That headline courtesy of Bauxite BlueJayWay from the Advance Scout thread.  The Jays are once again being accused of stealing signs.  That assertion was strongly suggested by Baltimore starter and losing pitcher Jason Hammel in the wake of Wednesday's 4-1 victory by Toronto at the Dome.

Three teams played last night and they scored 28 runs, had 42 hits and there was a total of 51 runs scored in the three games.  Las Vegas had 19 hits and lost.   New Hampshire were rained out.  Travis 'd'Arnaud continued his hot streak as did Jon Talley.  Adam Lind and Yan Gomes had some hits and so did Vladimir Guerrero.   KC Hobson keyed a big comeback for Lansing.

I reached out to the Jays concerning Mitchell Taylor and I have been told he retired last spring. Obviously Taylor had some issues both during last season and in the off-season. The Jays wouldn't comment on specifics but they say Taylor is not on any roster at this time and has been placed on the voluntarily retired list.

Two touchdowns and five stolen bases by one of the affiliates highlighted Monday's action on the farm. Another affiliate scored eight runs less but still managed to get by while a perfect game and no-hit bid went up in flames. 

Baltimore makes its second trip to the Dome this year to celebrate Memorial Day, an exclusively American holiday. Go MLB schedulers. Despite having handled the Orioles in years past, Toronto is a a dismal 1-5 against their feathered brethren. The Jays sit 5 games back of the O's in the division despite an identical run differential, but will try to make up ground against the Orioles, who are scuffling for the first time this season, having dropped 5 of 7 themselves. Who will win the battle of the birds? Find out, on today's Advance Scout.

The two A-ball affiliates in Dunedin and Lansing combined for 22 runs and many hitters had outstanding nights at the plate.

The affiliates took three of four on Saturday with strong performances by top prospects sprinkled throughout.

When you outhit your opponents 57 to 31 and you outscore them 36 to 18 you have a good chance of a good night.  That’s just what happened Friday night on the farm, with our boys going 4 and 0.

It's a battle between the top two teams in the AL in terms of run differential, though #1 Texas dwarfs Toronto (and every else, obviously). Both teams are coming off 1-2 series, and will be looking for a little payback, deep in the heart of Texas. It's supposed to be 34 Celsius in Arlington on Saturday and Sunday, with the games kicking off at 2 pm local time. Should be fun, just like The Advance Scout.

Also, some Jays news: Ben Francisco is on the 15-day DL, with the club calling up David Cooper to replace him. Evan Crawford is being demoted back to AAA, with Ryota Igarashi coming up to take his spot in the pen. This means Dustin McGowan is being moved to the 60-day DL to open up a roster spot.The Jays never really needed five outfielders, and in fact Francisco almost exclusively DHed, so I imagine that this doesn't affect the outfield defense at all. I imagine there will be some sort of L/R platoon with Gomes and Cooper, with Edwin DHing/playing first base. 

Sunday Update: Gomes down, Igarashi DFA'd, Jesse Chavez and Chad Beck coming up.

None of the starting pitchers you are familiar with at the top of the prospect chart pitched tonight. In each case these are the "Other Guys" - the ones who might have some talent but do their work in the shadow of more attention grabbing individuals.Still, in 3 of 4 outings, the Jays farm hands prevailed.

Just was thinking about where the Jays are weakest so far and where improvements are needed so far in 2012.

Late inning heroics for the Lugnuts almost make up for four losses in the other games.

The Toronto Blue Jays and the New Hampshire Cats will continue its affiliation into the 2013 and 2014 seasons, after signing off on a two-year extension of its Player Development Contract.  That means if Ottawa manages to land an Eastern League franchise next year, it will have to look south of the border for a major league affiliate.

New Hampshire's logos through the years during its affiliation with the Blue Jays.

Only two games on the docket and Las Vegas were the only winners. New Hampshire were rained out and Lansing had a scheduled day-off.  Reportedly Adam Lind is on waivers which expire today.  Teams that were interested in him have had three games to get a good look at him before the deadline.  Lind had two more hits last night.

A 3-1 night for the affiliates and it could have easily been 4-0.  Two of the teams reached double digits in the run column and another made sure the opposition put up nothing but zeroes.

The affiliates won three games. Justin Nicolino and Aaron Sanchez were almost unhittable with just three hits allowed in eight combined innings.