Ananas

Okay at this point if they cancel Chuck I'm done with NBC. I hate when people say that, but seriously. This is seriously the only show NBC has left I have to watch on a weekly basis. "Why are you letting Sam Kinison and an Indian lesbian wreck your wedding?"

Considering the fact that the Jays have 4 starters on the DL, 2 unlikely to play at all this year and 1 meeting with James Andrews, that's a pretty safe bet. Next year, we'll see.

I'm gonna be biased and say the series', but that's because three of our series wins came on the road and all of their consecutive wins were at home.

Has anyone been to New Yankee Stadium yet? I just booked my tickets for the 10th against the Jays and was wondering how good the view was from the grandstands.

Spoiler: Click here to viewMaybe I'm missing something, but I haven't heard anyone say this reflects poorly on Silva's ability as a fighter. I think most of the criticism leveled at him is just frustration at his unwillingness to push forward and end the fight. Which, to a degree, is accurate. The failure of this fight to entertain lays at the feet of both men. Leites didn't want to stand with arguably the best striker in MMA and so he tried takedowns and went down easily trying to lure Silva into his guard. Silva didn't want to go to the ground with one of the few fighters he might be outpointed by on the ground and so he just kind of stood there and wore down Leites' legs everytime he went down. He also avoided pushing in too much with his offense lest he end up in a clinch and risk getting taken down. I still think that Anderson Silva is the best PFP fighter in the world and I think very few people who were of that sensibility before the fight changed their mind after it. He still utterly dominated Leites. It's just that as a main eventer, his ability to draw is based on his ability to motivate the fans to lay down 45 dollars to see him fight. He didn't do himself any favours on Saturday, nor did he do UFC any favours in the Montreal market. And I think what may have made the situation worse was his "Hey, they can't all be great" reaction in the post-fight interview. Well no Anderson, they can't, but the last two have been really fucking awful. And if this trend continues, he's going to be perpetually the 250-300,000 buy champion who can't pop a big number unless there's a name as the semi-main.

The Jays continue their hot start today with an excellent top to bottom pitching performance from the staff. Ricky Romero goes 7 innings, strikes out 6 and gives up only 4 hits while walking two. Downs takes over for the third straight day and goes an excellent 1-2-3 inning while striking out two. Going into the 9th 1-0, Ryan comes in for a really solid 9th, getting Giambi to ground out and following up a blooper base hit off the end of Matt Holiday's bat with a strike-out of Jack Cust and an easy grounder from Eric Chavez. And appropriately enough, Lyle Overbay comes through with the RBI single to win it on Lyle Overbay Bobblehead day. With the win, the Jays clinch their 4th consecutive series victory to start the year, a feat they hadn't accomplished since 2001.

So Jason Kubel makes himself the THIRD player to hit for the cycle this year. In two weeks, no less.

Do you know what section? Most seats in 500 are fine.

That just means he has to clear reclaimable waivers. Which he will, because he's got 2 more years at 10 million.

The problem with BJ is his unorthodox delivery. It was his greatest strength in the first half of his career, but it also likely caused the injury that required TJS and he hasn't been the same since. I don't know if the delivery is causing him discomfort or if he's just having to really torque his elbow to pick up the extra velocity, but he really isn't locating pitches with any kind of consistency. I'd like to see what Arnsberg can do with him first, but if he can't fix it what he really needs is to be retooled ala Halladay in 2000. They'd need to rethink his delivery and find a way to locate well enough that he doesn't have to go back to the smoke and mirrors that got him into this trouble in the first place. What he has in his favour are a combination of physical gifts and mental toughness. One might question whether it's all a bit futile with a 33 year old reliever, but futile or not we're on the hook for another year at 9 million dollars, so we may has well make a go of it. As for a trade, the only team we might have been able to move him to and get some kind of return would have been the Mets in that brief period in the off-season where they needed a closer. Of course they then went out and signed K-Rod and JJ Putz, making that more or less a moot point.

BJ Ryan's line today - 0.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 32 Pitches (15 strikes) After the blown save on Monday, the ice is starting to grow thin under BJ's spot as the Jays closer. I like the guy, and I thought there was much ado about nothing regarding his performances last year as I thought he was quite good. But his velocity is down 4 MPH from last year and a full 6 since before he required Tommy John surgery in 2007. I think they need to at least temporarily hand the closer's gig to either Scott Downs or Brandon League and let Ryan spend time with Brad Arnsberg trying to lock down his release point. He's getting hammered up high, and he's missing horribly down low. That being said, Lee may have taken Cy Young last year, but Doc bitchslapped him head-to-head today. Lee had trouble getting ahead in counts and the Jays got some timely hitting to drive him from the game after giving up 4 earned runs in 5 innings (while throwing 102 pitches). Doc meanwhile had little trouble cruising through 7 and giving up just 5 hits and 1 run while striking out 7. I feel Lee is the ultimate regression candidate this year, but it was nice to see Doc go comfortably through 7 and 110 pitches without burning out like he did the first go-round. With the win the Jays have already clinched a better record against the Tribe than they had in 2008 (1-6 last year).

Did anyone catch the line drive Joe Martinez took to the face on Thursday? Scary moment, and Martinez has a concussion with three fractures. Judging by the force of that line drive, I wouldn't be surprised if he's feeling the symptoms of this one for quite a while. After a marathon rain delay that set a Jays record, the boys were able to outlast the Indians in a wild one for a 13-7 win. It was a positive start on the road in a stadium we've struggled in over the past few years. Tomorrow Roy Halladay gets the opportunity to send a message to the guy who bested him last year for the Cy Young Award, Cliff Lee. Cliff throws a lot of strikes, and I look forward to seeing what Travis Snider does to a guy who's always around the zone. And just to not come off like a total homer, how awesome were the Tigers today? Armando Galaragga looked great even when the game was tight, and the offense really took over. Miguel Cabrera continues to be frighteningly hot to start the year. Good homecoming for them after a disappointing opening stint at the Rogers Centre.

If he means something like a triple with an advance on an error then... probably plenty of times.

I really don't think Halladay will be traded this year. That's a combination of my doubts that he'll actually fetch the price he's worth (because he's worth would bankrupt many farm systems, and most of the teams looking to bring him in at the deadline don't have good enough systems to begin with) and the value having guys like Purcey, Romero, Cecil and Mills share time in the rotation with such a fucking blue chipper. If they're going to have a youth movement of McGowan/Marcum/Litsch/Cecil/Mills next year these guys need to get their veteran support now. Halladay makes his team mates better. They should think twice before sacrificing that too soon. The youth movement looked good today. Adam Lind set a Jays opening night record with 6 RBI's and 4 hits as the Jays beat up on Justin Verlander and the Tigers 12-5. Travis Snider with 2 extra base hits including a jack which showed his opposite field power. Little tidbit about Snider: he absolutely fucking tore up BP today, launching one of several of his home runs into the 4th deck. Anyway Wells and Rios both had multiple hit games and the entire lineup hit, so a good all around performance. Halladay wasn't dominant, but he got 6.2 before turning it to the Jays' as-usual lights out bullpen. On the Tigers side, Verlander's start was definitely not good news for fans hoping he might be able to capture some of his 2007 magic. He was utterly hittable, not missing a lot of bats in the 80 pitches he threw over just 3.2. Eddie Bonine was welcomed to the game by giving up a 2 run home run to Adam Lind, but after that he settled down for a shaky but damage limited 2.1 innings of work. Juan Rincon continued his rapid decline as a reliever in the 8th, but perhaps the one bright spot was Nate Robertson's solid 3-up-3-down inning with 2 K's. This was a good game on-field for the Jays. Wish I could say the same for the fans. Home openers are always difficult because with the exception of the most devout baseball cities it means you get a lot of "casual fans". The problem is that in Toronto, those "casual fans" are really non-fans. They're their because it's an event, or because they want to get drunk at the busiest bar in Canada. When you get 48,000 intoxicated morons with no respect for the sport they're watching, you're just asking for trouble. And trouble we got. Fights, drunken incidents, those were just the preamble to the colossal stupidity that almost lost us this game. In fact, one of the fans decided to throw a ball at LF Josh Anderson's head. That's when Jim Leyland understandably pulled his team off the field, which incited the crowd even more. They began throwing everything they had, popcorn bags, beer glasses and even paper planes, on the field. Every time this would happen a large cheer would erupt. It was 10 minutes before announcer Tim Langton made a PA announcement that any further such actions could result in the Jays having to forfeit. Finally they stopped, and the Tigers returned to the field for the final inning. I love working at the Rogers Centre, and in fact I love most of the fans. But when I say fans I mean the people who are there between tomorrow and September. The people that really care about this team, about this sport. And it's days like this that I wish this city really gave enough of a fuck about this sport to just go to a game and WATCH IT.

The Deadpool series has an average readership of about 45,000 readers. Ryan Reynolds has had 2 films break fifty million dollars (one of which is 4 years old, the other 5), and hasn't broken 40 mil since. Explain to me how doubting the surefire success of such a series represents a lack of understanding of "the popularity of any of the things or people involved". Watchmen had more name value and insane buzz and yet still completely overwhelmed to the tune of what is going to be a massive loss for Warner Brothers. And that one was about as faithful as they come.

But the problem is that they don't know what's in those 15 minutes that were shot last year. I'm not saying this movie is a surefire success when it's done, but I can also say that it's not being fair to the people who wrote, directed, starred in or in any way helped to make the film to evaluate what is not a finished product. Take the wrong 15 minutes out of any movie and you can ruin it.

Then wait a month. As ROC said, the leak is a WORKPRINT. This means unfinished, without SFX, final music cues, all the scenes etc. In the case of this leak, there is apparently almost 15 minutes missing. Judging a film based on a leaked workprint is like reviewing a film you walked out of halfway.

Lifestyle porn for middle aged men and people who read Defamer.

PD peaked with its pilot then fell off rapidly after it. Within three or four episodes I stopped caring, kept watching for the rest of the abbreviated first season and didn't bother with the second. It's been canceled, so it's not really worth wasting the time watching as it wasn't spectacular in the first place

I can hardly believe his, but I suppose it's possible. Kolby Ghosh of Zap2It is reporting that Steve McPherson, president of ABC, has informed Bill Lawrence that he is open to a 9th season of the show. The interest comes on the heels of some strong performance in male demos that ABC traditionally falters in, and is reportedly contingent upon roping in Braff to do a number of segs. Man, this show is like a funny cockroach. It would probably survive a nuclear holocaust.

Really? You didn't cast Fitzy as either of the robots?

Ditto to Gaby's Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place love (I've watched the series run a couple times now, and each season has its own unique charm). Add to that Ken Finkleman's brilliant "The Newsroom", the unfortunately over "Trailer Park Boys" and, of course, "The Norm Show". I don't know how much longer "The Norm Show" would have been give that it was little more than Norm MacDonald goofing off, but I was willing to find out.

The Reader - 8/10 I honestly had next to no expectation going in and just assumed it was another movie with a Best Picture nomination Harvey Weinstein movie "earned" the way Harvey usually earns nominations - through intimidation and underhanded tactics. What I was surprised to realise is that this is actually a really human reflection on the theme of shame in so many ways. Shame of a checkered childhood. Shame of personal deficiencies. Shame of entire nations and the anger it brings. And it's anchored by an absolutely sensational performance by Kate Winslet, who finally managed to nab that Oscar this year. Director Stephen Daldry did a fabulous job of bringing that moral ambiguity and passion to the screen, and created a murky, dreary landscape to match. I don't get to say this often, but good job by the Weinsteins.

Or homophobes who kill lesbian vampires?

S08E11 Spoiler: Click here to viewJust watched it. Definitely the weakest episode of the season so far. Just felt really flat the whole time. I hope this is just one show that didn't work and not indicative of the writing staff running out of ideas. I also thought it was weird that Elliott was nowhere to be found, only to show up for the last few scenes. Cast members were supposed to be taking episodes off to save money, so it's kind of weird that they brought her in solely for a flat gag that wasn't crucial to the plot. I'd rather see more from the interns.