The Blue Jays have scheduled a press conference for today at 3pm, presumably to introduce their new manager, John Farrell.  Even though the Jays have said nothing about the hire, the news flow out of Boston has been enough to take away the surprise from today's announcement.

It's that time of year again... the time when I discover Da Box readers are way smarter than me so what am I doing writing anything.

Alex Gonzalez and the Atlanta Braves saved us from the prospect of three sweeps in the first round of the playoffs.  It was an improbable win for the Braves in many respects.  They were down 4-1 with Brian Wilson, San Francisco's closer, on the mound and Atlanta's offense is one of the weakest in the playoffs.  Once the Braves tied it Billy Wagner has to leave with an injury and their fate rests with Kyle Farnsworth on the mound, the Farnsworth who not known as a big game pitcher.  That view looked to be confirmed when he hit Freddy Sanchez.  The Braves options looked bleaker when Buster Posey was up with the bases loaded and one out.  Posey grounded the ball to Troy Glaus, who has not played much third this season, and Glaus passed up on the play at home and went around the horn for an inning ending double play.

The 2010 Playoffs start tomorrow day, and though the Jays are not participating for the 16th time in 17 years (we will have to count the strike year as a moral victory), 8 other teams are! So Bauxites, who's going to, you know, win it all.

It is my custom to examine some odds and ends at the conclusion of the regular season, once the final game is in the books and I've had a chance to update my Big Honking Database. I like to play Snakes and Ladders, I like to check in with Pythagoras...

James Strapp checks in again with some information that surprised me.

Alex Anthopoulos sat down with the media today to discuss the season and his plans for the off-season.  He talks about the manager search without revealing anything and his positive view of the 2010 season.  He did have some interesting player comments.

The Box’s series looking at some of the candidates to replace Cito Gaston as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays continues by looking at Ron Roenicke. The Blue Jays recently requested permission from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to interview the team’s bench coach, who happens to be the uncle of a contender for a spot in the 2011 Jays bullpen.

There's been some talk about the defensive shortcomings of John Buck and Jose Molina, talk which generally focuses on one thing - baseballs rolling to the backstop. It's my understanding (I don't hear the radio team much) that Alan Ashby, a former catcher who was very good at this part of the game, has been talking about it all season.

Good ol' Don Baylor. Attached by the SABR crowd regularly (myself included) and loved by old school types including Cito Gaston. Lets see what the case is for him and if he could be the ideal manager for a young team in the toughest division in baseball™.

Cito Gaston managed his last home game as a Blue Jay two nights ago, and was sent off in style; who was the last manager to receive a portrait of themselves painted by Vernon Wells' dad as a parting gift? But soon Cito's final season will be officially over and it will be time for the Blue Jays to start looking for their next manager.

With only a handful of games remaining, Cito Gaston’s time is almost up as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s about time that we begin a discussion on who should be the field chief in 2011 and beyond.

As I write this sentence, the Jays (81-76) are sitting squarely on a season total of 81 wins, which is exactly half of the schedule's 162 games, which means they cannot, in any scenario finish below .500 and label 2010 as a "losing" season. Um ... hooray?

So, the question today is this ... does it matter to you at all ... should it matter to you at all ... does/should it matter to players, to retiring manager Cito,, to the fanbase, that the team win at least one of its final five to finish at least 82-80, a "winning" record?

Obviously, nobody wants to close the year on a six-game skid, so there's that. But a fourth-place finish in what is clearly the toughest division in baseball, where two teams are making the playoffs and a third might end up with a better record than three other playoff teams? So, overall, our Question of the Day ... does that 82nd win matter? Should it?

The Blue Jays have never had a 50 home run hitter before. Now they do. Thanks for the great season, José! Here's a tribute to your amazing achievement.

When I was much younger, my then-favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds mad a trade to acquire a starting pitcher you may have heard of, guy named Seaver. And for several years, every time he took the hill, I was confident (even convinced) the Reds were bound to win that day. He was the Jays' Roy Halladay, c. 2009 and before. He was, put another way, the anti-Mike LaCoss.

Now to be fair, LaCoss was not a bad pitcher; he won 98 games (and lost 103) over 14 years, cracked double-digit wins in a season four times, even made the 1979 All-Star team, ahead of his teammate Seaver. But LaCoss was a guy, in my young teen brain, who every time he took to the mound, disaster awaited. Not sure why I thought that, exactly, but it seemed inevitable.

So today's Question of the Day: What Blue Jays fit this profile in your personal history? Don't stick to pitchers, though they're probably the easiest to identify ... let's see if we can build an entire lineup, or even a full roster ... who are The Scary Jays?