Crazy game, this baseball.
It's one that makes it possible for a player (Darren O'Day) to wake up unemployed in Florida and find himself pitching a big league game in someone else's jersey later that night.
It's one that can prompt a visiting broadcaster to wonder aloud why Scott Richmond could possibly make a big league rotation even though his statistics in an unaffiliated league teetered between terrible and mediocre... and then watch that same Scott Richmond pitch six relatively unchallenged innings against a lineup of proven Texas sluggers.
It's one that enables the Toronto Blue Jays to win a fifth consecutive series with the lone loss being hung on the game's best pitcher.
Those first-place Blue Jays take their wild act to Chicago this weekend, where Lord-knows-who will start on Saturday (actually, it's Brian Burres). The way things are going he'll throw a two-hit, complete game shutout and get his run-support from a pair of John McDonald home runs.
The offence has been a pleasant surprise. Collectively, they're about 20-points on the average and 20 home runs better than this time a year ago. The names haven't really changed, but the approach certainly has. A first-pitch, belt-high fastball is no longer a mandatory take. Cito much prefers seeing them crushed.
It wasn't long after a slow start a year ago that Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson were handed Blue Jay uniforms in an effort to stir the pot. All this did was offer the likable John Gibbons more lineup combinations.
How things have changed.
Vernon Wells goes 0-for-14, but still found himself hitting fourth on Thursday. He responded by hitting one out of the park. Alex Rios hasn't budged from the three-hole, even though it took him almost three weeks to hit a home run. Or take Lyle Overbay; his blast to center off Kevin Millwood will likely buy him a seat on the bench Friday night when the White Sox start Mark Buerle.
Like I said, it's a crazy game. Perhaps that's why we love it so much.
Your thoughts on lineups, long shots, and disabled lists are always welcome below.
