What's gone wrong with the Jays, you ask? Well, not as much as you might think: every team goes through bad stretches. (Ask the Yankees, who had to face The Boss's full-on wrath after punting a few games early in the season.) But one thing now seems clear to me: talent always trumps effort.

While the big club desperately needs a Bull Durham style artificial rainout (maybe the roof on the Skydome will develop a leak), the farm affiliates had 3 cancellations yesterday. Two games (New Hampshire's and Dunedin's) were washed away, and Lansing's tilt with West Michigan was frozen out. No toque, scarf and mitten ball in the Midwest League. Only Syracuse played, and frankly, the Sky Chiefs would have been better off if a freak hailstorm in Scranton had put the kibosh to their game.

The X-rays were penetrating
Through the latex breeze
Synthetic fibre see-thru leaves
Fell from the rayon trees

The Jays have lost 3 in a row at home - they're back at .500 - and it's been a while since a starter not named Halladay did a quality job. Dave Bush is going to change all that this afternoon, and you heard it here first.

Blown leads were the order of the day in the Blue Jays organization, as two of their minor-league affiliates copied the Toronto bullpen in coughing up one-run leads late. At least Dunedin managed to eke out a messy win afterwards -- but that was the only W anywhere in the organization last night, because the hitting was also pretty bad. Avert your eyes if you’re the sensitive type….

Imploding bullpens make us all a little crazy. You've been warned.

It has long been my secret theory that the Blue Jays have suffered karmic punishment these last twelve years. They have offended the gods of baseball, and must be made to suffer.

The crime? Running Tom Henke out of town.

The feisty Josh Towers faces off against Daniel Cabrera tonight at the Rogers Centre. Game time is 7:07. Hey, does anyone know why they went with :07 this year instead of :05?

The Raptors' season is over, so there will be no more radio conflicts -- that means the broadcast this evening will be back on the Fan 590. TV coverage is by TSN. After last night's stellar showing by the Rogers Sportsnet crew, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to compare it to what we're getting from TSN.

Big series for the Jays this weekend, as the Cheer Club endeavours to get the Fighting Jays back in the win column after dropping four of five.

By now, you've heard of the fantastic start Brian Roberts is off to, and he's backed up by a bevy of powerful bats. The good news for the Jays is that other than the back end of the O's bullpen, there are some shaky arms set to face the home team.

This week's Scout features a lights-out setup man, an all-around star at short and a starting pitcher that may not get past customs. Seriously.

On to the Advance Scout!

Our enlargement (pardon the pun) of Photo of the Week into a daily feature continues.

Here's Alex Rios, freezing on his way home just before reversing course to return to third base:

So, about eighty million men left on base, that's not pretty, but at the same time it was a close game and came down to the final at-bat.

There are a few things I want to talk about:

No, it's not a dirty joke nor the start of another tongue twister. When little Jayce Tingler hits a homer, it's front page news at the Box. And last night, he hit his first of the season, as the farm affiliates went 3-1 .

The Blue Jays got a wake-up call from the Yanks last night, so they'll give themselves over to the arm of Morpheus tonight. Gustavo baffled the New Yorkers last September, and you can bet the Yankees have been reviewing their DVDs of that game. We'll see if it helps them tonight. The Jays would just like a starter other than Doc to make it past the third inning. The Decline Phase of Mike Mussina's Career starts for the visitors. Should be a good one.

When I did a quick count of how many of my photographs were of each player, I had to ask myself if I had some kind of man-crush on Eric Hinske, who showed up in about 10% of them. The next closest player was David Wells, and I shot so much of him because he was looking so hangdog and sad-eyed that I just couldn't help myself -- it was like watching a traffic accident, really. But I have no similar explanation for why I shot so much of Eric Hinske, and I also can't explain why so many of them are good.

So, today's photo of the day is of (surprise) Eric Hinske, in the field at first base:

Francisco Rosario and Chi-hung Cheng belong in the first column, while Eric Crozier stands alone in the second category.

This was one of those games during which fans have to remind themselves: even the very best teams lose 60 times a year. At some point last night – I think it was right around when Matt Whiteside entered the game – you had to just resign yourself to the loss and start looking ahead to the next game. Players can’t do that, of course, but fans can. That’s one of the many advantages to not actually being a member of the team.

Anyway, here are a few notes on the game: