Boston has Manny, the Yankees have Rodriguez and the Jays have Manny Rodriguez who went 6-6 for Auburn, but it took a 2 run single from Leance Soto in the eleventh for Auburn to win.  Scott Campbell hit a two run home run in the eighth to power Lansing to the win.  Kevin Ahrens did well too as the bottom four teams each won.

As Mike Green stated in yesterday’s minor league thread, “It was a good night on the farm.  Brandon League did his thing (4 batters, 1K, 3 ground outs) again. The Fisher Cats had a cool late rally with Robinson Diaz playing hero, and the A ball squads scored runs in bunches.” It’s as good a summary and introduction as I can give on a 5-1 night for the farm.

Before we get to the pitcher summary, a recap of Thursday night's games is in order. The farm affiliates went 3-3. Nate Starner continued his pace of striking out over a batter an inning, while walking one every four innings. If he keeps that up, we will be seeing his name more prominently featured.

On All-Star game night in double A and triple A, Josh Kreuzer set Dunedin afire with a late blast.  The farm affiliates went 1-2, and the double A All-Star game, with heavy Fisher Cat representation, was cancelled due to fog.

There was only GCL action on the slate yesterday. Apparently MLB doesn't want any competition for the All Star Game.

John Tolisano had the only notable performance on the day.

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats were one pitch away from being no-hit for the first time in franchise history, Dunedin continues to own Tampa during a certain reporter's minor league updates, and Lansing was a big winner on the road as the affiliates went 2-and-3.

An oh for four day on the farm and most games were not close.  The first star goes to Robinzon Diaz for his 2-2 at the Futures Game.  I saw Diaz play last week and my observations are included.

The results of our pitching prospect poll were quite interesting:

1.    Ricky Romero (184)
2.    Brett Cecil (177)
3.    David Purcey (154)
4.    Kyle Ginley (74)
5.    Josh Banks (70)
6T. Chi-Hung Cheng (57)
6T  Ty Taubenheim (57)
8.    A.J. Wideman (53)
9.    Kyle Yates(43)
10.  Brandon Magee(42)

Seth Overbey, Lee Gronkiewicz, Billy Carnline, Nathan Starner, Adrian Martin, Wilfreddy Aguirre and Tracy Thorpe were each mentioned on at least three ballots.

Travis Snider went 5-5 including hitting for the cycle.  Lyle Overbay hit a grand slam and a double and looks to be ready for the big leagues.  Brett Cecil is human, he gave up a couple of runs.  Yohermyn Chavez hit a big home run, Shawn Scobee also hit a grand slam.

Five of the six games on the farm were decided by one run last night. The other was decided by two. That’s your teaser. If that isn’t enough to convince you to read the update, I don’t know what is. Here are the minor headlines: Blue Jays farmhand goes 4-4; no Jays hurt; triple-A contest goes to extra innings and several strong pitching performances in the low minors.

We put the mid-season hitting prospect poll results to use in our weekly summary, but first, we have nothing but good news from the farm affiliates last night. Swee-ee-eep. 6-0 as some of the pitching prospects whose names are being mentioned in our mid-season prospect poll turned in excellent performances, and John-ford Griffin, Kevin Barker, and Ryan Patterson hit dramatic homers.

Relax, it's just the New York-Penn League. The farm affiliates split 6 games.

Same rules as with the hitters. Players currently with the club, or who were drafted but have not yet pitched are ineligible. Davis Romero is ineligible because he last pitched with the big club. Here are my choices:

1. Brett Cecil
2. Ricky Romero
3. David Purcey
4. Chi-hung Cheng
5. Josh Banks
6. Kyle Yates
7. Eric Fowler
8. Paul Phillips
9. Ty Taubenheim
10. Tracy Thorpe

What do you think? The results will be posted on Monday.

Several players had their first pro home runs in the GCL yesterday as the affiliates went 4-2 on the day.

Thanks to regular minor league-watchers for your contributions. We had 19 ballots, with votes tabulated on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The #1 hitting prospect was unanimous, Travis Snider, but after that, the votes were spread widely. There was an interesting cleavage between the #7 and #8 prospects.