The shortstops at the top two levels in the Blue Jays system had good nights with their bats but only one of them enjoyed a victory on Monday.  Two affiliates blew huge leads, two lost in extra innings and there were two blowouts.  Another game boiled down to a play at the plate in a 2-6 Monday on the farm.

The right-hander prospect lowered his ERA to 0.63 in 16 appearances and showed improved control in his start against Arizona's A-ball squad.

Victories were posted in the states of Nevada and Florida in a 3-4 night for the affiliates that included a rainout north of the border.

Dunedin used the long ball five times to overcome a seven-run deficit on the road in a game that boiled down to the last play.  Las Vegas and Vancouver got six shutout innings from their starters to earn victories and Bluefield had a nice game with the bats.  New Hampshire saw a game get away from them in the late innings, Lansing was totally outclassed and the GCL boys lost despite the best efforts of a first round pick.

On a typically unspectacular Thursday on the farm, the teams combined to record as many runs as the allowed which reflected fairly well on the hitters (averaging six runs a game) and not so much on the pitchers.

The losers in half of the eight games on the farm yesterday scored three runs. There weren’t many interesting performances, but read on anyway.

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.