SPEIER HAS A ROCKY NIGHT; TIGERS COMING TO TOWN

What a day, eh Milhouse? The sun is shining, the birds are singing, bees are tryin' to have sex with them -- as is my understanding -- and Germany and Costa Rica have started off the World Cup scoring like Wilmer Valderrama.

• Here's a follow-up to Wednesday's Baseball Really Is A Guilty Pleasure: Yesterday, the authors of Deadspin, who are St. Louis Cardinals fans, reported that it's highly likely that one of the blacked-out names in the U.S. federal affidavit in the Jason Grimsley case is Chris Mihlfield -- a former strength coach with the Royals and the long-time personal trainer to one Albert Pujols, slugging St. Louis first baseman.
  
  No one's saying that Pujols took anything. At this point, it's just that a person he had a close connection is allegedly named as someone who referred a player to someone who could give him amphetamines. So while this is posted at The Smoking Gun, there is no actual smoking gun, at least not yet.
• About those Blue Jays, 7-5 losers last night in Baltimore, in a game that saw them commit three errors and strand about a billion runners even before the Orioles pushed across the final, decisive runs on a hit-by-pitch, a walk and a wild pitch, courtesy of the "arson corps" of Justin Speier (above) and Scott Downs: focus on the positives. At least they didn't blow a seven-run lead against the Royals.
  
  The bullpen is in the crosshairs after this one, but really, losses like last night underscored a larger problem: these Jays are too much like the 1998, '99 and 2000 editions who could put up PlayStation offensive numbers, but didn't do the little things that the Richard Griffins of the world love to drone on about. Actually, the Jays are a lot like the Texas Rangers of similar vintage: butcher four or five defensive plays, get fair-to-middling pitching and still be able to be an above-.500 ballclub.
  
  So when you get a night like last night, where the defence let Roy Halladay down, and Halladay was actually human, then the overtaxed bullpen becomes a problem. Or, in a more accurate way, the bullpen's shortcomings become that much more obvious.
  
  Now, after all the talk about scheduling disadvantages and weak opponents, the Jays and Tigers finally meet head-to-head. Detroit's lost three straight series against real teams -- the Yankees, Bosox and Chisox.
  
  Optimism reigns around here, so the fingers are crossed, hoping the Jays continue that trend.
  
  Tonight: Jeremy Bonderman (6-4, 4.38, 1.18 WHIP) vs. Gustavo Chacin (6-2, 5.59, 1.49 WHIP)
  Tomorrow: Rookie Zach Miner (making just his second start) vs. Ted Lilly (5-6, 4.50, 1.67 WHIP)
  Sunday: Nate Robertson (5-3, 3.25, 1.33 WHIP) vs. Ty Taubenheim (0-2, 5.65, 1.81)
  
  Chacin and Lilly need bounce-back starts; Taubenheim showed something Tuesday in Baltimore, and besides, Robertson got lit up in his last start. Somewhere in there is a couple Toronto wins. Please.

OTHER BUSINESS

• Rafael Araujo, we hardly knew ye. Actually, we Raptors fans did, and that was the problem. Hoffa, you are a honest, decent person with a level head, and we know that you didn't take yourself with the No. 8 pick in the 2004 NBA draft. Good luck in Utah, where the next time they boo a home-team player will be the first. Scott Carefoot has the low-down on newcomers Kris Humphries and Robert Whaley, whose scoring averages look like the combined GPA of the Cincinnati Bearcats: "I'm not holding out much hope on the two guys we got in return."
• Give some support to my friend Pat Pearce, who dropped View From The Nosebleeds today.
• Hey, Arena Bowl 20 is this weekend. So at least NBC is showing one sports event this weekend that's capable of getting a 2.0 rating.
• You hope your rookies make a big splash and don't forget to look out for No. 1, but not like this: The New York Daily News has reported that a female fan said she was urinated on by Rangers rookie Ryan Hollweg at a club recently. He's denied it. (Thanks to Brushback, James Mirtle and Deadspin.)
• Any mention of the Daily News segues right into the Seinfeld episode where Kramer lights out for California and asks George to go with him.
  
  

  K: "Do you have a job?"
  G: "No."
  K: "Do you have a girlfriend?"
  G: "No."
  K: "Do you have any conceivable reason for getting up in the morning?"
  G (after a long pause): "I like to get the Daily News."

• So, what's the deal here: no Out of Left Field until after 2 p.m.? Usually the time-stamps read something like "3:47 a.m." Bottom line was, after burning the candle at both ends this week, I crashed out almost immediately after getting off work at the Sun. Which was too bad, since there were three episodes of My Name Is Earl on and I didn't make it all the way through the first one. I do have the weekend free, so look for a live blog from Game 3 of the Oilers and Hurricanes tomorrow, provided there's no technical problems. (If there are, the old blog will pinch-hit.)

That's all for now. Have a great weekend.