Per Sportsnet.

Just over six weeks left. The battles for post-season positions are coming and the Blue Jays are right in the thick of it!

After all, they have many games to play against almost all the teams that actually have a legitimate chance to make it...

About once a year, the Toronto Blue Jays take a kid out of the minor leagues and put him right into the starting rotation.

Warning: there is trivia involved!

Ho hum. The Jays beat up on the Athletics with good starting pitching and relieving, great defense and timely hitting. So that's what it's like!
Lets, however, turn our attention to more esoteric pursuits: baseball nicknames.

Who among current active players will end up in the Hall of Fame? Let’s take a quick look-see and dive into the conversation of worthiness. We started with the American League; now let’s move on to the senior circuit …

We've done this before, but with Hall of Fame inductions taking place today (yay Goose!) let's take a look at players today who could someday earn Cooperstown induction.

We'll start with the American League ...

Today, Dave Steib is 51. And Cliff Johnson is exactly a decade older at 61. The two, who were teammates from 1983-85, each had individual reputations (deserved or not is incidental to this point) for, well, surliness might be a strong word, but let's go with that.

So here's a challenge for you -- with the second-greatest SP in Blue Jay history on the mound and the massiveness of Cliff J. either catching or (preferably) at designated hitter, who else fills out the lineup card for the All-Time, All-Jays, All-Surly squad?

 

I ran across a celver joke on the Web earlier today, dealing with Australian Football (Rugby) League teams and thought I'd try to flip it for Major League Baseball. Let's see how we do and, please, feel free to suggest your own!

• NEW YORK YANKEES: JULIA ROBERTS
  Big in the 1990s but what has she done lately?
  

• DETROIT TIGERS: SARAH JESSICA PARKER
  Just when you thought you were finally safe ... she's back.
  

Pitchers are an odd beast. They can have career years at age 20 (Dwight Gooden) or age 45 (Phil Niekro). OK, Phil's age 35 season might have been better.

There is a reason no one claims to predict pitchers with a high degree of accuracy, and why TINSTAAPP. Still, lets see how the Jays are doing vs their careers.

Just for fun, while we have a few days with fixed stats, lets see how various Jays have done vs their lifetime numbers. Also included are a few high level prospects who might be here in 2009.

I've got an idea! Let's create a pitcher!

And let's make him a monster. A dragon...

We now have Marcum and McGowan on the DL with AJ likely to be moving soon. So, who fills in those 3 open slots?

The Indians have apparently traded C.C. Sabathia. To the other league.

A special St. Jean Baptiste Day edition of the Advance Scout. The Fighting Jays take on the FIghting Reds in an epic battle between two middle eastern teams (in the context of North America). On to the Advance Scout!

It's been a bad 24 hours for people involved in running 100 million dollar teams, as the Mets have fired Willie Randolph overnight and the Mariners let GM Bill Bavasi go yesterday afternoon.