Leading off, as always (or usual), it’s today’s edition of the Getting Blanked Podcast– which for the duration of the season will be coming at you daily! We’re not double posting this year, but I’ll be sure to include the link in the first Daily Duce or Game Threat that follows the post going up over at Getting Blanked. Otherwise, you can find the podcast at Getting Blanked on iTunes, get it via the RSS feed we have setup, or like Getting Blanked on Facebook in order to get each day’s podcast straight into your news feed (if we bother to post it). While you’re at it, go ahead and like DJF on Facebook, too.

At Getting Blanked, Parkes takes a break from tradition and gives Ten (Not So) Stray Thoughts On A Friday, and tells the story of the ten most influential moments on his fandom, including the retelling of how this blog began, and his turn to the dark side.

Great stuff from John Lott in the National Post, who talks to Brett Lawrie about his hands– specifically, Lawrie’s renewed focus on making sure his hands are in the right place when he’s ready to throw them. Lawrie, for whatever little this is worth, has six hits and a walk in his last four games, including a home run and a pair of doubles.

In another interesting piece, Lott talks to Casey Janssen about the hard work he does game-planning to face certain hitters. Whatever he’s doing, it’s obviously working.

Speaking of closers, Bill Lankhof of the Toronto Sun takes a look at what it takes to be one.

Gregor Chisholm tweets that Dustin McGowan has been moved up to Triple-A after a couple of scoreless performances for Dunedin. No word if Ricky Romero, who walked six in less than four innings yesterday, will be the reciprocal move– and, in fact, it hasn’t been rumoured at all. But… it’s just… y’know…

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The Getting Blanked Podcast is in the can and will be up shortly, be sure to keep checking for it over at Getting Blanked– it will be up shortly, as will today’s DJF Podcast, which is in the same boat!

Shi Davidi of Sportsnet talks to the seemingly-different Adam Lind, whose numbers look good, thanks to some excellent usage on the part of John Gibbons and a different approach at the plate. “I wasn’t being a smart hitter, I was being stubborn and for lack of a better word, stupid,” he says of the struggles of the past. This year his swing rate, especially on pitches outside of the zone, is down dramatically.

Elsewhere at Sportsnet, Davidi gets Brett Cecil and Mark Buehrle to make their second round NHL playoff picks.

Weirdness from the mind of ol’ Griff– and J.P. Arencibia– as he makes comparisons between the Jays’ backstop and the genuinely great Buster Posey over in the Toronto Star. Aaron Cibia needs to play in the playoffs to raise his profile, the title says. Yeah, still not going to make him Posey. “I feel like I’m a leader,” Arencibia tells him. “I feel like it’s something that you’re born with to be a leader. I think experience and stuff like that, the more you’re experienced, the more you can handle game situations. But I think that’s something you’re born with. You’re either a leader or you’re not a leader and I definitely feel like my actions on the field lead to wanting to win.” OK, but does anybody else think that? Honest question.

Interesting stuff from Marc Hulet, writing for MLB Trade Rumors, as he includes a nice section about the Jays in his recent piece on prospect depth behind the plate.

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