Bad, Bad Mojo (Lifted?)

It's gone comically bad when your first rally since Friday is cancelled out by an unassisted triple play at the hands of Tribe two-bagger Asdrubal Cabrera in the top of the 5th inning. Shaun Marcum's absolutely dealing, but I think we all know how this is going to end...

AJ Burnett had a solid effort in the first end of the doubleheader, though he disappointingly came one out short of Doc Halladay Special Complete Game Loss. We can't even fucking lose right. It's now time for all of us to bow our heads and pray, pray that he doesn't get injured before the trade deadline. There were some massive highs and some crushing lows during his tenure here, but the flaky right-hander is most definitely superfluous to our needs going forward.

MLBastian checks in with our fearless leader pregame and we learn that Accardo won't throw for 2 weeks (not that he needs to be rushed, the absence of the only weak spot on the staff is almost refreshing) and that Wolfe has started playing "light catch", whatever that is.

Oh, and about that annoying wheezing sound that is the Jays death rattle?

Ricciardi met with reporters briefly and was asked if there was anything else he could possibly do to try to imrpove Toronto's laboring lineup. So far this season, the Jays have released Frank Thomas, signed Brad Wilkerson and traded for Kevin Mench. Beyond those tweaks?

"I think we're done. This is our team," Ricciardi said. "These are the guys we've made our bed with and I don't really see us being able to do a lot at this point. We've tried to do some little things in getting Mench and Wilkerson in here to try to shake up the lineup a little bit and maybe give Gibby a few more options, but I really don't see us being able to go out and do anything major at this point."

Ricciardi originally said "these are the guys we've shit our bed with" but the Toronto press corps collectively decided to clean up the quote. Apparently noone mentioned Barry Bonds again, being too obvious a means of radically improving a power-free lineup, for fear of having their head ripped off and used as a commode by the furious GM.

Seeing as how negativity and sadness has been running rampant, I just might as well get around to linking to this article on Adam Lind by Christina Kahrl at Baseball Prospectus. I don't want to give anything away because it's a very well-written piece, but give it a miss if you don't want to hear that Adam Lind projects as little better than a slightly above average .780 OPS hitter. And with that I just gave away the crux of the article...

I think Jamie Campbell has said "traditional doubleheader" about 5000 times tonight, each reference more annoying than the last. I actually muted the first 45 minutes or so to listen to the second DJF podcast, which had considerably less swearing than the first I'm sad to report. Cathal Kelly of the Star bailed on them at the last minute, an unfortunate turn since he inevitably would have had to answer questions about whether colleague Richard Griffin really has any idea that people are calling him out on his extreme bullshit.

My impression of the whole endeavour (the podcast) is pretty positive and the blog translates well to audio. Am I immature to note that the format works best when the DJFs are constantly insulting each other and swearin'? The musical interludes are kind of weird, though. It sounds like they're supposed to be intro music for a new segment, but no one says anything until they're completely finished. I'm sure the kinks will be worked out in time, or not, either way. You have to say thanks when someone entertains you for free, so, "Thanks!"

And then something unthinkable happens (while I went to clean up a piece of dog shit in the hallway. We have a Pekingese puppy that we've litter trained--which is great--but if we don't smell/flush her turds right away, she picks them up in her mouth and treats them like a chew toy. Any helpful advice on getting her to break this nasty little habit?), the Jays score 3 runs in the 10th and actually win the game, 3-0.

Wilner notes on JaysTalk that John Gibbons probably would've been fired had they lost the night cap. Hrmph.

So long, bad mojo?

-- Johnny Was