"If we win, we take over third place!"

You can actually pinpoint the second his heart rips in half!

Yeah, so good one.  Ignored forever!  Though JP hit another dinger and gets a Zaunhead.

Jays beat writer Gregor Chisolm went on a little twitter mission before last night's game debacle.  He said all of the following things:

Carlos Villanueva's innings will be monitored from now until the end of the year.  After last night, maybe that's not much of a problem?  Kind of kidding, but Farrell says that "it’s showing us that we’ve got take a closer look and discuss what our next steps are.  It’s not to say that he’s coming out of the rotation by any means, but we’re well aware of late the lack of late action through the zone and that’s a sign of fatigue.”  Even with the extra day of rest this past week, if he's still fatigued, maybe we should let Jesse Litsch take his place for a start, or have Kyle Drabek come back up or something.

By the same token, Gregor says that the Jays don't plan to shut down Brandon Morrow this year the way they did last year, and that they want him to build up to 175IP as a stepping stone to being able to pitch the whole season as a starter.  Villanueva has only thrown over 100IP twice (before this season), but has thrown 97 already this season, on pace for something like 140.  Morrow has thrown 88 after missing a couple weeks at the start of the season with arm tightness, which is probably the only reason that he won't be shut down by the end of the year.  I'd be surprised if Morrow got all the way to 175 given how much time is left in the season, but who knows?  The Jays have 52 games left this season by my count, which should mean 10 more starts assuming he stays healthy.  He's averaged just short of 6IP per start, which should get him to the 150 area.

Lastly from Gregor, Brian Tallet is starting to throw again, and will do some bullpen sessions this week, followed by some rehab assignments, and then hopefully a DFA.  That would literally cost the Jays the prorated portion of the $700K that Tallet signed for in the offseason, so like $200K?  I'd gladly pay $200K to not see Tallet in a Jays uniform ever again.

Tom from Bluebird Banter has an idea about what to do with Brett Lawrie and the roster space that would have to be cleared for him on the 25-man roster if he comes up before the expanded September rosters kick in.  Within that piece, he quotes John Lott of the National Post, who suggests Snider or Thames be sent down to make room, which we both feel really iffy about (though I don't hate the idea of Thames going back for August, just don't love it either).

Tom actually suggests something that I hadn't really thought about: outrighting Mark Teahen to AAA LV, and releasing him if he refuses the assignment, eating the $7.5MM or so left on his contract for the rest of this year and all of next year (sidenote: how the fuck did this guy get a 3 year contract extension to avoid arbitration?).  Taking Teahen in the Edwin Jackson trade was just the Jays way of giving CWS cash, and there's no real reason that the Jays can't just treat it that way.  You can pay him $7MM to sit on the bench and take up a roster spot for an otherwise young guy who may actually need the AB's, or you can pay him $7MM to get the hell out and call up Brett Lawrie instead of having John Mcdonald ever bat.  Conversely, I currently see Wilfredo Ledezma on the active roster.

Elsewhere, remember that game earlier this season where the Jays scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning or something like that, only to have it overturned by a phantom interference call by Bob Davidson?  Or the infamous near-triple-play in the 1992 World Series?  Well he was at it again the other night, ejecting the Cubs' Tyler Colvin for spanking his bat quietly on the ground.  Craig Calcaterra sticks up for Davidson (note: not really).

Ken Rosenthal offers his take on what the Padres should do with Heath Bell.  They probably should have traded him last week.  Or they could, you know, use 20% of their payroll to lock up a closer.

Add the MLB to the list of cunts who won't allow people to play cards for money in the USA.  Alex Rodriguez has been linked to a series of illegal underground poker games, that may have also had drugs (OMG!), violence (OH NOES!) and gambling (why I nevah).  Why can't you guys just play for cheerios?

Update- Holy shit!  Carlos Villanueva is going to have an MRI today.  Remember that thing about them limiting his innings?  Trip to the 15-day DL with phantom "arm fatigue" anyone?  Tony Ambrogio, among others, tweeted that Henderson Alvarez could be a guy to replace him, and Gregor says that we could see Alvarez as a September callup.