Some pitchers are poker players.  Their faces tell you nothing, or a message that they want you to receive.  Jimmy Key might have been a boiling cauldron of emotion on the mound, but you would never know it by looking at him.  Dave Stewart's death glare was dishonest but quite effective in producing somewhat intimidated hitters. Other pitchers show anger, frustration and other lively feelings more  readily on the mound.  Yesterday's game in Toronto featured high anxiety from Josh Towers.

The sixth inning was the pivotal one last night. Things went from bright to ugly real fast, but my mood was for some unknown reason light. No drugs were involved.

Shall we, pardon the pun, rehash it?

It is quite possible that Reed Johnson, with his frankly incredible diving catch to rob Victor Martinez of a double in the ninth inning tonight, may have saved the Blue Jays' season.

Yeah, so it was all my fault. 2006, I mean. Seriously. It's why I've been so quiet lately.

Before we get to that, though, I have to say that sometimes it sucks to be Kenny Rogers: his third baseman and his own throwing ability picked a fine time to leave him, and very quickly the Jays were up 2-0 in the first. The good guys went on to score another pile of runs, and the Tigers made it interesting by mounting a late comeback against the Jays' pen, but B.J. Ryan did the job he's paid the big dollars to do.

So now let's talk about how this season was my fault.

I wanted to see some good baseball on Saturday.

Obviously, this ruled out Yankees-Red Sox. As it turned out, Orioles-Blue Jays was something of a stinker as well. But none of this was my concern, for I was at Smythe Park.

Think about who you think is the worst (or least valuable) member of the Blue Jays bullpen. If you have trouble with recent promotions and demotions, just think back a few weeks and see who you would have thought then. We’re not looking for a Matt Whiteside here. Which relatively consistent member do you think? Get that name in mind.

The three games with Baltimore provided an interesting perspective on the bullpen, for both the balance of this year as well as next.

There's nothing like breaking your coffee maker to reveal to you just how much you need coffee.

Maybe it's the three days with no coffee, or maybe this road trip has finally crushed my hopes for the season. But regardless of the cause, I have lost most if not all of my enthusiasm over the last week or so.

With today marking the MLB trading deadline the Jays are stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place, as one of my high school teachers used to say. The Jays have three conceivable options: to go for it, to retool for the future or to stand pat. Those are slightly dramatic terms for the three options, but you all understand what I’m saying. J.P. and the front office face some tough choices today.

Sigh.

Nothing.

The day after a crazy series involving every relief pitcher on the roster (plus Jesus Figueroa, probably), Da Box welcomes a pinch-hit from longtime Bauxite and Cheer Club troublemaker Alex Obal on the state of the Blue Jays' bullpen.

Not the best 2-2 series split in recent memory. Let's just leave it at that and move on.

Instead, I will channel David Letterman for a moment here:

The glass is half-empty: two quality starts in Arlington, but the Blue Jays were life and death to escape with a single victory.

The glass is half full. Despite playing some pretty bad baseball, the Blue Jays actually won a game in Arlington, and no one suffered a season-ending injury. Time to get out of town...

The Jays have a chance to win a series against a good team and Josh Towers gets the start.