MLB Bullets Is Back In The Pennant Race

I've looked at Jays from both sides now, from win and lose and still somehow . . .

• Remember a few weeks ago when we were wondering when the sell-off in Toronto was going to start? Heck, I think it might have even been last week. All that has changed now that the Blue Jays have won 11 games in a row, tied for a franchise record. Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopolous is trying to keep his feet on the ground, both with the earlier awful start to the season and the current hot start. He credits the starting pitching for the turnaround, but admits the Jays still have a ways to go to make the post-season.
• Jays slugger Jose Bautista and Orioles reliever Darren O'Day got into a war of words on the field on Saturday that ended with Bautista taking O'Day deep for the game-winning home run. Bautista continued to rip on O'Day after the game, saying "He ran his mouth pretty good and I didn't appreciate it." However, O'Day decided to drop the matter.
• Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has never been known as Mr. Sunshine, but lately he's been walking around with a rain cloud over his head. First, closer Jonathan Papelbon criticized the team's lack of fundamentals after he blew a save, and Manuel said he'd talk to Papelbon about his comments. Later, Manuel admitted that he didn't know if the Phillies had what it takes to turn their season around.
• Next, Manuel got into a heated exchange with a local reporter. Admittedly, the reporter was baiting him.
• Phil Rogers speculates (and yes, that's all it is) that Ryne Sandberg's time is nigh in Philly.
• Rockies manager Walt Weiss called Michael Cuddyer "one of the better kept secrets in the game." For example, did you know he has a 21 game hitting streak? I sure as heck didn't.
• With Lucas Duda going on the DL, the Mets need a first baseman, but for now, Ike Davis is going to stay in Las Vegas.
• Rays owner Stuart Sternberg talks to Jon Paul Morosi about the David Price, Tropicana Field and the possibility of baseball returning to Montreal.
• A former Cubs 43rd round draft pick hit 87 mph on the gun when he was throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at AT&T Park. Yeah, but I heard there wasn't any movement on it.
• The Red Sox named Koji Uehara their new closer. The Tigers named Joaquin Benoit their new closer. Always be closing.
• Mariano Rivera doesn't want to start the All-Star game, he wants to finish it.
• Kendrys Morales forgot the count. It's pretty funny.
• Troy Renck thinks Troy Tulowitzki, like George Washington, is the indispensable man on the Rockies.
• It's been a long time since anyone came up with a new sports celebration. It's been almost 30 years and they're still doing the Gatorade bath. But it looks like the Diamondbacks have a new one: the bubblegum shower.
• The Diamondbacks continued to show class, holding a press conference with their 34th round pick, Cory Hahn, who was paralyzed playing for Arizona State. The Diamondbacks are planning to hire him to work in the front office after he gets his degree.
• Terry Pluto thinks the 2013 Indians are resilient.
• Bryce Harper thinks he needs more time before starting his rehab assignment. Just a day or two.
• The Angels want Howie Kendrick to start pulling the ball, but he's having too much success going the other way right now.
• Do you want to know why they waited so long to play last night's Cardinals/Rangers game? Here's why.
• The Orioles TV ratings are soaring along with the team's fortunes.
• The umpires think they called a play involving Daniel Nava correctly, but the Red Sox disagree. Who's going to win that argument?
• Tim Kawakami thinks the Giants are vulnerable, but they're not in trouble yet.
• Max Scherzer is 11-0. The secret to his, and the rest of the Tigers rotation's success? They're smart, says Jeff Passan. Ah, the Greg Maddux formula.
• Ken Rosenthal says that MLB may announce any suspensions from the Biogenesis case before the players have a chance to appeal. That way, if an arbiter reverses the suspensions, they still get to publicly shame those players. Also, they may have trouble suspending players such as Melky Cabrera and Yasmani Grandal, because they've already been suspended and you can't be suspended twice for the same offense.
• Tim Brown thinks the key to the Pirates success this season is to avoid a summer swoon like in years past. Really? Ya think? Next he's going to tell me the best way to win a game is to score more runs than you allow.
• Speaking of the Pirates, a big reason for their success this season is their closer Jason Grilli. It turns out, Grilli's agent is a former teammate of his, Gary Sheffield. Grilli is the only major league player that Sheffield represents, but he's also a bit of a coach and an adviser as well as an agent. Sheffield told him he had closer stuff and he needed to concentrate on his fastball/slider combination.
• Finally, if you're my age, you grew up watching the Dodgers on the Game of the Week most weekends. You also knew by heart their infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey. The Los Angeles Times takes a look back at the longest continual infield in baseball history. I've got one minor nit with the article. It says that because of free agency, we'll never again see an entire infield stay together that long. I've got news. We never saw an infield stay together that long in the 100 years of baseball before then. They were sui generis. But from 1973 to 1981, you always knew who the infielders for the Dodgers were.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.