No finer place to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon than the ballpark….over 42,000 thought the same as I, as the home schedule winds down for 2006.

An entertaining game as the Jays hung on for a 5-3 win behind solid pitching by AJ Burnett and back-to-back-jacks by Lyle Oooooooverbay and Troy The Boss Glaus.

The good – $9 seats in the 500 level are still the best bargain in pro sports.

The bad – another visit by Red Sox Nation that did not include the Red Sox Chick. C’mon Cyn, you gotta come up here and visit!

The ugly – First day of autumn today….  I don’t mind the fall too much, it’s just that summer’s over and winter is in the on-deck circle   

A 4 game series against the Red Sox with 2nd place on the line started off terrible with a 7-1 loss tonight…. Jays need the next 3 in a row to have a shot at 2nd. C’mon guys!

Despite my negative blogs of late, I still love my team, even though they drive me crazy sometimes. I’ll be at tomorrow’s game and Monday’s too, plus Thursday afternoon’s game in Detroit.

I had a good laugh at the following post on the Blue Jays Fan Forum…. I have copied and pasted:

Guaranteed for 2007

JP makes a few acquisitions and the Jays public relations machine goes into high gear saying the team has found the missing pieces to the puzzle.

The media asks – will this at last be the year the Jays are in contention?

Two pundits predict the Jays will go to the World Series. The energy is high.

The season starts off with a bang. Jays are 10 games over .500 early.

Key injuries occur to pitcher and outfielder.

No one is available from the farm system as suitable replacements.

The Jays start to lose and JP bemoans the hand of fate.

Message boards clamor for JP/Gibbons to be fired.

Around July 1, speculation begins as to whether the Jays will be buyers or sellers.

The message boards are filled with possible deals to strengthen the club.

By the end of July, JP says there will be no deals because no one we like is avaialble but when the injured player(s) return, it will be "just like we made a trade".

Gibbons explodes and threatens a key player who is then immediately traded.

Blue Jays lose 12 out of 16 games.

Blue Jays break the record, leaving 30 runners in scoring position.

JP says Gibbons is doing a good job. Jamie Cambell says the team is having a "lovely" season.

Blue Jays finish in third place.

Paul Godfrey kisses JPs feet in public.

Ted Rogers increases the budget by 20 million after JP tells him he needs more money to compete.

Speculation begins as to how good the team will be in 2008.

I am walking around like a zombie at work today after staying up late to watch the Dodgers-Padres game for the ages….. didn’t get to bed until around 2:30 am eastern.
Thank you MLB Extra Innings!
I live for this!

Now excuse me…. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And this one’s gooooone!

Best…. game….. ever!

Dodgers 11, Padres 10.

Padres take lead in the 10th, Nomar hits 2 run homer to win it.

Fans…… you gotta see the tape of this one!

My wife has family in both San Diego and L.A….. it’s hard for me to root against either team!

I am up late watching MLB Extra Innings and the Dodgers have hit 4 consecutive home runs in the bottom of the 9th to tie the Padres 9-9.

Vin Scully is in fine form tonight!!!!

Best game I have seen in a long long time!

Ooops, I’ve gone and allowed too much time to pass between blog updates….

Just some random thoughts today….

- JP has been successful in getting another bump in payroll for next year… just a suggestion to spend it on Jays roster players, instead of paying other teams to play former Jays (e.g. Corey Koskie and Eric Hinske)

- Doc Halladay not getting 20 wins or a chance at a Cy Young is a real bummer of course… but the bigger disappointment is how the offence and defence has let him down this season

- Ted Lilly’s been pitching great lately…. funny how some guys rise to the occasion of needing a new contract, only to come back down to a level of mediocrity once they get it

- it’s nice to see the Jays play for 2nd place, but given all Boston’s injuries and the Jays not seizing opportunities, truth is the Red Sox should have been in the Jays rear-view mirror long ago

- the best part of this time of year is the playoff races of course… the AL Central, Wild Card, NL West & Wild Card are all amazing to watch. Go Tigers & Padres!

- the Jays & Rogers should seriously consider Jerry Howarth to do BOTH tv & radio broadcasts. Simulcasts have worked before and can work here too

Just experimenting with a video I took from my celphone way back in April…. if this breaks any rules, I will delete it!

Last night’s jaw-dropping top of the 8th inning was perhaps the final blow to the Doctor’s bid for 20 wins and another Cy Young. Protecting a 2-1 lead that the Jays had fought hard to claim, reliever Jeremy Accardo had an epic meltdown, capped by a grand slam to dead center field no less, by Tribe hitter Andy Marte. I, like many other Jays fans quickly went from total shock, to disappointment, then to anger in no time at all. Arrrghhhhhhh…. Roy pitched a whale of a game, with little support from his teammates, then to be denied win #17 in that fashion was hard to stomach. To make matters worse, Boston won their 2nd in a row last night and the Jays fell to 3 back of 2nd place.
I’d better stop writing for now or someone is going to have to call the whine-police!

I was intending to sit in the 500 level today but said "what the heck" and grabbed some tickets at the window for the 2nd row of section 130D wayyyyyy down the left field line. Frank Catalanotto is my daugher’s favourite player and we were hoping to sit right across from him, but it was not to be since Reed Johnson was in LF today. No matter, since RJ smacked a long homer just to the side of Windows Restaurant today. As the CNE Air Show was occasionally distracting us, both teams put on their own air show with a total of 4 blasts hit today and the Jays won their 3rd in a row edging the Tribe 4-3.

Shawn Marcum pitched an effective 5 innings, but the bullpen looked a little shaky, with BJ Ryan barely surviving a rough 8th inning and getting his 30th save following an easier 9th.

Only a couple foul balls came our way today, but we had a great view of Indians’ left fielder Shin-Soo Choo’s nice running catch at the wall. Being the 3rd out, he kindly tossed the ball into the crowd in the corner, and I juuuuuust missed catching it as the guy beside me beat me to it! I’ll have to check out the highlights to see if I made it on tv for a second or two!

Relaxing by the tv now, and watching the battle of the Sox on NESN. It’s that time of year when my remote control gets a good workout watching all the playoff races.

With the exception of a shaky bottom of the 9th, the Jays pretty much played a perfect game today in rainy Boston with a 6-1 victory. Although I am pleased about the Jays going out and doing what they’re supposed to do (that is play hard, and beat up a weaker opponent) you’ll excuse me for not jumping for joy due to winning only twice on this road trip.

So the Jays head home for a brief 3-game homestand, 2 games behind Boston again when they should have seized the opportunity to pull even, or ahead in the standings.

I’ll be at Rogers Centre for tomorrow’s holiday game against Cleveland, and I want some revenge for last week’s sweep at the Jake!

Todays review:

The Good: A solid outing from Gustavo Chacin… actually, the last 3 games have all had quality starts. Props also to the Cat for his monster catch early on today.

The Bad: Jeremy Accardo’s 9th inning could have been worse, if not for some dumb base-running by Mike Lowell.

The Ugly: The long delay and miserable downpour all game long.