Another 3-1 day on the farm.  And another strong performance from a former first rounder.

There were three strong starts turned in on the farm last night. One was turned by a former first round pick, another by a man with big league experience and a third by a pitcher whose stock is rising after placing 27th on Top 30 list at the end of last season. Unfortunately, a former starter trying to work his way back to the majors did not fare nearly so well in High-A. In the end it was an exciting night in the minors, with a pair of two-run victories, a one-run victory and a one-run defeat. New Hampshire continues to have problems with the Connecticut Defenders and fine performances by Scott Campbell and Ricky Romero weren’t enough to give them a victory. Campbell and Romero both missed out one of the three stars, as there were several outstanding outings in the organization last night.

A 1-3 night on the farm.

The streaking Lugnuts were rained out in Lansing but the other clubs went 2-1 on the night and showed some offence, unlike the parent club.

Lansing continued their slugging ways as utility player Raul Barron led the way with four hits.  Dunedin also got into the winning way with fifteen hits.  The two senior teams, Syracuse and New Hampshire, continued to struggle.

Dunedin saw 7 perfect innings pitched against them to start the game as the affiliates went 1-3 on the night.

Two out of the three farm teams in action used home field advantage to their advantage last night and two out of three major leaguers made encouraging rehab appearances in Dunedin.  Lansing joined Dunedin in the winners circle despite making a whopping five errors.  

Three victories in four games for the affiliates on Sunday with a couple of notable performances thrown in.

Jay Bruce struggled against the Syracuse pitching staff, but the Chiefs still lose in extras. Brandon Magee doesn’t quite have the start he hoped for in his Double-A debut and Lansing destroys Fort Wayne in a blowout win. And some guy called Ryan started for Dunedin, but only lasted an inning.

(Now update to include the second game of Syracuse's double-header, which I missed earlier.)

The Lugnuts racked up 18 hits tonight led by four each for Kevin Ahrens and Yohermyn Chavez.  Justin Jackson, Moises Sierra and Mike McDade also had good games.  Cody Crowell pitched well and Brian Pettway pitched his first professional inning.  Dunedin lost while the top two teams were rained out.

The minor league season opened with a bang on Thursday as the Syracuse Chiefs became the first club in the minors to take the field, as they faced the Cincinnati Reds' Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats. The Chiefs also played the game on grass, after the old turf was removed from the stadium in the off-season.

The Lansing Lugnuts and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats have announced their opening day minor league rosters and from that we can make some assumptions about the Syracuse and Dunedin rosters.

Travis Snider appears to be headed to Dunedin to start 2008.

Keith Law and Kevin Goldstein rank their top 100 prospects.  Both have Travis Snider at #7.  Law had Brett Cecil at 63.  And that's it for the Jays on these lists.

Law went a little against the grain with Evan Longoria as the top prospect.

The Jays and the NH Fishercats have reached an agreement to extend their affiliation through 2012.

A recent article in the Syracuse Post-Standard says a U.S. Senator has spoken to the Mets about setting up shop in Syracuse in 2009 and according to him, the Metropolitans are interested.