As October begins, the Blue Jays return to Toronto to start their last home series of the year. Less than six months ago, they were about to start their first Skydome series of 2004, against the lowly Detroit Tigers. Attitudes and expectations could not be more different today than they were then.

The Alley Cats were the Blue Jays Low-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League this year. Next year, the low-A affiliate will be the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League. Charleston drew 1,842 fans per game, well below league average, to old Watt Powell Park; they will be playing in a newly constructed stadium beginning next year.

A bird to bring my message home
Carry my obituary
My coffin doesn't have a phone

The Jays hope to salvage a split in the 4-game series and retain a faint hope of catching the Devil Rays for 4th place. The Rays were smoked by the Detroit Tigers 8-0 this afternoon and are tied 4-4 in the 8th of the second game of their doubleheader. The Jays sit 2 games behind Tampa Bay with 4 games to go.

As of Monday, Vernon Wells has 307 putouts, with an estimate of 334 balls in his "zone of responsibility". Zone rating (ZR) is simply balls caught per opportunity.

The play-by-play scorers make a note of exactly where in the field every ball landed or was caught using this grid:

It's over.

The Montréal Expos have played their last game in la belle province. Relocated to Washington, D.C., the city that to this date has failed to support three baseball franchises, Major League Baseball's Expos will at least have a single park to call their own, RFK stadium.

For the players, this is probably good news. For the owners, Major League Baseball, this is great news. The fans of Montréal—those that remain, anyway—are not so well served by the move. But when has baseball been about the fans?

Summer is officially heading out the door when the Arizona Fall League rumbles to life. Syracuse manager Marty Pevey has been rewarded for suffering through a brutal Skychiefs campaign with the reins of the Peoria Saguaros. Pevey should be considered a prospect himself: managerial stints in the AFL are often considered auditions for big-league positions. The AFL gets underway in the first week of October: for those of you who'll be in the 48th state this autumn, here's the Saguaros' home schedule. For those of you wondering what a saguaro is, we offer these tantalizing choices:

A) cigar
B) cactus
C) Padre Armand Saguaro, founder of a famed 19th-century Jesuit mission near present-day Peoria
D) scorpion

how the darkness doubled

I recall
lightning struck itself.

I was listening
listening to the rain

I was hearing
hearing something else.

For those of you who were not able to see Gustavo Chacin pitch last time out, you're in for a treat. Provided, of course, that he looks like the same pitcher I saw making his major league debut last week.

There are two distinct features in Chacin's delivery:

1) He has a hitch near the beginning of the windup which some observers think is a balk. By the rules, it is indeed, since he comes to a stop and restarts his motion. But since this is his normal full wind-up (and is not used with runners on base) the umpires will probably let it go.

2) He throws out his glove hand where the ball will come flying out from before his pitching arm comes forward; this probably distracts the hitter just a little bit. It looks a little like a windmill.

Ted Lilly's normal turn was to fall on the final day of the regular season. With the rainout, Ryan Glynn is now scheduled to get the last start for the Blue Jays, while Lilly makes the final start of an impressive season in Baltimore today.

“To hell with the hitters. To hell with all of them.”

Sal “The Barber” Maglie, so named because he would gladly shave you with a fastball buzzed under your chin, felt pretty strongly that hitters are the natural and mortal enemy of pitchers. And what pitcher would disagree? Really, aren't batters all just high-priced, over-hyped golden boys with barely enough intelligence to stand and admire the pitch they were lucky enough to barely hit over the wall? The Barber probably said what pitchers throughout history have thought at one time or another.

So the season's end is upon us, with only three remaining home games. Good thing we have stuff planned for all three!

With glaring sunlight in my eyes
I thought of all the times gone by
And laughed aloud at the crimson sky

**** POSTPONED ****


Magic is how I would describe Ted Lilly when he's on his game. A deceptively quick fastball, a killer change and a quality curve spell trouble for opponents when he's on - hitters tie themselves in knots trying to adjust to the changing speed and location of his repertoire.

Some scoffed when Lilly was chosen as the lone Blue Jays representative at the all-star game. But a strong case can be made that Lilly has not only been the most valuable pitcher on the team, but arguably the team MVP.

Lilly will start the final game of the season if he takes his regular rest, though stranger things have happened. This might be the last chance to see him in action before the curtain is drawn on a painful and disappointing campaign for the Toronto Blue Jays.