I want to get my appendix out! First Bargniani and now Doc: It more en vougue this season that having being named 'Blank J' was for the prior two.

i remember browsing BP07 and noticing in one listing someone was out for 2 MONTHS due to appendicitis

I'm not a doctor, but I think the recovery times can vary largely depending on whether or not they get to the little bugger before it ruptures.

What a nice contrast Halladay serves, just 24 hours later, to Alex Rodriguez. While my position perhaps reveals my age and the quaint thinking of a different generation, Halladay's professionalism, sense of honour, dignity and decorum are altogether too rare these days, and not just in the world of professional sports. Rodriguez may well have technically been within the legal limits when he let out his now famous "hah" shout, but his behaviour was not honourable, and not because of any unwritten code.

Tangential to this, as a Raptors fan I am pleased to see that Chris Bosh appears to be cut from the same cloth as Halladay. He's a very young man who carries himself with a great deal of dignity, in a sport where many of its stars do not.

Let the countdown to .500 begin. 

If the Jays can get there by mid-June we can start thinking playoffs again. 

Lookout Tigers.

Tonights game will likely be determined by a decisive HR as well.  Both AJ and Vaz are prone to the long ball (both would be truly elite starting pitchers aside from this common tragic flaw) but can still chuck with the best of them allowing minimal base runners.

That's funny, because I'm pretty sure in Britain (youth and Sunday leagues, anyway), it's a foul if you call for the ball without calling your own name.  You have to say "Keeper" or "Howie's ball" or "ARod's ball" if you want it.  "Mine" would result in a free kick for the opposition. 

The point of the rule, is to prevent the practice of opposing players calling you off the ball.  Interesting placement of the onus, though.

Otherwise you might as well let the pitchers hit and have Thomas hit for Fasano.

I just want to be clear...would this be allowed in a real game?

I tonight's game, with Sal and AJ starting, could the DH spot be assigned as hitting for the catcher instead of the pitcher?

If you had told me in February that on June 1 the Jays would have both Howie Clark and Brian Wolfe on our 25-man roster, I'd never have believed you. If you had said the team had a 25-28 record at that point, I would have taken without hesitation.

Sadly iirc the rules say you can only DH for the pitcher.

I don't have access to a rulebook right now, but I think that's wrong -- I believe you can DH for any player, but only one position per game, so no "double switch" if you DH for Fasano then move Phillips in later, you can't suddenly DH for the pitcher.

I seem to vaguely recall someone -- thinking here it was either Veeck's White Sox or the Phillies in the World Series with Carlton -- DHing for a position player and hitting the pitcher eighth, but I might be making that up ...

It pains me to have to correct Mick, but I believe John is correct in this case, at least as far as the Major League rules are concerned.  Here's a relevant extract from Rule 6.10 (emphasis mine):

6.10 Any League may elect to use the Designated Hitter Rule.

(a) In the event of inter league competition between clubs of Leagues using the Designated Hitter Rule and clubs of Leagues not using the Designated Hitter Rule, the rule will be used as follows:

1. In World Series or exhibition games, the rule will be used or not used as is the practice of the home team.

2. In All Star games, the rule will only be used if both teams and both Leagues so agree.

(b) The Rule provides as follows: A hitter may be designated to bat for the starting pitcher and all subsequent pitchers in any game without otherwise affecting the status of the pitcher(s) in the game. A Designated Hitter for the pitcher must be selected prior to the game and must be included in the lineup cards presented to the Umpire in Chief.

Since this time last year, the loonie has gained about 5% in value on the american dollar. This means a payroll of about 82 million american (the approximate 2007 figure) used to cost the Jays about $92 million Canadian. The same 82 million now only costs them about $87 million. That's (he said patronizingly doing the basic subtraction) a savings of $5 million dollars, which costs the Blue Jays nothing. It's free money, essentially. Note I'm being generous going back to a year ago. In March, when the payroll was basically settled, the $82 million was about $95 million Canadian. That's 8 million kicking around. Of course, I'm oversimplifying, since the exchange rate was rising during the last two months, and not all of the savings have been realized yet...

Unfortunately there are two sides to this.  Any money the Jays get from MLB (TV contracts, revenue sharing etc.) is also in $US so some of the inflow is also affected.  In the days of the 64 cent dollar the Jays used to say that every penny the $CDN rose it saved them about $400,000CDN so I would use that estimate making it a recent savings of about $2.5M.CDN.

It pains me to have to correct Mick

No pain, no gain, sir. My memory is clearly at fault. My co-workers could tell you this is a common happenstance.

Because clearly the 29 U.S. teams would never be able to make the playoffs if the Jays had that kind of financial advantage. I like it. I'd like to see someone putting that argument forward.

Certainly, as worded, that is a hard argument to make.  However, one could argue that the Jays, if in a position of exchange-rate advantage, should repay to the league at the same rate, the money they received when they were in an exchange-rate disadvantage.  At the least, they could pay it into an MLB administered trust for any future period of exchange-rate woe.

I hate to jinx things, but our current one-to-four starters have been good.  How good?  Well check out the numbers (I should warn you that I've hijacked the stats to make them go where I want them to go, but I'm sure they would have gone there on their own).....

Marcum in May - 29.1 IP,   7.99 K/g,   0.92 WHIP,   2.15 ERA

Burnett since May 1 - 38.0 IP,   10.66 K/g,   0.97 WHIP,   2.84 ERA

McGowan (last 2 GS) - 13.2 IP,   6.57 K/g,   1.17 WHIP,   3.28 ERA

Halladay (excluding 2 PreAppOp GS) - 54.1 IP,   6.63 K/g,   0.90 WHIP,   1.99 ERA

I hope it continues.

"If you had told me in February that on June 1 the Jays would have both Howie Clark and Brian Wolfe on our 25-man roster, I'd never have believed you. If you had said the team had a 25-28 record at that point, I would have taken without hesitation."

And if you had told me that Aaron Hill would be tied for 2nd on the Jays in Home runs and be ahead of  Vernon Wells I would have figured you to be crazy as well. Such is the life of baseball predictions and really that's what makes sports such fun.