Ananas

And for the record, the mercy rule doesn't exist in Major League Baseball.

Frank Sinatra 1. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning 2. You Make Me Feel So Young 3. Last Night When We Were Young 4. Fly Me to the Moon 5. I've Got You Under My Skin The New Pornographers 1. The Bleeding Heart Show 2. Mass Romantic 3. Letter from an Occupant 4. The Speed of Luxury 5. Stacked Crooked System of a Down 1. Aerials 2. Hypnotize 3. Holy Mountains 4. Spiders 5. Chop Suey Sufjan Stevens 1. For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti 2. Transfiguration 3. To Be Alone With You 4. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders 5. Come on! Feel the Illinoise! k-os 1. The Love Song 2. Valhalla 3. Heaven Only Knows 4. Electrik HeaT - The SeekwiLL 5. Superstar Part Zero

It wasn't just that it wasn't fresh, they weren't even trying, every actor seemed to be going through the motions and the writers are getting lazy (from the gimmick episode to a clips show to an episode all about deja vu). I don't expect it to always be fantastic, but it's a totally noticeable drop in quality and there's just a lack of any unpredictability any more as well, which is what the show was basically founded on. Don't get me wrong, I'll still watch it, but it's not like the first seasons where I used to rush to watch it as soon as possible, these are episodes feel like they are made purely for the studio, people who like to make money (both of which is all shows though) and those involved with Scrubs who just can't let go. *full of season 6 and 7 spoilers* This isn't "going through the motions". Carla's entire "post-partum" turn is all great performance wise. As for unpredictability, how about everyone coming together to save Kelso's job, only for him to quit? Or Kim's faked miscarriage (cliched, but not predictable)? Laverne dying out of nowhere? And the argument that it's "made for the studio"? I'm sorry, but that's completely bogus. This show has NEVER been a big money maker, it keeps getting brought back because the crew is passionate about continuing it and because the people at the studio are big fans.

Not to mention I can think of a bunch of fantastic episodes over the past two years. I think it was more hit-and-miss than bad.

I still remember back when the Jays had the highest payroll in baseball. We won the World Series both times. At the Rogers Centre, the pink hats show up in droves when we have "Ladies Night Out" on assorted Thursdays. Basically they sit in a 200-level section together, get shitfaced and then they have a Q&A with a couple of players. Ushers working said sections should be prepared to be hit on by an endless line of non-looker cougars for 3 hours and have clean-up at the ready for when they puke. Not our brightest promotion by any stretch.

They aren't. Seriously. Jays fans are less obnoxious at home than Red Sox and Yankees fans are on the road.

"Let's Go Tribe" completely nails the Yankee bullshit to the wall, making me happy that the Indians are my other team:

Fuck. Why did I get my hopes up for those two days?

"Pushing Daisies" probably would have been my favorite show of last year if it had even maintained its momentum, much less gotten better. But as that show got a bit repetitive in the last few season one episodes, "Chuck" continued to improve throughout its first season to the point of now being one of my favorites period. As Teej said, this is truly a show that has it all, and moves along at a frantic yet digestible pace that never leaves you feeling bored of floored (how's that for a turn of phrase?). Can't wait until September 29th, and judging by this year's crop of new shows I doubt it's going to fall too far in my eyes. On another encouraging albeit expected note, "Chuck" became the first sophomore show of the year to get a full season commitment back in August. NBC executives cited the quality of the early episodes as well as a desire to let Josh Schwartz and company carry out their vision for the series.

I don't like Bulgaria's Olympic chances.

Jacks! Great pitching! Great Defense! No Jamie Campbell! What a game. 10 in a row!

I still don't quite follow how his scoreless inning contributed in any way to the "undoing" of Marcum's start, but whatever. I didn't say he wasn't shaky, but the score line was the same when he left the game and Marcum was still the pitcher of record. 9 in a row! AJ was fantastic today, they got some clutch hitting and, after a shaky start, BJ locked down and took care of business. We're now a game and a half ahead of the big bad Yankees going into tonight's game. Burnett gave them 7 innings, they still have most of their relievers ready for work and after only throwing about 110 pitches, a short-rest start is not entirely out of the question. So Litsch on the hill, Barajas behind the plate and perhaps Scutaro and Batista on the left side? Maybe a bit of pop added to the lineup to face the rookie starter as we try to bring this streak into double digits.

I love that you're all pushing for accurate historical context in a movie about an alternate universe where people have super powers. I mean, there are perfectly logical arguments for why Will Smith doesn't really fit the Captain America mold (one of them being his penchant for playing super-sarcastic leads), but race really isn't one of them. And on that note, the story is based on a 15 word quote from a different actor being interviewed for a different movie. When you consider the nature of development on any film (much less a big budget action feature with more on the line), the odds of this coming to fruition are pretty long.

How exactly did the scoreless 8th pitched by Scott Downs yesterday contribute to the "undoing" of Shaun Marcum's start? Scott Downs is awesome. He's everything you want in a set-up man, and is currently 4th in the AL in holds. He's given up all of 1 earned run since July 9th. Ryan blew the lead Saturday, not Downs. Burnett loaded the bases on Wednesday, not Downs. And even on a so-called "off-day" as he had on that occasion, he still wasn't responsible for an earned run. What we should be talking about today though is Jesse Carlson's gem save. 11 pitches, 9 for strikes and 2 strikeouts. He looked like 2006-Beej. Purcey was fantastic over 8 and showed us another glimpse of how good he can be if he can get some consistency. And that's all there is to say, really. We won because David Purcey outpitched Matt Garza by the narrowest of margins. We continue to be incapable of hitting against Garza, but we managed a sac-fly after Adam Lind hit a double and was moved over to third by a Lyle Overbay ground ball.

Why, friend, that's the American League's record in Interleague Play this year!

149-103

Right, but after they're done kicking the shit out of the National League, they're going to have to play a Major League team.

Okay, time to give Snider a permanent number already, I want to get my jersey. :@

Aaron Hill's assailant is gone!

Interesting anecdote from Wrestling Observer Radio earlier in the week. Meltzer was talking with one of the high-ups in UFC a decade ago around the time Canadian PPV providers had pulled the company's cards from their schedules. He asked about the extent to which losing Canada was going to hurt them and the guy said "Canada is a quarter of our business." Surely someone at the athletic commission in Ontario must see these numbers and realise that Canadians (and more specifically Ontarians) love this sport? I mean if Ottawa is in the top 10 in total buys, surely there are some MP's ordering the cards.

The Toronto Blue Jays of Baltimore! Also, holy fuck Brandon League was awesome today. I'm so happy to see the Jays finally develop a lights out right-hander this year. Although I fear with League being awesome and Downs being a destroyer of men, we'll probably see Carlson traded in the off-season.

It's like all the annoying Republican celebrities got together to annoy people so much they vote Democrat. Except I guess Heidi Montag was busy.

They won't be adding anything. They might trade Eckstein because he's so obviously excess and they can get a prospect from a contender for him while dropping the remainder of his salary. I can't see them making any other moves, seeing as we're basically playing .500 during long stretches where they need to basically run the table. Maybe they'll trade Zaun and they can rush the development of Arencibia too. Jays > Orioles. I mean the birds, not the teams, which are basically playing interchangable at this point. So yeah, combine the rosters. Just keep the Jay

No, that would be His Holyness, St. Kou of Hejacksalot.

He was gone next year anyway. At least now he gets to finish his career with a playoff run. And in the meanwhile, we get to see the debut of His Holyness, St. Travis of Hitsjacksalot.