The Blue Jays have played 40 games this season.  The good news is that at their current .575 winning percentage they are on pace for 93 wins.  The bad news is that 93 wins right now is 3rd in the AL East and 3rd in the wildcard.

What do the players look like spread over 162 games?

Kevin Barker. That’s it. It was his night to shine in what is likely to be his best single-game performance as a professional.

It was a tough week to have the out of town series report, especially when you have a seventeen-month-old baby who likes to get up at the crack of dawn and start the day at full speed. But it's all about you, dear reader, so I'm drinkin' extra coffee and pushin' on through.

Happy Friday to you, and Happy Birthday to me.

Photo of the Day today is not Bengie Molina!  It's Frank Catalanotto, thinking seriously about making a run for second base:

"He's a strike-throwing machine," John Gibbons said. "He's so far ahead of where he ought to be."

Yes, that's my headline.

Three runs was the most scored by any of the minor league teams last night, and even that required an Ontario kid to come up with a hit in the final inning. We've got a rainout, a rain delay, a rain-induced doubleheader and...well, our Third Star today is the rare ballplayer whose first and last names both contain the letters r-a-i-n.

Photo of the Day spotlights the Greater Molina once again, because I was too tired to think of someone else to spotlight and I didn't have time to assemble a Scott Kazmir pitching motion analysis.

So while I fall down on the job, enjoy Bengie Molina taking aim at a wannabe base-stealer:

The best result last night was a rain out in Dunedin.

Ted Lilly reminds us that he’s got a rep for being inconsistent. After opening the season with a brief and ineffective outing, Ted reeled off 6 consecutive starts where he gave his team a good chance to win. Recognizing that it was bound to come to an end, John Gibbons employed the quick hook and Lilly was gone after 4 1/3 with 3 runs in.

Does Photo of the Day mojo move beyond time zones?  Because while I was assembling today's PotD (a lovely photograph of Vernon Wells smackin' a ball) I realized that when it goes live at midnight Eastern, the Jays will probably still be playing in Los Angeles of Anaheim.

Will he get a sudden boost for the final innings?  Does it roll over until tomorrow?  How does this really work?  I need to know -- as a wise man once said, "With great power comes great responsibility.  Excelsior!"

Two games in the division last night as Boston beat up on the Orioles and the Yankees couldn't get to Kevin Millwood dropping one to Texas. Leaving the Jays 1.5 games back from Boston, half a game back from New York and four ahead of Baltimore.

A wet Monday sees just one game for the Toronto farm, and the Dunedins make it a good one.

Yes, Tyler, I know that Canada does not have such a position, and also I am aware that Sir John MacDonald was a Prime Minister.  This, however, is a photograph of John McDonald, the defensive-minded infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, doing some of that defensive stuff:

The draft is on June 6th and 7th. The Jays select 14th and it looks like it'll be another first round pitcher.

When Seth McClung shut down the Jays on Friday, the usual complaints were heard. "The Devil Rays always give the Jays trouble." Or, you know, it could just be the fact that even if the Jays win 90 this year, that means they lose 72. (Though this is yet another series in which the Jays did not sweep nor get swept; that's another topic, however.)

Okay, I'll admit having thought that the Fighting Jays show less fight against the boys from St. Petersburg, but I quickly dismissed it. It's one of those things people say so often that they think it's true. But it's not. Or is it?