrow when the Tigers toss a lefty at us because the muscle strain is still bugging his right-handed swing.

Prediction - Jays 9, Tigers 7. It's Johnson's suckage versus the Jays against Doc's suckage in April. Tough contest to pick.

Playing real coy, in the pre-game interview Carlos Tosca tells us he's fairly sure who he'll be calling on as a closer but won't reveal the name, only saying he hopes that a closer won't be neccessary today.

http://bluejayscheerclub.com
If the FAN doesn't work for you on the web, try http://www.cjcsradio.com/index2.shtml

For me, the sweetest combination of words, until now, have been "Central air conditioning" and "birth-control pill." Add "MLB Extra Innings" to that short list.

Man, am I grateful that I am able to buy this package.

W00t! Baseball is almost here! Hurray!

I fear that the usual rule will apply: whenever the Jays draw a big crowd, they play badly. Of course, the Tigers are likely to play worse. Perhaps no one will win this game.

I'm at work, and can't listen via radio, so I'm hoping that mlb.com's Gameday web application actually works.

Are there pre-game festivities? I'm trying to follow online and there hasn't been a pitch yet.

The Tigers' Fox Sports Net crew, as part of the "weather," have forecast a 4-2 Tigers win. How charming.

Yeah there was a whole introduce the team thing. It looked pretty good lots of dry ice and lasers loud music and things. You couldn't hear the crowd much but Reed Johnson obviously got a massive cheer. Most of the players were looking cool. calm and collected - except for Simon Pond who had a massive grin on.

Start the year with a K!!

Tom Cheek interviewed JP before the game. He started by saying that he was looking at the Star this morning and he complimented JP on his picture. JP replied "that was probably the only good thing about that story". Good one.

http://bluejayscheerclub.com
Roy strikes out the first two batters, both watch the third strike.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/live/MLB_20040405_DET@TOR
The CBS Sportsline site is a pretty slick way to watch the game. COMN.

Doc's on pace to break the record for Ks in a season.

HLH Strikes out the side...LOOKING!

Roy strikes out the side!!! Good omen!!

Hey, who's this Halladay kid? I think he's got a future in this league.

The Radio Network's doing a nice job integrating Wilner into the broadcast a little further. So far he's done a great job, taking a beautiful jab at Sanchez' arm as the F-Cat hustled into second base for a heads-up double

Watching the game at home in London (uk) thanks the the wonders of MLB Tv.. hard to think I used to have to make do with a very patchy radio stream from the US Armed Forces Network (rare for the Jays to feature), and before then buying the odd copy og USA today to get the latest scores...

Long live the internet!

ps. 0-0, 1 on, 1 out for Det in the 2nd (another strike out - 4/4 so far)

39 pitches through 2 innings. Looks like Halladay will only go 6 innings today.

http://economics.about.com
Ouch.. Halladay has thrown 39 pitches in only 2 innings. The Tigers have to be pretty pleased about that, even if they haven't scored any runs yet.

Cheers,

Mike

http://economics.about.com
D'oh!

Is Jason Johnson mic'ed up? What's that black box he's wearing around his belt?

Elijah - he's a bad diabetic - he was given permission to wear the pump while playing this year.

Johnson has diabetes and the box is related to that.

Oh okay, that makes sense. Thanks.

the third was a quicker inning for halladay. 48 pitches through 3.

Possibly the lowest I've ever felt was while I was umpiring a baseball game, a kid came to the plate wearing a colourful device with wires that made it look very much like the Rogers AT&T cellphone/personal messenger device that had marginal popularity a year or two ago. So I see it and, in a fairly condescending tone instruct the batter to remove "whatever it is that's attached to your waist." To which the eleven year old replies, "but it's for my diabetes." In my defense I'd been deal with jewlery issues all game and was short of patience but to say I was apologetic is an understatement.

The Fan's stream sucks today. It's not rebuffering, but the audio keeps cutting out for minutes at a time.

I fear that home runs are bad when not hit by the home side.

lidle's era is 27.00 right now. seems appropriate.

Homerun Pena. 1-0 Tigers. I didn't see it as I had to leave the game to come back to work. Sheesh. :P

http://www.cjcsradio.com
EddieZosky,

The CJCS link Aaron provided is working perfectly - look to the bottom of the bar on the left hand side for the "Real Audio, Listen Up" link. I was having trouble with the Fan too.

Heart of the order. Let's score some runs.

A Single is a good way to start.

Of course, I sit Pena today in the BBFL because I figure he'll take an 0-fer against Roy...

The CJCS link Aaron provided is working perfectly - look to the bottom of the bar on the left hand side for the "Real Audio, Listen Up" link. I was having trouble with the Fan too.

Just switched. Much better. Thanks.

ESPN's "Gamecast" is a decent way to get pitch-by-pitch info if you can't get streaming or radio to work.

about 2 minutes delayed, maybe less....

I'm surprised they've had so much trouble with Jason Johnson to this point. He hasn't looked particularly impressive, but the Jays have taken some bad cuts.

Hudson looked bad on that last swing.

That was an awesome at bat by Woodward. Fouled off a slew of pitches and put the 12th one into left center for a triple! Great start to the 5th.

If I'm the Tigers, I've got to be fully expecting a squeeze here.

http://economics.about.com
Well, Kevin Cash is now a career .139 hitter. Hopefully he can turn it around soon, and look like he did in spring training.

Cheers,

Mike

Not good, Sparky.

ouch, a leadoff triple fails to score.....

I'm not so sure about that Jordan. The Jays don't play for one run, they play for many. A major leaguer should be able to get the ball to the right side of the infield without automatically giving themselves up as an out. Yet Johnson got out of the inning because of piss poor execution.

http://economics.about.com
Brutal.

And Pudge takes Roy deep in response....

Welcome back to the AL, Pudge

My thinking on a squeeze is that Johnson, being a brilliant bunter, could probably beat one out for a hit. But even if he couldn't, I'd be willing to try a straight sacrifice bunt. I'm not an advocate of small ball, but there's a place for it, and Sparky's the guy to do it. Stranded leadoff triples are baaaad.

My thinking on a squeeze is that Johnson, being a brilliant bunter, could probably beat one out for a hit. But even if he couldn't, I'd be willing to try a straight sacrifice bunt. I'm not an advocate of small ball, but there's a place for it, and Sparky's the guy to do it. Stranded leadoff triples are baaaad.

I agree, but I also thought they might try a hit and run with Cash, so what do I know?

Is Roy's giving up the homer to Pudge, his way of beaning teammates for their inability to drive home a runner on third with no outs?

Anybody have any idea what Doc's pitch limit would
be for this game? What was he at late in spring
training?

Delgado's D costs the Jays 2 more. That ball looked quite catchable from Hudson-it's gotta be picked.

damn, so close to a fantastic DP, but turns into a run scoring play (error?).

Didn't think I'd see the pen up with Doc on in the 6th....

Oh man.

Matt, I believe Doc hit 90 in his last spring start-the minor league one. Not sure if he went over that in an earlier start, but I think he might be done.

O-Dog makes a bad play by throwing wildly on third on a play which would have gotten Doc out of the inning but ends up costing two runs. 4-0 Tigers now and there just doesn't seem to be much fight in these Jays. Johnson for his part has been hitting 93 with his fastball consistently but the Jays have either been overanxious or unlucky today.

Why do the Jays always play so piss poor when the Dome is full?

Doc's thrown 94 through 6 IP. Does he come back out for the 7th?

In my book he's done. I let him try to finish the inning but he doesn't come out for the seventh.

On the bunt strategy. I think I would have tried it. You're done by one, getting that run is important. Woodward has good speed and Sparky is the best bunter on the team, Munson is a horrible third baseman, Johnson isn't giving up sacrifice fly's and your ace is ont he mound. When is there a better situation to squeeze?

Johnson has given up more flyballs than groundballs today. The Jays just had awful luck that inning.

Sorry. I haven't been following the game and noticed that he given anything up deep in the last couple.

And Doc's back for more....

Gotta say looking at the uni's that they're pretty sharp, except for the names, which scream "blah!" Light grey arial font, yawn....

C'mon bats, time to pick up your ace! Except for Johnson's 2-seamer, he's looked pretty lackluster, but something hasn't clicked for the good guys, who have looked confused and are having a real tough time getting the ball off the ground and out of the infield.

Halladay, I believe, now leads the ML in Ks with 8; take that 89mph Pedro!

Makes that 9 Ks, but 9 hits too :( That curve just isn't dropping like it was at the start of the game....

http://bluejayscheerclub.com
Awwww crap.

Mr. Halladay, here is your can of whoop-ass, 7-0 Tigers, and that's the hook. Damn

http://economics.about.com
Weird.. how did you post at 00/00/00:00?

Anyhow.. Do you pinch hit for Cash with his .139 career average next time he comes up? I think you have to!

Cheers,

Mike

Ouch, ouch, ouch. 7-0.

Looks like Tosca should have been a bit quicker on the hook...

Good lord. 7-0 Tigers on a three run gonk by Rondelle White.

the line on Doc today:

6.2 IP, 10H, 7R, 6ER, 2BB, 9K, 3ER, 8.10ERA

Speier in to pitch

They tried to squeeze one more inning out of Doc and it didn't work out too well. I doubt many will stick around for the end of this ugly game. Roy picks up from his April struggles of last season.

White hits a three-run homer chalk that one up to Tosca. There was no reason to bring Halladay out for the seventh, we were down by four, the bullpen is fresh and has the extra arm. Tosca was just trying to burn out Roy's arm and this is the expected result.

That's 3HR, not 3ER, my bad....

It's like deja vu all over again. All we're missing is Ken Huckaby and a separated shoulder. Talk about deflating the collective balloon....

Not exactly sure how things got crossed but my comment seems to have been substituted for me name.

I'll restate my case briefly.

*The Jays are playing the worst team in the league and most teams number three starter in Johnson.
*Toronto has a killer offense that should be able to succeed against a meager opponent like the Tigers
*Playing for one run in the middle of the game is unnecessary when in theory one of two ML hitters should be able to, if nothing else, turn an out into a run
*I hope Tosca would handle this situation the same way if it comes up again (in baseball, 1/3 is good enough to put you in the HoF) with the exception being in the 8th or 9th and down by a run or tied.

It's up to the Jays now to try and claw and peck their way back into this one. Thank God Johnson is finally out of the game, after an impressive 6IP.

Hudson on the right track with a leadoff single

let's go bats. we only need 8.

http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/news?slug=mlbpa-pathentgenbackintoronto&prov=mlbpa&type=news
"Pat Hentgen: Back in Toronto" - By PAT HENTGEN - COMN

Narly piece written by Pat himself. I dunno if this has been posted as of yet, if it has, apologies!

Do you pinch hit for Cash with his .139 career average next time he comes up? I think you have to!

I would say no at that point, because it was still early in the game and his defence was needed, and secondly because one of him or Johnson should be able to hit a grounder towards first to score the run.

I just gotta wonder, and pardon my French, but how the hell do the toothless Tigers hit 3 homeruns and the powerhouse Jays can't seem to get it past the warning track; Cat hit was probably the 4th or 5th shot to the track, and the Jays have left 8 on base.

On the plus side, both Speier and De Los Santos looked good, although Speier only threw 3 pitches.

Speier faces one batter and then is removed because the Tigers have some lefties coming up? In a one-run game I MAY be able to understand this move. But in a 7-0 whitewash, it's stupid. Just plain stupid.

Speier faces one batter and then is removed because the Tigers have some lefties coming up? In a one-run game I MAY be able to understand this move. But in a 7-0 whitewash, it's stupid. Just plain stupid.

Who else thinks that Speier was wasted? Why have him throw 3 whole pitches. What is the point of warming him up and using him for 3 pitches? The game is a blow-out hardly the time to micro-manage. Considering that Tosca left Halladay in and wanted to "save" Speier, I am guessing that he has no confidence in the other members of the pen. After DLS' effective inning lets hope that he gets another.

Oops. I don't feel THAT strongly about the move.

Terrible game from a PR perspective. There's a good crowd and the home 9 gets blown out by the "worst team in baseball". All of the casual fans are going to be looking at each other going "here we go again". On top of that the team looks really flat.

I am 0 for 5 in the management department (squeeze for one with Woodward at 3rd, pulled Halladay after 6, pinch-hit for Cash in the 7th, let Speier pitch the eighth and let DLS pitch the 9th).

Repeat after me "small sample size" "small sample size"

When the Tigers start to bring in the third-stringers on you, you know its been a bad day.

go 7 run comeback

we can still get 8.

Jason Johnson 2004 = Esteban Loiaza 2003?
(Except for the whole Andujar Award thing.)

MAKE the final 7-0 Tigers.

We're tied with the Red Sox!

this is all j.p.'s fault.

Closed out by Esteban Yan. That's just sad.

Well, no matter how deflating, it's still just one game; the Jays have two more chances to take the series, and there's 159 more matches after that. But like I said off the top: there are no gimmes in baseball.

Just one game. One extraordinarily bad game.

As a human being, when the reality of "small sample
size" eludes me in times like these (when I let
that animal instinct part of me take over the
"thinking" baseball fan part of me), posts like
#158298 bring me back to reality and soothe my
soul.

I don't feel so bad having to stay at work now.

Not having seen the game, it seems that Tosca still has a slow hook with Halladay. He wasn't effective and his pitch count was in the 90s (I believe) prior to the 7th. The bullpen is completely rested, and should be much better than last year. Have trust in them.

Small sample size, small sample size ...

Its just so deflating to be so pumped for the season and your team and see them go down in embarassing fashion. Just a total downer.

Hopefully with the Cheer Club in place tomorrow, the result will be different.

(Halladay was at 93 pitches entering the 7th.)

No straightaway centre-field camera today on Sportsnet. Can't they afford a table in the restaurant any more? We just got the conventional off-centre shots from left-centre and it was hard to tell what was inside/outside.

No pitch speeds on Sportsnet today either.

The HD pictures were nice, but I still muted the announcers and listened to the radio off the Internet (40-second delay).

Frankly I think the whole Opening Day ceremony stuff impacts negatively on the players. I think it was clear that people (not necessarily the Jays but observers) were taking the Tigers lightly. How did they hit three homeruns? Because Ivan Rodriguez, Rondell White, and Carlos Pena are talented major league hitters. If you make bad pitches to them you'll pay.

I will give the Jays dance squad an award for creativity though. They used the hotel room windows to interesting effect in their routine before the game. I had to look around and make sure I hadn't walked into a rave by accident.

The HD pictures were nice, but I still muted the announcers and listened to the radio off the Internet (40-second delay)

Too bad, Faulds and Cerrutti were at their best today, as they haven't run the tank dry for conversation and had a whole lot they could have chatted about. They've already improved a lot, even from the end of last year. I wish people weren't always ragging on them, they're not perfect but they're certainly not the worst of the bunch, especially if you compare them to Joe Carter, the TSN staff, the CBC staff, or FOX baseball.

But I'm probably the only person who likes them, so I digress.

Disappointing, but there are still 161 potential wins out there. I hope that Halladay doesn't allow himself to fall into the "April Trap", but I don't think he will.

Small sample size is right.

I was there, ugly game. The casual fans were getting pretty negative by the end of the sixth. It's a shame to turn them off like that.

Note to Cheer Club:

Those of us in centre field gave Alex Sanchez a pretty hard time - we had the entire section chanting his name for a while, especially after Woodward's triple. By the time the Tiggers subbed in Inge in centre, dozens of people were shouting 'we want Sanchez'. Suggest you guys stay on him if you're near centre.

You know what this is like? It's like when you get a new car. It's perfect. You're careful about not letting it suffer even the slightest scratch. Then you scrape a branch or a rock kicks up or some guy walks by with a key or something and the car is no longer pristine. You're devastated. But the car's still fundamentally okay. You soon come to realize this. From then on, the occasional scrape or problem is no big thing.

My uncle's a big car guy. I was once talking to him about this and said that if I ever bought a new car, the first thing I'd do is give it a good whack with a mallet, just so I could relax from then on. He screwed up his face and said, "Frighteningly enough, I think I understood that."

My theory is that this is why they christen ships by busting a champagne bottle across the bow. It has nothing to do with the champagne; it's because they want to put a couple of scratches on it.

Well, Roy Halladay just got busted across the bow of the 2004 season. Intellectually we knew that it wasn't going to be a perfect year, but now we know it emotionally too. We can relax and move on.

http://economics.about.com
Oh well.. good thing baseball is a LONG season.

I can't be too upset.. I'm going to a playoff game!

Cheers,

Mike

Matthew E.,

I like the car and boat analogy. However, losing 7-0 to the Tigers on opening day is like preparing for the maiden voyage of the ship only to find out that the champagne bottle doesn't break on the bow but sinks the ship instead. It's especially disheartening because everyone in town heads out to the shipyard for the maiden voyage.

I made a long comment about the game but Greymatter ate it. Trust me, it was brilliant stuff. That "rogue" comment with the 0:00 time stamp sort of broke the thread. So I deleted it (and a couple of double posts) then rebuilt this page. I hope it's OK now.

If I find any consolation its that we seem not to be alone, teams with inferior records in 2003 are winning their openers:

D-Rays over Yanks, Orioles over Red Sox, Royals over Chi Sox, Pirates over Phils, and looks like the Pads will take out the Dodgers and the Brew Crew will down the Cards.

The only team with better record in '03 than their opponent to win their opener are the Cubbies over the Reds.

The one difference though is that while they all count the same in the standings, it is the way Jays played that sunk the battleship - its like they weren't mentally in the game. Although, ChiSox fans can't be particuarly satisfied either what with Politte, Koch and Marte failing to get it done in the ninth.

One positive: one game into the season and the bullpen is looking good.

One negative: this teams only seems to play well when they are the underdog or away from the spotlight.

It's too bad the worst games always seem to have the most witnesses, and it's downright baffling that Doc is 5-9 with an ERA over 6.00 in April for his career. His curve was tremendous early, really biting, but when he left a couple up later, they didn't miss. Still, I thought Hudson's throw was the turning point. From where we sat on the third base line, it looked like Delgado would have needed a pretty good scoop to save it. If he comes up with it, getting out of the inning down by two with a big play is a completely different game than 4-0 with a sinking feeling. Stranding Woody at third after that brilliant at-bat was also a shame. These things happen -- we'll get 'em tomorrow.

The result was disappointing, but it was still Opening Day, one of the best on the calendar. I had fun renewing acquaintances with the working media and lots of people connected with the Jays. Expect Chris Woodward, Kevin Cash and coach Joe Breeden to be stepping into Da Box soon. We're also going to let everyone ask the questions in a Jerry Howarth interview. He won't be posting his replies to the site; I'll open a thread while the team is on the road, then we'll sit down at the next home stand and Jerry will answer as many as he can. Youneverknow -- if we all have fun, it might become a regular feature.

Anyone else notice who blew the ChiSox three-run lead? None other than our old friends Mr. Politte and Mr. Koch. Nice to see they're getting work, just glad it isn't for the boys in black (that just doesn't have the same ring to as boys in blue).

And Marte wasn't much better.

I caught the game after the Royals tied it. Fun ending to see.

I thought last year's home opener was the worst it could get. Boy, was I wrong!!! I gave up a day off work for that? I think it must be written somewhere that if you cannot bring home a lead-off triple, you deserve to lose. The game was over at the point!!! Woodward's at-bat was the lone highlight of the game offensively. There was really no other positives except for the bullpen but really, it was a 7-0 game so that wasn't exactly a high pressure situation for them. Halladay should've been done after 6. Of course, Hudson's throwing error didn't help. That DP should've been turned. He also blew another potential DP earlier. The Tigers really made him work today. The Jays are the laughingstock of baseball today. Yes, the Tigers are improved (how can they not be?) but that was truly pathetic. I think the Tigers are in a great position to win this series with Hentgen going on Wednesday. If Batista doesn't come through, we could be staring at another 0-and-3 start heading into Boston.

The pre-game stuff was pretty decent. The videos were cool but the Aretha Franklin music or whatever that was really sucked. They should go back to the 50 Cent tune from last year.

What was with the JumboTron today? Were the people running it on drugs? You would get snow on the screen, they had Reed Johnson's picture up when Catalanotto was batting, and they had Cody Ross' picture up for Detroit when he's not even on the team anymore. To top it all off, that car giveaway was really botched. The elderly lady can't open it with her key so the last guy thinks he's a winner, but no, the dude can't open it and the lady had the right key after all. It must suck to be that guy. He was on the ground in pain. It was that kind of day.

I still don't know about those uniforms! You can hardly see the "Jays" scrawled across the front. At least the numbers and nameplates stand out. They should've added some piping and a logo on the sleeves and of course, some blue. Might as well call them the Gray Jays.

I know there's 161 games to go but that's a pretty discouraging start to the year, especially when they had a chance to be in first place!!

Oh well, get 'em tomorrow, I hope!!

Brumfield, you said it yourself, it's 1/162 of the season. On the post-game show a caller (might have been Rob from Battersbox?) gave a great reminder, that being even if the Jays win 90 games, they still have to lose 72 -- not all of which will be against the Yankees and Red Sox -- so lets just take a pill.

RE Jumbotron: it was opening day for everyone. The players and coaches got Spring Training, the production crew didn't even get that.

And what happened to enjoying a ball game? Sure the home side didn't win but damnit, it's been since October that we've been baseball deprived and the first chance you get to see a game you feel cheated? Ugh.

On the post-game show a caller (might have been Rob from Battersbox?) gave a great reminder, that being even if the Jays win 90 games, they still have to lose 72

If you mean me, then no, I didn't call in. I've always wanted to though. Do Bauxites still get preferential treatment from the Producer?

However, oddly enough, I said the exact same thing to my friend right after the game (90 wins means 72 losses), and I didn't listen to the post-game. Weird. Was the caller's name actually Rob? There was a full moon the other night...

I dont believe in small sample sizes

btw look at barry bonds, he's poised to have a career year.

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI
0 3 2 3 2 0 1 3
BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
1 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.667 3.667

• Ranks 1st in NL in BA (1.000) • Ranks 1st in NL in HR (1)
• Ranks 3rd in NL in RBI (3) • Ranks 1st in NL in R (2)
• Ranks 6th in NL in BB (1) • Ranks 9th in NL in SB (0)
• Ranks 1st in NL in OBP (1.000)• Ranks 1st in NL in SLG (2.667)
• Ranks 1st in NL in OPS (3.667)

I say just give him the MVP trophy now and ease the tension

I can only assume we'd still get the VIP treatment...And yes, it was a Rob.

Not only will the Jays lose all their games by shutout this year, Travis Hafner will shatter the all-time single-season record by hitting 324 home runs. :-) It's a new day, and they play again tonight.

Don't forget that a few hundred players will break Joe D's streak with 162-gamers.

This is going to sound a bit foolish, but I actually think that tonight's a pretty big game.

First, I'm sure the Jays want to wash out the taste of yesterday. But also, home games against the Tigers don't happen very often; each loss has to be compensated for by an additional tough win if the Jays want to compete.

The Jays' approach at the plate was all wrong (I saw the first couple of innings at lunch). Sadly, it seemed like the Tigers and Jays traded offensive philosophies for the day. They've got to make Maroth work tonight.

Go Artista!

And what happened to enjoying a ball game? Sure the home side didn't win but damnit, it's been since October that we've been baseball deprived and the first chance you get to see a game you feel cheated? Ugh.

A, I couldn't agree more. I took my sons (8 and 9) to the game and, while disappointed with the result, we still had a great time. The boys enjoyed the pre-game show, loved cheering for HLH and Simon Pond when they were introduced and were mesmerized by Woody's great at-bat. About half way through that AB, the three of us started a little chant in our section (526, R 6) "You can't get him out, you can't get him out".

We enjoyed it 'cause, after 6 long cold months, it was Opening Day!

Do Bauxites still get preferential treatment from the Producer?

Sure. That Rob (Pizzo) wants to get the best callers on the air for Mike, so if you identify yourself as a Batter's Box regular, it's assumed that you know something about baseball and will ask an intelligent question.

While I think #2JBrumfield is overreacting to one bad game, I agree that the JumboTron staff had a rough day. An absent Bob File was introduced in the pregame ceremony, and there was no excuse for the Cody Ross gaffe. Somebody needs to do more homework. While it's technically true that Carlos Guillen was traded for Juan Gonzalez, that's kind of misleading -- most fans associate that name with the former MVP, not a minor-league shortstop. They could have said he was traded for Ramon Santiago. I thought the car giveaway was unintentionally hilarious, for everyone except the poor guy who "won" it for a few seconds.

Damn that Travis Hafner! I wanted him in my AL-only auction league but was too impatient and ended up with -- ugh -- Erubiel Durazo for $13. Hafner went for $4. Son of a! I don't think he'll hit 324 homers, or even 30, but a .280/.365/.480/25-HR campaigh is not inconceivable.

The Jumbotron gaffes made me think of The Year I Owned the Yankees and the book's creative use of Diamond Vision.

"Wade Boggs has never gotten a hit against Pitcher X."

Boggs had never faced Pitcher X before, of course, but who's couting?