DAY LATE AND MANY DOLLARS SHORT

Much apologies for going dark yesterday. It's actually the second time since the new and (allegedly) improved Out of Left Field's re-launch on Apr. 22 that there was no update in the course of a day, so missing Sunday due to a weekend in Toronto with friends did not jeopardize any Cal Ripken-like streak of blog updatage.

Just a few quick hits before reporting to my day job, which actually takes place at night:

• Having moved six times since 2001, this recent arrival in Ottawa knows you should always go into a new town with as few preconceptions as possible, but personally speaking, the nation's capital really seems living up to its rep as a sports graveyard.
  
  This should really be its own post, but having lived here only a short time, it's baffling why the fourth-largest city in this country has had two CFL teams die and now has a Triple-A baseball team, the Ottawa Lynx, that is on very shaky ground.
  
  A theory that deserves exploring is that Ottawans, since the arrival of the Sens, believe the city is major-league (which it isn't) and second-tier fare such as the CFL and minor-league baseball is beneath them.
  
  There is a solution to Ottawa's baseball dilemma that yours truly is going to lay out at a future date.
• There was a widespread assumption by many, yours truly included, that the wild card was closed off to the entire AL East since Chicago and Detroit had so outdistanced the rest of the pack. Turns out we were all wrong: the Tigers haven't turned back into a pumpkin, and the Jays are only 4½ games behind Chicago for the wild-card. Can't help but look ahead to the last two weeks of the regular season, when the Jays play the Evil Empires at home, then finish with six games at Detroit's Comerica Park and Yankee Stadium.
• Finally saw Walk The Line last night (only broke into tears twice). One quibble: Does anyone else feel that Reese Witherspoon's performance as June Carter Cash wasn't Academy Award-worthy?
• Argos coach Pinball Clemons could do P.R. for FEMA. Did anyone hear his positive spin on Ricky Williams' injury? The gist of it was that since Williams broke a bone in his arm (he had surgery today), it lowers the risk of him getting a knee injury before he returns to the NFL.
• Scott Carefoot dug up some footage of new Raptors guard Fred Jones dunking on Ben Wallace.

Back with some Ricky Williams- and Blue Jays-related thoughts later. That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.