Syracuse was the only club with a victory yesterday, as Jesse Litsch made his minor league debut for 2008. Lansing lost by one run and New Hampshire by two, while Dunedin lost both ends of a doubleheader by a combined four runs. The GCL Blue Jays had the worst showing on the day with a 3-run loss. The Jays affiliates suffered the loss in two walkoff victories for opponents as several reliable bullpen arms had poor outings. At least the usual suspects in Double-A continued to swing a hot bat.

Only Auburn and the GCL Jays won, the GCL Jays won both ends of a doubleheader.  The baby Jays won the first end 2-1, Shannon Stewart was 2-2, scoring the first run and driving in the second.  Robert Sobolewski, the Jays fourth rouns pick in this years draft, had been scuffling at Auburn but a 5-5 night does wonders for the batting average.

Mother nature forced the early end to one game and canceled another one altogether... The full-season affiliates went 2-for-2, while the Gulf Coast League scores (a double-header) were unavailable for the original posting of the nightly wrap.

Two wins as the hitting was in short supply.  Lansing led the affiliates in hits with eight, and that took eleven innings.  The six teams combined to get 33 hits.  The poor hitting disguised good starting pitching from Davis Romero (2 hits in six innings), Ricky Romero (five hits in eight innings), and Castillo Perez (two hits in six innings).  Three of the four losses were recorded by the bullpen.

Syracuse drops to .500 again but a big hitting streak remains alive while New Hampshire "inches" closer to first place Trenton in the Eastern League's Northern Division in a game that saw a Fisher Cat record a "memorable" first.  In other action, Dunedin won its tenth game in a row in convincing fashion, Auburn won a nail-biter and the GCL Jays?  Well, the less said, the better.

5 of the 6 affiliates scored at least 8 runs last night as the teams went 3-3.  Brian Dopriak continued his hot streak with 2 more HRs.

New Hampshire, Dunedin and Lansing combined to belt 10 homers yesterday, half of them by the Fisher Cats, to propel them to victory.  As for Syracuse, they dropped their fifth in a row to fall to .500.  At least the Argos are back to .500 thanks to a 109-yard drive for the winning touchdown.  Way to go, K-Jo.  That concludes my football commentary!

.500. It’s the record the Jays seemed destined to finish at or within a couple of games either side and it’s the record the affiliates put up yesterday on a 3-3 evening. Losses in the low minors and a Triple-A were cancelled out by wins in Double-A through A-ball. Three of the six starters turned in quality starts and the teams in the low minors, as may be expected, lost in part due to fielding errors. There were several solid days at the plate, but no standout performances, and the three stars could have gone to any of about ten players.

Ricky Romero and Davis Romero both pitched well, they each allowed two runs and both had runs that were allowed by the bullpen.  Randy Boone also pitched very well for Dunedin.  Balbino Fuenmayor had six RBI's and Robert Sobolewski broke out with three hits.

Shaun Marcum returned with an exclamation mark and a handful of Canadians had good nights.

It's the all-star break in the major leagues, the traditional half-way point of the season.  The minor league season is shorter and most teams are at the two-thirds mark of their season.  Now is a good time to take a look at the top prospects to see how they are doing.  In this feature we will look at the Jays top 30 prospects and some players who are looking to move into the top 30.

Brad Mills was the star on this night with seven shutout innings.  With two leagues in their all-star break the affiliates won three of four.  Dunedin, behind Mills, won 1-0.  Auburn gave up seven runs in the first two innings but won easily.  The GCL Jays won in the bottom of the ninth while Lansing lost.  David Purcey pitched will the AAA All-Star game while Travis SNider won the AA home run contest.

Just one of the affiliates were in action.  Much like the parent club, they couldn't get the big hit when they needed it and they didn't hit for power.  None whatsoever, not a sausage. 

Rain washed out three games, and an off day took care of another.  That left only two games for the affiliates and they took care of business in both as a former first-round pick kinda, sorta flirted with a no-hitter.

The affiliates went 4-2 on the night.