Another 4-4 day on the farm with two excellent starting performances as the highlights.

The Vancouver Canadians were able to rebound from a series opening loss to Spokane by winning the final two games against the Rangers affliate at Nat Bailey Stadium Friday and Saturday.

Friday


Justin Atkinson lifts a fly ball to right field in the sixth inning.

It was a splitsville Friday for the affiliates as they won four and lost four.

The Blue Jays play the first of 13 games against the Yankees in a weekend set at the Bronx Zoo featuring the top two teams in the American League East.

The Vancouver Canadians were hoping to begin the second half of their home schedule on a winning note in the first of a three-game series against the Spokane Indians at Nat Bailey Stadium.



Jon Wandling warms up in the bullpen prior to his start Thursday night.

Two standout pitching performances as the affiliates went 4-3 on the night.

Clinton Hollon was the star of the day with seven innings of one hit ball. He retired the last 19 hitters he saw to lead Lansing to a 2-1 win. Justin Maese also pitched very well in the GCL to lead that Jays team to the win. All other teams lost with Vancouver in the all-star break.

Gosh. Seems to have been an uptick of interest in the local team lately. (More than 200 comments in a thread, and I act!)

The affliates had a winning Tuesday by taking five out of eight. They wound up on the right side of .500 with a pair of dominant starting performances and a doubleheader sweep. Plus, four Vancouver Canadians were in Spokane for the Northwest League/Pioneer League All-Star Game and experienced varying degrees of success.

Just was thinking about who the Jays might face in the playoffs and if being so right handed is a good or bad thing depending on opponent(s).

Gunter glieben glauten globen! Two games were scheduled and one was rained out in Tampa where the GCL Blue Jays were to visit the Yankees. The lone game was in the Dominican and the boys definitely pulled one out of the fire in Boca Chica.

Paul Molitor's return to Toronto as manager of the Twins may be overshadowed for some reason.


David Price makes his first start as a Blue Jay in the series opener.

Hopefully the party is just getting started.

Three wins and four losses. It wasn't a good day for some of the remaining prospects. Sean Reid-Foley, Jon Harris and Matt Smoral pitched poorly, Anthony Alford was oh for a double header. Anthony Alford took an oh-fer. Richard Urena and Lane Thomas had good days. Dunedin won a game when they had two hits, Vancouver won a game with twenty.

It was an easy decision to be made for Saturday's first star honours as the affiliates split their six games. Bullpen meltdowns in the late going led to two of the losses and the pitching was way below average in the other. The bright spots featured a pair of two-run victories with a Canadian pitcher taking another step on the road to recovery from Tommy John surgery. The Dunedin and GCL Blue Jays saw their games get rained out.