On the bright side, Rolen extended his hit streak to 22 games, which is about the lenght of our losing streak.

so how's playing against al east opponents working out for you these days

Not good considering our current SP struggles. This year is pretty much a wash as most expected. Our great start was cool, but most realistic fans didnt expect much with our SP Staff thrown together. Were lucky we're a deep team SP wise in our minor league system. Most teams would have a .400ish win pct considering how deep were are into our depth chart now.

Word is in a few of the bluejays forums that Marc Rz.... got called up and is starting Tuesday. So that's our #15th pitcher on our depth chart I think.

Hill and Halladay will represent the Jays at the All-Star game.

No surprise there. Hill should be starting over Pedroia, but the game is the game. We'll see if Halladay gets the nod to start. Hopefully there isn't a huge public lean towards Greinke.

I agree Tercet.

It was/is a year of polarities. The Infield, including the DH and Catcher has performed well above expectations, both offensively and defensively. Overbay could be doing better, but overall......Rolen, Scutaro Hill, Overbay, Barajas, Lind,,, doing great.

Next year looks promising, but just as I hope we will have a solid starting rotation, and our two key players are in sync (Wells and Rios), we can't expect the infield and Lind to produce like they have, and be injury free as well.

What do you expect the Starting Pitcing to look next year?

1. Halladay
2. Marcum
3. Romero
4. ?
5. ?

How do Richmond and Jansen fit in

Do the Jays buy out Ryan? Can they buy him out?

what's happening with Jesse Litsch?

edit: Just saw he's out for the season... can he come back at full strenght from Tommy John surgery? whatever that is...

Serious question. Before everyone says OMG Halladay is untouchable, let's think about options.

If Halladay got traded later this year, his stock would never be higher. While it might look like the Jays are bailing on their future, is there any way to that the Jays could actually be better in 2010 and beyond if they made the right trade?

If there is no upside, fine. But, what kind of deal would actually make sence for the Jays considering the difficulty they are going to have paying him market value in 2011 and beyond.

Is there any scenerio in which Wells (and his contract) could be linked with a Halladay trade.

Halladay and Wells to the Mets for Betran and???

Perhaps, He had tremendous run support. I really didn't see him much more than a 12-17 type guy, and perhaps good for trade bait. I think there are existing guys better than him that can fill the 5 spot.

I forgot to mention that the Jays have the possibility of a third all-star if Adam Lind is able to win the "Final Man Vote". Here are the five candidates:

Adam Lind, OF, TOR
Ian Kinsler, 2B, TEX
Carlos Pena, 1B, TB
Chone Figgins, 3B, LAA
Brandon Inge, 3B, DET

Obviously Kinsler will win since he's the big name, but he's sucked for the last two months and, for fantasy purposes, I hope he gets the time off.

I also heard during the TEX-TB ESPN sunday-nighter last night that Pena has never been to an all-star game, despite having a couple of decent years recently. He would be an all-right choice.

Figgins and Inge are worthless, how are they even on that ballot. Lind's #'s are good enough to get in, but I don't think he will.

Rios with a 3-run shot puts the Jays up 4 early.

If they somehow manage to lose this game and get swept by the Yankees, we need to get a mod to lock this thread, because the season will officially be over.

Freakin' Hinske continues to burn the Jays, even long after he was shipped out of town.

THEY'RE INTENTIONALLY WALKING ROLEN SO HE DOESN'T BREAK DIMAGGIO'S STREAK, SUCH BS!

And Johnny Mac is on the board... atta boy!

SCOTT MOTHER****ING ROLEN FOR MVP

Expect the worst.

League strikes out Teixeira and A-Rod to get out of a big jam. Phew.

Jesus christ how many HBP's have the Jays had today? 3 at least

I love the bullpen.

Marcum 3IP 1 H 1K 0ER in his rehab stint tonight..

ArcticKnight... Ken Rosenthal, is that you??

The Yankees and Red Sox just don't make any sense to me as potential buyers. New York's rotation isn't perfect, but you don't add that many wins when you replace Hughes (or Wang? I don't really get what's going on with their 5th spot) with Halladay. Those guys wouldn't pitch in the playoffs anyway: they'll be rolling with CC, Burnett, Joba, and Pettitte, and that's pretty damn good. So they send Joba back as a set-up guy? Replacing Hughes? And Hughes pushes out Bruney or Aceves or something? Doesn't make sense for what they'd have to give up.

Same with Boston for the most part, though I suppose Dice-K's suckitude renders their playoff rotation of Beckett, Lester, Wake, and Penny hittable (kinda), if still very good. And they've got to be happy with their pen.

So why would those two teams be Halladay's "most fervent suitors"?

Because NY & Boston are always at the top of the list when a good player is available

And because they're the best candidates to be able to pay Halladay what he is 'truly' worth without doing complete damage rest of the team's payroll.

NYY doesn't have good enough farm/prospects for Halladay, but Boston does on the other side.

These things are both true, but fundamentally I still don't see how it makes sense from those teams' perspectives, even if they're talent hogs and they're able to pay him. Trading Halladay will cost the Jays severely, both in terms of wins (6-8 per year or so) and prestige (franchise player, announces to the public that the Jays aren't going to compete this year and possibly next). How could the Yankees/Sox benefit enough to amply compensate the Jays? I can't do too much analysis on this, obviously, but would either of those teams get even 2 marginal wins from Doc for the rest of the season? How much of a boost in their playoff prospects? There's just so much pitching depth already on those teams.

The Phillies and Dodgers makes much more sense in terms of demand. Doc would replace a near-replacement level starter on Philly and Jeff Weaver (I guess) on LA. Those are big upgrades, and obviously he pushes out a weak number-4 starter in their playoff rotations. Not to mention Philly and LA have much better shots at the WS this year than NY and Boston thanks to the soft competition in the NL this year. Anyway, I dunno. I just don't see it.