The state of the Jays pitching staff is so precarious that when a pitcher does well in AAA or AA you think they might get called up.  Shawn Hill and John Silson both pitched well yesterday and both teams won.  Aaron Sanchez, Tom Robson and Kevin Comer also pitched well.  Dunedin scored in double figures to win while Vancouver were "beat up good".

Offensively Moises Sierra had a big night as did Eric Thames.  Kevin Nolan hit a grand slam and had 5 RBI.  Kevin Howard hit a game winning, extra innings, home run.

The highlights were victories by Lansing and Bluefield.  The lowlights were a couple of one-run losses by the same score, a doubleheader sweep, two extra innings losses and an 11-run beatdown in a 2-6 Monday for the affiliates.

The affiliates were 3-2 on Sunday and featured a couple of nice pitching performances in the low minors.

A full slate of games saw the affiliates go 5-3 while a top pitching prospect had one of the best starts of his career.

The Farm Boys from the west made us proud.  Now, maybe our guys in the east can step it up for the rest of the weekend.

New Hampshire was the lone winner on the farm last night as the affiliates lost by 1 run, 2 runs, were shutout, were postponed and had an off day.

All six affiliates won on this night and pitching was the reason.  Among the six teams only two hitters had three hits, namely Ryan Goins and Wuilmer Becerra.

On the pitching front Andrew Carpenter pitched seven shutout innings for Las Vegas.  Chad Jenkins pitched six shutout innings for NH.  Asher Woj pitched six strong innings for Dunedin.  Javier Avendano, Nick Purdy, Daniel Norris and Alberto Tirado each shutout the opposition in their innings.  Joe Musgrove gave up one run in his four innings.

That's because no one else sure as hell did on Monday!  It was a light night on the minor league front with Las Vegas, New Hampshire and Lansing having the night off.

The affiliates managed two wins on the night but there were many exciting performances on this day.

All four starters went five innings on Saturday and allowed a combined two runs. That'll win you some ballgames.

Only Vancouver made the grade Friday in their season opener against Spokane and put up the evening’s First Star.  All it took was 4 RBIs and a Homer.  Lansing’s Kevin Paterson also put up a pair of HRs and got 3 RBIs but came up a run short versus Great Lakes.

The final short season rosters were announced today.  There are not many surprises.  A lot of the 2011 draftees head to Bluefield while the younger 2012 draftees and most of the recent Latino signed players stay in the GCL.  Bluefield's line-up should include five 19 year olds, Dwight Smith, Jacob Anderson, Christian Lopes, Santiago Nessy and Matt Dean as well as 20 year old Dickie Thon Jr.  The pitching line up includes Daniel Norris, Kevin Comer, Joe Musgrove, Jeremy Gabryszwski and Roberto Osuna.

The GCL roster includes DJ Davis, Anthony Alford, Dawel Lugo, Gabriel Cenas, Jairo Labourt and Alberto Tirado.  Mark Biggs stays in the GSL as does Adonys Cardona whio has been injured.

A trio of strong five inning starts paved the way to a .500 day on the farm.

Brett Cecil beat Bear Bay and the Tuscon Padres easily last night.  Cecil pitched well by Las Vegas standards, average by major league standards.  Jesse Hernandez of the Lugnuts took a no hitter into the eighth and completed a one hitter but lost the game. New Hampshire lost a close one and Dunedin were badly beaten.  As usual Las Vegas had a number of strong hitting performances including home runs from Travis d'Arnaud, Moises Sierra and Adam Lind.

If you like hearing the crack of the bat, Cashman Field was the place to be to dig that sound and shake it around as Las Vegas launched a 17-hit attack.  It was almost a perfect night on the farm as the affiliates won three out of four on Monday.