Back to business tonight and a brand new shortstop to boot. Whether or not the deal will turn out to be a good one for us remains to be seen, but Atlanta are competing this season and adding Gonzo as SS will help them no end with the way he's been producing at the plate. We'll see if a move can bring around what was a very promising talent in Yunel Escobar. He's definitely come to the right place to rediscover his power at the plate, that's for sure. Even if the move doesn't work out, it's not like we're going to make the playoffs this year so losing Gonzalez is hardly going to bite us in the .

Our rookie GM is trying to build something in TO and he's trading while his stop gap players stock is very high rather than hanging onto them in the desperate hope that we might make a run. That was never the plan and he has no intention of deviating by the looks of it. He's impressed me immensely so far.

So second half hopes:

be competitive enough to finish above 500
see Hill & Lind turn things around
see our young starters continue to shine
see the back of Brian Tallet (that one really is wishful thinking)
see some of the young prospects have a go once the rosters get extended - in particular catcher JP Arencibia who now has 26 HR at AAA Vegas and who has come on leaps and bounds both offensively and defensively since last year.

So what are your second half hopes?

So second half hopes:

To be involved in the play offs. I'd have settled for a winning record at the start but now we've put ourselves in such a great position and have some big names to come back into our rotation winning the division has to be the aim now. That's all there is. If we achieve that everything else will have fallen into place i.e. progression of our young starters e.g. Bailey, Cueto, Wood, Maloney and even the returning Volquez who is still only in his fifth season and 27.

Second half hopes for the White Sox is to just keep playing like we have for the last month.

I wish the Jays would hury up and trade away some of our Bullpen. Sadly a few scouts were present to witness Kevin Gregg walk the bases loaded and then react angrily when the manager took him out of the game (which super reliever Shawn Camp then went on to save). Two games later Gregg is given another save opp and he blows it. We'll never get rid of him now!!!

Lots of interest in Scott Downs, who has been a bit off this year. Also plenty sniffing around Buck and Bautista, which is to be expected given their power bats this year.

I think we'll trade Buck and Downs (if the offers are reasonable) but have a feeling that Bautista is going to be offered a multi year deal by the Jays come the end of the season.

As for ou new SS - that power drought didn't take long to remedy. 2 HRs in 4 games (one a Grand Slam). So far I'm liking what i see from him. He's got a canon for an arm and looks very agile. He's also bunted his way on base twice already - although I'm sure the manager will soon put a stop to that. We're the Blue Jays, we don't play small ball.

599 for A-Rod

I think I jinxed Shawn Camp. Ever since i called him a super reliever he's been awful.

Our BP threw another one away yesterday.

I see Matt 'Chia Chin' Garza threw a no hitter last night. It's all getting a bit silly now isn't it?

Adding two big bats this weekend in Kearns and Berkman. Both won't be starters and we're not giving up much to get them. They will replace Miranda and Curtis. The legend of George lives on.

Bit of a surprising win for the Jays last night. AJ really doesn't enjoy pitching against his old team. He helped us tie an AL record with 6 2Bs in one inning.

That said, I predict that normal service will resume tonight and A-Rod will finally get #600, either off Romero or Tallet.

Wish A-Rod would hit his 600th. Bogging the team down.

Spectacularly wrong there - thankfully. Ricky Ro was fantastic last night, as were the rest of the Jays. Great performance offensively and defensively. Going for the sweep this afternoon. That would be something.

TBH I think there's too much fuss being made over this #600 milestone and would agree that it's starting to affect the whole team. The thing with the different balls for A-Rod is ridiculous. It's like the significance of every AB A-Rod has is being hammered home - which with all this pressure is the one thing he can't seem to do.

Going for a 5-1 Yankees win with A-Rod homering in the 1st.

Haha. Nice editing

The cloud from yesterday's game is that John Buck was placed on the DL with a cut to his finger. The silver lining is that the Jays called up their AAA catching prospect JP Arencibia. He's averaged 303 average with 31 home runs, 79 RBI amd 64 extra base hits in 95 games for the Vegas 51s this season. We're all very excited in Jaysland to see what he can do in the bigs. Let's just hope the manager actaully plays him now.