So you want to be a catcher? Watch this first. Sort of how I feel this morning. If you are too lazy to hit the link, don't worry that's how I feel too, David Murphy of the Rangers run into Pudge Rodriguez a the plate in yesterday's Yankee win.

But Rodriguez actually came away in better shape than Murphy. While Rodriguez may be back in the lineup as soon as Thursday, Murphy is headed to the disabled list with a strained posterior cruciate ligament -- plus a black eye he took from the collision.

Yesterday I mentioned Brad Ziegler and his scoreless inning streak, well Brad has a post up on Athletics Nations. It is a nice long post and he says nice things about the city of Toronto.

A couple of Triple A notes, Travis Snider has been promoted to AAA Syracuse. In yesterday's Syracuse game Brett Cecil got the win, pitching 5 innings and striking out 7. His ERA is still up at 8.59 but he's only had the two starts there. Also yesterday, SS Danny Sandoval went 5 for 5 and brought his average up to .325 and Russ Adams, hit a home runs in the last 2 games, giving him 12 on the year.

From SI.com's Truth and Rumors:

Front-office sources with the Pirates told Metro yesterday that, before MLB's July 31 trade deadline, they made a two-for-one proposal in which they would have dealt all-star Jason Bay to Toronto for minor-leaguers Travis Snider and Brett Cecil. The Jays mulled it over and declined. Snider is a power-hitting outfielder/first baseman. Cecil is a left-handed pitcher. Baseball America ranks the two as the Jays'most promising minor-leaguers.

I wouldn't have wanted this trade, as a Jay fan, trading two guys with a lot of potential for one guy that we would only control until the end of next year. It would take more than Jason Bay to drag us into the race this season.

According to fangraphs AJ has the 6th fastest fastball amoung major league starters. Doc is 18th.

Likely will put up a new poll this afternoon, the 'Should JP Be Fired' one has run it's course. Surprisingly enough, people want to see JP fired. Who'd have thunk it?

50 games left and at .500 once again. I am hoping that this series will put us above .500 for the long haul. Doc as always was amazing, 8 innings and only 4 hits allowed, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. And the offense found a way to score with the bases loaded, take one for the team. Our first two runs were scored because of hit batters with the bases loaded Scoot in the first and Lind in the second. After Lind was hit, Gallagher (the Jay's MVP on the night) threw a pitch over Stairs' head, that was ruled a passed ball.  Then Stairs singled and Wilk hit a sac fly and the game was over.

The offense the offense had a good night, if they could do this more often Doc would be the unanimous Cy Young winner. Everyone in the lineup had a hit, except Overbay, who scored and drove in a run, and Mac, who made a handful of nice defensive plays. Eck, Rios and Stairs each had two hits. We still had a lack of power, 10 hits and only 2 doubles.

I'm not going to post the fangraph, basically it shows that after the third inning we had the game won. It is here if you want to see it. Jays of the Day? Doc (like I needed to tell you, .257 WPA), Scoot (.113) and Lind (.110). Suckage Jay Eck (-.092), and that was with 2 hits in four at bats......

My only complaint was Cito using Downs to pitch the ninth with a 5 run lead. Downs has been amazing and leads the team in appearances (one more than Cy), but why is he needed in the ninth of a blow out?  The other guys in the pen have been good too. Oh well, he pitched another scoreless inning and has his ERA is down to 1.34 on the season.

In other news: Joe Inglett was a late scratch with a sore knee. Hope it doesn't keep him out long, without him Wilk will play every day. Rolen has sat the last two days. Vernon likely will be back at some point next week, I'm interested in who they will send down or release to make room for him.

Everyone's favorite first round, Ricky Romero, has had two good starts since being promoted to AAA, 10 innings and just 2 earned runs, 7 strikeouts but 8 walks. Hopefully he is finding himself (and will soon find the strike zone).

In tonight's Yankees/Rangers game Joba Chamberlain left the game after 4.2 with a stiff right shoulder. If he's lost for any extended period it would be really tough on the Yankees. They also lost the game tonight 9-5. Red Sox and Rays lost too.....if we were in the race, that would matter.

If you haven't seen the video of the fight in the Brewers dugout you ought to take a look on this page. Prince Fielder (how do you get a name like Prince?) shoved starting pitcher Manny Parra hard twice into the bench. I wouldn't want to take on Fielder, he's a big guy.

Tomorrow Scott Richmond gets his second start for us, Greg Smith a left-hander is to start for the A's. It should be an interesting game.

With all the rumours and with where the Jays are in the standings, I'm amazed that we haven't made any deals yet. I keep thinking there has to be something in the works. I thought I'd list the players rumoured to be going somewhere and we could vote on who we think will be gone by midnight Thursday.

Zaun and Barajas: both have been rumoured going to the Yankees. Zaun is at the end of his contract and I doubt the Jays want to sign him again so would be good to get something for him and he'd be a good backup for many of the contenders.

Eckstein: I thought the Dodgers were going to trade for him. They have Nomar playing short at the moment, but they traded for Casey Blake. I'm sure someone would want Eck because of his 'playoff experience', like that means anything.

Matt Stairs: I read the Dodgers were interested in him as a left handed bat off the bench.  You would think other teams would be looking for a veteran bat like his.

AJ: The Cardinals are the team that most of the rumours are coming from right now. The Cards need something to catch up to the Cubs and Brewers.

Doc: Everyone would want him. Wouldn't you? Cards, Yankees, Rockies....everyone really. I think it would have to be a heck of a package to get him.

Downs, Tallet, Carlson, Ryan: All the contenders want more relief pitching. Sox, Cards, Mets, Yankees, Tigers, Philies.....everyone really. I guess the question is: would they be willing to give anything up? Our lefties have been great all year long.

We've made a couple of changes to the main page....moving the "Walking Wounded" to the right side where there is room for more information. And we added the division standings and information about the current series the Jays are playing. Might make more changes as I learn how things work. I notice there are 3 no votes on the "Should JP be Fired" poll. It's nice to see that Mr. Riccardi has found our page....but only vote once JP.

The Halladay for Holliday question got some comments going. I noticed, in the poll, that some people from the Rockies area came in to vote, which is fine, but skews the vote some. I'm sure Colorado would love that trade.

Of course, they aren't the only ones that want him, on Pinstripe Alley....Oh Lord, hear my prayers: Deliver Roy Halladay

Have you all seen video from this story?

Pitcher charged after minor league

brawl in Ohio

By JAMES HANNAH – 29 minutes ago

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A minor league pitcher accused of throwing a ball that hit a fan during a bench-clearing brawl was charged with felonious assault.

Peoria Chiefs pitcher Julio Castillo was arrested Thursday following the fight with the Single-A Dayton Dragons, authorities said Friday. Umpires ejected 15 players and the team's managers following the 10-minute brawl.

Very scary stuff. Castillo threw the ball as hard as he could at the other team's dugout. Missed and got a fan. How can you miss a dugout? The Orioles should sign him. I'm sure he won't be pitching for a long time. Full story

In the 'Rumors' section in SI.com there was a story about the Tigers interest in AJ.

it's not believed the Tigers are actively pursuing him. Burnett is making $12 million this year, and the Tigers are reluctant to add to what was a $138-million payroll Opening Day.

I would figure if your payroll was $138 you'd want a pitcher that could pull you up to the playoff.

On MLB.com they note that John Parrish is pitching to keep is spot in the rotation.  You think?

Also on MLB.com Cito and JP explains why Litsch was sent down.

"We've been telling him about adjustments, and he's going to have to make those adjustments," Ricciardi said. "He's going to have to be able to get his two-seamer in control and come up with a changeup that's more effective. The way he's pitching right now, it's not working."

And finally in Fake Teams they have a little piece on who should be AL Rookie of the Year, CY Young and MVP award winnings Of note for Jays fans:

AL CY Young:
1. Justin Duchscherer, Oakland A's
2. Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
3. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays

There is no way I see Duchscherer having a second half to match his first, but, until then, he deserves the 1st place vote.  My personal favorite to win it at season's end is Roy Halladay.  To do so he will have to continue winning and lapping the field in innings pitched and complete games.

Now I think Doc should be the winner but we'll look at the stats:

A question came from Redhawk, visiting from Purple Row, the Colorado Rockies area, in the comments area from the Open Letter to JP, which deserves a wider audience. It came out of the story, from the All-Star break that had Doc saying he was 'unhappy in Toronto'. I think the story exaggerated what Doc said. Doc wants to win, who doesn't? I think Doc would like to win in Toronto.

Anyway Redhawk's question in response to Doc wanting out:

(The story) got the Rockies fans very excited. Halliday is from the Denver area. And there appears to be a match on our teams needs that work well together. Matt Holliday for Roy Halliday as the key pieces. The Rockies would have to kick in extra pieces of course. We have extra middle infielders like say…Clint Barmes batting .303 in 2008 and can play SS or 2nd or 3rd. Catcher Torrealba who wants more playing time. Plus a couple of more minor leaguers. We have some good pitching prospects in AAA an AA that aren’t quite ready but are highly rated. (the group to pick from AAA: Jason Hirsch, Franklyn Morales, Greg Renyolds our 06 #1 pick, AA Chaz Roe)

Matt Holliday is a power bat you need. He’s signed through 09, but his agent is Scott Boras, and there are only a few teams that could pay him what he will demand, Toronto being one of them, and this would give a leg up on negotiations against the Yankees and the Red Sox.

I know losing Halliday would be a shock….but we could send you a lot of depth (heck I think Barmes is an upgrade starter at either SS or 2nd for the Jays, and Torrealba is a better hitting catcher), as well as minor leaguers. And the Rockies get back the one thing they can’t get…and ACE…who is also from Denver, CO, and makes his off season home here still!

So let's hear what you think, I'll put up a poll but and I'll copy my response into the comments. Tell us what you think.

Boy it's nice to win two games in one day. And we scored 11 runs in one day. We have had weeks where we haven't scored 11 runs. Do I think we've turned the corner on offense? No or at least they haven't proven it to me. We've faced some awful pitchers the last few days. We've scored 22 runs over three games but then the starters are terrible and their bullpen is worse.

I'm not going to include the fangraph for this game....it isn't that interesting. We got ahead early and it was never really in doubt. If you want to check it out, here is the link Fangraph.

Best parts? Doc was great yet again. 7 innings and 1 run, 6 k's. Scoot went 3 for 4 and scored twice. Rios 2 for 5, Lind 3 for 4, 2 runs (batting .308 now, would we be fighting it out for last if JP kept him up the first time and Gibby used him everyday) (would Gibby still have a job?). Wilk was 2 for 3!! Wilk? You know it's crappy pitching if Wilk gets hits. Zaun and Overbay drove in two as well.

Inglett and Stairs were each 0 for 4. Stairs is now hitting .114 for the month with 20 strikeouts in 44 at bats. I wish we had someone else that could DH....anyone against trying Mench in the lineup for a couple of weeks?

It was nice to see Quiroz catching for the O's today. He was a 'hot prospect' for the Jays for a long time. Never did pan out, and since he's batting .200 on the season, doubt he ever will. But, if he can stick with them for a season or so he can get his backup catcher union card. Those cards are worth more money than I'll ever see in my life.

Baltimore seems to have to start of a decent team. They could use some pitching and help at first, short and catcher. But they have the makings of a good outfield with Markakis, Jones and Scott. And Roberts isn't a bad guy to build a team around.

Jays of the Game? Second set of the day. Halladay (.267 WPA), Wilk (!) (.101) and Lind (.100) and I'm giving one to Scoot (.093) because he was 3 for 4 and scored two runs. Suckage Jay? Not Stairs for a change, Zaun (-.138).

But it sure is nice to get two wins in one day and we are back at .500, we've got a little space between us and last and if you were the optimistic sort, we are only 8.5 games out of the wild card. Yeah I know it is a long shot but I do expect some of the teams in front of us to fall back.

Cliff Lee gets the start for the AL over Doc. I was hoping Doc would get the call but can't really argue that Cliff is a bad choice. Here's his starts:

Compare to Doc:

I guess the best argument for Doc is his 7 complete games, compared to 1 for Lee. He has a few more strike outs too. But their Whips are close and Lee has 1 more win and 4 less losses.  Is pretty much a toss up, I'd pick Doc because of his innings and complete games but...I'm biased. I think he's the best starter in baseball.