The Marlins have overtaken the Braves for first place in the NL East as the Braves struggled last week with the Red Sox and the surging Padres. The difference between first and last place is just 5.5 games - the tightest of any division in baseball - so it's still anyone's race.

Francisco Rosario was great but Gabe Gross stole the spotlight. Josh Banks is back on form, the Dunedin bats were mashing, while Lansing were all wet. A 3-0 Sunday on the farm.

For only the second time this year does a Jays series at home not end up in a sweep, be it for or against the Jays. A sweep certainly would have been nice over the Nationals, especially with the Yankees capitalising on Mets defensive blunders to pull even with the Jays in the standings. Although it’s a bit disappointing to not win with Josh Towers facing a struggling Tomo Okha, there are very few teams in the majors against whom a series victory is not good news.

The specter of whether or not Babe Didrikson Zaharias should win a spot on the recent All-Babe team raised another interesting question ... what kind of Hall of Names team could be gathered using only the 74 men to have reached the MLB level whose last/family name begins with the letter "Z"?

Josh Towers went for the Jays against Tomo Ohka and had his first struggles in a while. He breezed through four innings but was manhandled in the fifth for five runs. Vinnie Chulk later tossed up a three-run bomb to little-known rookie Tony Blanco, and the Nationals put the same kind of walloping on the Blue Jays that they'd absorbed in the first two games of this series, winning 9-2.

The Sunday morning before Victoria Day might just be my favorite time of the year. A newspaper, brunch, no work the day before or after, good weather, and maybe a little gardening on the agenda in the afternoon. Ahh. Your interactive magazine brings good news too. Aside from the Jays' shellacking of the Senate, the farm affiliates went 3-1 on Saturday.

Making a special weekend appearance in place of Pepper Moffatt today, I decided to tape yesterday's game and replay it a few times to see what I could do. The results may bore you, so read on!

Jordan raises the issue of M*A*S*H in his latest Minor League Update (a show that managed to never "jump the shark," incidentally) which leads, as you might guess, to an All-M*A*S*H Hall of Names team quest.

We've used movies (All-Grease) and T.V. Shows (All-Sesame Street, All-Simpsons) as the basis for the Hall of Names before, but this is the first time we're going to a franchise that was both a classic movie AND a classic TV show.

Roy Halladay takes the ball against Tony Armas this afternoon. This is a rematch of last year's July 3 matchup in the Puerto Rican rain, won by Doc 2-0. That in turn was a rematch of a fine 2002 pitching duel here at the Dome, won by Armas 2-1. So if these guys stay true to form, don't expect a lot of offense.

And that was quick!

There are certain dead giveaways that a once-successful creative venture is running out of ideas. There'll be an episode featuring a seance, or two characters stuck in an elevator. Or maybe there'll be a very special guest appearance by Dick Van Dyke. Or they'll add a cool new kid named Roy. Or Ted McGinley will show up. Or, in the case of the minor-league update, they start adding trivia questions on a 2-2 night for the farm teams.

Sometimes all you need is a timeout. Instead of going out there again and again, and screwing up again and again - just stop. Take a walk. Clear your mind. Change your routine.

Way back on January 10, Batter's Box asked the leading question, what is it with baseball and lawyers? After input from the esteemed Jamey Newberg and the seven or eight dozen shysters who frequent these here parts of the Web, the matter was largely dropped.

Then more recently -- just last week, in fact -- in a standard "Baseball's Hall of Names" feature, we examined the posibilities presented by an "All-Doc" (or alternatively, an "All-M.D.) team.

And if you've been to college, you know the pre-law guys don't want the pre-med guys to have anything they don't get (and vice versa), so we feel obliged to offer an "All-Legal" team here on Batter's Box. However, we'll take a bit of a different tack than we did with our medical squad -- and be sure to watch for the wacky Chief Justice Showdown at the end of the show!

NEW! Sidebar comments with a complete "All-J.D." team and Craig Burley's special complete team of all actual lawyers!

Lilly! Wells! Hill!

So what did you think?

Interleague play begins early this year, with a visit from the ex-Expos. Gone are the days, alas, when the Expos and Jays used to play before large and loudly bipartisan crowds at the Dome; the slow death of the Expos turned this matchup into a non-event some years ago. There's talk of now making Philadelphia the "natural rival" for interleague purposes, starting next year.

But there are still two series to play this year, and Frank Robinson's Nats are playing inspired ball of late, parlaying quality starts, a tough bullpen and a solid middle of the order into victories despite a slew of injuries (most notably to Jose Vidro). The good news for the Jays is that John Patterson's achy back means the Jays get an unrested pitcher today, and likely an untested pitcher on Sunday. In between, the Doctor is in on Saturday.

This week's Scout features a resurgent corner infield, an anomalous outfielder and a closer putting it all together.

On to the Advance Scout!

For most of the last decade, the AL Central has featured one good-but-unspectacular squad and four teams ranging from average to poor. So far in 2005, the AL West is trying hard to usurp that hollow crown.