FanHouse Toronto Blue Jays

NEW YORK -- Yeah, he was nervous, he admitted with a shy smile. Ricky Romero was pitching against the Yankees, in front of more than 46,000 people on a perfect summer day in the Bronx. The Blue Jays' 24-year-old rookie left-hander was fired up and throwing way too hard, which is why he darn near Yahtzeed* the scorecard in the first inning.

"I was excited, I'm not going to lie," Romero said when the Jays' 7-6 victory was over and he'd improved to 5-1 with a 2.22 ERA in his last seven starts. "Packed house, pitching against the Yankees -- I was overthrowing. And that is something that has just not been me. Not this year, at least."

Not for the past month, for sure. In that time, Romero has been one of the best pitchers in baseball.

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That's one of the best baseball commercials I've seen ... but I guess even pillow fights are too much for the powers that be. From the Globe and Mail:

The Blue Jays and Publicis Toronto, the company that came up with the ad, felt the spot was innocuous. However, the Television Bureau of Canada, the watchdog that approves TV commercials for private broadcasters, thought otherwise.

TBC refused to approve the commercial until the part showing the child being knocked to the floor was edited out.

The CBC, however, is able to broadcast the original version of the commercial. As a public broadcaster, it has its own rules for determining suitable commercial content and it was satisfied the ad met its standards.

That's a little jacked up, if you ask me: the spot is good enough for public, government-supported television, but not good enough for private television. Here in the U.S., it's the exact opposite, where any piece of garbage can make it's way onto to the private networks but only educational and politically-correct shows (with the exception of when Billy Packer is on the Charlie Rose Show) make it onto PBS.

(via the urban backpacker and Ballhype)

Is this what Aaron Rowand gets for slamming his face into a fence and breaking his nose? Trade rumors have been following Rowand around lately, from the one about the White Sox for relief pitching, to the one about the Blue Jays with Jon Lieber for Alex Rios. How is Aaron handling it?

"I've only been traded once in my career," said Rowand, who was a supplemental pick for Chicago in 1998 and came to Philadelphia in 2005 in the trade that sent Jim Thome to the Windy City. "I've been in three or four rumors each winter. There's nothing you can do about that. It's kind of flattering that another team wants you and that (the Phillies) want me and will only trade me for the right deal."

It had better be the right deal for the Phillies' sake, and not one of those Bobby Abreu for a ham sandwich type deals like the one Pat Gillick made last season. Alex Rios might turn out to be a special talent ... or he might not. And the Phillies could sure use the middle relief that the White Sox would offer. But Aaron Rowand planted his face in a fence, and subsequently had the best selling merchandise in Philadelphia for a while. Guys like that don't grow on trees (they are, however, manufactured in a remote steel mill in Pennsylvania). The Mets were never the same after trading Lenny Dykstra to Philadelphia many moons ago, so the Phillies of all teams should realize the value a guy like this has.

Everyone knows A-Rod and Jeter's rocky relationship in New York, and apparently the Pirates' Jack Wilson and Jose Castillo recently needed to clear the air. Gary Sheffield is still upset with Joe Torre, and Travis Hafner doesn't like Casey Blake's choice in music.

Seriously, when the the major leagues become seventh grade? The amount of he-said/she-said drama is off the charts, especially now with Shea Hillenbrand still lobbing bombs at his former team in Toronto. From an interview with the Toronto Sun published Wednesday:

Hillenbrand remembers being in the training room at Rogers Centre after a game early in 2005.

"J.P. comes in ranting, knocking Vernon for a lack of work ethic and saying how he couldn't stand Eric Hinske," Hillenbrand said. "I hardly knew the GM and he's saying this to me?"

Hillenbrand spoke of a dugout scene against the New York Yankees in 2005 when Alex Rios didn't run out a ball and Gibbons lifted Rios from the game.

"The manager had the situation under control; at the end of the inning in comes (third base coach) Brian Butterfield, he's yelling, swearing, hitting the Gatorade bucket and crapping on Rios.

"I tap him and say 'it's okay, John handled it,' and Butterfield turns and goes off on me. We didn't need him distracting everyone. (Butterfield) said later I didn't know him well enough to say anything to him."

After hearing about the interview, Hillenbrand's former Blue Jays teammates responded with relative indifference, much to the dismay of reporters following the team, who, I'm sure, would have loved another middle school storyline to pursue.