The Jays look to create some separation from the Yanks in the ongoing battle for second place. This series features two matchups of young, unproven righties bookending a Pettitte-Marcum showdown on Tuesday night.

The Jays dodge their opposition's ace for the third consecutive series...

No Cole Hamels this weekend, but the lefty the Jays do get to contend with might be even scarier...

The second-place Orioles are the Jays' last opponent before interleague play. Baltimore will throw their top two pitchers and an Adam Loewen replacement at the Jays this series, plus one shellshocked closer too.

Two intriguing pitching matchups and Shaun Marcum's long-overdue first start of the year highlight this weekend's series.

With the Chambers of Horror now squarely in their rearview mirror, the Jays return to friendly pastures to take on Boston.

This might be the longest series of the year, so let's make this short and sweet. On to the Advance Scout!

The Rangers are off to just about the worst start imaginable. They're 8-13, last in the AL West. The good news is that they're 8-13, only 3.5 games out, and they're way, way better than they've played thus far.

A familiar Yankee ace and a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankee ace who'll be all too familiar all too soon await the Jays in their first visit to the Bronx Zoo.

On to the Advance Scout!

It's a battle of 8-7 teams in Baltimore. Burnett, Towers and Chacin will carry the Jays' torch this weekend. The Jays should be favored to win the last two games, bruises and all, but Friday is a different story. Burnett, who really could use a win, runs into a certain overpowering righty who's only handed out 5 walks in his first three starts. Elsewhere, the Jays also get to contend with a left-leaning lineup and a revamped bullpen full of imported veterans and inexpensive pleasant surprises. And Alberto Castillo!

On to the Advance Scout.

The patient Sox walked all over LA of A to take a half-game lead in the AL East over the weekend, and Daisuke didn't even have anything to do with it. He gets the chance to extend Boston's 3-game winning streak tonight. Elsewhere, Terry Francona vaults himself to the forefront of progressive closer usage, and pizza flies at Fenway...

On to the Advance Scout!

The Tigers and Jays renew acquaintances, and this time, they'll do it in a proper baseball environment: a dome. None of this "cold" business. This series features a clash of aces, a clash of sub-12% K rates, and two weekend pitching matchups that look one-sided on paper but should actually be much more interesting than they first appear. Also, Gary Sheffield tries to rectify his wiggle, and Brandon Inge tries to reassert his offensive superiority over Neifi Perez...

On to the Advance Scout!

The first-place blue birds return home to raise the curtain on the 19th season of baseball at the Dome, having survived a rollercoaster series in Tampa Bay minimally scathed. Hopefully they enjoyed it, because when the goosebumps-inducing pregame ceremonies are over and a raucous crowd welcomes redemption-bent A.J. Burnett to the hill, the Jays will find themselves battling a team whose personality resembles that of the very annoying Rays of about two years ago. Like those Rays, the Royals are still a couple of years away from unleashing the full brunt of their youth movement on the AL, but they do have a few highly-touted youngsters getting their feet wet. They also have more than enough scrappers and veterans to put up a fight against anyone when their pitching cooperates. What are the odds of that happening? Actually, in this series, better than you might think. There are no easy games in the AL.

On to the Advance Scout!

So you know how in football, when the talking heads want to hint at an upset in a game without actually predicting it, they call it a "trap game" for the favorite because there are certain circumstances that have a leveling effect, right? Well, this series is about as close to a baseball equivalent as you can get. Somehow, the baseball gods conspired to throw Tampa Bay's top three starters at the Jays in the second series of the year. The Jays also lucked into the one night the Trop should actually sell out with an energetic, partisan crowd - the home opener. And finally, Gregg Zaun's right arm just happened to have a disastrous series right before a three-game set against the most aggressive baserunning team in the AL. Yeah, I'm just a little bit antsy about the Jays' chances this weekend. Viewer discretion is advised as we move on to the Advance Scout...

It begins. First up on the menu are the Tigers. They are a worthy opponent with very similar strengths to the Jays, armed with deep reserves of righthanded power, a brand-new star DH pushing 40, two overpowering righty aces and a bespectacled lefty. Jays bias be damned, this is almost certainly the best opening-day series in the majors. Halladay-Bonderman has to be the best pitching matchup, anyway. So what's the holdup? Grab your favorite beverage and let's move on to the Advance Scout already.