Dunno but mlb.tv has no tv for the game and Berg is in the leadoff spot....

Pond's starting at first.

Lineups:

Blue Jays	Athletics
2B Berg 3B Hinske LF Johnson CF Wells C Zaun 1B Clark SS Gomez DH Pond RF Rios	LF Byrnes 3B McLemore CF Kotsay RF Dye 1B Hatteberg DH Karros SS Crosby C Melhuse 2B German

I guess it's ok for Vernon to job out those infield grounders.

Hentgen can't throw all those balls and let the patient lineup tax him arm. He has to throw strikes, Hatteberg doesn't scare anybody.

I wonder if JP and Tosca has the balls to remove Hentgen from starting and into the pen. He's shown he doesn't have the stuff to be a starter, and if Towers gets another start and pitches well Hentgen should go to long relief.

I don't think Hentgen has pitched into the 7th inning this year although I may be wrong and maybe he did it once.

BTW why is Berg hitting lead off?

Does anyone here think Hentgen will regain the velocity he had last year? 88-91 MPH. I for one am worried because guile and location can only fool some of the hitters some of the time.

Hentgen is certainly going the long way about getting things done..

Keep up the negative talk! Hentgen just struck out the side...

50 pitches throw in only 2 innings yet he hasn't allowed a hit yet.

I believe he's been up to Ball 3 with every hitter except one or two.

Berg STRIKES again!

I'm thinking he has naughty pics of JP and Tosca, that's why he's still on the team.

I don't get why Menichino isn't playing today.

I'm only listening to the game. Wasn't that botched bunt play? Wasn't that the reason Berg was out?

Ron - as you were saying about Hentgen..... 3 - 0 Oakland.

Bah, first game for a week that I can actually watch live without screwing up my body clock and it's not on mlb.tv. I've been avoiding da box for the last week so that I could watch the games the next evening (local time) without knowing the result, so I was deprived of you guys' witty repertoire too.

And it doesn't look good for the Jays today either. Berg leading off? Dear God, what is next?

(2 home runs is what is next.)

ouch - maybe when the broadcasters keep going on about how Hentgen is a fighter and will never bow out it is a polite way of saying he's all washed up. You wonder how much truth was in that KC comment that PH had minor-league stuff. Richy Griffey observes how they don't even show is velocity on JumboTron. sigh...

My core philosophy, though: Homeruns don't kill you as long as they're solo shots. It's the walks that kill.

By the way, please don't tell me that Phelps and Menechino are injured too?

Tom and Jerry just said that Reagan passed away.

Ronald Reagan: the last Great President.

Umm, the 8 years of Clinton was a pretty good time as well...

Clinton didn't have a fraction of the Presidential dignity of Reagan.

You really can't compare Clinton & Reagan. Reagan changed the face of the world & the U.S.

Forget the dignity, Regan perminently fractured the American social system. As a political icon for neo-liberalism (not to be confused with the human loss), I say good riddance.

Okay, at least Hentgen got through 6 innings, and may go a bit more. I think the bullpen appreciates not being called in early.

Man, the yankees and red sox starting pitching have been taking it on the chin this week.

I know you guys have been jokingly referring to the Jays recent lineup as the Expansion Jays. I was just looking back over tonight's team, and thinking about the poor turnout at home and on the road, and it struck me that they look like the Contraction Jays!

I still have hopes that many of them will return from injury soon, and will return in good form (not a given) and the team will overtake Baltimore shortly. A strong third place would be a good result, given the season so far. On the other hand, I fear the return of Woodward, Cash, and Hudson, all of them having lost any ability to bat during their injury...

"Contraction" is a banned word on this site.

Oh I'm not saying seriously that there's a danger of it*. But just that the team looks so poor that it's the sort of thing you would associate with a contraction team's first choice lineup.

*(yet)

*(yet)

I think the Cabal (who obviously doesn't exist) has some IP banning to do ;-)

Sounds like DLS is injured now but I have to say that's the injury I'm least worried about. He doesn't seem to have had anything good all year. Bob File out next?

I know what you mean.

But I would just hate to see Toronto give up on the Jays as a lost cause, refusing to make an emotional investment in the team because they feel it might be contracted. Then attendance will dive even lower, and contraction gossip becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I mean, Rogers just bought a bigger share in the team. What needs to be realized is that the owners of Minnesota and Montreal, back in 2002, wanted out, wanted to be contracted.

Bud Selig gave us interleague play, expanded playoffs, a more exciting all-star game. But for all this 'contraction' talk he is just vile. Who knows what kind of illegal maneouvering he did to get that sparkling new stadium for his Brewers, taking them of the list for potential contraction.

It might all be hot air anyway. Look at the Marlins threatening to move if they don't get a tax-funded stadium. Move to where? It's taking MLB years to decide where to move the Expos. The Marlins are bluffing.

I do agree with you. It won't happen in the foreseeable future. I think it's a shame, what's currently happening to the Jays though. I hadn't realised until recently quite how much the payroll has been cut. That's really not a feel good factor, especially if and when Delgado goes. We see this sort of thing all the time in football (soccer) in the UK.

Sure, Ricciardi is probably right that the Blue Jays can be better and cheaper than they were at the start of the century. But $50 million looks miserly today, especially if it can't be boosted by the odd million to buy in some replacements for the injuries.

I generally like Candiotti, but what's with this "Huddy" and "Timmy" all afternoon?

Well, they say that good pitching always beats good hitting. Tonight was a lesson in how good pitching also beats mediocre second-string hitting.

Oh well, we didn't really expect to win this one. I hope we might sneak tomorrow and split the series though.

Is it Kershner tomorrow? I'm always up for another 'character win'. So, will both Cat and O-Dog be back for Tuesday? What do we know about Delgado and Halladay?

I always laugh when announcer say "insert pitcher here" only gave up a few bad pitches. Of course those are the pitches that end up in being runs scored. Heck if you take away a couple of bad pitches from every pitcher, 99% of them tossed a good game then.

It's just like saying outside outside of Hentgen not giving up that 3 run homer and solo shot to Crosby he had a terrific game. That always cracks me up.

But boy do the Jays have a scrub lineup due to injury. They've only scored 7 runs in the past 3 games. The good news is that O-Dog, Cat, and Woody should be back next week.

I never post here but read everyday, and I just want to congratulate Bob File on completing the long road back to The Show. He looked pretty good for a guy who went over 2 years without a big league appearance, and hopefully he can continue to contribute.

Well, he's not pretty but you can't give Hentgen too much crap for his effort today. The man went seven after racking up a lot of pitches early. I still have faith in the man as his outings have been better of late.

As for the 'Jays and the dirty c-word...there's no way. Toronto's a big market that in every other sport, has drawn when the team plays half decent. There's far too many other teams on the cutting board well ahead of the Jays ('Spos, Twins, Marlins, A's, Pirates?). However, I think the payroll is terribly low; if they don't re-sign Delgado, I think we will have an accurate idea of what Rogers wants out of this team, depending on what he does with the saved 18 million.

God, this season is not turning out to be the exciting run I dreamed of all season.

I agree with A. It's sad to see Reagan die and the state he was in the last few years was terrible to read about, but I'm not going to shed any tears for a man who appointed Antonin Scalia to the US Supreme Court.

On a baseball note, Hengten pitched quite well today. A couple of mistake pitches to Hatteberg and Crosby did us in, but it was always going to be an uphill battle.

If you'd have told me beforehand that Hentgen would give up half as many hits as Hudson and would go 7 innings, I'd take that (almost) no questions asked.

Well, that was predictable. I think I'll downgrade that lineup to a B-C. Was there a single hit out of the infield? I don't think so.
One positive note: at least most of the bullpen seems to be improving somewhat (against offensively challenged teams anyway), except Adams of course. The game in Minnesota where he threw a ball over Cash's head to allow a run to score on an intentional walk was the most embarrassing thing since Olerud got struck out during an intentional walk.
Sigh.

Can't Clark play 2nd? If Tosca wanted to give Menechino and Phelps a rest (I'm guessing) and get some lefties in, why not put Pond at first, DH Phelps and use Clark at 2nd. Does he really like Berg's bat better than Phelps'? Berg wasn't the problem today, but I don't understand Tosca's obsession with him.

I'd hardly call 47 plate appearances in two plus months an obsession.

You're right, it's hardly an obsession. I do still think that he's used Berg more than a few times when another option made more sense (although my own bias leaves me believing that most situations fit that description).

Hopefully Tosca is using Berg to show JP that he needs to go in a reverse psychology sort of way :).

Didnt see the game..
How did File look?
We could really use him right about now with the injuries and hiccups of our FA signings. Have you noticed that new reliver faces always seem to go real good for a couple weeks atleast? instead of bullpen by commitee, lets have reliever carousel where we call up random relievers for a couple weeks and have the lowest bullpen ERA ever.

How did Olerud strike out on an IBB?

If I remember correctly, it was 3-2 and the catcher stood up with his arm out like an intentional walk, Olerud stepped back and the catcher quickly got down in his crouch and the pitcher threw a strike. Olerud looked stunned, as were most of the viewers like me. Adam's idiocy still beats that though.