Well, that sucks.

"He may be here in a few days."
- John Gibbons, before yesterday's game

Lind didn't start yesterday's game against Pawtucket. He delivered a pinch hit single in the 7th and was hit by a pitch in the 9th.

The Jays lose another close-ish game in Tampa as the Rays complete the three game sweep, running Toronto's losing streak to four. In, uh, more positive news, the Raptors won, so Toronto ended the night 1-1 against the state of Florida.

Adam Lind has a .987 OPS at Syracuse and appears to be perfectly healthy. He is hitting .355 with a .581 slugging percentage. The Blue Jays are struggling offensively and starting bench players at DH and the corner outfield positions. Why?

It used to be a big deal.

So the Jays release Frank Thomas over the weekend. Naturally, you'd think that would open up a spot for an excellent propsect, who already had a taste of the big leagues, is left handed on a RH heavy team, can play the OF so Stairs can DH more, and is hitting .379/.431/.621 in AAA.

I realize Lind had a stiff neck over the weekend but he's played 2 games now, going 4-8, and is seemingly good to go. What am I missing here? I expect he'll be called up, but I would have expected that yesterday too and the Jays don't always appear to be the most rational bunch.

Yeah, I'm retired from Batter's Box.

Yeah, I posted something a couple of weeks ago.

Don't get used to it.

Last night, long time Bauxite Robert Dudek said this:

"It's very likely that Frank Thomas still has something left in the tank. I'll wager even money up to $100 that he exceeds a .260 GPA this season."

Some of us remember the last time that Robert and I made a bet about a decision that the Jays brass made. Is it time for a second round?

After two successful seasons the Toronto Bauxite Baseball League is preparing for a third season this summer and is looking for new players. If you are interested in playing hardball during the summer in the Toronto area, see the message after the jump from Mike Kolaric, one of the League's co-conveners and most active members. As a former and future participant currently on the DL, I highly recommend the league if you can make the time commitment.

If you ask me, the Jays are giving us a lot to be happy about.

The Arizona Diamondbacks surprised a lot of people with their first place finish in the NL West last year.  This season they should again be in good position to take the division over the Dodgers and the Padres.

Time to put up or shut up:
http://www.tangotiger.net/clutch/

I'm looking for the guy you want with the game on the line, compared to his TEAMMATES, not necessarily compared to himself in non-clutch situations.

The other day, we had a "Reader Challenge" here on Da Box asking everyone to name their Top 10 Favorite Players. Dozens of individual ballplayers earned mention -- yes, you all love Doc Halladay -- with many people commenting on what a fun exercise it was.

This followup is spurred by a comment from Dave Till, who wrote that one of my own Top 10 favorites, Bill Gullickson, was solidly on his "all-time worst list." We both had legitimate and defensible reasons -- such is the greatness of "baseball favorite" discussions.

So let's try to build the opposite list -- um, not "the opposite of fun," but rather "the opposite of favorite" -- for each of us here. In other words, answer this question ...

It's time to play.

The 2007 season was disappointing for the A's, they entered the season expecting to contend but injuries to key players caused them to fall short of expectations.  Rich Harden, Eric Chavez, Chad Gaudin, Bobby Crosby, Houston Street and Travis Buck each spent time in sick bay, many with significant injuries.  The A's are now in rebuilding mode and should not be a challenger in the 2008 AL West.