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The Vancouver Canadians made their season debut last night and their home opener was a tight one-run affair. As the Blue Jays returned to having a Canadian affiliate, Las Vegas and New Hampshire continued their seasons with close victories. Meanwhile, Lansing was involved in a slugfest that saw the teams combine for 26 runs and 36 hits.

Reno 4 @ Las Vegas 6Boxscore

Mike MacDonald rebounded from one of his worst starts of the year with a great effort at home against Reno. MacDonald went 6 innings and didn’t allow a run. He surrendered five hits and two walks, but struck out five. MacDonald presumably could have gone longer, as he had only thrown 81 pitches when he was pulled. However, MacDonald only threw 46 of them for strikes. Nevertheless, MacDonald was effective at keeping the ball out of the thin Las Vegas air and induced 6 ground outs out of his 7 outs in balls in play. Wil Ledezma came in and it immediately looked like a mistake that MacDonald was lifted with some gas potentially left in the tank. Ledezma retired one batter, but allowed three runs on three hits and a walk. Danny Farquhar went 1.2 hitless innings, allowing one walk. He now has 30 strikeouts over 30.1 innings at Triple-A. Sean Henn allowed a run in the ninth, but struck out two and earned his third save.

Manny Mayorson led off for the 51’s, going 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk. Travis Snider went 0-for-1 and was quickly replaced by Jason Lane, who went 0-for-2. David Cooper was 1-for-3 with a run scored, a double, 2 RBI and a walk. Cooper is now hitting .392 on the season. Eric Thames went 0-for-4 and also made an error in left field. Adam Loewen, who started in right and moved to centre when Snider left the game, and had the same line as Mayorson and Cooper, going 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. Loewen had an outfield assist, throwing Tony Abreu out at the plate in the second inning. While Kevin Howard and Ryan Budde went hitless over 5 at-bats, but Chris Woodward and Ryan Shealy each added a single and a double. Woodward scored twice and added an RBI, while Shealy didn’t score, but drove in two.

New Hampshire 5 @ Erie 4Boxscore

Erie struck for three runs in the first off Robert Ray, who unfortunately is a long way from Arlington. However, Ray settled down and wound up going 6 strong innings. Ray allowed five hits and three walks, but struck out six. In his last four innings, Ray surrendered only one hit (and two walks). Yohan Pino replaced Ray and had a 1-2-3 7th inning. In the next inning, Erie got the leadoff batter on board on a John Tolisano error and then Pino retired the next two hitters. After a single, Evan Crawford was summoned and retired his batter. Bobby Korecky got his third save, although he allowed a solo home run to cut the lead in half.

Adeiny Hechevarria and Anthony Gose combined to go 0-for-10. However, their teammates picked up the slack, as Dan Perales went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and Ricardo Nanita went 3-for-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs. Moises Sierra also added two hits and a run. Travis d’Arnaud, Mike McDade and Calix Crabbe each added a hit. McDade had a double and scored twice. The Fisher Cats had some fielding woes, as Hechevarria and d’Arnaud also made errors.

Dunedin

No game scheduled.

Lansing 11 @ Dayton 15Boxscore

Both teams had 18 hits, as the starting pitchers for each team gave up double-digit hits and 13 runs combined. Casey Lawrence started for Lansing and surrendered nine runs, six earned, over 3 innings. Oscar Dominguez and Kevin Nolan each made errors. Lawrence began the 4th inning, but was lifted after the first batter reached base and the second hit a two-run shot. Dayton Martze came in and fared no better, as he surrendered three runs that inning and another two during the next frame on five hits and three walks. After 5 innings, Dayton (the team, not the pitcher) led 14-7. Shawn Griffith struck out four batters and only allowed a run over 2 frames and Danny Barnes struck out two over his scoreless inning.

Every started on both teams had at least one hit. Lnsing scored seven runs off Dayton’s Daniel Renken over his four innings and touched two of the three relievers for runs. Carlos Perz was the only Lugnut not to reach base multiple times, as he went 1-for-6 with a run scored. Dominguez only had one hit, but it was triple, and he also drew a pair of walks, scoring twice. Matt Nuzzo went 3-for-5, finishing a home run short of the cycle, and drove in two. Jake Marisnick also went 3-for-5 with a double, 2 RBI, a run scored and a walk. Nolan had a double, a home run, 3 RBI and a run scored, while KC Hobson, Lance Durham and Michael Crouse all had two singles. Crouse scored once and Durham added a walk and scored twice. Marcus Knecht had a single, a home run and a walk, with 2 RBI and two runs scored. He and Marisnick both struck out in every at-bat they didn’t reach base.

Yakima 2 @ Vancouver 3Boxscore

The Vancouver Canadians celebrated their season opener and the beginning of their affiliation with the Blue Jays with a 3-2 victory over the Yakima Golden Bears. Zack Breault went 4 innings and allowed three hits and two walks. Breault struck out three and got 6 ground outs and didn’t allow a fly ball. Yakima scored two runs off Breault, with one scoring on a Shane Optiz error. Both runs came around in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 2. The next three innings were scoreless, as Venezuelan Alesone Escalona threw two scoreless innings. Brigham Young product Taylor Young came into the game and pitched a scoreless seventh.

Jonathan Jones led off the bottom of the first with a double and advanced to third on a Bryan Kervin bunt. Balbino Fuenmayor reached on an error, but Jones had to stay at third. However, Randy Schwartz popped up and Stephen McQuaid struck out swinging and Vancouver was unable to score in the first. However, in the top of the third Optiz walked and Jones hit another double. Kervin grounded out, advancing Jones to third and Optiz scored. Fuenmayor doubled, scoring Jones.

Cole had a 1-2-3 8th inning and in the bottom of the eighth, Roan Salas doubled to leave off the inning. Nicholas Baligod singled, scoring Salas. After Optiz grounded out, Jones singled and then a wild pitch advanced Baligod to third and Jones to second. However, Kervin flew out and the runners couldn’t advance and then Fuenmayor flew out. Drew Permision came in for the opening day save and allowed a single and hit by pitch, but with a runner in scoring position and two out, Permision induced a ground out and picked up the save.

Three Stars:
3rd Star – Jake Marisnick, 3-for-5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 4 TB
2nd Star – Matt Nuzzo, 3-for-5, R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 6 TB
1st Star – Michael MacDonald, 6 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Flex - Saturday, June 18 2011 @ 10:42 AM EDT (#236958) #
What, no riot after the Vancouver win?
Chuck - Saturday, June 18 2011 @ 10:53 AM EDT (#236959) #
Is there anything left to destroy?
damos - Saturday, June 18 2011 @ 11:22 AM EDT (#236962) #
Shi Davidi is saying that Snider was removed because he was hit on the bill of the helmet last night.  Apparently he's being re-evaluated today. 
Sano - Saturday, June 18 2011 @ 03:35 PM EDT (#236976) #
Some friends of mine went to the Vancouver game. They didn't really say that any of the Jays prospects stood out to them. Only really mentioned that Jonathan Jones is very fast.
Gerry - Saturday, June 18 2011 @ 11:59 PM EDT (#236995) #
I was at the Fisher Cats 14-1 win tonight. Even though the offense and Mike McDade were great, it was the defense that had me going "wow".

Adeiny Hechavarria made 4 or 5 great plays, two of which I don't think Escobar makes. His defense was outstanding.

And Moises Sierra gunned a runner at the plate with his rocket arm, plus he fielded a ball in the right field corner and threw a rope to third base on one hop.

It was a fun night to be a Fisher Cat fan.
bpoz - Sunday, June 19 2011 @ 10:14 AM EDT (#237001) #
Thanks Gerry. Just to evaluate NH defensively... A Hech & Sierra are incredible...d'Arnaud, Gose & McDade are good or V good. LF, 2B & 3B I don't know.

Beside defense those prospects are doing well offensively. So in 1-2 years we may see them get to the show.

I hope my evaluation is reasonable. I am also hoping J Jackson can develop both ways and at multiple positions if he gets to AA this year.
Mike Green - Sunday, June 19 2011 @ 10:31 AM EDT (#237004) #
Brett Cecil had another good outing last night- 7 innings, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts, no homers.
China fan - Sunday, June 19 2011 @ 11:04 AM EDT (#237005) #

More on Brett Cecil's good outing from John Lott via Twitter:    "Cecil escaped bases-loaded jam in 6th with K on high heater. Announcer Jerry Reuss likened Cecil's changeup to Frank Viola's.  According to radio guys, Cecil hitting 92-93 on LV gun in his no-decison last night: 7IP/7H/4R-3ER/2BB/9K."

ayjackson - Monday, June 20 2011 @ 10:38 AM EDT (#237019) #
So what do we do with Cecil?  Romero-Morrow-Reyes-Villanueva-Stewart all pitched well last time through.  Perez/Rzep are fine as lefties in the pen.  Perhaps we end up trading Reyes?  Would anybody send Villanueva back to the pen right now?
China fan - Monday, June 20 2011 @ 01:11 PM EDT (#237046) #

AY, I agree about the surplus.  Villanueva and Reyes seem to be proving themselves as starters, and you gotta leave them in the rotation as long as they're showing that they can do the job.   Cecil will return to the majors at some point, Litsch will be ready soon, and Stewart might be worth an extended tryout in the rotation.

As for what to do with the surplus:  Anthopoulos has shown that he's quite willing to trade a good pitcher for a top prospect.  He did it a few months ago to land Brett Lawrie.  I suspect he is willing to do it again.  What he's doing now is generating value for his trade chips.  Reyes has a lot more trade value now than he did in the off-season.  Villanueva probably stays with the Jays because he is so valuable in the bullpen or the rotation, but Litsch could be traded, or even Cecil if there's a good offer.  But AA will probably want to give those guys a couple months in the major-league rotation to prove that they're back.  Then they can be traded if he gets a good offer.   The only ones who shouldn't be traded at this point are Romero, Morrow, Drabek and Stewart (and I would probably add Villanueva too because of his flexibility). 

bpoz - Tuesday, June 21 2011 @ 11:24 AM EDT (#237120) #
Ay, I would not move Villanueva back to the pen. But I would trade him at the July 31th deadline. He will be a FA after 2012, but will he still be a Type B, I mean is he for real right now.

Drabek & H Alvarez could get some playing time at the ML level to develop in 2012.

Marcum for Lawrie was value for value IMO. I think the Brewers are very happy with Marcum so far. With Gose we took higher ceiling & Higher risk compared to B Wallace. IMO every team involved is satisfied with what they received.

I suppose the Jays have an idea of what their ML ready pitchers are capable of and also some time line for when they will get to that level. So IMO Drabek was given the 5th rotation spot with the understanding that there could be struggles. IMO that 5th spot will always go to a hot shot rookie, and with an understanding that development struggles will occur. The other 4 spots IMO will be given to established starters. If everyone performs then we could contend.

It sure looks like we have a surplus. I believe AJ Burnett & K Escobar were hot shot prospects, IMO to date they have not lived up to expectations & no serious injuries can be blamed. I can see that happening to some of our guys. I also see/hope a lot develop into 200+IP with under 4.0Era pitchers.

Hodgie - Tuesday, June 21 2011 @ 11:47 AM EDT (#237123) #
Drew Hutchison was named the MWL pitcher of the week after going 2-0 with the following line:

12IP 6H OR 3BB 17K

Hutchison in fact is currently riding a 27 inning scoreless streak, during which time he has compiled the following line:

27IP 13H 0R 3BB 38K

I believe it was mentioned in a recent interview that Hutchison was not challenging MWL hitters enough earlier in the season. I am guessing that is no longer considered a problem. Would I be correct in assuming that the only reason he isn't pitching deeper into games is inning management for the season? Despite the high strikeout totals his pitch counts can't be that high considering almost nobody is getting on base.

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