Pat Tabler mentioned the words "turning point" and "Blue Jays Season" in the same sentence. Anybody out there think that this could be so?

Ted Lilly is like a box of chocolates...

The Threat of Vinny Chulk always works.

Chad Gaudin, unless you shape up in your next start Vinny Chulk is getting your roster spot.

Rotation spot, it should read.

Congrats to Gustavo Chacin who is using the off day to get married. Hopefully he gets some sleep because he is pitching on Friday. A question for the bauxites, do you think he walks down the isle with or without the goggles? I say he wears them.

Ha ha. I wonder how many pairs he has.

Great job by Lilly, though he has to be one of the most maddening starters around. He delivers some of the best starts in the league (remember the game against Boston last year?) but goes completely to pieces in others. Hopefully he's gotten his mandatory appalling starts out of the way for 2005 and is ready to get into a groove like he did last year (and in late 2003).

I just hope Gus remembers: no boom-boom before the game.

I won 5 bucks when I bet my friend - even money - that SS LOOGY would walk Walker. Call it a feeling.

Gaudin's been optioned to AAA and Gross recalled as V-Dub leaves the team to be with his wife as she gives birth. Not even Chulk can save Gaudin from demotion.

And by the way, I support the move.

Taking two out of three from the Kings of the NL is every bit as exciting as getting swept by Houston was disappointing.

Has anyone else been terribly amused by the Washington - Anaheim spat over pitchers? I used to really like Frank Robinson, but after seeing him on TV this morning ("Mike, that was really weak, just really weak") I completely love him. And tonight he sent out the first base coach with the lineups so he wouldn't have to shake Scioscia's hand.

Here's an article about what happened in last night's game, for those who missed the highlights.

Gus is one of those guys who I could see with those googles, and a baby blue tux walking down the isle.

Congrats all around.

I wish Chacin nothing but the best at his wedding.
The same goes for V-Dub becoming a father for the 2nd time and Walker for returning to the starting rotation.

I'm don't expect Walker to keep up his current performance but hopefully he performs better than Gaudin.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050615&content_id=1090830&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor

Fallout: The International League is still mulling over disciplinary measures for an on-field incident between Triple-A Syracuse and Triple-A Richmond earlier in the week. 21 Syracuse players were reportedly fined for their parts in the brawl, and Richmond outfielder Esix Snead was suspended indefinitely.

Snead sparked the brawl by charging the mound after a walk, attacking Toronto prospect Bush, who had turned his back to the play. Bush needed five stitches and is reportedly mulling over pressing charges for assault.

Has anybody ever pressed charges for assault over a player charging the mound before?

Ron, has it been announced that Walker will be starting or are you just speculating? On Wednesdays With JP somebody was asking about the 4th starter spot and JP said something about "wait until Friday", apparently they're planning something... a promotion, a trade, I don't know.

I know the chance is remote but maybe Lilly in some way listened to Arnsberg today. Unlike other games I have seen where every time he pitched up he got hammered, tonight he pitched down in the strikezone and voila, success! I know control and stuff might have had a little to do with it too, but the lower location resulted in at least one double play and a lot less of the usual warning track fly balls.

Tonight Lilly had 11 ground outs to 3 air outs. This reversed the trend of this year (and his career) where he had 52 ground outs to 77 air outs.

Moral of the story: Listening to pitching coach leads to less of an air head and less air outs.

Molina alert!

Our own Craig Burley, whose mysterious mojo continued working on Tuesdays even when he wasn't around to take advantage of it, has a piece on Yadier Molina over at The Hardball Times

Even better, in the course of the story he writes:

I took the game in with Kent Williams (the crusty old dean of Batter's Box)

Crusty? Old? You gonna let him get away with that, Coach?

Gosh, I love ratting people out...

TSN.ca also is reporting that Walker gets the start on Tuesday.

Jonny, I based my commnets on the article on tsn.ca that Brian has linked.

Wow, great game tonight, I didn't think Ted had it in him. It's the 3rd time I've been down to the Dome this year with a 2-1 record in the times I've gone, with 2 seven inning shutout victories for Ted and Doc, and one horrible start for Josh Towers. However, today was the first time ive sat anywhere closer than Level 500 this year. I was lucky enough to sit in Row 1, Seat 3 in the "In The Action Seats" (won the tickets) and it was absolutely amazing. I have never sat closer to the action in any pro sport ive ever been too. I sat right beside the Bat Boy and he gave my friends and I balls when the game ended. We also got a couple of things signed by a few players as well. Free food is always a good sign of things as well. Too bad, I will probably never sit in a place that great again with such foot room and carpeting on the floor. If anyone ever has the chance to sit in these seats (for much less money than face value), you should do anything to go.

Did anyone notice Gregg Zaun went nuts in the 4th inning? He grounded out to the pitcher and then e started throwing his helmet around, while shouting obscenities at himself the top of his lungs. He then followed that by going into the locker room and you could hear him pounding the lockers. Didn't he get kicked out for doing much of the same thing on Sunday? It was pretty funny as most of the other Jays player just looked away as he was doing it, trying not to pay attention.

As for the game, I wasn't hoping for much going into it with Lilly on the mound but he sure proved me wrong. As for the Chad Gaudin move, I agree with it in all aspects as the Jays need a "big" bat with Vernon Wells heading out for a while. Pete Walker likely won't have the same success in the rotation as he did out of the bullpen but he will keep us in games which is what a starter should do. JP seemed to be hinting at some kind of "move" happening on Friday while i was listening to the radio tonight on the way home from the game. I wonder what that will be..

I just hope Gus remembers: no boom-boom before the game.

Casey Stengel once was asked what he thought about players having sex before a game. He replied that he wasn't worried about the sex, just the "chasing" it all night long.

Congratulations, Gus.

Crusty? Old? You gonna let him get away with that, Coach?

Not many people know that the "B" in Craig B. really stands for Blutarsky. Whatever he calls himself, he's expelled and I'm sending Sgt. Pepper Niedermeyer to punish the rest of those Deltas.

Pat Tabler mentioned the words "turning point" and "Blue Jays Season" in the same sentence. Anybody out there think that this could be so?

I didn't think it possible, but Pat Tabler has reached the same position on the annoy-o-meter that Warren Sawkiw holds. In one breathtaking flurry of inanity, Tabler commented how he's been following the stats of the two second basemans (the plural, dontchaknow) and that Hudson's defense saves 2-3 runs a game.

How could anything this man utters be given any credence?

Walker's promotion to the rotation worries me. He has a very low K/IP ratio: 16 strikeouts in 33.1 innings.

I thought that for the interleague series against the Cardinals. The Blue Jays would draw over 30,000 for the three games. The second game which was the one-hitter drew over 30,000.

Does anyone think the Blue Jays will draw over 2 million fans this year ?

I think that as of recently, we're averaging about 25,500 fans a game, good enough for about 2 million. This number will increase as summer approaches, so expect about 2.1 million fans this year, a 200,000 increase from the last. Alot of people were praising and congratulating J.P. that baseball was back in Toronto. My question to them would be "Where were you the last ten years?"