Brandon Morrow

What a rare opportunity for rookie pitcher Ivan Nova to make his mark in New York Yankees pinstripes, by making his Major League debut tonight vs. the heavy-hitting Toronto Blue Jays.

Getting called up from Scranton-Wilkes-Barre is every rookie’s goal, but to start against another AL East ball-club, in middle of a tight pennant race is a lot of pressure. Can Ivan Nova do his job?

The Toronto Blue Jays not only sweep the Tampa Bay Rays, they dominated in all aspects of the game in their recent series.

In the first game of the series, Toronto capitalized on Tampa's mistakes, as two of their runs were unearned.

We also saw the first of Toronto's strong pitching performances in the series, with Brett Cecil going seven complete innings while giving up one earned run on four hits.

Brandon Morrow, Toronto Blue Jays (pictured)
Morrow had to settle for a one-hit shutout as his no-no was broken up by Evan Longoria in the ninth. Morrow had 17 Ks as he improved to 9-6 with a 4.45 ERA.

Yesterday, Toronto Blue Jay Brandon Morrow arguably pitched the strongest outing of the year, let alone one of the finest in history. Morrow went 8 2/3 before surrendering a single to Evan Longoria off the glove of Aaron Hill. In only 136 pitches (93 for strikes), he gave up one hit and two walks. Oh yeah, then there was the 17 strikeouts, the most in a game since Johan Santana had 17 in 2006.

A.J. Burnett sure wasn't happy to play his old team tonight. The Blue Jays bats ran rampant over the fireballer, knocking him out in the fifth inning after notching seven runs against him. The Blue Jays hit six doubles in the sixth, two of them by Travis Snider.  After the seven-run inning by the Jays that put them up 8-2, New York would come back to score runs in the bottom of the fifth, sixth and ninth. The Bluebirds would hang on though to win the heavy-hitting contest, 8-6.

Change is in the air here in Toronto.  It seems that most of the city's sports teams are in the midst of an overhaul.  The Raptors are transitioning into the new era without Chris Bosh.  Brian Burke continues his push with the Maple Leafs in hopes that they can make the playoffs, acquiring Kris Versteeg and Colby Armstrong this offseason. 

Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos also continues to put his impressive stamp on the Toronto Blue Jays.

Yovani Gallardo of the Milwaukee Brewers has been officially placed on the disabled list retroactive to July 5 with a strained left oblique he suffered in the bottom of the third inning on Sunday. Fantasy baseball owners will greatly miss the 8-4 Gallardo with his 2.58 ERA and 9.83 strikeouts per nine innings.

Jordan Schelling of Brewers.com noted that despite being recently named to the National League All-Star team, Gallardo will not take part due to the injury.

A quick look at last week's Fantasy Baseball top performing and least owned players on the waiver wire. Edwin Jackson's insane no-hitter.

Carlos Quentin's four dingers. Brandon Morrow & Jhoulys Chacin are strikeout machines. R.A. Dickey's 6th straight.

Is Jamie Moyer really father-time in disguise?

Can they really keep it up for another week? Check out who's a Must or a Bust.

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The Toronto Blue Jays will look to continue the roll they got on last week tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals. After taking two of three from both the Padres and Giants last week the Jays have another three game set with the Cards. While much of the attention is sure to be on Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday the pitching matchups are exceptional.