Including Towers, the eight pitchers -- other than Halladay, Lilly, Burnett and Chacin -- that had stints as starters this year have gone 10-31 with a 6.33 ERA. That kind of production won't win any division.

I usually go to about 6 or 7 games a year (I live in Woodstock, 1.5 hours away) and I was at the game last night and, for the first time, I really did not enjoy myself.  It wasn't because of the game, but because of some of the fans.

A young man in SkyClub in my section was swearing and yelling at Burnett using the worst possible obscenities.  Children were stunned and wide-eyed.  When a couple of older men asked him to watch his language he threatened them, shouting that he was going to put one of them in a coffin and the other in a wheelchair, then continued to yell disgusting obscenities.  (Go figure, he looked to be about 120 lbs with "little man" syndrome, compensating with a big mouth and a bunch of tattoos).  A confrontation with bystanders was imminent, but he left before anything else happened.  However, the damage was done, as children stared into space trying to comprehend what they had heard.

Then another man was seen and heard shouting gross obscenities in the lower deck, challenging another fan to a fight in front of a family with three children.  Staff intervened, but the man was not removed.

Following that, of course, was the on field scrap between security and the fan that ran on the field.  I hope he resisted arrest off the field as well, and learned what a shot of "pepper spray" in the face felt like.  People didn't need to see him fighting with security on the field.

The icing on the cake was when I learned that some other Jays fans actually spit on a family wearing Yankees jerseys after the game.

I'm embarrassed and ashamed right now and I hope that any visitors from New York don't think that's what fans in the Toronto area are usually like.

I just had to say it.

That sounded ugly in the stands and I'm sorry for it.  Spitting on people and yelling obscenities is really not good.  But Yankee fans can dish it out as much as they take it.  The last two games I went to were both Yankee games.  In '05, Yankee fans told Toronto fans, among other things,  to "shut the f up" for cheering for the home team. Behave yourselves in someone else's house.  And this past July,  the Yankee fans behind threw peanuts at my brother and I and the two girls beside us.  We didn't care too much because Vernon had hit a walkoff against Mo the night before and AJ was on fire that night.  I don't know what to do about nasty fans beacuse it is, in a way, apart of the live baseball experience.

Last night's game was frustrating in a way.  AJ was cruising, got a little too high and gave up the homerun to ARod, and crashed. He let his emotions get into it and lost focus which affected his command. And those damn Yankees are not going to let a pitcher get away with that. When a pitcher is on, he controls the rhythm of the game.  He will work quickly and efficiently, but he can slow the game down to his tempo.  The game got a bit unwieldy on him. Hopefully he will be able to pin point what wasn't working (like he did after that start in Cleaveland) and pull it together.  And Accardo did one of my pet peeves.  He walked in a run with two-outs.  Bleh.

And Hallelujah, Troy got an HR and some RBIs

I usually go to about 6 or 7 games a year (I live in Woodstock, 1.5 hours away) and I was at the game last night and, for the first time, I really did not enjoy myself.  It wasn't because of the game, but because of some of the fans.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience and I can definitely relate.  I almost came to blows with some fat, shirtless whale with nipple rings (sorry for that disturbing image but it's true!) during the Seattle series in section 518 after "he" and some of his drunken buddies kept swearing at practically everything that was going on during the game.  The missus and I left our seats and got security and I believe they were tossed out because they weren't in 518 later in the game.  That ruined the entire day for us because we missed a rare Johnny Mac homer while we were getting security and it spoiled what turned out to be a good game.  I always score the games in my scorebook but I was too pissed off to continue when we sat in 530.  It was such a beautiful evening that Saturday and it was a 14 inning win for the good guys but unfortunately, Fat Bastard's big brother and his minions had to ruin it for us.  As a result, the missus and I stayed away from 518 up until Sunday's game where we ran into VBF and thankfully, there weren't any morons to deal with for a nice change.

I don't know what the hell is going on but the fans at the games are getting worse.  The last two home openers have been a nightmare especially.  I hated David Wells for what he wrote about Toronto fans in his autobiography but I'm starting to think he's right. 

It's disheartening to have to worry about drunken idiots practically every game we go to and it seems the missus and I are usually leaving our seats to go elsewhere to avoid these morons.  I was really afraid about bringing my folks to the last Yankees game in July after the Seattle debacle but fortunately, there was no trouble and the Jays laid a nice beating on the Bombers that afternoon.  Still, I find myself worrying about what's going to happen in the stands more than on the field these days and that's just not right. 

During our trip to see a Phillies game last month, they actually fine fans $300 if they misbehave.  I wouldn't mind seeing that put into effect at the Rogers Centre.   

Anything that goes on at the RC goes on at Yankee Stadium and Fenway. I don't condone spitting on fans, but the exact same thing will happen to a Jays fan in the other big bad ballparks. I got the worst of it in US Cellular a year ago after J-Spy beaned a couple guys and there's no place for threats and violence but it exists. Security does need to do a better job though.

I will also point out that there is currently a significant youth movement in security this year at the Dome. Alot of younger security and ushers are being promoted to supervisors. This may have something to do with it. It sounds a little crazy but I would recommend getting to know your security supervisors and ushers if you're a regular. Because once you get credibility with them, they'll kick anyone out that you want.

As for Yankee fans, they only ruin your experience if you let them ruin it. Yankee fans at the Dome are bait for me at least. If you stand your ground, they're nothing more than 300 pound walruses. Then it's all fun and games.

As for liking Yankees, I really like Bernie Williams. Tonight by the ramp, my friend saw Bernie and asked him for an autograph. Bernie said his programmed "Sorry, I gotta go" as most players do and he walked on. About 5 steps away he said "Oh, why not." and came back and signed for her.

At least one Yankee has a soul. Bernie's alright!