Now I'm sitting here,
Sipping at my ice cold beer,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the first NFH challenge is now final, leaving two more on the go...

And you may ask yourself
Am I right? ...am I wrong?
And you may tell yourself
My god!...what have I done?

A distinct feeling of Deja Vu.

Some good pitching last night on the farm (2-3 record, though), with one starter striking out 11, another pitching seven shutout innings and one more sort of went the distance. Actually, he didn't pitch a complete game at all. Read on for more.

So there's a little ballgame in Detroit tomorrow, an exhibition, if you will, although This Time (Again) It Counts.

Over the last few weeks, Batter's Box Interactive Magazine authors and readers cast their own ballots regarding who should start the game for the AL and NL squads, and although as of this writing the starting pitchers had not been named, the Box vote agreed with the popular vote in a convincing majority of cases. Let's see ...

These ninth inning comebacks are all very exciting and everything, but I'd rather they result in a win.

I think we're all glad to see the back of Texas as the Jays lose another heartbreaker in Arlington.

I do still, for the record, believe.

Bring on the brand new Renaissance
Cause I think I'm ready
I've been shaking all night long
But my hands are steady

It is Sunday morning, and the doors of the Church of Baseball are always open. And so we pray. May our pitchers always throw strikes and may the wind blow in. Yesterday our youthful minor leaguers faced much adversity on the way to compiling a 2-4 record.

I have a confession to make: I didn't watch this game. Not on TV, not on MLB.tv, not thru the magic of Gamecast or Gamezapper or Gamewhateveritsacraptasticsubstitutionfortv. Did I watch highlights? I did not. Did I read the Instant Replay on Da Box? I did not. Did I know there was a game? Well, that would be appear to be obvious. Nonetheless, all I have is the box score. So what did I learn?

OK, that was weird. In so many ways. For example:

Pitchers 	   IP  H  R  ER BB  SO  HR  PC-ST  ERA
S Downs (L, 0-1)  2.2  4  5   5  1   1   1  51-31  6.75
J Miller 	  2.1  5  4   4  0   2   3  41-24 15.43
B League 	  2.0  5  3   3  1   1   1  40-23  7.94
V Chulk           1.0  1  0   0  0   0   0  11-7   3.98

And Texas went into the 9th leading 12-3, and needed to bring in their closer before it was over. The Fighting Jays!

Maybe not the entire summer, but certainly the rest of July and perhaps most of August. The wire story has the vital information from GM J.P. Ricciardi:

For a month we're going to have to suck it up. We played without him last year. It's not a comforting situation to be in, not having him.

Who keeps on loving you when you’ve been lying
Saying things ain’t what they seem
God does but I don’t
God will but I won’t
And that’s the difference between God and me

This stuff happens. When you play 162 games, you're going to lose a whole bunch of them. Sometimes you're going to lose in an utterly grotesque fashion. File and forget. It's not a turning point, the season doesn't depend on how they respond to this game.

The season depends on Roy Halladay's health.

A line drived ripped off the ankle of your franchise pitcher is not what any fan wants to see. With Roy Halladay almost certain to miss at least some time after his injury in Texas last night, the Blue Jays need to find a starter who can, if not replace The Franchise, at least take his spot in the rotation. And it appears there might be such a pitcher down in Syracuse.