SWEDE RELIEF! AND THEODORE PITCHED SIX SCORELESS!

Items of interest during a night spent racking our brain to remember if we'd ever done anything to get on Ozzie Guillen's shit list.

• Something funny almost happened to the Tre Kroner today -- they almost turned Tuesday's Paraguay-T&T matchup into a showdown for the second spot in Group E. Fortunately for the Swedes, their fans, and one recent convert with Swedish-Canadian ancestry, Fredrik Ljungberg finished off a three-man passing play with a lunging header past the Paraguayans' Aldo Bobadilla in the final minutes, and Sweden prevailed 1-0 (oops, one-nil). Live in fear, England -- now Tuesday's match is for top spot in the group and an easier draw in the elimination rounds.
• Someone had to say it. Tom Benjamin, on the NHL's new rules changes: "... they have not solved the problem we all wanted solved. It is still too hard to score. We have a faster, less violent game with marginally more scoring. Even if we ignore the fact that most of the extra goals result from more power plays, scoring remains very low."
  
  Oh, there is a solution that will see fast-paced, hard-hitting hockey with more scoring. It's obvious as what happens when the referees call coincidental minor penalties: 4-on-4 hockey.
• Jays-Obsessed: Six shutout innings from Theodore Lilly and the usual five relievers covering the last three innings paced the Jays to a 4-2 victory and a series win over the Orioles, leaving Toronto one game off the AL East pace heading into a 15-game stretch of interleague play. Had to question the thinking of Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo. In the bottom of the sixth, in a 1-0 game with runners on the corners and two out, Reed Johnson stole second base uncontested. With first base open, Perlozzo had Daniel Cabrera intentionally walk lefty-hitting Lyle Overbay to set up a righty-righty matchup against Shea Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand singled in two runs -- ultimately giving Toronto its winning margin.
  
  It seemed weird at the time since Overbay was 0-for-2 in the game and just 2 for his last 13. He's a slow runner, so it's not like setting up a force play at every base was paramount.
  
  Upon closer inspection, it still makes no sense. Overbay came into yesterday hitting .243 against the Orioles this season, .278 at home, .276 against righties, compared to, respectively, .366/.345/.310 for Hillenbrand. Yet Perlozzo opted to pitch to Hillenbrand. Go figure.
• Another Jays stat: Roy Halladay leads the majors in fewest pitches per inning (13.1). So there's no reason to worry about his lower strikeout rate. He's pacing himself.
• Jays-Marlins outlook. No stats to back this up, but it seems the Jays always drag ass on the road against National League teams. (All I remember about the day of my Queen's University convocation in 2000 was that the Jays lost 8-7 to the Marlins.)
  
  Saturday and Sunday are the Jays' best bets (the jury's out on Taubenheim until he puts one in the win column.) Here's the pitching matchups:
  
  Friday: Ty Taubenheim (0-3, 5.68, 1.79 WHIP) vs. lefty Scott Olsen (5-3, 5.10, 1.35 WHIP). The Jays wear out lefties. Olsen and his 5.10 ERA in the junior varsity league could be in for a whuppin'. Expect Overbay to sit in favour of Hillenbrand with no DH in the NL park.
  Saturday: -- Casey Janssen (5-4, 3.66, 1.00 WHIP) vs. Brian Moehler (4-5, 6.68, 1.70 WHIP). Janssen looks for a bounce-back start after getting knocked out early by the Orioles on Monday. This better not be one of those days where the Jays make some plug of a journeyman pitcher look the reincarnation of Christy Mathewson.
  Sunday: -- Roy Halladay (8-1, 2.75) vs. Josh Johnson (5-4, 2.05, 1.16 WHIP).This shapes up as a tough one, even with Doc pitching. Johnson has allowed fewer than two earned runs in four of his past five starts and would lead the NL in ERA if he had pitching enough innings to qualify. Righties are hitting just .180 against him.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.