Obviously Reed Johnson has had a good day when his stats trickle along the bottom of the ESPN ticker (as they did Thursday night during the Red Sox - Twins broadcast).  And since I'm a follower, not a leader, today's photograph is of our favourite sparkplug, Reed Johnson:

In case you missed the news, everyone's favourite former Blue Jay, Esteban Loaiza (also known as Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, et al), was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence and for reckless driving. According to the reports, Loaiza was driving his brand-new Ferrari 130 MPH at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. He failed the road-side sobriety test, though his blood alcohol content was not released. (In California the legal limit is .08.)

It was Tuesday night. While I waited for Roy Halladay to throw the first pitch, I dutifully pored over the Pre-Game Notes, because I am a conscientious sort of fellow. And in the fine print, I noted that the Blue Jays were slowly closing in on victory number 2300.

A little more than two hours later (Doc probably had dinner reservations somewhere), win number 2293 was in the books, and the team's overall log stood at 2293-2344.

Lots of homers and lots of of relievers is enough to beat the O's.

The first ballot results are in for our pitching prospect poll; Flora MacDonald and Joe Clark are having early discussions about their respective campaigns.  Oops, wrong first ballot.  Bauxites spoke with many voices, and here was the tally using a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 count:

1.   Ricky Romero      (171)
2.   Dustin McGowan (164)
3.   Brandon League (146)
4.   Davis Romero     (131)
5.   Shaun Marcum   (129)
6.   David Purcey       (119)
7.   Jesse Litsch        (72)
8.   Josh  Banks         (62)
9.   Jamie Vermilyea  (39)
10. Kyle Yates             (24)

Chi-Hung Cheng, Billy Carnline and Ismael Ramirez received significant support.

Could Sergio Santos keep his 20-game hitting streak alive? Could Dunedin win in front of 500 fans again? Could New Hampshire get started admist rain in Trenton? Only this Minor League Update has the answers!

Hey, they walk amongst us right now. I wonder who they are.

Note - (Slightly revised and expanded)

With all this hoopla about writing in Alex Rios on the All-Star ballot, we're neglecting another player on the Jays who is quietly putting together an even better campaign than his All-Star-worthy 2005: Shea Hillenbrand.  He hasn't been hit by all that many pitches, and yet his on base percentage is a magnificent .373, a good 23 points higher than the Dudek Noteworthy Contribution Line.

So vote Hillenbrand!  And in the meantime, here's a photograph of him jogging across the plate after hitting a home run on Sunday against the Tigers:

Roy Halladay nips a losing streak in the bud and gives the bullpen a night off with a 104-pitch complete game gem.

A number of fine pitching performances in the minors last night as the affiliates went 3-2.

Bauxites have spoken. We tabulated the votes on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The results were:

1. Adam Lind (153)
2. Curtis Thigpen (142)
3. Ryan Patterson (134)
4. Sergio Santos (75)
5. Chip Cannon (72)
6. Ryan Klosterman (58)
7. Ryan Roberts (43)
8. Rob Cosby (29)
9. Dustin Majewski (27)
10.Robinson Diaz (25)

Anthony Hatch, Brian Pettway, Sean Shoffit, Cory Patton and Wayne Lydon had some support from Bauxites.

Earlier this week, we returned to the legendary Hall of (Place) Names with an All-born-in-Japan Turning Japanese? (I Really Think So). It was our 13th foray into such a team-building exercise, one that has mostly visited US cities like St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit, with occasional looks into cities on foreign shores like Santo Domingo (D.R.) and of course the legendary San Pedro de Macoris.

Only twice before our excursion into Japan have we peered into an entire foreign country -- Canada, of course, and Colin Jaffray's British Isles (England/Scotland/Wales) trifecta.

Since we've at least dabbled in the home countries (or large cities of those countries) of the three most prolific foreign producers of big league players (Dominican Republic, 410; Puerto Rico, 215; and Canada, 205 through the end of the 2005 season), let's take a look at the next three on the list this next week or so -- Venezuela at 181; Cuba at 150; and our #6 foreign exporter, today's feature with 98 ballplayers having reached the majors, our friendly neighbors to the south ...

As a huge fan of Vinnie Chulk's entrance music, I was really pleased to see him back in the bigs. Plus, according to Alex Rios, Chulk speaks the best Spanish on the team (or at least, he did last year).

Oh yeah, and he can pitch, too, you know?

To celebrate my arrival as an official member of the Roster (huzzah!), I think it's time to play a little game I like to call "Draft and Follow".  There are prizes to be won... yes, prizes.

The Blue Jays made their choices last week in the draft. This week I take a stab at who I would have taken with the top 5 picks.