Roberto Alomar announced his retirement today.

For some unknown reason, I found myself drawn into the Astros' playoff run last year, and followed them via the magic of internet radio. Maybe it was their terrible jerseys, or maybe it was the silly name of their stadium, who knows.

Anyhow, our beloved home team faces the Houston Minute Maids this afternoon, and the game will be broadcast on the Fan 590 for those of us in the Toronto listening area.

"You spend your life gripping a baseball and it turns out it was the other way around all the time."
-------Jim Bouton

The real story from last night's game was all about a former Blue Jay. Roberto Alomar made two errors in the top of the 1st, struck out looking in the bottom of the inning and then came out of the game.

It was Alomar's first game after missing a week with back problems, and he told Lou Piniella last night that he was having difficulty seeing. Speculation is rife that he will announce his retirement later today.

It's the Bad Blood Brothers rematch! Of course, there were no fireworks last time and probably won't be any this time, either.

There's also no TV and no Toronto radio coverage. There is a TBay broadcast for you Gamedayers, so we're not totally in the dark on this one.

Three things you might not know about the 2004 Texas Rangers:

• The offense was not great.
• The rotation was not terrible.
• The bullpen was phenomenal.

Unlike their division rivals, the Rangers hit the pause button after the season ended and will return with virtually the same group that posted the franchise's first winning record in five years. Other than right field, designated hitter, and one rotation spot, the names haven't changed. Texas will seek internal improvement, perhaps augmented with an in-season trade or two.

Thursday's rains in Florida meant another spring day without baseball. I wonder if teams will gradually relocate to Arizona, because of the more reliable March weather there. Rainouts and rain delays are perfect times to look at the broader picture, so here goes.

With the departure of Carlos Delgado, a legitimate question has been asked: how will the Jays score runs this year? There does not seem to be an abundance of either power or speed, and some have suggested that an increased use of the hit and run, the sacrifice, and other one-run strategies might be in order. Let's have a closer look.

So here we go again ... Mike Green has another Hall Watch, this one examining the candidacy of Bernie Williams, and so it's time for another Hall of Names sidebar. But as we found with the Barry Bonds HoN sidebar, sometimes we have to be creative to fill out a full team.

After all, according to BBRef, there have only been 18 Bernies in big league history -- and that's if you count Carlos Bernier -- and three more with "Bernard" (and one Benard) as a last name. And the Bernie patrolling CF for the Yankees right now is the only one of those 22 guys who has ever been an All-Star, and pretty much the only one who ever got remotely close.

So we need to get creative.

Fantasy baseball, like our BBFL, has its moments. One of mine was in 1991. My arch-rival Howard lost an outfielder, who was not producing, to the DL at just the right time, and snapped up Phil Plantier. "Howard got the Second Coming of JC", I complained to my secretary the next morning. A couple of weeks later, I lost a similar non-producing outfielder to the DL. The next morning, I arrived with a wide grin on my face. "Wazzup?" asked my secretary. "Howard might have got the Second Coming of JC, but I got Bernie Williams", came the reply. "Who's he?". "The Third Coming".

Phil Plantier's Hall of Fame train was derailed in about 1995, but Bernie, well, he was just getting rolling.

Back in the playoffs
Unwieldy new name, but they're
Favoured in the West

To discuss the re-re-rechristened Los Angeles Angels...of Anaheim, I was considering challenging myself by coming up with a catchy St. Patrick's Day limerick for each key player on the squad. Alas, the challenge proved too daunting, particularly in light of the dearth of clever-sounding words that rhyme with "Rodriguez." So it's back to senryu, which is a haiku-style reflection that does not specifically pay homage to nature.

I'll put my money where my mouth is about limericks: The best Angels-related limerick submitted by a reader or Roster member in the thread below will receive two Cheer Club tickets for the Jays-Angels extravaganza on Thursday, July 28, at my expense.

But I digress. On to the preview!

A news release today from Rogers Media and the FAN 590 reported that Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek will require additional brain surgery next week.

Please be sure to include Tom and his family in your thoughts and prayers over the coming weeks. Batter's Box wishes him a successful surgery and speedy recovery, and if you'd like to add your good wishes for Tom please do so in this thread.

Looking at the schedule, a bunch of other grapefruit league games have already been cancelled due to rain, so I'm thinking that this game might not happen.

No TV, no radio from either side today, but those of you with Gameday can listen to a Toronto-helmed webcast. Well, you can if they play.

The baseball season is gearing up and Batter’s Box is excited to offer bigger and better coverage of the Blue Jays minor league system than ever before. Welcome to the first installment of our minor league team previews. We begin with the newest member of Toronto’s minor league kin, the Lansing Lugnuts, and will work our way up the ladder to the Syracuse Skychiefs over the next two weeks. Look for our previews of the short-season teams in June once the draft is wrapped up.

One week ago, the Blue Jays defeated the Devil Rays 5-0 in Grapefruit League action. Yesterday, exactly one week to the day, the Blue Jays lost to the Twins 5-0. Coincidence? Yes.

This story originally appeared on Batter's Box on March 17, 2003 -- two years ago today. That makes this our first Batter's Box Flashback ... or, I guess "FlashBox."

Get Your Irish Up (to the Plate)

It's an unorthodox take on an all-Irish Hall of Names team ... but no, sorry, Shawn Green didn't make the cut.

I've always thought that predicting an individual player's performance was next to impossible: there are just too many factors to consider, one of which is just plain luck. But, just for fun, I thought I'd make two predictions for each Blue Jay hitter and starting pitcher likely to make the team in 2005. The first prediction will be wildly optimistic, the second wildly pessimistic.