Notes from my couch

Seeing as I'm too massively hungover after a semi-raucus stag and doe to sustain a coherent line of argument, may I present you with a collection of rando Sunday afternoon thoughts:

So, you're probably wondering who won the toonie toss. That would be this guy, proud owner of a 60 of delicious Crown Royal. Sometimes the sun just shines out of my ass.

If you're going with powder blues, you have to fully commit to them. I thought that was obvious enough that it doesn't need saying, but nothing the Royals are wearing this afternoon (royal blue hat, powder blue jersey and white pants) matchs. Watch for Gil Meche on Mr. Blackwell's worst-dressed list for 2008. Fletcher concurs that the Royals are very silly looking.

Wait? Doesn't Fletcher only call games/tell stories about famous hot dogs after any hope of salvaging the season has been lost? What does this all mean? I'm not willing to let this team break up with me just yet.

Nice to see Alex Rios jogging to second base on that drive he hit to deep right centre to open the game. David "don't mess with" Dejesus dropped the ball when he hit the ground making a pretty impressive attempt at a diving catch and buggered the throw back in to the infield, allowing Rios to advance to third. Had he actually been running he might well have scored. I know he did cross the plate, but still. Outfielders who appear to be day dreaming all time can't be productive players, can they?

I call Gibby out for managerial incompetence earlier in the week and today he shows that maybe he isn't just phoning it in. Today's lineup sees a slumping Vernon Wells dropped from the cleanup spot to 5th, with Rolen moving into the 3 hole. And he rewards the skip by socking a dinger in his first trip. Here's hoping that this becomes a permanent thing, because as all three of us here have noted V-Dub's splits against righties clearly show that he shouldn't be hitting that high up in the order. With his job on the line, Gibby may well be ready to go with the grouping of talent that he believes to be the most likely to win rather than what's politically correct.

Anyone interested in forming a competitive wiffleball league? If you don't think this looks like one of the more funner things you could be doing with your free time this summer you're just crazy.

As Gilgamesh deals for the Kansas Citys today, note that he too suffered a labrum injury similar to the one that befell our beloved 2007 setup man Casey Janssen. I'm not saying young Casey will be ready to rock as our 5th starter next year (saving us from more gingervitis), but Meche only missed his age 22 to season and was not, in fact, put down like a race horse with a broken leg. Measured in dollar terms, he's now the "ace" of his staff, but you already knew that didn't you, Saxy boy?

A three error inning? That's impressive. Impressively crappy.

This is about as much sitting up as I can handle for the time being, so I'm signing off here in the 4th inning.

-- Johnny Was

The Roundup

At last check there's no word yet whether AJ Burnett injured himself after last night's unscheduled inning of relief, but rest assured, he will hit the DL soon enough and everyone can start complaining about how wrong it was for Gibby to bring him into the game last night. Do your best to tune those voices out.

When Ron Washington pulled an injured Hank Blalock in the 10th to insert his backup catcher, Adam Melhuse, at third, the Jays brought runners to the corners with one out. Melhuse has played a grand total of 15 games at the hot corner in his 8-year big league career, so Gibby called on Joe Inglett to lay down the squeeze to bring in the winning run, a brilliant call designed to take advantage of a glaring defensive weakness on the opposing team.

Damned if Inglett didn't foul the attempt off, then ground into an inning-ending double play on the next pitch. That folks, was a demonstration of both managerial competence and your TSN Turning Point.

(Ironically, earlier in the evening mlb.com posted an article praising Inglett's early contribution to the team. Thanks Bastian, prick! We alllllll know J-Mac would've got that bunt down, but he was already out of the game. I'm already composing an email to Griffin.)

What happens when you have 20 minutes to crank out copy and you're dead tired and possibly a little bit drunk after watching a five-hour game in an empty ballpark? Lines like this:

On Wednesday, the Rangers lost a three-run eighth-inning lead, made another critical error and left the whole populace of the Yukon Territories stranded on the bases. And yet, they won by playing Toronto to a stalemate until it was the Blue Jays who collapsed in the 14th inning of a 7-5 win at the echo chamber formerly known as SkyDome.

A hat tip to you, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News.

I do admit that we here are more than a little bit excited at the prospect of seeing Big Dave Purcey make his major league debut on Friday should AJ's start be pushed back as Rotoworld suggests. Burnett was visibily pissed off to have to come into the game (and ultimately take the L) a day after throwing a side session and less than 48 hours from his next scheduled start, so it's probably not a bad idea to push him back a day. Purcey was scheduled to go Friday night anyway...

The right-listing Tigers (who have scored 30 runs in their last 3 games) will be a trial by fire for the young-ish southpaw, but I'd rather let him give it a go at them than see AJ totally phone it in.

Did I mention that I'm terrified of the outcome of that Tigers series?

And once Adam Lind gets recalled as an injury replacement for Shannon Stewart Phase 1 of Operation Overlord will have been completed.

Rando notes from Blair:

* Randy David Wells was indeed sent back to the Cubs.

* Scotty Rolen will be playing in simulated games in Dunedin by the weekend. He won't be reactivated until he's 100% ready to go.

And go check out the new "Behind the ish" if you haven't already.

ELSEWHERE:

* The Bosox are more than a little bit banged up. Ailing now are Kevin Youkilis and Coco "I don't play no mo'" Crisp.

-- Johnny Was