We're pretty close to mid-season, and since I didn't feel like Advance Scouting the Royals, let's review the Jays offense over the first half of the season (all numbers prior to Monday's game, except where noted).

The right-hander prospect lowered his ERA to 0.63 in 16 appearances and showed improved control in his start against Arizona's A-ball squad.

Victories were posted in the states of Nevada and Florida in a 3-4 night for the affiliates that included a rainout north of the border.

The 2012 All-Star Game Rosters have been announced. Perhaps a little surprisingly, only one Jay made the cut this year (I'll let you guess who). Brandon Morrow might have had a case if he hadn't been injured, and if the game was a month later so too might Colby Rasmus and Brett Lawrie. But it's not. Edwin Encarnacion is probably the only Jay with a legitimate gripe - his performance has basically been equal to that of the three reserve 1B chosen (Konerko, Cabrera - I'm assuming technically a 3B - and Trumbo), the reserve DH (Butler) and far superior to starter Prince Fielder; nevertheless he was the odd man out. Blame Canada I guess. The full line-ups, and a couple of quick thoughts after the break.

Happy Canada Day!  Today's POTD looks at some of the Canadian-born players in the big leagues in 2012 and some others who hope to get there one day.

The Blue Jays host the Los Angeles Angels in this year's July 1 game at the Dome.  Lefty Aaron Laffey is scheduled to throw the first pitch at 3:07 p.m. ET.  The Jays minor league affiliate, the Vancouver Canadians, are also home to take on the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, San Francisco's affiliate, in a 7:05 p.m. PT start at Nat Bailey Stadium.

Dunedin used the long ball five times to overcome a seven-run deficit on the road in a game that boiled down to the last play.  Las Vegas and Vancouver got six shutout innings from their starters to earn victories and Bluefield had a nice game with the bats.  New Hampshire saw a game get away from them in the late innings, Lansing was totally outclassed and the GCL boys lost despite the best efforts of a first round pick.

On a typically unspectacular Thursday on the farm, the teams combined to record as many runs as the allowed which reflected fairly well on the hitters (averaging six runs a game) and not so much on the pitchers.

The Blue Jays will try to shake off a disappointing series at Fenway, but to do so they'll have to beat the red-hot Angels. Los Angeles/Anaheim is 24-8 since May 22nd, and they've won 6 of their last 7. Toronto, meanwhile, continues to shuffle around at .500, which just means they're falling further and further behind in the AL East. Although they are only 3.5 out of the Wild Card, three teams currently stand between them and the playoffs. To make up ground they'll have to knock the tar out of the ball, because their pitching, what little there is of it, doesn't seem capable of keeping the team in games. What's gonna happen? Damned if I know. Advance Scout!

The losers in half of the eight games on the farm yesterday scored three runs. There weren’t many interesting performances, but read on anyway.

The state of the Jays pitching staff is so precarious that when a pitcher does well in AAA or AA you think they might get called up.  Shawn Hill and John Silson both pitched well yesterday and both teams won.  Aaron Sanchez, Tom Robson and Kevin Comer also pitched well.  Dunedin scored in double figures to win while Vancouver were "beat up good".

Offensively Moises Sierra had a big night as did Eric Thames.  Kevin Nolan hit a grand slam and had 5 RBI.  Kevin Howard hit a game winning, extra innings, home run.

The highlights were victories by Lansing and Bluefield.  The lowlights were a couple of one-run losses by the same score, a doubleheader sweep, two extra innings losses and an 11-run beatdown in a 2-6 Monday for the affiliates.

The Toronto Blue Jays look to beat this man to start off the series at Fenway Park.

Boston Red Sox hurler Felix Doubront gets some work in from the bullpen at Target Field April 23

The Blue Jays go into Boston to start a very important two week period. The Jays play 14 straight games leading into the all-star break. They face Boston, LA Angels, Kansas City and the Chicago White Sox. As the rotation stands currently Henderson Alvarez and Aaron Laffey will make three of those starts and Jesse Chavez two.

The affiliates were 3-2 on Sunday and featured a couple of nice pitching performances in the low minors.

A full slate of games saw the affiliates go 5-3 while a top pitching prospect had one of the best starts of his career.