I guess Toronto’s starting rotation can’t go one day without something going wrong. About a half hour before today’s game — which is in the fourth inning as I type — the Jays announced that Ted Lilly wasn’t going to be starting because of a sore neck. Like Toronto needed anyone else on the rotation to come down with the injury bug.

To Lilly’s credit, this is the first time he’s missed a start this year. He had one start pushed back a day in June because of a sore shoulder, but he hasn’t actually missed a turn in the rotation up until now. Even staff ace Roy Halladay (stiff forearm in April) missed one turn.

Brian Tallet hadn’t made a start since ’03 with the Indians, but he started in place of Lilly on Monday. Tallet isn’t considered a rookie any more, based on the criteria, but he’s pretty close. If he were a first-year pitcher, that’d be six Toronto has used as replacements this year (Dustin McGowan, Francisco Rosario, Shaun Marcum, Ty Taubenheim, and Casey Janssen are the others). And you wonder why the rotation hasn’t been able to last deep into games and has been inconsistent? All six of the pitchers — the rookies, plus Tallet — have worked out of the bullpen, too.

Hopefully Lilly’s injury isn’t anything that will keep him out for too long. It doesn’t seem to be the type of injury that would. I’m assuming he’ll be set to make his next start on Aug. 12 in Minnesota.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: I led the notes off with Alex Rios’ recent struggles yesterday and he got two hits. I led the notes off with Reed Johnson today and he had hits through his first three at-bats. Any one have suggestions about who I should write about tomorrow? … I asked if Taubenheim might be getting called back up to Toronto recently and Gibbons said probably not until September call-ups. That’s for any of you die-hard Ty fans that were waiting to get an update. … Can you believe Gibbons robbed Tallet of a no-hitter? He pulled the lefty after he gave up no hits through 2 1/3 innings today. Where’s the love? I’m only kidding, obviously. I’m sure the Jays were thrilled to get that much out of him after he found he was going to be starting on such short notice.

It sounds like Jays manager John Gibbons needs to sit down and discuss the catching situation with Bengie Molina and Gregg Zaun. That’s whats Molina said to me this morning, anyway. Molina doesn’t seem to understand why his playing time has suddenly decreased and he hasn’t been happy about it.

I tried to talk to Molina about the issue on Wednesday. I walked over to his locker, which was tucked behind a pole inside the visitor’s clubhouse at Yankee Stadium. I asked him if he had a few minutes and he said, "Not right now," with his head down. Considering that Molina wasn’t in uniform yet and he was in the starting lineup, I just figured it was poor timing on my part. It turns out that he wasn’t in the best mood.

Today, Bengie pulled me aside and apologized for not making time on Wednesday. He said he was upset and answering questions was the last thing he wanted to do when I went up to him. It was a much different story today. Now, don’t confuse Molina’s comments with the "Hillengate" saga that swept Toronto more than a week ago now. Bengie was quiet and calm through the 15-minute interview I had with him today and he wasn’t attacking Gibbons or GM J.P. Ricciardi. Molina also wasn’t knocking Zaun at all. He was merely expressing his frustration with his current situation.

Molina’s start on Wednesday was his only start in the past week, which includes six games. Gibbons said there wasn’t anything to it, but Molina seemed to feel differently. If there isn’t anything to it, Gibbons probably should fill Molina in on the reasoning. Likewise, Zaun hasn’t been told he’s going to get the majority of the playing time now, either. He’s started four games behind the plate this past week and Jason Phillips caught when Dustin McGowan started, but that was because they paired up many times in Triple-A.

One thing to look at, too, is that the Jays have only faced one lefty in the past week — Barry Zito — and that was the day Gibbons wanted Phillips to catch McGowan. Gibbons has liked to use Molina versus lefties and Zaun, who has more pop from the left side, against righties. That being said, Molina was still getting about two-thirds of the playing time when the season began.

Maybe this is all a coincidence — Molina not starting much during this current stretch. Maybe Gibbons really doesn’t have any ulterior motives. Whatever the truth may be, Molina seems to think the general opinion is that his defense has slipped, which is something he doesn’t think is true. All I can do as a reporter is look at the numbers and watch the games and I don’t think Molina has looked as good as he did a few years back with the Angels. Maybe it has to do with him not playing as regularly as he thought he would, maybe it has to do with learning a new pitching staff for the first time, maybe it has something to do with him not being particularly happy, or maybe it’s none or all of the above.

Maybe he’s right about still clocking 1.8 seconds on throws to second base. A lot of times, the success rate of throwing out baserunners has to do with the pitching staff. Zaun’s caught-stealing numbers aren’t great, either, but Molina used to throw out runners at an unbelievable pace when he was in Anaheim. One thing I do agree on with Molina is that not all of the passed balls he’s been charged with have been his fault. Take Lilly’s recent start in Oakland, for example. Lilly admitted that he crossed Molina up by throwing a fastball when the catcher was looking for a slider. Lilly took the blame — Molina got charged in the books. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

Molina is the first to admit that Gibbons has been put in a tough position: He has two catchers who believe they should be the No. 1 option. One thing is for sure, if both Molina and Zaun remain unhappy with their situation, there’s a chance — a likely one, too — that Toronto will lose both catchers before next season. It sounds to me like the two catchers and Gibbons — a former catcher himself — need to discuss the issue and provide some clarity, at least among each other.

It only took me 106 games into the season to start this blog. But, hey, is there a better time to start one than right after the trade deadline and heading into the stretch run for the playoffs? It seems like as good of a time as any to start the official baseball blog for this Blue Jays beat writer.

Since this is post No. 1, I’ll stick to introducing myself for now — something I did briefly in the first mailbag I wrote for bluejays.com during the offseason. For starters, I’m not exactly the oldest guy on the beat. In fact, quite the opposite. I’m in my first year covering the Jays for MLB.com at the age of 23.

I actually started as an intern for bluejays.com last season and had the opportunity to assume the full-time duties when the former Jays writer moved on to a different city. I graduated from Michigan State University and spent time working for a couple newspapers in Michigan. Just like Toronto’s Casey Janssen, I began last season with Class-A Lansing. He was on the mound every fifth day and I was up in the pressbox at Oldsmobile Park.

There are a few obstacles that come with being a young writer, but I’m sure I’ll talk about those from time to time on this blog. I’ll also spend time talking about life on the beat, life on the road, and maybe on life in general, as it applies to covering the team. Mostly, though, I plan to use this space to discuss issues around the Blue Jays. I’ll try to go beyond just the news content that you read in the articles I write for bluejays.com.

That’s about all I want to post for now. It’s 1:41 a.m. and I have to catch some sleep. Toronto lost an important game tonight at Yankee Stadium and A.J. Burnett continued on an inconsistent path. I’ll be closing the curtains to my hotel room in a minute to try to block out the lights in Times Square. And with this heat wave ripping through the Big Apple (and back home in Toronto, my wife informed me tonight), I made sure to put the AC on full blast.

The next time I post, I’ll begin breaking down my thoughts on Blue Jays baseball. For now, I’m just happy I finally got this blog running. Stay tuned for more…