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.

"And tonight's pitching matchup seems to favour the Jays to such a ridiculous degree that.... well, I actually have a bad feeling about it."

Me, four hours ago.

I humbly apologize. I never should have said that. I'm very, very sorry.

The Jays travel to the Metroplex sporting a 4-2 July record, and considering their tough opposition and the fact that they could well have won all six games, have to be feeling good about how they're playing. But before the All-Star Break and the sweet, sweet nectar of ten games against the D-Rays, M's and Royals, the Jays have another tough road series in Arlington, where they have simply not played well historically.

The Rangers are an interesting club that has posted a virtually identical record to the Jays, but not in the same way; Texas wins by blasting home runs -- tons of them -- off righthanded pitching. Each hitter in this potent lineup can be pitched to, but crushes mistakes. Sounds like an OK deal for Doc Halladay, but Josh Towers might be in tough.

Today's Scout features a lot of longballs, a Blue Jay draftee made good and a couple of Scott Boras sightings.

On to the Advance Scout!

Hanging around just above .500 in a not-too-strong division, very much still a part of the pennant race, this mix of exciting youngsters and savvy veterans is playing well at their new home but struggling on the road. Yes, there are a lot of similarities between the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and their parent Toronto Blue Jays. This month saw some red-hot hitters and some scuffling pitchers make an impact on the Fisher Cats' run for another Eastern League championship.

Was it what you had hoped for?
Was it what you'd expect?
It's all over but the shouting
in my head

This old porch is like a steaming greasy
plate of enchiladas
with lots of cheese and onions
and a guacamole salad

Here's the first of the requested Jays desktops:

After a tough loss on Tuesday night, the Jays came back for the series win. Swee-ee-t. Last night's game had the feel of a loss in the making early on. Falling behind 2-0 with Harden looking sharp on the mound is not a recipe for success, but the boys used patience and the big hit from Vernon along with fine bullpen work to head for Texas with a second straight W notched in their belts.