The affiliates were 3-4 on Sunday, with wins coming from Bluefield, Dunedin, and New Hampshire.  Andy Burns and Kevin Nolan each had great games for New Hampshire.  Kendall Graveman pitched 7 scoreless for Dunedin helping them to victory.

Several high profile starters were on the mound on Saturday. Aaron Sanchez pitched well in his six innings and Buffalo rallied for the win. Matt Boyd is back in AA and he was excellent, nine K's in six innings. Jesus Tinoco had his best start of the season but got no support. Miguel Castro pitched very well to lead Vancouver to the win. Grayson Huffman made his first start as the GCL Jays won. Dunedin won and Lansing lost.

Steve Delabar coughed up a three run home run in the bottom of the ninth to turn a two run lead for the Bisons into a loss. New Hampshire were hurricaned out. Dunedin won with Dwight Smith notching four hits. The Lansing game was scoreless until the fourteenth, Great Lakes scored but the Lugnuts came back for the walk-off win. Anthony Alford had four hits. Vancouver lost big. Matt Smoral ran hot and cold but the Bluefield hitters only had two hits. The GCL Jays were well beaten as Patrick Murphy made his first professional start.

While our neighbours celebrate the fourth of July, today's POTD looks back at the Canada Day match-up between the Vancouver Canadians and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes at Nat Bailey Stadium Tuesday afternoon.

Tim Locastro singled, stole second base, rounded third and scored the first run of the game on a Franklin Barreto single.

Dunedin brought their bats and Buffalo did not. Miguel Burgos turned in a nice outing in Bluefield while the Mississippi boys set the table in Lansing. Someone needs to convince Anthony Alford that baseball is good—football is bad.

The Toronto Blue Jays open up a four game series in Oakland. This is the beginning of a 10-game road trip that will swing through Anaheim and Tampa Bay.

R.A. Dickey gets the call for tonight's game at O.co Coliseum.

This edition of the POTD focuses on Wednesday's game between Vancouver and Salem-Keizer, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, at Nat Bailey Stadium Wednesday night.

Canadians third baseman Ryan Metzler gets under a pop fly from Volcanoes leadoff hitter Tyler Hollick in the first inning. Franklin Barreto backs up the play from short.

The affiliates were 5-3 today, with wins coming for Buffalo in a double header, New Hampshire, Lansing, and the DSL Jays. 

I spoke with Doug Davis, the Jays minor league field coordinator, over the weekend. Davis was in Vancouver visiting with the Canadians. As with my interview with Dane Johnson last week I had to take notes during the call and replicate them here as my recorder has gone missing.

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.