Let's play that Hall of Names favorite, Match Name '10! The topic this time around is "questions posed by batter/pitcher, battery and teammate combinations" -- all you have to do is come up with a pair of MLB player names that combine to create a famous non-baseball pairing of words, then ask whatever question that pairing causes to occur.

Last names are preferred, given first names are okay, middle names are acceptable if necessary, nicknames, as always, are right out. Spelling matters, but you are welcome to work your way around that if you can.

Here are a few examples to get you started ..

• When Jim Gott faced Tim Teufel, did every baseball fan in Germany tremble in fear? (To explain, just offer a parenthetocial like this one, wherein you provide the information that "gott" and "teufel" are the German words for "God" and "devil.")
• If Buddy Black faced Steve Decker, which way would the advantage cut? (See, "Black & Decker" ... get the idea?)
• Would there be ...

It was a perfect night on the farm and some Jonathans and and an Oliver did some major damage.

A Pinch Hit from James Strapp, who has done a couple of these for us before:

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I took my boys to the Jays game last Friday. In that game the Jays’ first hit was a Bautista home run in the fourth inning. After eight innings, they had a total of four hits, with two of them being home runs. No starter has a batting average over .286. All they seem to be able to hit is home runs.

Well, that got me thinking. What team has had the highest percentage of their hits be home runs? And where do the 2010 Blue Jays stand?

Thanks to erstwhile Bauxites TJ Caino and jgadfly for the tip in another thread. (But you know, this definitely deserves its own space!)

Toronto Blue Jays' catching prospect J.P. Arencibia of the Las Vegas 51s (pictured, left) has been named the Pacific Coast League's MVP for the 2010 season.

Sportsnet.ca has the story here and there's a PDF announcement from minorleaguebaseball.com here.

Congratulations, JPA. Now let's see you do it again next year, only this time in Baseball North!

Minor league catching stalwart, Maxim St. Pierre (Quebec City, PQ) has been called up by the Tigers and will very likely make his major league debut after 978 minor league games, all but 10 in the Tigers' organization.

Dunedin and Lakeland played a marathon that is a strong contender for game of the year in the minor leagues. The game went 17 innings and was scoreless through the first 16 frames. Arguably, that’s not the most impressive fact from the game, as one team was no-hit through the first 13 innings. There were several fine pitching performances throughout the minors and I could tell you some interesting facts like that the 4 non-Triple-A saw 11 total runs scored in 44 innings, but wouldn’t we all rather just get to the game of the night, and of the year?

Well, Magpie got it going and now I have to figure it out. How has the age of players changed over the years, especially regarding teenagers?

The Jays affiliates were almost perfect last night.  Two extra innings wins and a pair of two-run victories boosted the affiliates to a 4-1 record. 

Per Friend of Batter's Box (FOBB) Jamey Newberg ...

Texas has officially traded Joaquin Arias for Jeff Francouer, receiving cash in the deal from the Mets (reportedly so that Texas pays Francouer what it would have paid Arias the rest of the way), and have designated outfielder Brandon Boggs for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Francouer. The Rangers have 10 days to trade Boggs, release him, or outright him to the minor leagues.

Any other rumblings this final-deadline-for-playoff-eligibility evening? Any interest in Boggs? 

This has been mentioned in these parts earlier but the Auburn Citizen recently speculated the Doubledays affiliation with the Blue Jays will come to an end after the 2010 season.  Reporter Kristin Kowaleski-Wolford claims it's the Jays are the ones who are walking out, a complete role reversal from the Syracuse-Toronto break-up.  She also makes comments in her blog about the D-Days/Jays parting of the ways.  Last week, Kowaleski-Wolford spoke with Charlie Wilson, the Jays director of minor league operations, about the possible end to the affiliation.

 

September starts tomorrow! Here are some questions about what you'd like to see with regards to call-ups.

Someone please tell me if I am crazy. I opened up the first box score of the evening and thought "hey, new box scores! These are purdy!" However, upon venturing back to old MLUs to find out when exactly the change took place, I discovered that they've been in use for at least the last four weeks. So, either all the MILB box scores have been retrofitted, or I'm a ball short of a full count. WHICH IS IT???!?!

There has been some lively discussion round these parts and elsewhere regarding the Jays handling of young Travis Snider. A wide spectrum of opinions have been expressed. These views generally range from "the kid should be out there every day" to "the kid has been rushed through the system for no readily apparent reason."

Okay, I may be the only guy on the surface of the earth who holds the second opinion.

A perfect 5-0 night on the farm featured some great performances by a few usual suspects.

Morrow to be shut down after one more start as per Cito. 150 is the limit and he is only 6 2/3 innings shy.