The Toronto farm splits six.

The Jays were again undone by poor starting pitching and the double play.

The regular season ends this week. In the Alomar Division, the six Championship bracket teams are virtually carved in stone, whereas ten teams separated by only seven games are fighting for six Consolation bracket spots. The top-level postseason bracket in Barfield is likewise almost fully decided. The Carter Division has the most entertaining battle for the Championship bracket. Both the Alomar and Barfield Divisions have one team guaranteed relegation, one nearly certain, and two other teams struggling to avoid the last demotion spot.

I'm still on vacation, but you're still getting Photo of the Day!  Now that's what I call service.

Today's photo illustrates that funny thing A.J. Burnett does with his hand after delivering a pitch:

Canada beat Venezuela 7-5 in 10 innings today at the COPABE Olympic Qualifiers in Cuba.

I'm flying solo this week -- the inimitable Alex Obal turned in his radar gun for a canoe paddle. It's not like he'll miss anything in the Indians-Jays series, involving a third-place team and a fourth-place team. But, hey, Joaquin Andujar's "youneverknow" warning must be recognized. After all, who expected a complete game shutout from Runelvys Hernandez?

This Scout features some interesting starters, Buffalo Bison after Buffalo Bison and a couple of my absolute favourite players.

On to the Advance Scout!

Entering the 2006 season, former Jay hero Carlos Delgado had played more than 1,500 career games without a playoff appearance, second most among all active players behind only the ill-fated Jeromy Burnitz, whose current employer in Pittsburgh doesn't appear likely to break that streak. Delgado's streak, however, appears likely to come to a screeching halt as his New York Mets are running away and hiding from the rest of the AAAA National League.

Actually, 13 players in the history of the Great Game have more than 2,000 career appearances without so much as a sniff at the post-season. leading the way, as many would guess, is the indomitable Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks at 2,528. But then -- Luke Appling, Mickey Vernon and Buddy Bell come between Banks and his old teammate, Ron Santo. Others on the 2000+ career games without a playoff appearance list include Joe Torre, who has more than made up for his ring-less playing career as a manager in the Bronx, and Hall of Famers like Harry Heilmann and George Sisler.

In fact, thanks to this new feature at BaseballReference.com ...

Only eight days left in the minor league season, other than in Auburn (10 days) and Pulaski (3 days). PUlaski were eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend leaving Auburn, who are in a three way tie for first place, as the only second half hope for the affiliates.  Dunedin and Lansing earned playoff spots in the first half.  Four wins against one loss for the affiliates on Sunday.  Good pitching led Syracuse to victory while New Hampshire, Auburn and Pulaski wielded the lumber.

Let's begin with a Blue Jays Trivia Question, the answer to which seems unlikely to change in 2006.

Toronto has played 41 post-season games in their history. Who is the only Blue Jay to pitch a Complete Game in the post-season?

I'm on vacation this week, but the miracle of internet technology still allows me to bring you this photograph of Alex Rios glaring at Jay Witasick after being blown over by an inside pitch:

Royals 2, Jays 0 as Roy Halladay comes out on the wrong end of a shutout for a change.

Penn blew away the Sky Chiefs tonight in Ottawa.  He will be in Baltimore shortly.  

The farm affiliates went 1-5 on Saturday night.

You may recall some time back we introduced a new wing to the Hall of Names, when in late July we looked at a team composed of players who had the greatest Age 40 seasons in MLB history, Making the Top 40.

We now revisit that concept with a Plus-One twist and find that indeed, life just begins at 40 and actually gets better with a team we can only call ...

Shaun Marcum rights himself and the Jays take the all-important first game of the series.

The farm affiliates swept all seven of their games. The bats boomed, the pitchers threw strikes, the fielders caught the ball, and all was right with the world.