It's been raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel all right when you hear that music ring

Bad to swallow you whole
Kick the clay that holds the teeth in
Throw your trolls out the door

Another night, another disappointing ball game, as the Season From Hell^TM reaches a new nadir. Watching the Jays go 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position wasn't much fun for us, so you can imagine how frustrating it is for them. The problem isn't apathy — Delgado and Phelps, in particular, appear to be trying too hard at the plate. Hudson's in an offensive funk, and Wells, understandably, isn't in his best groove yet. Getting all those runners to second and third was a positive, but the lack of subsequent timely hitting made it hard to appreciate a decent start by Lilly and some fine defensive plays by Hudson, Hinske, Woodward and Zaun.

I thought the effort put forth last night was good - some bad breaks prevented the Jays from making the game close. The ball Hinske smoked to the opposite field might have brought the Jays to within a run with a good chance to tie the game. Ted Lilly almost had Teixera struck out on a check swing, only to leave a fastball up later in the at-bat. Ricardo Rodriguez threw quality pitches whenever the Jays threatened.

Miguel Batista battles Kenny Rogers.

Teach your children well
Their father's hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by

Don't you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you

Today's song isn't supposed to be difficult to guess. It is, by request and with our deepest condolences, dedicated to Jeff, Hannah and Landen Geauvreau, in memory of Yvonne, their beloved wife and mom.

The less said about last night's game, the better.

An 8:05 PM ET start tonight.

After a promising beginning to their last homestand, the Jays were swept by the Angels and are languishing 10 games below .500. It was the Texas Rangers who were supposed to be there - instead, they are in a tightly-contested 3-way race for the AL West pennant. They've convinced me that they'll stay in it for the duration.

About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh and
I saw the photograph

Of our lives until somebody say
Forgive me if I seem out of line
Then she whipped out her gun
And tried to blow me away

The All-Star Game is a fine event, vastly superior to the offerings of the other major professional sports. Conversely, baseball fans have plenty of sound reasons to disdain the All-Star break: no real games, soul-crushingly dull non-events like the Home Run Derby (part of the encroaching Super Bowlification of baseball), more air time for the lucid observations of John Kruk.

My problem with the All-Star break is deeper and purer. The Texas Rangers, my team of choice, currently lead the American League West with a two-game lead over Oakland. Unfortunately, the Rangers also have a long and squalid history of post-ASB collapses. For whatever reason, many of those collapses were partially at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays, as you'll read below.

James Strapp follows up last week's article on the debut teams of position players. Once again, his Excel spreadsheet (a 2 MB ZIP file) is available to be downloaded.

There is nothin' fair in this world
There is nothin' safe in this world
And there's nothin' sure in this world

We started this a few months ago with the All-February Team; last month we met the June Cleavers. Now it's time for the All-July team, a squad made up entirely of players born in the month named for good ol' "Lend Me Your Ears" Julius Caeser.

Incidentally,the best "Cesar" to play in the major leagues who was also a product of his namesake's month ...

It looks like Jimy "one M" Williams has reached the end of the road in Houston. Speculation abounds that Jimy will not be the manager come Thursday. Houston has been a major disappointment this season after many pundits forecast the Astros to win the division. Houston sits 10 and a half games back at the all-star break.

Of a thousand rainy days since we first met
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet

They are under way in Houston, with a leadoff double by Ichiro off Clemens.