The Red Sox are in town, but Nori Aoki isn’t anymore. Meanwhile, Brett Anderson is roaming the outfield. Another lefty who is trying to work his way back to being the pitcher he was prior to his injury, TJ House, was jettisoned as soon as he appeared. The hint of expanded rosters is just around the corner. It’s the end of the dog days of August.

The Jays try and find some good in the late stages of the season. The results, the play and the entertainment value have been poor recently. Can the Jays find something to make the run in interesting? Bartolo Colon comfortably handled the Jays Friday night. I was at the game and there was not much to get excited about other than Justin Smoak. Baseball fans could enjoy watching Byron Buxton but he plays for the wrong guys.

Its your last minute, call to the bullpen, minor league update. Dunedin played a wild one last night. They started the ninth up 6-1. Florida scored six runs to take a 7-6 lead. Dunedin said we can top that, four straight singles in the bottom of the ninth gave them a walk off win. Buffalo had a nice start from Brett Anderson and a couple of long balls to win. New Hampshire also had a walk off win. Lansing continued to lose. What a contrast in Lansing. The first half had Bo and Vladdy and Brad Jones and Edward Olivares and decent pitching. Now the hitters are all in Dunedin and the pitchers were injured. From the penthouse to the outhouse in Lansing. Vancouver dominated thanks to two pitchers, Bluefield battered the opposition while the GCL Jays lost.

Jose Bautista, who is only the greatest RH slugger in franchise history, is hitting .181/.287/.324 against left-handed pitchers this season.

The Jays venture into one of their least favourite parks for three games. Can they end the slide? Can they play a good game of baseball? Will Joey Bats homer again? All this and more coming up.

Tonight it is the battle of the Chris's. This is a rematch of the August 12th game, won by the Jays 5-3. Neither of the Chris's won or lost. Justin Smoak homered off Tommy Hunter to win the game. Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista will patrol the left side of the infield for game one. They should get more work with Rowley and his sinker as opposed to Marco Estrada. It could be an adventure.

The Jays pay a rare visit to Wrigley. Apparently there are a lot of Blue Jay fans in Chicago. The Toronto FC MLS team also play in Chicago this weekend so some fans are doing a joint baseball/soccer trip.

The good news: Teoscar Hernandez broke out yesterday with a grand slam and Nate Pearson was lights out in his limited innings in Vancouver. The bad news: Bo Bichette looks set for a spell in the bleachers and Conner Greene turned in another rough start.

Late series thread.

The second worst teams in the American League play four games at the RC. The A's and Jays are tied with 44-54 records, with only the White Sox behind them. Toronto are ten games out of first place, the A's are 21 as Houston are pulling away.

It is one week to the trade deadline so expect lots of trade chatter this week. The Jays tradeable options are not the most in demand players so expect the Jays to be quiet until the weekend.

The second half is off and running with a nice 7-1 win. Aaron Sanchez was strong while the offense did its job.

The rematch, not of the punch but of the playoffs. Some of the Rangers prime time players have hit the skids recently. Rougned Odor is hitting .207 while up-keeper of the unwritten rules, Sam Dyson, has an 11.93 ERA. Mike Bolsinger takes on AJ Griffin with his 5+ ERA on Friday. Saturday sees a good pitching matchup, Yu Darvish vs Marco Estrada. On Sunday its Andrew Cashner and Joe Biagini.

The Edwing returns!


Edwin Encarnacion makes his first appearance in Toronto with Cleveland batting just .217/.349/.377 with five home runs and 11 runs batted in. (Image from Metro News)

The Jays limp home looking for their first back to back wins of the season. I am sure they would settle for winning two of three in this series without winning back to back. The bats are a little better than they were but not firing on all cylinders. The pitching is hit and miss, now its the bullpen that's coughing up games. This is the last weekend of April, May arrives on Monday. Slow April's can be recovered from, but the team needs to get off to a good May start and they can get ready for that by playing well against the Rays.

A weekend set against the Angels. A 7-10 team so hopefully the Jays keep them sub-500 this weekend by winning at least 1 of the 4 games.

The new season is finally here. Several of the roster have registered their opinions on the 2017 season.