Halladays of Reckoning: That damn Dodgers rumour

Presumably, most of you are outdoors on this fine July Sunday, but when the Los Angeles Times suggests the Dodgers dangle all-star catcher Russell Martin as part of a package for Roy Halladay, the ears tend to perk up, eh.

"The Dodgers would have to pay dearly to get Halladay, as any team should. This is not about quantity, about trading half a dozen scrubs and suspects. This is about quality, about enticing the Toronto Blue Jays to surrender perhaps the best pitcher in franchise history.

The Dodgers ought to start by offering two-time All-Star catcher Russell Martin, a Canadian star for Canada's team.

However, then it kind of unravels, not just because of the notion that the Dodgers could get by with aging Brad Ausmus as their No. 1 catcher.

"... The Dodgers also should offer two of their top 2008 draft picks -- shortstop Devaris Gordon, a high-ceiling shortstop prospect two or three years from the majors, and right-hander Josh Lindblom, the former Purdue closer who almost made the team out of spring training. Lindblom could go into the Jays' bullpen right now, perhaps into their rotation next year.

"Keep in mind that neither Gordon nor Lindblom is ranked among the top 50 prospects in the minor leagues, as ranked last week by Baseball America. None of the Dodgers' prospects is ranked, in fact, and certainly the Dodgers will be bidding for Halladay against teams offering prospects near the top of that list.

"But this is the time. This group of Dodgers position players will run out of time soon. Martin, Kemp, Andre Ethier and James Loney all are eligible for salary arbitration next season, when Manny Ramirez figures to play his final season in L.A. Orlando Hudson is not signed beyond this season. Blake turns 36 in August. Shortstop Rafael Furcal turns 32 in October."

The Jays have catching prospects; of course, 23-year-old J.P. Arencibia is hitting an Ausmus-esque .236/.291/.417 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League (then again, he's 23).

The Toronto Sun on Friday put the L.A. Angels as front-runners to get Halladay. The kneejerk response is that the Dodgers would love to get him. It's brinksmanship, baby.

Related:
Dodgers can't let Roy Halladay get away (Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times)

Batter up: Los Angeles Dodgers

It's that mystical, wonderful time of year where you commit to a baseball team who you know fully well won't win. This season, in honour of an popular Internet meme, we'll present 25 things about each team. Now batting: the Dodgers of Los Angeles.

1. It's Vin Scully's 60th (60th!) year broadcasting Dodger baseball. Just thought everyone should know.
2. In case you forgot, they made the playoffs last year. They actually won a round (okay, it was against the Cubs). Including October, they went 88-82, which, wouldn't you know it, is a worse record than three American League teams who didn't get invited.
3. Dave Cameron at Fangraphs called them the 13th-best organization in baseball, dinging the (sometimes clueless) front office with a D+.
   
4. For those who want to keep in touch with the team, like U.S.S. Mariner, Jon Weisman's Dodger Thoughts (now part of the Los Angeles Times) tells you pretty much everything.
   
5. Strong points last year? Hitting...nah. Pitching...maybe. Dodger Stadium makes anyone look good. That doesn't apply to Chad Billingsley, who Dodger Thoughts pegged as the most indispensable (or least dispensable) Dodger, or #2 on-the-same-list Clayton Kershaw (not to be confused with Clayton Andrews; really, don't confuse them). Solid pitchers, both.
   
6. MannyBManny is only third? Weisman knows more than I do, and there's no way an OPS+ of 219 holds up over more than 53 games, but that is surprising.
7. So who is this Kershaw, anyway? Worth the hype? Sure is. Lefty. He was born in (sigh...) 1988. Drafted 7th overall three years ago out of a Texas high school. 276 strikeouts and 91 walks in 221 minor league innings. Struck out nearly a batter per inning in his first season in the majors last year. At age 20. Young pitchers will break your heart, but that's half the fun, isn't it?
8. Let's not forget the impact the studly Russell Martin may have on the pitching staff. Or his decision to go by J. Martin this year--his mother's maiden name is his third middle name, Jeanson. Or his quitting of the chewing tobacco.
   
9. Then again, any positive results from the pitchers, or J. Martin, will quickly be nullified if certain conditions come to pass.
   
10. But wait! Unless Orlando Hudson has something to say about it as he replaces the he's-still-a-second-baseman-really?-huh-that's-odd Jeff Kent. Hudson, interestingly, joined the Dodgers on a huge incentives contract: if he reaches 569 plate appearances (three-year average), he gets $7.18 million instead of $3.38M. He is worth it. Nobody is allowed to disparage the O-Dog, who is was one of the best defensive second basemen in the game and would win every mayoral election of any city in which he has spent five or more minutes.
    
11. Sadly, if Hudson does have something to say about it, you will need a good rewind button to figure out what he said. (Ten points to anyone who can transcribe this.)
12. Last note on the pitching: Randy Wolf, far from young, "has not put together a full season of above-average pitching since 2002" (link) but is somehow in their starting rotation.
13. 2009 predictions: 84 wins and too close to call from the CHONE system (one of the best predictors), 92 from PECOTA (probably the only better one), and a first-place 91 wins from a math prof at NJIT. All of those are enough to win the West.
    
14. They open April with a lot of games on the road. The quick-to-snark fan would say "because clearly it makes no sense to play early games in warm and snowless Los Angeles" but their April road games are in San Diego, Phoenix, Houston, and Denver. You, the Southern Ontarian reader, were not fooled by today's high of 17 and would take a trip to those cities in a second.
15. There's a joke about "you have the wrong Blake!" but someone else will have to put it together: Casey Blake (age: 35) may or may not start over Blake DeWitt at third (age: much less than 35). I must be missing something. Casey B. is tolerable, but B. DeWitt apparently wasn't handsome enough to tempt Joe Torre.
16. They do have a good roster of young and talented players, though. Come October, Matt Kemp will be just 25, James Loney only 24 and Andre Ethier all the way up there at 27. Career OPS+ for each of them: 116, 114, 109. It doesn't matter which is which. All three are also at that early stage of their careers where they are ridiculous, ridiculous bargains.
17. No, seriously, check out that lineup.
18. Unrelated, but possibly interesting: both Kemp and Ethier hit fly balls in the 2008 NLCS that stayed in the air for six seconds before landing in a glove. Hang time, even on outs, is supposed to be a pretty good indicator of a hitter's power.
    
19. Their manager is Joe Torre. Ever heard of him? Conventional widsom: he's one of the best. One statistical view (David Gassko in the 2008 THT Annual): he's about a win below average; good with hitters but awful with pitchers. Paul Quantrill's Overworked Right Arm: agrees.
    
20. "Big Bill McCloskey coming up. As soon as he pops out, we'll go right to the post-game show." Wondering who used to have their AAA team in Las Vegas? It was in fact the Dodgers. Thanks to the Blue Jays (well, not really, but work with me), Ken Levine can now mention the Albuquerque Isotopes references during Dodger Talk without collecting residuals (well, he didn't write that episode, but work with me)
    
21. Hey, look. Fernando Valenzuela, pitching cereal.
22. There's nobody at this site who would like to publish a book one day, right? Good.
    
23. The Sons of Steve Garvey: Great April Fool's Day gag or greatest April Fool's Day gag?
24. For almost the bottom line, back to Weisman: "The possibility of having Ramirez, Rafael Furcal and an improving Kershaw for full seasons ought to mitigate many of the concerns that this can’t be as good a team as [last year's]."
25. And finally...this retrospective-from-the-future could, plausibly, happen: "The Dodgers went 92-70 in 2009 because of an NL-best offense, a young, athletic defense improved by the absences of retired 2B Jeff Kent and Juan Pierre (traded in June), and a bend-but-not-break pitching staff led by Clayton Kershaw. Jason Schmidt stepped in as the team's closer when Jonathan Broxton went on the DL for the month of August, and cemented his 9th inning role with gritty saves in a September pennant race against the Giants, his former team."

WBC: What a ballgame, that is all

It is a little tough to be totally galvanized when you're looking to Mike Johnson — once cut by the Edmonton Cracker-Cats, for chrissakes — as your paradigm of hope.

Nevertheless, that roar at Rogers Centre — at least three OOLFers were in attendance — during Canada's sadistically close 6-5 loss to Team USA was awesome today. Canada hung in until the final out, when J.J. Putz got Jason Bay to fly out to right field on a 3-2 pitch.

It almost evoked what it was like in Toronto for an all-too-brief period in the early 1990s. The point is that generation who were tweens and teens during the Jays' salad days are moving — or were, before the R-word — into their prime earning years, and they're ready to redefine the often staid Toronto sports-watching experience.

Watching the game today, it became clear why it's bittersweet for Canadian footy fans, or maybe us nutters for university sports, when there is a halfway seminal moment. There is always that feeling that it's all a chimera, that soon the game will go back to being an afterthought among most casual fans. Fifty thousand people were there, including a healthy contingent of U.S. fans, which only adds to the atmosphere. It was tense throughout.

Anyway, there's not too much to add. Canada, considering it was saving Scott Richmond for a must-win game vs. the loser of tonight's Venezuela-Italy game, hung with Team USA better than a lot of people might have figured. As you know, Toronto's own Joey Votto was nails, going 4-for-5 with a homer and a run-scoring double that put Canada in position to tie the game in the ninth inning. Canada had Justin Morneau and Jason Bay coming up with the tying run 180 feet away and couldn't catch a break against the Americans' closer, J.J. Putz from the Seattle Mariners. Ooh, we almost had it.

Meantime, how about the Netherlands knocking off the Dominican Republic. Full marks go to Ron Rollins at Baseball Over Here, since he had the Dutch winning that game.

One last thing: Phillippe Aumont is all about speed. Filthy, nasty, bad-ass speed. He struck out Kevin Youkilis and Curtis Granderson with the bases loaded. Paraphrasing Kenny Powers in East Bound & Down, everyone wants a piece of Aumont's stuff, including Baseball America.

(One little Seamheady point: It was little amusing when Canada shortstop Chris Barnwell came up and Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino launched right into the party line that the Triple-A infielder was selected for his ability to get on base. Barnwell, who did on-base .375 in Triple-A one season, whiffed on three pitches vs. U.S starter Jake Peavy. Catcher Russ Martin ended up walking on a full count and eventually scoring the day's first run.)

Our kind of team, Ernie

Mike Wilner posted Canada's presumptive lineup for its World Baseball Classic opener late last night, or at least the first six hitters:

1. Chris Barnwell, shortstop: Triple-A veteran on-based .364 in the PCL with the Albuquerque Isotopes last season.
   
2. Russ Martin, catcher: He walked 90 times last season with the L.A. Dodgers, so he's a natural fit here. He could probably lead off, but putting the catcher there is too radical.
   
3. Joey Votto, DH: Probably the best spot to put someone who will be the best Canadian corner infielder/outfielder eventually.
   
4. Justin Morneau, first base: Lots of RBI opportunities, no more need be said.
   
5. Jason Bay, centrefield: Breaks up the lefty bats and presuming you believe in lineup protection, protects Morneau.
   
6. Matt Stairs, rightfield: Wilner said DH, but that is Votto's spot.

The bottom third would be the Kansas City Royals' Mark Teahen at third base, longtime quadruple-A player Peter Orr at second base and Cleveland Indians prospect Nick Weglarz in left field. Weglarz was No. 58 in Baseball America's top 100 prospects.

Remember, Canada's exhibition game against the Blue Jays is scheduled to be aired on Sportsnet today at 1 p.m.

Related:
Corey Koskie thrilled to take field with Canadian team at WBC (Shi Davidi, The Canadian Press)

Playoffs Primer: Dodgers-Phillies; Cheesecake vs. Cheesesteaks, and Manny vs. McCarver

Here's a dozen randomly cherry-picked items you should be aware of about the National League championship series, which opens tomorrow night.

1. Manny Ramírez has the Evil Gene, as evidenced by his insistence in acting like he's playing a game.
   
   Expect Fox Sports, which has the call for the NLCS, to turn this into a morality play on how "That One" can be poised to lead his team to the World Series after what he supposedly did to get banished from Boston.
   
   Tim McCarver seems to have made that pretty clear with his statement to a Philadelphia reporter, "Every sport, there have been people who have held organizations hostage, whether it be Terrell Owens or Randy Moss or Manny Ramírez."
   
   Someone, please, explain why he delicately overlooked Roger Clemens. Or Brett Favre.
   
2. But it's the Dodgers who fear lefties.
   
   It's a small, small sample size, but the two teams the Dodgers pitchers fared the worst against during the regular season were the doomed Nye Mets and the Phillies, whose meanest hitters swing from the left side -- Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and the flyin' Hawaiian, Shane Victorino. The Cubs had no such beast, and worst of all, knew they had no such beast.
   
   L.A.'s only lefty starter is 20-year-old Clayton Kershaw. He is going to be nails some day, but he started the season in Jacksonville. Granted, if you could live in Jacksonville, Florida for any extended period, nothing should ever scare you, even the fairly potent Phils.
   
3. OK, enough about the 84 wins.
   
   The Dodgers, counting the playoffs, are 20-8 since Sept. 1. The Phillies are 20-9. True, as a Jays fans it is teeth-gnashing times ten that over in the National League, a team can catch lightning in a bottle for one month and have a shot at the World Series. Baseball is supposed to measure a gift for dailiness, not reward the slackasses who were C students all year and somehow pulled an A out of their butts on the final pop quiz of the year.
   
   The Dodgers are analogous to the 2006 Edmonton Oilers -- a team that only had to make the playoffs. Once they arrived, they were dangerious. That might be fine in a hockey, but it's anathema to baseball, the sport of those with more discerning tastes.
   
4. The Ex-Cub factor
   
   In 1987, the Cubs rotation included two second-year pitchers, Jamie Moyer and Greg Maddux, who posted respective 5.10 and 5.61 ERAs and lost 29 of their 47 decisions. Two decades, Moyer is still going strong, while Maddux is more or less delaying his first-ballot Hall of Fame induction.
   
   It's an old saw in baseball that the team with fewer former Cubbies will win. The Phillies have only two, Moyer and fellow older-than-dirtster Matt Stairs, the ex-Jay. Moyer, who will turn 46 years old a couple weeks after the World Series, apparently wants to pitch until he's 50.
   
   The Dodgers have three -- Maddux, Nomar Garciaparra and Juan Pierre. The ex-Cub factor was negated in the first round since L.A. played the current Cubs. Dodgers manager Joe Torre also buried the latter two on the bench.
   
5. The other 2004 Red Sox hero who's on a big salary drive.
   
   Right-hander Derek Lowe could potentially starts games 1, 4 and 7 for the Dodgers, and he's a killer in the playoffs. For what it's worth, he's also beaten the Phillies the last two times he faced them.
   
6. The pen is mightier
   
   Like the Rays, the Phillies' bullpen has been underappreciated, even though its 3.19 ERA was second-best in the majors. (Who was No. 1? Why, it was a certain fourth-place team in the AL East that used to employ Pat Gillick.)
   
   Brad Lidge, as you probably know, has not blown a save all season, which only means he's due to blow one soon. Or not.
   
7. The ball always bounces for the team with the brighter manager.
   
   Speaking as an American League guy, real baseball includes having nine hitters in the lineup, not eight (unless the exception is named McGlovin). The NL has the pinch-hitting, double switches and the pitchers with their .111 batting averages who barely move fast enough to be described as running when they tap out yet another weak grounder to the second baseman. It's kind of like watching two Ivy League schools play football -- for an afternoon, it's kind of cute, but you wouldn't want to watch it for an entire season.
   
   That being said, having a bench and knowing how to use it is huge in the NL. Joe Torre, by almost all accounts, is always credited with having more on the ball than Phillies manager, Charlie Manuel. Torre's bench includes Garciaparra and Jeff Kent, who can no longer play an effective second base but could still be a factor as a hitter.
   
   It used to be fashionable to project anti-Yankees resentment toward Torre, but he's shown before that he can flat-out manage.
   
8. The ball always bounces for the team with the better catcher.
   
   L.A.'s Russell Martin is the best his league has to offer, behind the plate and at bat. His counterpart, Carlos Ruiz, does a decent enough job behind the plate, but is such a terrible hitter that it essentially reduces the Phillies to a seven-man batting order (unless foul-ball machine Brett Myers is the starting pitcher).
   
   Martin is on a tear of late.
   
9. The curse of Gillick?
   
   Phillies GM Pat Gillick gave a generation of Canadian ball fans the gift of enjoying two World Series titles in the '90s. There have been playoff teams in all three of his subsequent stops, but none has managed to win a pennant. Considering what happened to the 1996 Orioles and how the 2001 Seattle Mariners contrived to flame out after a record 116-win season, one has to wonder if someone has a Pat Gillick voodoo doll.
   
10. Why the Phillies might win
    
    They have the big bats, even though none of Howard or Utley did a whole lot in the easy four-game win over the Brewers and Pat Burrell was stymied until the clinching game. They also scored fewer runs than they did in 2007, but no one seems to have noticed.
    
    The Phillies bullpen is also strong.
    
    Martin and Andre Ethier, he of the .507 BAbip (batting average on balls in play) since Sept. 1, might be due for a big-time evenout. Let's face it, the Dodgers were also a bit lucky against the Cubs, whose hitters did sweet FA to adjust to how they were pitched.
    

11. Why the Dodgers are going to win
    
    They have the starting pitching-and-defence equation mastered to a greater extent than the Philadelphians. Their manager has been here before and last but not least, Manny Ramírez seems to be owning the moment.
    
    The Phillies' combo of power and good-enough pitching works over the Long Season. Beyond Game 1 starter Cole Hamels, though, they're largely a bunch of soft tossers, which is a deal-breaker in the playoffs, when games more often turn on one big inning.
    
    Howard was held in check by the Brewers and Chase Utley quite possibly is playing hurt, much like Robbie Alomar did during the Jays' 1992 run. Shorn of their two big boppers, the Phillies can be had.
    
    Notwithstanding that an 84-win team should not be in the playoffs to begin with, there is reason to like the Dodgers. Besides, after McCarver's remarks about Manny, he deseves another Deion Sanders treatment during the locker-room celebration.
    
    Prediction: L.A. in seven.
    
12. Does either of these teams stand a chance in the World Series against the AL East winner?
    
    Only insofar as post-season baseball is pretty random. Consider this The 2008 NLCS: The Race To Avoid Being The Team Which Has Their Ass Handed To Them In The Fall Classic.

Elsewhere ...

• Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava is interviewing for the top job with the Seattle Mariners.
• Canada's own Rich Harden will be back with the Cubs next season.

BATTER UP: LOS ANGELES DODGERS

It's staying light longer, the Leafs are all-but-eliminated ... that can mean only one thing: We'll soon see the first halter dress of the season! OK, two things: It's time for baseball, the timeless game that involves committing to a team for six months after reading all winter about why they won't win jack squat. Here's a "starting nine" for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

1. It's nice to see John Ferguson Jr. is doing consulting work: Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has a fetish for burdening his ballclub with veterans who, if not over the hill, have at least crested. See: Nomar Garciaparra -- he's likely to start the season on the disabled list; you don't say -- Juan Pierre, Andruw Jones and Luis Gonzalez (now playing for Florida at age 40). Hey, in 2001, that would have been one hell of a core group.
   
   In fairness, Jones isn't that bad.
   
   Now, here's where the Leafs analogy kind of dies. The Dodgers' young guys who have been blocked -- Matt Kemp, James Loney and Andre Ethier (pictured) -- are actually talented.
2. Joe Torre works Blue: Ya, it's going to take some getting used to after his 12 seasons in the Yankees dugout, where he mastered the art of appearing to be deep in thought when he was really just staring straight ahead in David Puddy fashion.
   
   The Dodgers moving their spring training home to Arizona, that's an adjustment as well. The upshot is that Torre probably won't burn out star catcher Russell Martin (he's Canadian!) the way that then-manager Grady Little did last summer. Martin crashed in the second half; Torre might have a better concept of "rest."
   
   (Remember, Little is the same manager who couldn't figure out that Pedro Martinez was knackered in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, even when it was obvious to people in parts on the world where they actually use the word "knackered.")
3. Nine out 10 baseball geeks agree... That they would want to date 20-year-old lefty Clayton Kershaw if they were a woman or gay. Failing that, they'll just draft him in their keeper leagues this season. He's 6-foot-3, 210 lbs., has electric stuff and a smooth motion and averaged 12 strikeouts per nine innings in his first full pro season. He's got it all, except for a tougher-sounding first name.
4. That's why Donnie Baseball left the Yankees: New hitting coach Don Mattingly's son, Preston Mattingly, is a 20-year-old infielder in the Dodgers system. He has potential, but he also hit .210 with no power or walks in Single-A last season and couldn't handle shortstop. It can't hurt to have his dad working for the club, eh?
5. I don't know... third base? The Dodgers have had a hole at third base since Ron Cey retired his home-run waddle more than 20 years ago. L.A.'s third sadsackers had a gadawful .713 OPS in 2007. Naturally, Ned Colletti looked long and hard at the problem, and did nothing.
6. Wouldn't that be rich: Second baseman Jeff Kent could make it to the Hall of Fame before archnemesis Barry Bonds does. The 40-year-old Kent's comparables are a Who's Who of Hall of Famers and near-misses and he hit (875 OPS) in 2007, so he's not slowing down.
7. So much depends on: Well, the Dodgers can't have their 40-year-old second baseman be the team's best everyday hitter again. Jones is still only 31 years old; he should recover from his 2007 season that killed a thousand fantasy teams. Torre is probably smart enough to realize Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre should only bat 1-2 on '80s Night, when the clock gets turned back to a time when most teams put a couple speedy slap hitters with no power or no plate discipline at the top of the lineup.
   
   (Pierre is actually decent when he leads off an inning; the rest of the time, he's "astonishingly awful," to quote Bill James.)

8. Can't make too much of this: It's an election year in the States, which means superfan-sportswear mogul Alyssa Milano, who's been known to date a Dodger in her day, might end up spending more time campaigning for the Democratic nominee than hanging out at Dodger Stadium and being romantically linked to half the roster, including a few of the more mature-looking batboys.
   
   Hmmm, didn't the Dodgers' last division title came in 2004, which was also an election year? It did. Based on that alone, they're sure to win!
9. Need-to-know: The National League is such a slag heap that any team which comes close to breaking even can't be ruled out as a contender in the new season. L.A. (82-80 last season) is basically a poor man's version of the Blue Jays: Good if injury-prone pitching and a below-average lineup by the standards of the Quadruple-A league. A reprise of 2007 -- when they had the best record in the NL on July 19 and faded away -- seems likely.

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

DODGERS-JAYS: KARMA, KARMA, KARMA, KARMA, KA-CASEY JANSSEN... IT COMES AND GOES

Thursday -- Dodgers 8, Jays 4: Try to keep some perspective and remember this was uncharacteristic for Casey Janssen and the bullpen — but the hitting was back to soiling the good linen like it has all season.

The game was left out there for the taking vs. L.A.'s lesser lights, fill-in starter Chad Billingsley and Mark Hendrickson, which created bad karma for the late innings. It dumped all over poor Janssen, whose ERA ballooned like Rich Garces, going from 0.95 to 2.37 after his ignominious line 0 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.

(Hat tip to The Tao of Stieb for pointing this out prior to the game: The Jays are now 0-4 the game after they score 10 runs. Feel free to add that to the people's case vs. John Gibbons and Mickey Brantley.

Vernon Wells, by the way, was 0-for-14 in this series. Just sayin'.)

Wednesday -- Jays 12, Dodgers 1 It seems like only people with no inner life would ever have Dodgers lefty Hong-Chih Kuo on their fantasy team. Live arm, no head — he's like a diamond version of Ryan Leaf, except left-handed and Taiwanese.

Frank Thomas managed to check his swing to save an at-bat right before he hit the grand slam that made it 8-0 in the second inning. He's started to make more solid contact, oh ye of perpetual inpatience. That was the game right there.

Meantime, it's strike two on J.P. Ricciardi's off-season reclamation projects — John Thomson was cut loose, joining Tomo Ohka on the scrap heap. Low-risk, low-yield, indeed.

Tuesday -- L.A. 10, T-Dot 1: For some reason, this was easier to digest than Sunday's somnabulation through a two-run loss to Washington.

It might be resignation to the inevitable, becoming desensitized to seeing Thomas hit weak pop flies like the 250-lb., de-Jheri-curled reincarnation of Manny (Manuel) Lee, or discovering that Showcase reruns Billable Hours on Tuesday nights. (We've been just a little bit infatuated with Jennifer Baxter since her turn on the short-lived Playmakers. She's rather good-looking for a 5-foot-11 blonde.)

Or it might just be that unlike 95% of the callers to the post-game show, we actually looked ahead at the schedule and saw that the Jays have their stopper (Roy Halladay) throwing Wednesday and that the Dodgers just lot Jason Schmidt and have pressed reliever Chad Billingsley into starting Thursday night's game.

Dustin McGowan should bounce back from getting jocked. On the bright side for Canadian baseball, Toronto-born Russ Martin, the future all-star starting catcher, homered in his first game on Canadian field turf.

Last word to Mike Wilner on the FAN 590 post-game show: "This is a frustrating team to watch."

(It just so happens that SI.com has a feature on Alyssa Milano's line of MLB women's apparel which appeared the same day your morning newspaper probably included some mention that Martin, helped by Ms. Milano's campaigning, has a 125,000-vote lead on his closest competitor in the National League all-star balloting. Never underestimate Alyssa Milano's influence, it's right up there with the nefarious Egg Council.)

Previous:
Alyssa Milano, Charmed By Russ Martin (May 29, 2007)

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

ALYSSA MILANO, CHARMED BY RUSS MARTIN

Catching the fancy of actress Alyssa Milano might do more to get Canada's own Russell Martin into the All-Star Game than his actual catching.

Milano (pictured), a baseball nut, has started a campaign through her MLB blog to get the L.A. Dodgers' Montreal-raised catcher elected as the National League's starting catcher for the July 10 game in San Francisco.

Alyssa has long moved on from her Embrace Of The Vampire phase (you know what I'm talkin' about). She's staking out that Marie Osmond-Jaclyn Smith territory as an Oprahlyte (as in Oprah acolyte), the performer-turned-businesswoman who commands an army of women who will buy her products and agree with pretty much whatever she says.

One of Milano's current gigs is designing and promoting line of MLB apparel designed for women, who make up nearly half the crowd at most major-league games.

Having Alyssa's army behind him will go a long way toward getting Martin into the NL starting lineup. He's a reasonably good-looking guy, plays in the major media market of El Lay and leads all NL catchers in Win Shares. His competition in the Quadruple-A league is pretty weak -- there's two Molina brothers starting, enough said -- so it looks like the all-Canadian boy has a good shot at being elected an All-Star Game starter. Alyssa's help shouldn't hurt a bit.

(Thanks to Todd Devlin of The 500 Level for the heads-up.)

Related:
*touch* 'em all (Alyssa Milano's MLB blog)