Roundup

1. Spencer Fordin discusses the long rain delay in "Rain puts damper on Jays' day":
   Some ballgames just seem to last all day. And then there was this one.

   The Blue Jays and Indians played a five-hour extravaganza on Saturday, a contest delayed by two separate rain delays totaling 139 minutes. Even with the drawn-out proceedings, the two teams were tied for most of the day.

   One swing changed that. Cleveland shortstop Jhonny Peralta ripped a solo homer in the seventh inning, giving the Indians a 3-2 win and a two-game edge in the current series.

2. The same story from Cleveland's perspective can be found in Steve Herrick's "Rain can't damper Peralta, Tribe:
   It took until the middle of May, but the Indians can finally lay claim to a three-game winning streak.

   Saturday's 3-2 victory over Toronto, which came around two rain delays that totaled two hours and 19 minutes, means the Indians have won three straight for the first time this season.

3. In probably the biggest Jays news yesterday, Spencer Fordin announced that Ted Lilly is now out of the rotation in "Jays pull struggling Lilly":
   They've seen enough.

   The Blue Jays acted decisively on Saturday, pulling Ted Lilly from his next start until they can sort out his pitching trouble. The southpaw's ERA has yet to go down this season, and he has lasted just five outs in each of his last two starts. That trajectory, combined with his past success, convinced the Jays that something has to change.

   Allan Ryan also gives his take on the game in "Blue Jays pay the price for leaving runners stranded".
4. In Mike Ganter's "McDonald a student" John McDonald attributes some of his defensive prowess from watching Omar Vizquel:
   John McDonald did not see the field a lot in six years in Cleveland -- a total of 285 games, 100 of them at shortstop -- but he certainly put his time to good use.

   His defensive highlight-a-night reputation has its roots in all the sitting and watching he did playing behind Omar Vizquel in Cleveland.

5. A must read article by Geoff Baker of the Star today in "Harvesting the Dominican diamond mine"
   There are only two reasons why a Dominican buscone would hold a baseball practice in the bushes and it soon became obvious why Victor Rosario was doing just that.

   Working out amongst trees and shrubs is a common tactic of this country's shady lot of unregulated street agents when hiding top prospects from other roving talent hunters. But talent theft was the last thing on Rosario's mind this sweltering morning, since the four scrawny pitchers under his tutelage, aged 15 to 17, had been given to him for free by another buscone looking to shed dead weight.

6. Richard Griffin argues it's time for Vernon Wells to get a wake-up-call in "Fate of Blue Jays rests on shoulders of slumping Wells":
   It's now 43 days into the schedule and it looks like the Blue Jays are destined to be a .500 team, or below, unless Vernon Wells snaps out of his "I'm missing Carlos Delgado in the lineup behind me" funk. And, even though general manager J.P. Ricciardi now has the financial resources to go out and get another significantly salaried pitcher, that isn't going to happen until other teams are ready to give up, around mid-season or at the trade deadline. The task falls to Wells. Of course, the easiest way that the Jays can surprise the baseball world and rise back into the top dozen teams in the majors is if their $3 million (U.S.) centre fielder would get off his keister and perform the way everyone expected that he would, in filling the leadership void left by the departure of Delgado.
   Ouch!