You can’t deny what Johan Santana is doing for the Twins right now and anyone who says he isn’t the frontrunner for the American League Cy Young Award right now would be kidding themselves. That being said, Roy Halladay will still get some serious votes for his season with Toronto.

Consider the comparison:

Santana: 18-5, 2.77 ERA, 32 GS, 1 CG, 220.2 IP, 44 BB, 237 K
Halladay: 16-5, 3.20 ERA, 31 GS, 4 CG, 216.2, 33 BB, 131 K

One thing to consider, too, is the production since the All-Star break. Santana has gone 9-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 13 starts since the break, where as Halladay has gone 4-3 with a 3.61 ERA in 13 starts during that same span. Granted, Halladay’s run support hasn’t  been nearly the same as it was during his 12-2 first-half showing, but Santana has helped carry the Twins right back into the middle of the playoff hunt.

Halladay will still get heavy consideration, though. One thing people point to is the fact that Santana leads the "Triple Crown" categories of wins, ERA, and strikeouts. You have to keep in mind that Halladay is less of a strikeout pitcher now, though.

His philosophy has shifted to getting quick outs and only using the strikeout as a weapon in necessary situations. You can see this in his statistics, too. Halladay leads all American League starters in fewest pitches per inning (13.86) and his 347 groundouts rank second only to Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang. Those are figures that HAVE to be considered when breaking down Doc’s numbers in comparison to Santana — though Santana isn’t a ground-ball pitcher.

Another thing that I tend to look at (which some people to agree with me about) is Halladay’s place on Toronto’s staff. Some argue that the Cy Young Award is strictly an individual award and only numbers should be the basis of the voting. I believe that you need to look at the whole picture. Considering all the issues and injuries the Blue Jays’ rotation has seen this year, Halladay has really held the staff together — this from a guy who missed a lot of time over the last two seasons due to injury.

Anyway, that’s my brief take on Halladay’s chances at picking up his second Cy Young Award. I think he’d have a better shot of winning the Comeback Player Award, except for the fact that he’s not a candidate.

As if that wasn’t enough to stir some discussion, here are my current picks for the American League and National League awards, if the season were to end today:

AL MVP: David Ortiz, BOS
AL Cy Young: Johan Santana, MIN
AL Rookie: Justin Verlander, DET
AL Manager: Jim Leyland, DET

NL MVP: Ryan Howard, PHI
NL CY Young: Brandon Webb, ARI
NL Rookie: Dan Uggla, FLA
NL Manager: Joe Girardi, FLA

I’m sure I’ll offer my thoughts again when the season ends. We’ll see if any of my picks change…

After a 3-3 showing on their recent road trip, the Jays head back to Toronto for their last appearance in front of the home crowds. Coming up are three final series: three games each against Tampa Bay, New York and Boston.

With 16 games left, the Blue Jays find themselves in the role of a spoiler, rather than a team hunting for the playoffs. A .500 record from here on out would give Toronto a 84-78 record. That’s short of where the Jays would’ve liked to have been at season’s end, but I think that’d be a decent mark, considering all the issues the club has had this year.

When the season began, there was one glaring weakness that I saw within the Jays. Sure, the 25-man roster looked strong when Opening Day arrived, but the depth behind the Major Leaguers didn’t seem to be a crop of players that would be able to step in and keep the team in a playoff race. Lo and behold, that’s what happened with injuries to A.J. Burnett, Gustavo Chacin, Alex Rios, amongst other issues.

The young fill-ins had their strong stretches, but it’s unrealistic to think guys like Casey Janssen or Ty Taubenheim — both pitched in A ball the year before — for example, could step up and instantly be a Jered Weaver or a Justin Verlander. The big league experience will help all the young players that helped out for next year and beyond, though.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting back to Toronto. I’ve only been home for about three days in the roughly the last three weeks. Given that fact, I’m going to be taking a day off on Friday. I’ll be back behind the keyboard starting Saturday.

Until then, here’s some notes to tie you over:

–Roy Halladay threw off a mound on Wednesday and appears to be set to start on Friday. If he doesn’t, Toronto manager John Gibbons said he would still probably pitch this weekend. Gustavo Chacin would pitch on Friday if Halladay couldn’t go. As of right now, the rotation will be Halladay, Ted Lilly, and Chacin in the three games against Tampa Bay.

–Alex Rios continues to sit due to a bone bruise in his right hand. He jammed his hand while hitting some time last week and hasn’t been able to grip a bat well since. He has played as a late defensive substitution lately, but hasn’t hit in a game in six games. No word on when he’ll be starting again.

–Third baseman Troy Glaus has been working through a tough slump lately. Gibbons said it looks like Glaus’ swing is a little long, which is a tendency that big power hitters tend to have sometimes. Gibbons bumped Glaus down to the No. 5 hole on Tuesday and sat him on Wednesday. I assume he’ll be back in the lineup on Friday.

–John Hattig and Adam Lind have been pretty impressive since joining Toronto. Hattig, who was called up when Toronto traded Eric Hinske, has hit .462. Lind, who was the Eastern League MVP this year, has posted a .464.

–Reports indicate that the Blue Jays are on pace to lose around $22 million this year. That’s roughly the amound of payroll Toronto added during its busy winter. Even so, owner Ted Rogers has said he’s willing to increase his club’s payroll for next year.

Roy Halladay was sitting at his locker at Safeco Field today, wearing a wrap on his elbow to help treat the joint after he got hit by a line drive on Sunday. Halladay said the swelling is down and he’ll try to play catch on Tuesday. If all goes well, he doesn’t see why he couldn’t start as scheduled on Friday in Toronto. So let out the sigh of relief Jays fans, Halladay is doing better.

Alex Rios is still out of the lineup with a bone bruise in his right hand and Jays manager John Gibbons wasn’t sure if he’d play during the series in Seattle. Today’s lineup against the M’s: Johnson, RF, Catalanotto, LF, Wells, CF, Glaus, 3B, Molina, C, Overbay, 1B, Hill, 2B, Lind, DH, McDonald, SS.

This is my first trip to Safeco Field and I’ve got to tell you, it’s quickly climbing up my personal rankings of the stadiums I’ve been to. It’s a beautiful facility in a beautiful city. I’ve only been here since this morning, but Im really enjoying Seattle so far.

That’s really all I’ve got for you at the moment. I just wanted to toss a quick Halladay update on here for you all. Ah, one more thing. In case you were curious which Toronto farmhands were playing in the Arizona Fall League, here is the list:

Pitchers: Jordan De Jong, Danny Hill, Tracy Thorpe, Kyle Yates
Catchers: Curtis Thigpen
Infielders: Chip Cannon, Ryan Klosterman

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more…

I’m in sunny Anaheim, Calif., and am looking forward to heading over to Angel Stadium in about an hour. I haven’t been to the stadium, yet, and I’ve heard good things about it. Once I make it inside, Seattle’s ballpark will be the only American League stadium I haven’t seen (that’ll be taken care of by Monday).

This is an important series for Toronto — not for any playoff implications, but because the Angels are two games better than the Blue Jays. That’s the same margin that the Red Sox have over the Jays. A series win would be a good step towards overtaking Boston for second place in the division. That appears to be the Jays’ main focus down the stretch.

Finishing second won’t be an easy task, though. Toronto has series remaining against the Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels. Boston has one series against the Yankees and one against the Twins, but two left against the Orioles, one with the Royals, and another with the Devil Rays. Not to mention that the Red Sox are getting some of their regular players back.

All that being said, let me pose this question that a couple of us writers were pondering a couple weeks back:

Which would be better, finishing in second place with, say, 85 wins, or placing third with a higher win total?

Finishing with 85 wins actually would be somewhat of a success, considering the Jays are on pace to win 84. To win 90, Toronto would have to go 17-5 from here on out. That doesn’t seem realistic, given the schedule. My opinion? I think finishing second would trump winning more games and placing third. What’re your thoughts?

Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers announced today that he was willing to increase the team’s payroll. He didn’t say whether that meant specifically for next year or for 2008 and beyond, but that’s good new for Toronto, no matter what exactly it means.

Paul Godfrey, Toronto’s president and CEO, spoke about the matter prior to Tuesday’s game, but he also was unwilling to go into specifics because the issue was in a very premature stage. He said the Jays management went to Rogers and presented the payroll issue recently, and the owner’s comments appear to signal that he was convinced more money is needed.

Godfrey wouldn’t hint whether or not a similar three-year commitment was going to be made, similar to the one Rogers made prior to last season. That’s when the owner dished out $210 million for the 2005-07 seasons. It didn’t sound as if that was going to be the plan this time around, but again, that’s just me speculating.

That’s about all the news there is on that — other than the fact that Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi opted not to comment. We probably won’t know many more details until after this year is complete. But again, this is great knews for the Jays. A $100 million payroll would be ideal, but who knows if Rogers is willing to go that high. The current payroll is at $69.5 and it’s estimated to be around $78 next year.

It’s 1:51 a.m. and I have to get up in four hours to get to Boston’s airport for a flight back home to Toronto. Why am I still up? I just finished putting together the bi-weekly installment of the Blue Jays mailbag.

The issues you’ll get to read about tomorrow: The reality of the catching situation for next year, why I don’t think Gibbons was punished harshly following the Hillenbrand/Lilly incidents, who Toronto will get for Hinske/Schoeneweis, what the plans are for Josh Towers, and Brandon League’s role.

That’ll be all the Bastian content you get on Monday. I have to catch a connecting flight in New York and won’t get back to Toronto in time to cover the game against Cleveland. I’ll have someone filling in for me instead. I’ll enjoy a wonderful day of traveling, followed by a quiet evening at home after this long road trip.

NOTES FROM TODAY:

–Gustavo Chacin pitched great and might’ve gone longer had it not been for Tropical Storm Ernesto messing around with the game’s start time. The Blue Jays sit two games behind Boston for second place. Hey, if they can’t make the playoffs, why not finish higher than they have since 1993? Fortunately for the Jays, the Red Sox had a horrible August to make the second place finish a possibility. Boston has their regular starters slowly returning, though.

–Lyle Overbay (flu) and Troy Glaus (sinus infection) were out sick. At least there were no staph infections. With how small and cramped the visiting clubhouse is at Fenway Park, I’m surprised more teams don’t have more problems with colds or flu-like symptoms being contagious when in Boston. It’s by far the smallest clubhouse in the American League. Talk about home-field advantage.

–Kevin Barker homered for the first time since he was with Milwaukee in 2000 and Reed Johnson collected his 500th hit. Topping things off, Toronto’s offense scored six runs for the first time in eight games.

That’s all for now. I’d like to see more discussion going here while I’m off for a day. Get those discussion board junkies onto this blog to get things going. Until Tuesday…

Prior to Friday’s game against Boston, Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi spoke about a number of issues with reporters. He discussed how he’d like to bring Ted Lilly back, how the Jays need a larger payroll to realistically have a shot at winning the division, he said he takes full responsibility for his team’s shortcomings, and he talked about Toronto’s Minor Leagues.

Since I went into detail about the monetary issues in today’s notebook and wrote about the Lilly situation yesterday, I’ll take some time out here today to mention some of the things Ricciardi noted about his farm system:

–Ricciardi said that he believed left-hander Ricky Romero, Toronto’s first pick in last year’s draft, is close to being Major-League ready. Romero has only gone 2-7 with a 5.08 in 12 starts at Double-A, but Ricciardi said the pitcher’s last handful of starts have gone well. Romero began this season with an arm injury.

"I think Romero is close. He has thrown really well in his last six or seven starts in Double-A," Ricciardi said. "We don’t have a lot of pitching help as far as a No. 3 starter or something like that. Romero could eventually be that."

–For you David Purcey fans out there, Ricciardi said he’ll have to start next season at Double-A again. After going 2-7 with a 5.40 ERA at Triple-A this year, Purcey — Toronto’s top pick in the ’04 draft — has gone 4-5 with a 5.90 ERA at Double-A. Earlier this season, Ricciardi said he felt Purcey was about a year away from being ready. It looks like it’s going to take a bit longer.

"Purcey is doing OK, but he’s going to have to start at Double-A again next year," Ricciardi said. "He’s got a good arm, but his control has been off this year. With guys like that, they’re up and down. I think he’s going to be fine — we’re just going to have to show a lot more patience."

–Right-hander Casey Janssen, who went 6-10 with 17 starts for Toronto earlier this season, might have been called up this month, but it looks like a nagging back injury will keep him out of another big-league stint.  He’s had the "pulled muscle" — as Ricciardi described it — in his back for about the last month, month and a half. Ricciardi also admitted that keeping Janssen at Triple-A all year might have been better than rushing him to the Majors. Unfortunately, circumstances dictated otherwise.

"We rushed Janssen, but we knew we rushed him," Ricciardi said. "He probably should’ve been at Triple-A the whole year and he probably would’ve bene better off that way. Same with [Ty] Taubenheim. He only pitched in A-ball the year before. We didn’t plan on those guys being in the big leagues, but we didn’t plan on two of our starters being hurt and we didn’t plan on [Josh ] Towers not pitching well."

–As far as outfielder Adam Lind, who made his Major League debut on Saturday in Boston, Ricciardi said that he was probably more in the plans for 2008, but the left-handed hitter’s ability with the bat might force Toronto’s hand. Lind hit .400 at Triple-A after winning the Eastern League’s MVP Award for his work at Double-A.

"I don’t know about next year," said Ricciardi, referring to the plans for Lind. "I think ideally, we’d probably pencil maybe half of ’07 and going forward from there. He can really hit, so he may push our buttons a little bit more."

OTHER NOTES:

–Lind joins first baseman Kevin Barker and pitcher Dustin McGowan as the only September callups so far. Ricciardi said that he’d bring up five players, which means Josh Towers and Francisco Rosario are probably the remaining two. In order to add Towers, Toronto will have to make room on the 40-man roster.

–Troy Glaus sat out of Saturday’s game because he still wasn’t feel well after leaving Friday’s game with a sinus infection. Toronto manager John Gibbons said he believed Glaus would be able to play on Sunday.

Here was Saturday’s Blue Jays lineup: LF Catalanotto, 2B Hill, CF Wells, 1B Overbay, RF Rios, C Zaun, DH Lind, 3B Hattig, SS McDonald

That’s all for now. I’m sure there will be more tomorrow. Keep the comments coming. The numbers have been slipping in that regard. Pick it up Jays fans.

If there was one game where a win seemed inevitable for the Blue Jays, it was on Thursday night.

Out for the Red Sox: David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, Wily Mo Pena, Trot Nixon, Alex Gonzalez, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield. Starting for Boston? David Wells — oh wait, he was traded to San Diego before the game. So the Red Sox turned to a handful of relievers. On the mound for Toronto? American League Cy Young candidate (still?) Roy Halladay. The cards were definitely stacked in the Blue Jays’ favor.

While everything was going wrong off the field for Boston, though, Toronto couldn’t get anything going on the field. Capping off tailspin was right fielder Alex Rios’ gaffe that led to an unlikely home run by Alex Cora. The ball Cora hit bounced off Rios’ glove, then off his right hand and into the stands for the game-winning homer. Ouch.

Anyone think of the 1993 Jose Canseco incident when you saw that? Halladay did.

"Obviously, the ball off Canseco’s head comes to mind," Halladay said. "That’s why you play the game. It’s never a given. Things like that happen. That’s always going to be the case. You do the best you can to deal with it."

Basically, this was a loss that I — and I’m sure the Jays — didn’t anticipate. That’s happened during two straight Halladay starts, too. Last time out, he turned in arguably his best performance of the year, but lost to the Royals and Runelvys Hernandez. I don’t know which defeat was more unpredictable.

Toronto wants to leapfrog Boston in the AL East standings, but I think the Jays just need to make sure they finish above .500 at this point. In order to finish 81-81, Toronto needs to post a 12-16 record in its final 28 games, including 19 left combined against the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers and Angels. In Toronto’s last 28 games? Well, the club has gone 12-16, including a 7-8 mark against the Orioles, Devil Rays, Royals and Indians. Double ouch.

OTHER NOTES:

–Today marks the first day for September callups. Toronto plans on bringing up five players. Those likely called up are Adam Lind, Josh Towers, Dustin McGowan, Francisco Rosario, and Kevin Barker. They all won’t be up at once. The Jays will probably bring up two right away and then the other three after the weekend.

–Justin Speier is scheduled to throw his in his second bullpen session today — this time with sliders mixed in with fastballs. After that, the injured right-hander has a pair of simulated games left before he says he can rejoin the team.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "What, should I fight him?" — Toronto manager John Gibbons, joking around after one Toronto reporter asked him if he was concerned about the recent mistakes Lyle Overbay has made.

REGARDING THIS WEEK’S POLL:

What has been the club’s single-best performance thus far?

• May 13: Roy Halladay throws 89-pitch CG
• May 30: Vernon Wells hits three homers
• June 27: A.J. Burnett throws CG shutout
• July 1: B.J. Ryan strikes out five in save
• Aug. 7: Lyle Overbay collects five RBIs

I only could pick five and I wanted to have five different players represented if possible. Otherwise, Overbay’s five RBI game and Ryan’s save might not have made the cut. I also might have included Wells’ game-winning blast against Mariano Rivera or the game in Baltimore, where Troy Glaus went 4-for-5 with two homers, including the game-winner. Feel free to debate other moments that should have been included. There were plenty more than the five I picked. Blame me if you don’t like the list.

I’m sure when a lot of people read a newspaper, they put little to no thought into what the writers went through to get a particular story in print.  For you Toronto Star readers out there, just take a look at the photo to the right to gain some added appreciation to what columnist Richard Griffin had to deal with on Tuesday night.

You see, life on the road as a baseball beat writer isn’t as glamorous as you might think at times. We aren’t always fitted with the most glorious equipment and if something happens to said equipment, well, it’s sort of a fend-for-yourself situation.

Griff stuck to his story that "the maid must have broke it" while he was out of his hotel room. The screen was cracked and the spiderweb of blackness grew larger throughout Toronto’s game against Cleveland. I’m sure it’ll be even worse when he shows up to the park for Wednesday’s game.

The funny part was that his computer — as far as functionability — was just fine. Griff could write his column without any problems. Well, except for the fact that most of the text was hidden behind the black hole and he’d have to scroll the page up and down to see any of the copy. I’m sure the Jays wouldn’t have minded if a few of his columns were ****** into the black hole never to return. I only kid.

OTHER NOTES:

–Gustavo Chacin left Tuesday night’s game with another injury. I’m sure his finger hurt and I’m not knocking him from leaving the game, but after all the elbow issues and serious problems he’s been through this season, it was hard not to chuckle when it was announced that he suffered an "index finger cramp." After the game, Chacin said it was feeling better and Jays manager John Gibbons didn’t think he’d have to miss a start. I’m sure I’ll follow up on that tonight.

–Justin Speier threw off the mound in the bullpen at Jacobs Field. It was his first time off a mound since landing on the DL with the forearm injury three weeks ago. He threw 30 fastballs and everything seemed to go fine. He’ll throw another bullpen session on Friday in Boston — this time adding in some sliders. Then after one or two sim games, he said he should be able to return. That puts him on pace to rejoin the bullpen in Anaheim for the Sept. 8-10 series.

–Alex Rios could probably use a day off, considering the slump he’s in. If Gibbons decides to give him one, though, it probably won’t come until Friday — the next time Toronto faces a right-handed starter. Gibbons said he might’ve sat Rios on Monday, but the Jays are down to three outfielders at the moment because Frank Catalanotto is back in New York with his family. Cat, whose wife gave birth to a daughter on Monday, should be back with the club on Thursay in Boston.

–Lyle Overbay’s seventh-inning error proved to be very costly on Tuesday night. With runners on first and second, he fielded a sac bunt off the bat of Joe Inglett and then he looked to third base instead of firing to first. The slight hesitation caused Overbay to bobble the ball, allowing Inglett to reach safely to load the  bases. Overbay said he should’ve just thrown to first base to get the sure out, or let the ball roll to see if it’d go into foul territory. Gibbons said he felt the ball was fair enough that Overbay made the right play by fielding it. Making matters worse, Inglett was an old college teammate of Overbay’s at Nevada-Reno. I wonder how their conversation went at first base afterwards — probably not a whole lot of reminiscing.

Well, I’m off to grab some Chinese food for lunch before I get ready for my last workday of the year in Cleveland. I was going to head to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today, but sleep became more of a priority. Ah well, that’ll leave me something to do here next season.

I gotta tell you, when my plane landed in Cleveland and I saw what the weather looked like, I thought for sure a rain delay was imminent. When I got to my hotel and relaxed for a few hours while the rain poured down outside, I thought a rain out might be on deck. But when I got to Jacobs Field, and the rain let up ever so slightly, they decided to play on. I guess it’s late August in Cleveland — rain happens. You just have to deal with it.

I was still surprised, though, that the game’s nine innings played through without a single delay. When the Indians took the lead in the fifth — making the game official — I had flashbacks to the April game in Chicago when the White Sox "won" the game after it was called after five frames. A repeat didn’t happen, though.

The game might as well have been called. Toronto didn’t produce much offense after the fifth — not enough to overcome the six runs the Indians got anyway. A.J. Burnett didn’t look sharp, but after the game, he wouldn’t blame the rain at all. He said he wanted to look at film of his start to see what went wrong. Personally, I think he might look at the film and just realize the rain did play a role in his control issues. Cleveland starter Paul Byrd didn’t look very sharp when the rain was coming down its hardest, either.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND NOTES:

— If any of you read Jeff Blair’s blog on the Globe and Mail Web site (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/baseball), you will have read that Ted Lilly was claimed off waiver by Boston, but Toronto couldnt work out a trade and eventually pulled him back. A team can pull a player back once during the waiver period — that’s called revocable waivers. My opinion on the whole thing? I don’t think it’s that big of news. Sure, if I found it out, I would’ve reported it, too, but teams place all kinds of players on waivers during a season. I’m sure many of those players have claims put on them, only to have a trade not happen and the team then pulls the player back. This happens a lot — it’s just not something that you’ll read  alot about because teams don’t announce who they’ve placed on waivers.

–Alex Rios is in a terrible slump right now. Earlier in the season, you’d have the feeling he was going to do something big every time he stepped up to the plate. Now, it just doesn’t have that same feeling. His timing is off, his mechanics are out of whack, and there haven’t been a whole lot of signs of improvement. He’s hit .192 since coming off the DL in late July and his season average has dropped to .293 from .330 in the process. He homered recently, but hitting coach Mickey Brantley said that only furthered Rios’ skid. Brantley said it seems like Rios has tried to jump right back to where he left off before getting a staph infection in his left leg, but the right fielder lacks the strength and the timing to do so. During his swing, Brantley noted that Rios is leaning back — a problem he ran into at times last season.

–Toronto could’ve considered giving Rios a game or two off, but right now the club is playing with 24 guys. Outfielder Frank Catalanotto went home to be with his wife, who gave birth to a daughter on Monday, and will miss the entire Cleveland series. The baby girl is the Catalanotto’s third child and they named her Karson Riley. Congrats to the Cats. Jays manager John Gibbons noted that being without Catalanotto — though he is a great hitter — might not be a huge deal, considering the Indians will start lefties on Tuesday and Wednesday. Cat is supposed to rejoin the Jays in Boston on Thursday.

–If Ryan Roberts never gets another shot in the Majors, he would have a good Cup of Coffee story. His only hit in the big leagues up to this point is a homer that landed in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. I’m sure he’ll get another call at some point — just not likely this season.

–With Roberts back at Triple-A, Toronto recalled infielder Russ Adams. He was with the team on Monday and started and played second base, giving Aaron Hill a night off. This is Adams third stint in the Majors this year after beginning this year as the projected starting shortstop. With a month left, it’ll be interesting to see how he fares. I think it’s important for him to finish on a strong note. I doubt John McDonald will be the starting shortstop when Spring Training breaks next season and that means the double-play combo could be Hill at SS and Adams at 2B if Toronto doesn’t acquire another middle infielder in the offseason. Personally, I have been very impressed with Hill at second and think that’s where he belongs.

–Reliever Justin Speier still says he’s on pace to come off the DL by Sept.6-8 or somewhere around there. He plans on throwing in a bullpen session either in Cleveland or in Boston. It’ll be his first since injuring his forearm.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "It’s not our fastest lineup, but it’s a good one." –Gibbons, on having catchers Bengie Molina, Gregg Zaun and Jason Phillips all in the starting lineup on Sunday

When Molina heard that Gibbons said that, he burst out laughing and could only reply with, "It’s true. It’s true."

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Why would Carl Pavano not tell the Yankees he hurt two of his ribs in a car accident? Not a good move.

Well, sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. Now that I’m on the road — and in lovely Cleveland for that matter — I’m sure I’ll be posting almost daily. It’s when I’m home in Toronto, balancing life at work with the Jays and life at home with my wife, that I tend to slack some on the blog. My apologies. I hope this ties you all over until tomorrow. Until then, stay tuned for more…