Here is an interesting boxscore and league stats for team home runs. Also take into consideration, that pitching is becoming more dominate and sophisticated in today's game.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2010_08_07_tbamlb_tormlb_1&mode=gameday

The boxscore shows the Jays hitting 8 home runs today. The have been leading the league since the first month and are on pace of having the most realistic shot at beating the 1997 Mariners.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/stats/so...p;sortByStat=HR

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_hr7.shtml

An unlikely team at an unlikely time period and year in the game to have a chance at beating this record. When Seattle beat this record, the league buried their head in the sand in regards to steroid use. The Mariners sluggers at the time were the likes of A-Roid, Griffey, Buhner, Martinez etc. An excellent hitting team known for power.

I am really hoping the Jays can beat the all time team home run record, they really deserve it.

That would be cool. I don't really follow baseball, but looked up where the Jays were in the standings. I was a little surprised to see how many games behind first they were. I thought they were doing really well this year.

The Jays are actually playing pretty well this year, despite how many games back. A few areas they need to improve on which reflects in their record. Their new young GM is doing a very good job. They picked up a stud shortstop in Yunel Escobar recently from the Braves in a trade and this team is on the right path with a lot of young great pitching talent. What has really hurt them is that they do not bat for average so they struggle to get men on base and the bullpen has been very inconsistent.

While it is very exciting that they are hitting home runs left and right, in the long run it is not a winning baseball strategy. However, if you take the Blue Jays out of the AL East (best division baseball) they would be competing with the rest of the AL for a division title. They still have a shot at a wild card. They just won a division series against the Yankees and Rays this past week and have been playing well since the all-star break. But in all honesty, they have a better shot at beating the HR record than making the playoffs.

Thats what surprised me. I keep hearing about them beating the top teams. I did notice they are in a tough division.

Is the slugfest at least bringing fans out to the home games?

The crowds have been getting better. They improved slightly since the beginning of the season. There was a special atmostphere today. Most of it had to do with the 8 home runs coupled with the fact their young prospect catcher Arencibia had one of the best MLB debuts ever at the plate. His line was 4-5, 2 home runs, 3 RBI and a triple short of a cycle.

Brandon Morrow had 17k's and 1 out away from a no-hitter. I'm trying to find out if 17+ k's in a single game (9 innings) is more rare than a no-hitter?

Good question. They're both darn rare, that's all I can say. This season, seems like there've been more no-hitters than games of that many strikeouts.

If I were to bet, my money would be on the 17K+ as being statistically less probable throughout the recorded history of the game. There have been a few no-hitters and even a perfect game this year. The Blue Jays alone had two no-hitters going into the 8th and 9th inning this year and the White Socks got robbed by an ump for another perfect game. They have been prevalent this year, thats for sure.

Anyone know the record for bean balls/hit batsmen?

Found it.

Ouch!

Yeah, I remember Don Baylor getting hit a lot.

Alright, as a Mariners fan (and Toronto hater ) I have to point out something here. Rodriguez only ever took whatever he took when he was with the Rangers, which was after his Mariners days. He has admitted that and I don't know why he would lie about when he took them. Griffey was clean, always was and I truly believe had he not been hurt for a total of abour five seasons in his career he would be the current home run champion. Buhner I can't really speak for but I don't think his name has ever been brought up in the steroid discussions. Martinez was simply one of (the?) the greatest hitters of the 90's, maybe along with Tony Gwynn.

Anyway, it would be cool to see the Jays go for the record, but the 117 wins record Seattle has a better one to gun for.

There have actually been three perfect games in 2010 (if you include the one with the blown call, which was even better because he got 28 guys out in a row rather than 27), which is insane if you consider there were 19 previous to this year in baseball history. I also believe there have been two other no - hitters. Roy Halladay had one of the perfect games for the Phillies and he played for the Jays for years also. If I am not mistaken he came a couple outs away from one when he first came to the Jays, too.

A-Roid has been the only one linked to steroids IIRC. However, before that he was portrayed in media and by baseball enthusiasts much like Griffey was on the notion of steroid use. Frankly, I wouldn't put it past any athlete in that era and it wouldn't surprise me to hear of any name coming out in the future.

No doubt that was an exciting Mariners team. Breaking that record would be something. Odds are with Mariners at this point.