As June turns into July, the pennant "races" heat up and we start hearing lots about how certain players are "on pace" to reach certain milestones or season totals.

With that (admittedly flimsy!) groundwork laid, let's examine the possibility of building a Hall of Names rosters consisting entirely of motion (race, pace, etc.) verbs -- of all speeds. Let's "move" on and meet a team that plays in Florida, just so we can name it with a football pun ...

Did you think I was going to miss this month? No, no.

Syracuse lost by a run, but they were the only one as the affiliates went 4-1 with a rainout in New Hampshire. Dunedin had a walkoff win, while Manny Rodriguez powered Lansing to a victory and Robinzon Diaz led the GCL Blue Jays to a win. The Doubledays had their best offensive night of the season, with eleven runs in a blowout victory over State College.

Ricky Romero delivered another good start as New Hampshire won.  Auburn also won but Syracuse and Dunedin lost easily.  Lansing had to play through a couple of rain delays, and made five errors, and lost.  The winless GCL Jays lost a pair, both in the last inning.

Cito Gaston and Bobby Cox face off again, the Jays' pitchers get to deal with an offensive juggernaut, and their bats run into some overachieving pitchers.

The New Hampshire offence exploded against the New Britain pitching staff to ensure that Brandon Magee would get his first win of the year, no matter how poorly he pitched. New Hampshire performance was the highlight of a 1-4 night for the affiliates, as three of the Jays farm teams were doubled-up by their opponents and the fourth just missed being double-up by one run. Two days ago I gave all three stars to pitchers, but yesterday was a day for the hitters to shine and collect all three stars.

The Jays whomped the Reds to take the series as Cito evens his record with the 2008 Jays out at 3-3. Now they just have to keep hitting for the rest of the season.

After the nice big blowout normal service is sadly resumed as the Jays lose 6-5 to the Reds. Halladay and Harang battled each other to a five-each standstill through 7 last night, with Downs stepping in handily to pick up Doc and get the last out of the 7th. It was nip and tuck from then on until Wolfe was ineffective in the top of the 10th, allowing the Reds to get a one-run lead and the Jays were unable to get it back against Cordero. Same as usual for the year, the Jays had a few chances to get the go-ahead run but couldn't cash anyone in. Only the Jays could have an Inning like the 7th, in 6 pitches they managed to load the bases with no outs and fail to score.
pitch 1 Rios single to centre
pitch 2 Wells single to left
pitch 3 Stairs single to centre
pitch 4 Rolen popup to second
pitch 5 Overbay takes a ball
pitch 6 Overbay bounces one to the pitcher. 1-2-3 DP
Under the Gary Denbo Regime it would have taken them at least, oh, 20 pitches to get all that done.

Four wins, New Hampshire won behind a very good start by Brett Cecil and a home run from JP Arencibia.  Lansing won with a good start by Marc Rzepczynski, ably supported by Edgar Estanga and Tim Collins.  Syracuse won with an average start from Davis Romero, Kevin Mench finally showed up and hit a home run.  Dunedin did not get good pitching but won anyway.  Auburn got good pitching from Joel Carreno but lost.  The GCL Jays lost, again.

The Toronto Blue Jays scored as many or more runs in the first inning yesterday as each of their minor league affiliates did during their entire games. I’ve not checked conclusively, but I believe that has to be a first for 2008. There were few noteworthy offensive performances, but Jonathan Baksh and Brad Emaus continued to swing hot bats, while Eric Eiland and Kenneth Wilson are doing well as leadoff hitters in the lower minors. However, the story on the night was pitching, with Robert Ray and Luis Perez throwing absolute gems and Michael MacDonald and Kenny Rodriguez pitching very well, too.

A special St. Jean Baptiste Day edition of the Advance Scout. The Fighting Jays take on the FIghting Reds in an epic battle between two middle eastern teams (in the context of North America). On to the Advance Scout!

Jays host the Reds tonight. A pretty big day for Dunn I'm sure, having to answer a bunch of Ricciardi questions.

The news was good on Shaun Marcum's elbow.

David Cooper hit his first pro HR last night as the affiliates went 2-3 with a rain out yesterday

Whether you like him or not, it's hard to argue that the very best baseball player active right now is playing third base for the New York Yankees -- Alex Rodriguez. Okay, you can argue it, but he's definitely Top-3.

And while "Alex" isn't one of the most common male first names in the Americas, the fact is that A-Rod is one of only five men in big league history with that first name to make an All-Star team (yes, another of those is currently roaming the TOR outfield); and in fact, though A-Rod will surely change the equation someday, not a single Alex has yet been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Wait, that's not quite accurate; as we build an All-Alex Hall of Names team here on Da Box, we need to differentiate ...

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! — I hope I'll be safe at home!

George Carlin has died at the age of 71.

The above baseball/ootball rant was just one of the many lines in one fo the great monologues (the whole bit is here) brought to us by a man who truly could lay claim to being, at least arguably, the greatest American stand-up comedian ever.

That a bit like saying "Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player ever" ...