A pretty good day on the farm and an especially good one for the lone Canadian affiliate. It all added up to five wins in eight tries.


Canadian Andrew Case got to pitch for Vancouver on Canada Day at Nat Bailey Stadium.

It's a one'o'clock start, people! Stat holiday!

Only two wins out of seven for the affiliates on Canada Day Eve. Vancouver and the boys in the Gulf Coast celebrated it the right way thanks to a couple of brothers. Three one-run losses and two blowouts were on the negative side of the ledger. Dunedin had the night off.

On Sunday the affiliates were 2-3 with wins coming from New Hampshire and Vancouver.  Matt Boyd and Daniel Norris had strong starts again, while Dalton Pompey continued to struggle in his 3rd AA game.

Four wins and three losses. Eric Kratz had four hits and six RBI. AJ Jimenez also had four hits. Despite all those hits the Bisons had to go extra innings to win. Jairo Labourt pitched six hitless innings for Vancouver who won 1-0. New Hampshire and Lansing also won.

It's the weekend so I am trying a new format for the MLU, see below. If you want the play by play click on the box score link.

Casey Lawrence retired the first twenty hitters in the second game of a doubleheader. He was one out away from perfection. New Hampshire swept the doubleheader. Buffalo won as PJ Walters made a very good start. Lansing won in extra innings. Bluefield rode a grand slam from Richard Urena to victory.

Dunedin lost in the bottom of the ninth. Vancouver tried a comeback but fell short. The GCL Jays rode the roller coaster but came up short.

Some late inning heroics and a few laughers as your affiliates went 5-3.

The White Sox and fearsome Cuban slugger Jose Abreu visit Toronto.

The affiliates were 3-6 on Wednesday, with New Hampshire's game being postponed, Buffalo played a continued game from Tuesday, and 7 inning shortened game. 

Dane Johnson is the Blue Jays minor league pitching coordinator. Dane has joined us many times on Da Box over the years. Today I caught up with Dane as he was on the road and we discussed some of the pitchers in the system. I have lost my voice recorder so I just took notes of our conversation, reproduced below. Any errors are mine. I asked mainly about the lower levels of the system as we tend to know a lot more about the pitchers in AAA and AA.

A 5-2 mark for the affiliates Tuesday with one game suspended due to rain. One win was a walk-off.

The affiliates won three of seven games on Monday. The Bisons are back over the .500 mark and the Gulf Coast Jays are in the win column for the first time. However, the best performances were turned in by the boys in Bluefield.

Another first-place showdown is on the menu for the next three nights as the Blue Jays take on the Yankees at the Dome. As per usual, more roster moves have been made as outfielders Anthony Gose and Kevin Pillar have been summoned from Triple-A Buffalo. Catcher Erik Kratz goes back to Buffalo, Brett Lawrie is on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured digit and Jose Bautista has a sore left hamstring.

Anthony Gose will look to improve on his batting line of .233/.347/.291 in 34 games with Toronto this season. He is 3-for-6 in the stolen base department.

The affiliates were 4-2 today, with wins coming for Buffalo, New Hampshire, Lansing and Vancouver.  There was a bunch of strong hitting performances across the board that helped their teams to victory.

Buffalo split a doubleheader, Brad Glenn had four hits. Deck McGuire was hot and cold. New Hampshire had a late lead but Tyler Ybarra lost the lead and the game. Dunedin won behind Dwight Smith and Kendall Graveman. Lansing fell short but Chase De Jong had an excellent start. Zak Wasilewski and Boomer Collins led Vancouver to a win. Bluefield were shut down by good pitching. The GCL Jays had to face Jason Marquis who, as you would expect, shut them down.