I didn't get the chance to watch the game last night, so you guys will have to help me on the scouting report, but here are my quick impressions after watching the highlights.

Jamey Newberg, a Baurxite since 2006, creates the best daily team-oriented MLB e-newsletter on the planet, the Texas Rangers Newberg Minor League Report. In today's edition, he goes all Toronto on us, as he has done a couple of times before. Enjoy ...

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I’ve been a little under the weather the last couple days, so I’ve reached out to our pal north of the border to pinch-hit today. You might remember this guy from a couple entries he shared with us in 2006.

THE NOUVEAU-BERGERON REPORT
The tragic number for the Jays is now down to four. It would be a waste of time talking about tonight’s game in Baltimore or the weekend series in Boston. This isn’t a bad team – we’d be in second place in the AL West – but there’s plenty of work to be done if we’re gonna make any noise the next few years in the East. Let’s look at something two of the four teams who will be in the playoffs this year did in 2007 to help get them where they are now.

The POTD focuses on Kyle Drabek and his Cy Young Award winning father.  They were spotlighted on JaysVision in between innings of Thursday's game against Texas.

With Kyle Drabek set to make his major league debut Wednesday night comes word that the man he was traded for will get to return to his old stomping grounds next season.   According to bluejays.com, Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies will be in town for the Canada Day weekend.

For the last couple years, Adam Lind and Aaron Hill have been inextricably linked in conversation about the Jays. It isn't hard to see why; aside from profile similarities (they were both drafted out of college, they're about a year apart in age), they were the offensive leaders on the team last year, belting 35 and 36 homers respectively (no other Jay had more than 19), and driving in 114 and 108 (Barajas was next with 71). And, of course, this year, both have tanked while the rest of the team has hit very well (every starter has an OPS+ over 100 - Hill and Lind are at 85 and 90).

With all these similarities, I'm surprised we haven't started calling them by a dumb hybrid name. Maybe Aram Lill just doesn't have the same ring as, for example, Freed Johnalanotto.

It wasn’t a typical time-sharing arrangement, but once in team history the Blue Jays accomplished a rare split of playing time that I imagine is not common in major league history. In one year, the Jays had 3 players each start at least 50 games at a particular position. This has only occurred once in club history and only at one position during that year. What year was this and who were the players involved?

This game featured the debut of Mississauga's Shawn Hill in a Toronto uniform and the 2010 return of Robert 'Bobby' Ray to the hill.  Hopefully, this will be the first of many POTD's in the coming days as the 2010 campaign winds down.

Let's hope someone passes the audition.

Kyle Drabek, the centerpiece of Toronto's return in the Roy Halladay trade and the 2010 Eastern League leader in wins, has been promoted from Double-A New Hampshire. The son of Doug Drabek will make his major league debut on Wednesday, in Baltimore. Brett Cecil, the scheduled starter, has been pushed back a couple of days.

I feel asleep just after the third inning of Saturday's game when neither team scored a run.  After I woke up, 14 runs had been scored.  Unfortunately, 13 of them were scored by Tampa Bay in a 13-1 shellacking at Ted's Shed.  

This guy could almost pass for Rance Mulliniks!

The Blue Jays minor league season ended with a whimper last night.  The Fisher Cats were eliminated in three straight games to mirror the Dunedin Jays who were swept in two straight.  New Hampshire were unable to score until the ninth inning of game three, they had 29 scoreless innings in the series up to that point. 

Congratulations to  Pohnpei Papayas, the Isodopes  and 92-93 winners respectively of the Regular Season in the BBFL's Alomar, Barfield and Carter divisions.

Second verse, same as the first.

Okay, it's that weird time of year, late-ish (but not overly late, almost--overish) in a season that's gone pretty well for the home team (.514 with 22 games left), not really in the race (12.5 out) but not yet eliminated (magic number is NYY+8) ... frankly, it's getting harder to pay attention, with football, basketball and hockey just around the bend(s).

So let's have a good old-fashioned bar brawl over a question basic to this site's existence: who is the single greatest all-time Blue Jay? Define that however you want -- players, managers, front office, mascots (!), single-season, career, one freaking amazing game, pitchers, everyday players, native Canadians only, serious candidates,  tongue-in-cheek eye-rollers or simply personal favourites -- you make your own rules and put up your dukes to defend your choice(s).

A winner will be declared only when the last drop of blood has fallen. Oh, and you get bizarrely random extra credit points if you phrase your argument in the form of a senryu/haiku (details and example within) ... but that is not required. (If this goes well, later slams will call for limericks or couplets or other forms of doggerel.)

State your preferred beverage, order up and stake your claim .. the greatest Blue Jay ever is/was ...

If the offence on the major league team takes a night off against a tough lefty, why should the minor league offences not get to do the same thing? That’s the thinking New Hampshire and Dunedin subscribed to, as the teams didn’t even match the one solo homer notched by the parent club. The teams combined for no runs, as a potential pitching duel in the Double-A playoffs materialized, while Dunedin was eliminated from the playoffs at the hands of the damn Yankees. Dunedin was extra sure to let their sleeping bats rest, as they gave them a second straight day off and didn’t score a run in their playoff series. Nevertheless, congratulations on a fine season.