I think Boston plays Baltimore today.

The Jays are off and play Boston on Friday.

http://economics.about.com
I think Boston plays Baltimore today.

The Jays are off and play Boston on Friday.

Whoops! For some reason I thought today *was* Friday... it sure feels like a Friday. Must be because this is the last day of the workweek for me because of Good Friday.

I'll change that in a second. Thanks.

Cheers,

Mike

http://www.sports-wired.com/players/profile.asp?ID=6398
Aaron Gleeman spectulates at his site that the Jays might claim Mike Nakamura (Twins reliever) on waivers. COMN for stats - not sure why they only have him for 12 innings last year (injury?). Good strikeout ratios.

Of course if you add him to the roster someone has to go and I'm not sure who the Jays would drop, unless they like him more than Douglass.

I can understand not pitching well at this point but I think the most frustrating part of the Jays' start so far is that they weren't hitting the ball. And they weren't hitting against Tiger pitching of all teams.

The Smiths - another of my favourite bands. The perfect gloomy song for a day like today.

http://economics.about.com
The Smiths - another of my favourite bands. The perfect gloomy song for a day like today.

It seemed appropriate.

(Everyone other than EddieZosky can ignore): Dan Hohnstein and Jer Clark are both back in the country for Easter, and they both wanted me to say hi to you. I would have told you over e-mail, but I can't seem to find your addy. :)

Cheers,

Mike

I can understand not pitching well at this point but I think the most frustrating part of the Jays' start so far is that they weren't hitting the ball. And they weren't hitting against Tiger pitching of all teams.

Well, one thing we know is that the Jays do have both talented hitting and pitching that will at some point come around.
Unfortunately, we also know that this team is not as fundmentally sound as some of the elite teams they hope to hang with. This team cannot afford to give away runs as they did last night.

I thought Griffin's piece on Hentgen very good. And yes, Mike, the Jays will win tomorrow.

I have some questions about going to an Expos game.
There doesnt' seem to be a hijack central anymore...
Is it okay to ask that sort of stuff here?
Or is there an Expos blog I should go to?

http://economics.about.com
I thought Griffin's piece on Hentgen very good.

Me too. I should have mentioned that in the Roundup. I quite enjoyed it.

And yes, Mike, the Jays will win tomorrow.

I hope so... I didn't get a chance to watch any of yesterday's game, so I was spared from the carnage.

I have some questions about going to an Expos game.
There doesnt' seem to be a hijack central anymore...
Is it okay to ask that sort of stuff here?
Or is there an Expos blog I should go to?

These roundup threads work double duty as Hijack threads. Feel free to post any baseball related articles you like here, or start discussions on topics outside of the ones I've linked.

For the record, I'm an Expos fan first and a Jays fan second, so I'd love it if we had more Expos talk. :)

Cheers,

Mike

I'm gonna hit the Lynx-Skychiefs game on Monday afternoon and maybe one of the other two games depending on who's pitching. I've got one guy who's interested. Send me an email if you're interested in going. We can talk about Rosie DiManno.

Allright, here's my question.

I'm going to go to an Expos game this Saturday. Drive to Ottawa Fri night, and then go with some friends on Saturday. (Aside: The lack of Saturday afternoon home games disapoints me).

Here's the questions:
I'll be driving from Ottawa.
Is there free parking around the stadium?
If not, is there free parking somewhere near a Subway? (Which I could then take to the stadium).

I'm on the tickets page, and the tickets are VIP, Box, etc.

What does it mean by box seats? I'm guessing that it's just a regular seat, and not actually a box seat for 30 bucks? If they are box seats, is that a good way to see a game?

Are the VIP seats worth 40 bucks?

I think I'm going to go to the July 24th game against the Marlins. It's Expos Hall of Fame night.
Thanks!

Paul,

I don't think you mean this Saturday. This Saturday's game is in San Juan, which is a loooooong drive from Ottawa. You mean the 24th of July?

There is parking around the Big O, that's not a major problem, and there's a highway exit relatively near the park. I usually don't drive (I take the bus or train into the city and catch the subway) so couldn't tell you exactly where. But you'll have to pay for a lot; in fact I think you'll want to pay for a lot. $5 or so should do it, I think.

As for free parking, that's less sure. My experience with Montreal driving/parking is so limited, the only good free parking I *know* of is at the far end of the Green Line on the Metro (subway) at Angrignon Shopping Centre, but that's a long subway ride from the park. Of course, if you go early you can get off the Metro and hang around downtown for awhile before heading out to the Stade, which is east of downtown at Pie-IX Metro station on the Green Line. (Here's a map of the Metro).

The best value are the "terrace" sets behind the plate, the $20 seats. If you can't get these seats in a good place (the lowest few rows of terrace seats, behind the plate) go for the same seats on the first base side. Box seats are also good value, but yes, the "box seats" are the same crappy hard folding plastic seats with the pincer arms that everyone else but the VIP seats have. The friendliest fans, though, are in the good Terrace seats and it's worth it to get seats there if you can.

If you've never sat right down in front, the VIP seats can be worth it as a luxury. It's an experience you can't often repeat elsewhere because the very best seats in most parks just aren't for sale.

If you don't care about getting your tickets early, make sure you have a good map of the seating and go see the scalpers at the stadium. The scalpers have tickets at below box office prices (they get packages giving them big discounts, and various types of freebies, for cheap and then sell at a modest markup, but still less than box office price). Most of them are honest, if you have a map of the stadium seating they can usually show you where the seats are. Stay AWAY from any "General Admission" scalper tickets, make sure you get the Terrace (or Box) ones and make sure they're together.

I should expand on my point about the fans. A lot of the real die-hard Expos fans are in the lower rows of Terrace seats behind the plate, extending over towards the first-base side. You can strike up some great conversations with people there, they are a very friendly crowd as a rule.

Heh... one more thing. Don't get "Terrace" seats in the 200 sections. Always make sure you're in the 100 sections.

http://bluejayscheerclub.com
Attention Beer Club members:

There was some talk of going to Sports Cafe again tomorrow. Who's up for it? I, unfortunately, am not.

The minor league season starts for a number of teams today.

Danny Core gets the home opener at 6:05pm for Charleston WV.

Dunedin has Josh Banks starting on the road tonight at 7:05.

New Hampshire is playing as we speak with an unusual 10:35am start on the road. I'm not sure but I think it's Dustin McGowan going in this game. There is an internet radio broadcast but there are no streams available.

David Bush starts for Syracuse today at 4:00pm. There will apparently be an internet broadcast for this one as well.

The short season teams (Pulaski and Auburn) will be starting their seasons about June 21st, two weeks or so after the draft.

Attention Beer Club members:

There was some talk of going to Sports Cafe again tomorrow. Who's up for it? I, unfortunately, am not.


I'll be at the Artful Dodger.

Not a sports bar, but I'm sure they have a few TV's.

Thanks for the advice Craig B.
Looks like I can get some terrace seats in section 101, row N. I just have to confirm how many of us are going. You are correct about it being on July 24...

Does anyone know why there aren't very many Saturday afternoon games anymore? Is FOX worried that a Saturday game in Montreal or Toronto is going to cut into their audience?

Thanks again.

Those seats are awesome, Paul. Row N is right down at the front of the Terrace section and you'll have a perfect view of the plate. You will also be behind the screen.

For those of you who don't know, Rob Neyer and Bill James have a book coming out called The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers expected to hit the shelves June 1st.

Matthew Namee has some information from the book in his article today for The Hardball Times.

Does anyone know why there aren't very many Saturday afternoon games anymore? Is FOX worried that a Saturday game in Montreal or Toronto is going to cut into their audience?

Yes, but it's not limited to Toronto and Montreal. Fox has exclusive rights to televise games between 1:00 to 4:00 Eastern on Saturday afternoons after their national TV schedule starts. Teams not being televised by Fox can play during that time, but those games can't go on local television. Just about everyone now starts their games late on Saturdays so they can be televised locally.

I realize that it's for all teams...

But doesn't it seem silly for that rule to apply in Canada? Doesn't CBC or someone have national rights in Canada?
Kind of like how the Raptors aren't allowed to broadcast within 75KM of TO for some games...

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/
Feeling nostalgic anyone? COMN for a picture of Josh Barfield finishing his swing. It brings back fond memories of his father's swing.

http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/story?storyId=1778243
COMN - for a picture of Justin Miller's tattooed up back and the infamous Billy Koch Tattoo. Good lord.

(From the Dan patrick Show website)

Reviewing yesterday's headlines, we find ...

- Roger Clemens striking out Barry Bonds
- Ken Griffey Jr. homering off Greg Maddux
- Kevin Brown throwing seven strong innings for a win
- Pat Hentgen starting for the Blue Jays

Excuse me, but is this 2004 or 1994?

If it's 1994, then I'm not going to be very happy come August 12th.

Jordan, it could equally have been 1993. Happier year, that one.

http://www.bluejayway.ca/features/me/me040804.php
My 2004 Jays preview is finally up at Blue Jay Way, COMN to read it. I swear I had it ready for Opening Day; technical and administrative details (i.e. I expected the world to be able to do exactly everything I wanted them to do at the last minute) prevented it from appearing on the site before this.

I knew, writing it, that I'd never be able to compete with the Batter's Box Jays preview on its own terms, so I took a different tack entirely. You could say that Batter's Box has the Yankees of the Jays-preview world, and Blue Jay Way has the Blue Jays of the Jays-preview world. Or that may be a bad analogy.

Matthew, that was great. I liked the no-BS intro, skipping over what we know. (I prefer Coach's style, mind you, of meticulous detail, but for get-me-to-the-point this is great)

Not to be anal, but Roger Clemens is the greatest player in the history of the Blue Jays, isn' he?

I guess it depends on how we define things. He had the best season and is the best player they've ever had, but doesn't get many point for longevity.

I saw Junior's home run, and was surprised that I found myself grinning madly. It's easy to forget how beautiful Griffey's swing is, mainly because we don't see it as much as we used to. Like I feel about Barry Bonds, I can forgive the off-field stuff (and even certain on-field gaffes) and appreciate what I'm watching with Ken Griffey Jr.

It's a pipe dream, but here's hoping he can stay out there for 140 games.

Good to see we aren't the only team getting embarrassed by the Tigers. Detroit rallied from three down to win 10-6 over Minnesota. How does first place Tigers sound? Yikes.

I agree with A. My hope is that Detroit will pull a KC this season b/c there's no other way we can live down this sweep.