Bulls vs. Jays

All right you fuckers, lets see what you're actually made of.  "Oh, we're the hottest team in baseball!" you say?  Well, a lot of people would be if they played in the AL Central.  They've had a nice, easy schedule, and this little winning stretch has come with them playing against the Twins, Indians, Cubs and Mariners.  Sure, they also played (and beat) the Rays and Angels over the last three weeks, and we can pretty well rehash this same argument any time a team from the AL Central wins 9 of 10 or whatever, but that's not really the point.

Having said all of that, the Sox are getting some nice offensive contributions from everybody but Alexei Ramirez (and Brent Morel/Orlando Hudson), and have gotten some very nice pitching performances out of Jake Peavy and Chris Sale (until his arm falls off), plus a perfect game out of tonight's starter, Phil Humber.  I dunno, I'm seeing some pretty big regression in the near future.

As for the Jays, apprently Edwin Encarnacion is going to get at least a single night off, according to Barry Davis, and Shi Davidi reports a little more on the soreness of his hand.  No Edwin means that there's going to be an incredibly whacky lineup in there tonight.  Of course, when you realize how important the lefty-righty-lefty-righty makeup on a lineup is, this is clearly quite optimal (I'm being sarcastic).

I'm not sure why Farrell has opted to take Johnson and Escobar out of the 1-2 spots, and I'm really not sure why he's putting Lawrie and his .314 OBP in the leadoff spot, and I'm really, really not sure why the R-L-R-L-R-L-R-(S)-R thing is so fucking important to him when it will only (maybe) become an issue once or twice in the game.  I mean, I guess it kind of work against the White Sox, with Ohman, Thornton and Santiago in the bullpen, but I doubt it really matters a whole lot in most games, especially when a dude like Thames was around and would get platooned against lefties (Thornton actually doesn't have any real pronounced L/R split).

Stuff
I'm not going to bother writing about the rest of the Jays' picks until after the draft, since I don't really know anything about a lot (read: all) of the guys they've taken since the 2nd round.  I'm sure there are plenty of other spots you could look if you're that impatient.  MLB.com would be my first guess, though Bluebird Banter seems to be posting a little blurb about each pick.

Tommy Lasorda is doing well after suffering a minor heartattack either last night or today.

Are you still mad about the Jays trading away Tiny Tim Collins(ecum)?  You should be.

The Jays traded Ruben Gotay, a minor league infielder, to the Braves, for cash yesterday.  Big whoop. Also at MLBTR, there are some rumblings about draft signing bonuses and stuff.  Rumors suggest that Mark Appel told the Astros that he'd turn down an offer of $6MM, should they draft him first overall.

The Jays will continue to carry 8 relievers through tonight's game.  I can only assume that this means that they want Yan Gomes to come back up, and he won't be eligible to return to the majors until tomorrow (I thought today, but apparently not), since a player must spend 10 days in the minors before being recalled (unless someone is DL'ed).  I'm sure Edwin's status going forward will determine what the Jays ultimately do with regard to their roster makeup.

Lineups
Jays
Lawrie 3B
Rasmus CF
Bautista RF
Johnson DH
Escobar SS
Cooper 1B
Arencibia C
Vizquel 2B
Davis LF

Romero P

White Sox
De Aza CF
Beckham 2B
Dunn DH
Konerko 1B
Rios RF
Pierzynski C
Viciedo RF
Ramires SS
Hudson 3B

Humber(fect) P