A fine come from behind victory for the lads. One question though: Did anyone else think it strange that once the Jays procured a late lead, Tosca left Clark in right field? I thought the "triple" by Uribe was more a case of a Clark just butchering his route to the ball. Isn't the idea to get your best defensive unit out there to help out your pitchers in close, late contests? Goodness knows Speier's line was kept clean by the fine efforts of Cat and O-Dog (should be a new cop buddy show on NBC anyday) in the eighth.

Tosca said, in an optimum scenario, he'd like to pair off his relievers and designate two to work each night. That way, he'd avoid being caught short-handed like he did earlier in the week.

I love this idea as it would really restrict Tosca's penchant for reliever roulette (although he's been better lately). I would actually break the bullpen into two units:

Nakamura - Ligtenburg - de le Santos - Frasor,
Speier - Kerschner - Adams,

For extra innning/blowout games the longman from the one group temporarily switches to the other group (since they are the ones most likely not to be used in a normal game).

I think the pen pitches better this way because:

1) pitchers always say they pitch better when they know when they are going to pitch,

2) as Tosca said warming up can take it's toll as well and this keeps players from warming up every day.

3) maybe it has to do with #1, but I think if the relievers know when they are going to pitch, and when they are not, they may modify their partying habits to suit. Now don't jump on me here, I'm not saying these guys are getting hammered every night and this is affecting their pitching. But lets face it, they're young, they're rich, and they are on the road a lot. Unlike other sports, they really don't get off-days, and I'm pretty sure that these aren't choir boys.

As an aside, I always find it funny how professional atheletes are always portrayed as having a penchant for easy, hot women. I think we all (well maybe not the guys whose wives read this site) have that penchant, it's the accessibility that's always been the problem.

I don't think it was a matter of Clark "just butchering his route to the ball." It was an aggressive play, to be sure, and maybe that was not the time for an aggressive play in the field, but I don't think the route was bad. He was right there, and didn't come off the wall with it.

I think your point is a good one, though: I think Johnson is probably more likely to have come down with it, or to have at least played it smarter, than Clark.

Clark did not look like he took a good route to the ball, and he just missed making the catch. At the time I assumed a "regular" right fielder makes the play.

Carlos Tosca seems to be learning. Sometimes things have to go very wrong for people to make adjustments. This may be the case now, and I think, just maybe, that this time it will stick. I'm quite optimistic that he will handle the bullpen reasonably well the rest of the season.

It seems to me that good luck played a role in last night's win, as bad luck had been a feature of April's losses. Key example: Gomez fails on bunt attempts in the ninth and then hits a chopper that advances Hudson to second. In April, Gomez undoubtedly would have hit into a DP.

Ummm.. Off Topic... Is it hailing?

Ummm.. Off Topic... Is it hailing?

It was hailing like mad here in London. We were out at garage sales when we got caught it in. Those pellets really sting!

I couldn't find a bat for Named For Hank, but I'll keep looking. :)

err.. caught in it.

I'm at werk. It's just started to rain here. I'm 26.67 km from home and I biked in today.

Crap.

I was at last nights game and I sat down in section 126. I had a lot of fun heckling and cheerin' for the FIGHTIN' JAYS and I've decided that Frank Thomas is my father.

Our Fightin' Jays are back...

http://www.nypost.com/sports/16840.htm
You guys might have missed this (COMN) but I read it and couldn't stop laughing. This is Barry Bonds weighing in on the Spiderman controversy:

"What the [bleep] are you asking me for? I don't care," Bonds said. "Our job is to play ball, not to worry about what add is on the billboard. I don't care. They can have [bleepin'] dog-poo as bases so I have to step in [bleep] as far as I'm concerned. What the hell."

Finally an intelligent response. I'm not being sarcastic either.