Checking in from the ball park, as the Jays go for win number 80. Currently in a three way tie (with Texas and the Cubs) for 17th overall. They'd be in second place, just two games out in the NL West, and dead last in the NL East...

They need to sell 22,051 tickets for this afternoon's game to hit 2 million in attendance. They rank 11th in the AL, ahead of Cleveland, Kansas City, and Tampa.

Cleveland? With their nice new park and their team still fighting for a post-season berth?

Today's game will determine whether or not the Jays season wins end in a 7 or an 8

I think you mean "start".

The theory is that attendance lags performance by about one year, so cleveland should get some good crowds next year.

Had the Yankees missed the playoffs, you can be sure that the Yankees would spend the off-season buying up every significant free-agent on the market

Um, won't that pretty much happen anyway?

Err.. right.. starts in a 7 or an 8. Fortunately it will be an 8.

McGowan certainly looked like a future ace this afternoon. What a way to end his comeback year. With a winter to work on that command, I'd be disappointed if he weren't in the rotation to start next season.

Speaking of young pitchers, with the Indians fighting for their lives, Brandon McCarthy struck out five Clevelanders in 5 IP. He's Blyleven-esque I tells ya, with the strike outs and the homers allowed (unfortunately).

I hope McGowan gets to try for the rotation out of spring. But if they use him in middle/long relief for the first half next year that's not necessarily a bad thing either. He sure has done great since going to the pen at the beginning of September.

Not only is McGowan on the ascendancy, but Quiroz is rounding into form as the catcher of the future. Hopefully, he'll catch Chacin on a regular basis next season.

The Jays can do more this off-season with subtraction than addition. If they could, and I don't see how they can, find a way to gid rid of Koskie and/or Hinske that would make room for Hill at 3B, and perhaps Griffin at 1st or maybe the can add a FA there. Moving Hudson to make room for Hill at 2B doesn't make sense to me, I mean unless you can get something riducolously good for Hudson. If you are building a groundball pitching staff I think you want Hudson on your team. (Have the Jays ever considered playing Hudson at SS?)

LF is the other slot where they should add a bat, keep Reed Johnson as your 4th OF and try to find a guy who can SLG near .500 at that position. I'm thinking Cat would be the DH assuming they are going to say goodbye to Shea.

I'm guessing we won't be seeing much more of Gabe Gross. Good luck to him, I think he could be a decent everyday on another team. I also wouldn't be surprised if Mr.Lilly is dealt somewhere in an attempt to get said bat the Jays need.

Anybody have any guesses as to where Jim Thome might go? The Mets?

Some 2nd half numbers, sorted by OBP:

Player	         AB   	 OBP	 SLG
F Catalanotto	195	0.382	0.503
C Koskie	205	0.353	0.376
E Hinske	201	0.351	0.483
R Adams  	260	0.338	0.346
G Zaun  	210	0.331	0.324
R Johnson	188	0.324	0.378
V Wells  	290	0.321	0.445
O Hudson	177	0.319	0.418
S Hillenbrand	266	0.314	0.447
A Hill   	195	0.299	0.308
A Rios   	198	0.290	0.364

It's well within the realm of possibility that Aaron Hill may find himself in Syracuse to open 2006. It took about six weeks, but AL pitchers adjusted to Hill and he hasn't yet figured out how he needs to adjust to that.

My first post-season Data Table (many more to come, I promise!) - Your 2005 Blue Jays, sorted by RC/G:

Catalanotto	6.44
Hillenbrand	5.93
Wells	        5.56
Hinske	        5.30
Johnson	        4.98
Hudson	        4.97
Koskie	        4.87
Zaun	        4.80
Adams	        4.55
Rios	        4.42
Hill	        4.27

Corey Koskie represents, almost exactly, the League Average.

Sorry to change the subject...but while at the game today, the scoreboard showed "Au Revoir to Spencer Fordin".

Does anybody have info on this? Presumably, he's moving on to another assignment?

Dr Prison Fence is indeed leaving the Blue Jays beat, because four years in a foreign land is long enough. As far as I know, his next assignment is Still To Be Determined.

He says he knows where to find us. So no one get any ideas.

I hope McGowan gets to try for the rotation out of spring. But if they use him in middle/long relief for the first half next year that's not necessarily a bad thing either. He sure has done great since going to the pen at the beginning of September.

What about McGowan for closer next year? If he pitches as well as he has in relief, surely he would blow fewer than the 20 saves blown by the relief corps this year. With a healthy Hallady, or even with the staff the way it is now - and it will surely be different next year - that might have meant 90-95 wins.

Less stress on his arm as he continues his recovery from Tommy John, and there's always the option to move him into the rotation in 2007.

Koskie had the slugging in the first half and the OBP in the second half. I imagine the finger was part of the reason for the power decline, or at least that would make sense.

Cat quietly had a great year AND stayed healthy.

- Hillenbrand drew only 2 walks in his final 176 AB's.

- Here's Hillenbrand's number by the month: AVG/OBP/SLB

April: .390/.421/.530
May: .252/.316/.398
June: .266/.349/.415
July: .280//.348/.500
August: .260/.300/.462
September: .301/.323/.387

- His K's went up to 79 compared to only 49 last season (he had 32 more AB's this season)

If [McGowan] pitches as well as he has in relief, surely he would blow fewer than the 20 saves blown by the relief corps this year.

It's simply not that big a deal. The Jays were a little below average in converting Save Opportunities, but every AL team blew at least 15 saves, no one blew more than 26. And most Blown Saves are actually the work of the setup men, not the Closer.

This calls for a Data Table, right?

RK	TEAM	        Sv	BS	SvO	Sv%	
1	Cleveland	51	15	66	.77	
2	LA Angels	53	17	70	.76	
3	Chicago Sox	54	19	73	.74	
4	Minnesota	43	16	59	.73	
5	NY Yankees	46	21	67	.69	
6	Oakland	        38	18	56	.68	
7	Texas	        46	22	68	.68	
8	Baltimore	38	19	57	.67	
9	Boston	        38	19	57	.67	
10	Seattle	        39	20	59	.66	
11	Detroit	        37	20	57	.65	
12	Toronto	        35	21	56	.63	
13	Tampa Bay	43	26	69	.62	
14	Kansas City	25	18	43	.58	

The rest of the AL converted 68% of their save opportunities. If the Jays had been at that rate, they would have had 38 Saves and 18 Blown Saves. There is room for improvement, but I'd rather see Dustin McGowan try to make himself into the next Roger Clemens.

Correction, I meant to type SLG not SLB

What an end. Here in England having missed more than a month of the tail end of the season, I couldn't help but have a tear brought to my eye as the season I had followed more than any other sports season in my life came to a close.

With the return of the season pass unlikely, and thus the likelihood of me going to far, far fewer games than this year for the rest of my life, twas an experience to remember.

On another note - cricket is awesome.

As I told Andrew K in the chat, tell Ricciardi to get Freddie Flintoff's agent on the phone. The Jays can use an all-rounder!

Just a few points to add from this game and some ends to tie up:

-I echoe Tyler's sentiments. This was the season I've followed the most as a fan. That said, I got to the park at 9:30am and left at 7:30pm. I didn't want this day to end. However my interest will only increase next year.

-At 12:15 today, at around the time the Jays as a team were going to sign for all the fans waiting on the sidelines since it is Fan Appreciation Day, Ted Rogers called an unexpected meeting. I was extremely unhappy at this decision and it was terribly unfortunate that the Jays fans left on a bitter note. Note only this, but Ted was late too.

-It was a nice gesture that after the game by the ramp (I don't get things signed, I just wave to the players) just about all the players stoppped and signed for the fans waiting there. Except Menechino, who slowed down to signal he was going to stop, then took off. This didn't rub off very well with everyone.

-Gabe Gross is very *VERY* religious.

-This season was a blast. Thanks to everyone who came out to section 518. We had some great moments and sad moments, but the good definitely outweighed the bad. The 18 inning game was definitely the highlight.

-Even in this team's losses, silver linings were almost always found. NFH said before the season that it didn't necessarily mattered how they finished, as long as they played hard day in and day out. The Jays delivered this 162 times.

-Thanks to Batter's Box. The online dicussion this season was a blast and the Game Reports were undoubtedly the highlight. Thanks to all the columnists who took time to write up some great (and lengthy) pieces.

Best of luck, SF.

I think the Jays marketing and in-game staff deserve major kudos for topping the 2-million-fans mark, just one year after the Season from Hell. For Toronto to outdraw Cleveland, in light of both team's seasons, is extraordinary. If the Jays had Cleveland's July and August, the RC would have been jam-packed.

SF confirmed the Jays will open up the season at home vs the Twins on April 4th.

Many thanks and good luck to Dr Prison Fence. I didn't read the Toronto media this year in part because I knew SF didn't miss anything.

So, only 155 days and counting.....

I suggest we order in several cords of Birch firewood. Let the Hot Stove League begin!

NFH said before the season that it didn't necessarily mattered how they finished, as long as they played hard day in and day out. The Jays delivered this 162 times.

Mmm... well, more than 155 times, anyway. Maybe as many as 160. But I remember a game or two that the '62 Mets wouldn't have signed for.

Come on, if the game had nine innings and somebody won it, the '62 Mets would've taken it and said thank you.

they gave away fridge magnets with next years home schedule on them, i can scan mine if people are interested in seeing it.

Speier was mocking the jforce in the bullpen when they put in mcgowan. It was pretty funny.

I echo the thoughts of VBF. This is an outstanding site, full of the passionate and the informed. Didn't get a chance to log on every day, but the occasions were enjoyable. As for Fordin, good luck in Cleveland (or other parts unknown). Your professionalism and kindness will be missed. I might just name my next lizard after you...

Jays 2006 Home Schedule (tentative): http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/schedule/tentative_2006_season_schedule.jsp (unfortunately doesn't show Jays road trip to Denver, etc.)

2005 Playoff Schedule: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/schedule/ps_05.jsp (I like that they stagger the games so I can see them all, even if it means the Padres play at 10am Pacific, Yankees play at 10pm Eastern, etc.)

It's evident I was an English major and not Math. When I mentioned there were 155 days until Opening Day, I neglected to include November. As of today, there are 184 days until Halladay toes the rubber.

Hey, at least it's not a leap year.

Well, the playoffs will carry us into November, then the offseason rumours begin which carry us to January, then the hype of whomever we signed will take us all the way until Pitchers and Catchers report in mid-February. So in reality, we'll only have nothing to do for two weeks.

I'm sure there will be Trivia Contests. Don't worry. You won't be left alone.

Not a single scheduled major league game went unplayed in 2005. If I am not mistaken, this is a record - I don't think this has ever happened before.

Darn it! I am mistaken. It happened before in 1992.

Hi everyone, long time reader, first time poster...
As was discussed earlier in this thread, the biggest challenge for JP will be to decide where to plug in the "big bat" he keeps talking about. LF seems like a logical choice in light of the crowded infield...
My question to you guys is, what should be done with Gabe Gross? Will he have enough value to be an important part in a trade? If not, I don't think it would be a bad idea to keep him around as the 4th OF - Rios has shown some exciting ability but his last couple of months make me nervous - having Gabe hitting from the left side in a possible platoon might be good motivation and a good insurance policy. Of course, what role does Reed Johnson fill in this situation?

well today's almost over and weekdays always go by fast. you subtract showers and meals...it's like 20 minutes!

Joe Mayo, you must know Little Jerry Seinfeld.

JP talks about signing free agents here.

It says they will have a 85 million dollar payroll. I can't wait to see what happens this off season.