WOMAN IS COMPLETELY UECKERED; AARON HILL IS LIKE A BUTTERLY

Various tidbits you may have noticed while you tried to stay calm, cool, and collected and convince a demented St. Louis Cardinals fan to put down the gun and let the marching band go.

• Here's something that should buoy the spirits of all you unlucky-in-love types out there: If Bob Uecker has a stalker, then surely there's hope for all of us. By the way, how does this related wire-service article not mention Uecker's work in Major League? It still says here that Ueck got hosed in the 1990 Academy Award selections; but Denzel Washington in Glory for Best Supporting Actor was all right, I guess.
• If I can make a joke out of what is a semi-serious situation for Mr. Uecker, I guess I am a dick.
• Don't even get me started on the Blue Jays failing to seal the deal against the D-Rays, coming from ahead to lose 10-5. You know the theory of how a butterfly can flap its wings in one part of the world and the resulting ripple effect will cause high tides on the other side of the world?
  
  That's kind of how it was with Aaron Hill at shortstop yesterday. First Troy Glaus had to leave the game and is day-to-day after he and Hill, who's still getting adjusted to his new defensive p collided while chasing a pop-up. On the at-bat in the fateful fifth after the D-Rays hit back-to-back homers off Gustavo Chacin, Hill made an error. Make the play right there, and maybe Chacin doesn't self-destruct and gets out of the inning.
• Some welcome news: Sabres defenceman Jay McKee is pretty much over the staph infection that cost him Game 7 of the Eastern final. Hopefully this time next week, McKee will be able to take a leisurely stroll around his Buffalo neighbourhood, where he'll block three morning newspaper deliveries, two Frisbees and a couple of low-flying robins.
• Jason Major weighs in on the worst baseball MVP votes of the past 20 years. (Via Deadspin.) Here's two nominations revolving around my Blue Jays: George Bell probably shouldn't have won over Alan Trammell in 1987. When you adjust for park factors; Trammell's hitting was 55% above the league average; Bell's was 46%. Oh, and Trammell was a superior defensive shortstop; Bell's play in left field is still discussed among Jays fans to this day, much in the same tone people talk about 30-car pileups.
  
  However, what happened in '92 was a travesty. Dennis Eckersley won the MVP based on 80 innings of work, but Roberto Alomar, if you add his putouts and assists at second base, "pitched" over 220 innings for the Jays, won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, and was the top five in the AL in on-base average, runs and stolen bases. What did that get him? Sixth place in the MVP voting. The Blue Jays vote was split since Joe Carter (third in the voting) and Dave Winfield (fifth) were bigger names whose RBI totals gained from Alomar being on base so much.
• Prediction: If Adam Morrison goes No. 1 in the NBA Draft, that means the Raptors traded down. RaptorBlog goes much deeper on this than I can.
• Hey, Marv Albert, can I get a Yes! Deadspin showed some love in responses to yesterday's revelations about Tommy Lasorda. (Which you can read here and here, or just scroll down the page.)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca. Now let's hear it for The Perms.