Wednesdays with J.P.

"It's not a lie if we know the truth".

That's the one line I'll always remember about J.P. Ricciardi. Hard to believe that was ten years ago, but it's true - the B.J. Ryan injury/not-injury took place almost a decade ago. Those were the days when the Blue Jays GM took calls with Mike Wilner every Wednesday home game for "Wednesdays with J.P.".

It was during that very segment when Ricciardi called out Adam Dunn as someone who "didn't even like baseball". In retrospect, it served as a lesson for front office executives not to field live calls from fans because the results could be disastrous. Thankfully for bloggers, J.P. Ricciardi always gave us something to write about.

Congratulations to Joanna and Hum and Chuck for celebrating ten years, which in blog years translates to about 50 years. She remains the matriarch of the Blue Jays blogging community and has often been the voice of reason. Back then, there weren't many us - there was Hum and Chuck, Tao of Stieb, Drunk Jays Fans and a handful of others. 

Thanks to Joanna, I'll always remember there is a subtle difference between a pitcher that "hums" and a pitcher that "chucks".

-Ian Hunter

I don't know what was in the water a decade ago, but something was going on. Something about the 2006 and 2007 baseball season in Toronto inspired a whole slew of baseball bloggers to spring up where there were none before.

Ian Hunter is one of the OG. His exhaustive coverage of everything to do with the Jays makes Blue Jay Hunter one of the most beloved websites for Jays fans. 

And despite the fact that I have never actually met him, Ian's  essential good nature radiates through the Internet. He's always been supportive of my work and for that, I'm grateful. 

His nature is so good, I don't even begrudge him the fact that Russell Martin follows him on Twitter and doesn't follow me. 

On May 13th, 2007, the Toronto Blue Jays were home to face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Shaun Marcum and Jae Weong Seo were the starters. Marcum went six innings, with seven strikeouts no runs given up. It turned into a battle of the bullpens. Jason Frasor gave up a home run to Carlos Pena in the 7th. Brian Tallet gave up an RBI single to Carlos Pena, scoring Carl Crawford in the top of the 9th. The Jays countered in the bottom of the 9th with a solo homer from Matt Stairs, but the Jays fell short losing 2-1.