BRAVES NARC ON SAL'S 'STACHE

From here on, the effort will be made to have a daily post — Jays, Canadians in the majors, assorted detritus:

• A world with a Fu Manchu-free Sal Fasano is not one anyone should desire, but it's arrived. The Braves organization only lets minor leaguers grow those neat little mustaches, so our pal Sal, now playing Triple-A in Richmond, is clean-shaven. Teammate Scott Spiezio also had to lose his Cardinal-red soul patch.
• The Seattle diehards at the USS Mariner seem to be down on Erik Bedard already. At best, there are serious concerns since the left-hander from Navan, Ont., was barely hitting 90 mph on the radar gun during his start vs. Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
• David Eckstein seems to be seeing a lot of pitches as the Jays leadoff man. That seems to be helping Alex Rios and Vernon Wells. The 3-hole was an empty spot for the Jays last season no matter who batted there.
• Reed Johnson had hits his first two times up for the Cubs tonight, hiking his early-season OBP to .476 ... yeah, but in the National League.
• The Tao and the Drunks have the snide takedowns on anyone who made too much of Tuesday's 9-8 loss to the A's. Who knew that one shouldn't infer too much from one game in in a sport where the season is 162 games long and a hitter who fails six times out of 10 is considered a star. It's in the all-time top five of Annoying Tendencies of Canadians Who Don't Get Baseball, right up there with asking why the Jays don't lay down sacrifice bunts more and complaining about a so-called lack of heart.
• That would include TSN's Rod Black. He's a trooper; he's professional. That goes without saying. He called the Jays-A's game on Tuesday and then booted it back to the studio to be the between-periods host for the Canada-Finland women's hockey game. During the game, though, he kept saying stuff such as, "Who ever would have thought A.J. Burnett would struggle tonight after the way he pitched at Yankee Stadium last week?" How about anyone who's ever caught Burnett's hot-and-cold act? Seriously, it's just wrong to pose lazy rhetorical questions as insight. It serves as a snowjob for people who are trying to understand baseball. It's a day-in, day-out game.