"SCOTT RICHMOND HAS TURNED IN A GEM!"

"Richmond was an island of calm in an ocean of chaos"- Mike Wilner

"Kool-Aid with 11 K's"- The Blue Jay Hunter

Great men will be quoted the day thereafter and the day thereafrer that! Winston Churchill was certainly quoted over and over as he led Britain into the storm known as the Second World War and came out victorious. He would eventually be known as England's saviour in a time where Germany came ever so close to control.

Conversely, Richmond led the Jays into a Philadelphia rainstorm, something he's pretty used to growing up in North Vancouver, and nevertheless emerged victorious with 8 amazing innings of one-run baseball along with a career high 11 strikeouts!

It's pretty hard to compare Scott Richmond to Winston Churchill, but he could very well end up being the saviour of the Blue Jays crippled rotation!

If the Jays have any hope of staying in the Wild Card Race, or the race for the East for that matter, they will need to be able to count on Canuck Richmond. More performances like the one seen last night, in front of a national audience as the game was played on ESPN will only go a longer way for Cito Gaston's confidence in his rookie right-hander.

I guess as the Canadians and Americans were the reinforcements in the Second World War, pushing back the German front to eventual surrender and defeat, never before have the Jays relied on so many young arms. It's like Churchill said: "Never have so many owed so much to so few".

And that's exactly the position the Jays would be in should they contend. Will they contend? It really does boil down to whether or not Brett Cecil and Brad Mills can be the prospects everyone's dubbed them to be.

It's true, Toronto's young must weather the storm for the Blue Jays. And with the offense seeming to wake up once again at the right time, lead by an excruciatingly hot Scott Rolen who has the 5th best batting average in the American League, they're just a bit unstoppable when they hit the long ball.

We'll see if they have it in them to sweep away the defending world champions this afternoon, and if they do, you know this Jays team isn't going down without a fight. And that, I never doubted for a second. They won't ever stop fighting in this brutal American League East, and you know that.