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:

Look, this won't be the first Hall of Names feature that seems to be pointedly directed at and crafted for a particular member of the Batter's Box editorial board; for instance, some time ago there was a comment from Spicol that prompted the All-Steve team; Scott Lucas particulary enjoyed the recent Great Scotts effort; and last August we had the ultimate Kent/Williams teams battle it out in the All-Coach matchup.

And now, we turn our Simon and Garfunkelian lonely eyes to Mike Green ... actually, this team is much more of a followup to the recent spate of colourful (or not-so-colourful) Hall of Names efforts, including Seeing Red, the White/Black/Gray matchups in A Complete Lack of Colour and going all the way back to the April 2003 more general True Colours team.

But this Green piece (har!) comes with a bit of a twist ...

It's 3-0 at the Rogers Centre for the Yankees. What's this about a ball vanishing into the scoreboard?

The Yankees stumble into town not only tied for the worst record in the American League, but three and a half games back of the hometown Jays.

Pitching's been the problem for the Yankees, who sport an ungainly 5.50 ERA and the highest team WHIP in the American League. The bullpen has been a real problem area after being such a significant strength for so many years, and the rotation has been middling (Pavano, Mussina, Unit) to brutal (Brown, Wright).

After the magnificent game that Craig captured so eloquently in today's Game Report, are the Jays due for a letdown? Will they face a post-road-trip malaise game? Not with the Bronx Bombers in town.

On to the Advance Scout!

After three false starts trying to write this Game Report, I suddenly realized why I had such a hard time building up a rhythm. Nothing could possibly recapture the nervous energy of actually watching this game. Nothing.

Another day, another photograph. Since the Photo of the Day seems to be a good luck charm for the subject, I've been digging through the photographs here, looking for people who could use an extra shot of good luck or mojo or whatever it is.

Some folks yesterday suggested that the Jays' relief staff could use a bit of the pixie dust, so here's Jason Frasor:

The Skychiefs had the night off as the farm teams went 1-2.