Ricky Romero, at this stage of his return, is about where he was in early April, his first appearances.  His next two starts will indicate if he's made it all the way back.  Zack Greinke was almost too good to be true.  His next ten starts should establish his balance.  Then we'll see who wins the Cy Young, not because of Greinke's sad (3 years ago) story and Sports (the curse) Illustrated awarding it to him already.

Glavine should earn admission to the Hall of Fame.  What hat he wears there tells you how bad he was hurt.  I'd not wear Atlanta's.

Pittsburgh needs better management - all the low picks in the draft - all the prospects coming back in trades - spending money for free agents - they should be better.

We are more pissed about the Delgado trade.

Roy Halladay's Proposed New Contract Extention Offer! 

a player's contract can only contain pay stipulations predicated on playing time, not performance metrics.  

Yes it can, it's always done, it's only written differently in their contracts.

The Hall of Fame chooses what hat appears on the plaque, not the player.

Players can earn bonuses for plate appearances, All-Star games, and awards like MVP, Cy Young, or Silver Slugger.  Bonuses or escalators based on ERA, wins, strikeouts and things of that nature are not permitted.  Even further, I believe the BBWAA is considering making players with awards-based bonus clauses to be ineligible for awards to avoid any possible conflict of interest.

We are more pissed about the Delgado trade.

I wasn't too upset about Delgado going from the Marlins to the Mets, but to each his own....

The Rays are now 4 games out, despite missing their DP combination and giving 5 games back to Old Man Pythagoras.  Who knew that Ben Zobrist might be the key to their season?

The Rays are certainly doing this the hard way, aren't they? They are getting nothing from Kazmir, Sonnanstine, Navarro (who has forgotten how to walk), Upton, and Burrell (who is being outhomered by Ibanez 19 to 1). And most of their bullpen is stinking it up.

On the upside, Zobrist and Bartlett each have an OPS over 1000. Zobrist and Barlett. Go figure.

And the team's run differential is terrific.

This AL East race could be very interesting. It'll be nice to see TB in the mix.

Through six innings, Jon Lester has a perfect game. He's struck out 10 of 18 batters, and he's only thrown 61 pitches.

A perfect game.

Not that I'm trying to jinx him or anything...

Mission accomplished Magpie.  If only other jinxes were as easy.

My work is done. Returning to my Red Wings...

Don't your Red Wings have a shutout going?

Evidently, my skills in the dark arts need work.

Roy Halladay's Proposed New Contract Extention Offer! 

a player's contract can only contain pay stipulations predicated on playing time, not performance metrics.  

Yes it can, it's always done, it's only written differently in their contracts.

No, it's not.  It's explicitly forbidden.  The only possible exception is awards for stuff like MVP, Cy Young, etc.  You can't pay per HR or anything like that.

Not that I'm trying to jinx him or anything...

Watched a lot of it on TV. Tom Grieve and Josh Lewin, the TEX teevee team, were mentioning the perfect game every other sentence. Anyone who knows anything about supposed baseball jinxes had to be sitting there, like I was, thinking, "guys, enough .... you're overdoing it."

I knew Lester was good, but yesterday he looked electric. He looked ...hard to describe. And today everyone in N Tex is reminiscing about the deal that almost happened, A-Rod for Manny and Lester. That would have been a little better for TEX than the whole Soriano thing ...

Magpie knows that he is not supposed to say that Roy Halladay is a...., but a complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches is roughly like saying "shave and a haircut" to a 'toon, for those who have seen "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".

MGreen: that was one of my fav movies growing up! A cinematic tour de force!

Humans and cartoons: genius.

I was a so-called adult when Roger Rabbit was released and thought it was brilliant then.  I still do.

When Roger finally can't contain himself anymore, and smashes through the wall to sing his "two bits..."

Still reduces me to helpless, hysterical laughter.

And people - Roy Halladay is.... I don't have to say anything. We all know!

Today, by the way, was the 12th installment of the Next Game (after throwing 120+ pitches.) In those games, he's now 8-2, 2.91. He's thrown 2 of his 12 career shutouts in those situations.

There have always been pitchers who could carry that kind of load - guys who threw 15-20 complete games every year, or threw 130 pitches every four days, and kept on doing it for fifteen years. There have never been very many, of course. The problem, always, is that finding out which ones can actually do that usually resulted in permanent and crippling damage to the ones who can't, a group that includes the vast majority of pitchers.

But there is little doubt in my mind that Roy Halladay is one of the few pitchers, in any era, who can carry that load. It seems to me that if he had been born in 1938, he might have more than 200 career wins by now.

Humans and cartoons: genius.

I guess you never saw Cool World, huh.

I agree Magpie. I think Halladay channels the old ghosts of Walter Johnson and Dizzy Dean. The man expects to finish what he starts. I love him. :)

It's a bit of an exaggeration, actually.  Tom Seaver had 182 career wins through age 31, and did not have the troubles at the start of his career or the same number of missed starts due to odd injuries.  Save for these issues, Halladay is about as good as Tom Terrific so far, and that is high praise.  It would not surprise me at all if Halladay has a significantly better second half of career than Seaver did. 

Roy 'Doc' Halladay - The Living Legend - Ace of Aces - Nascent Deity - Toronto's Future.

The most intimidating job of an impossible nature - Toronto's # 2 Starter - Backup Ace - ROY'S HEIR ................................................................... ?  Now!

1) Dustin McGowan: 60-day DL, shoulder surgery, possibly behind schedule in recovery.  He has the stuff, not always the control.  Does he have it still - too early to tell?   2) Shawn Marcum: 60-day DL, Tommy John, probably being rushed /permitted to rush in recovery.  He looked to have developed the stuff / the determination - better or worse?   3) Ricky Romero: has the stuff, just hasn't pitched enough to take the job. 3 starts before the DL, 3 starts after - too early to tell.   4) Casey Janssen: had the stuff, did he lose it with the surgery, or is it back?  Just hasn't pitched enough to know - 4-6 more starts.   5) David Purcey: has the ability to pitch here, needs more consistency, must want to be here - he has the # 2 stuff, just not yet the fire.

No one else is even barely close.  Another year or two, for anyone else to be considered.

Halladay stats are always fun to look at...
#1 in Wins, Winning Percentage, BB/9, IP, Starts, SO/Walk ratio, Batters Faced
#2 in shutouts, complete games (Greinke is ahead of him)
#3 in strikeouts, hits allowed (oops)
#4 in WHIP
#5 in ERA, HR/9, ERA+

Not bad at all.  Halladay is now 10th for active pitchers in ERA and 8th for ERA+ at 133 with Randy Johnson & Roy Oswalt just ahead at 136.  Pedro Martinez is the highest starter at 154 (Rivera is at 197) with Johan Santana the highest actually active starter at 146.  If you cut down to 2001-present (skipping over the 10+ ERA year he had) you get an ERA+ of 144 which would be good for 2nd on the active starter list (not counting Pedro).