Darold Knowles played in sixteen major league seasons primarily as a relief pitcher.  He recorded 143 saves in 765 career games.  According to his wikipedia page "Knowles was known as a workhorse relief pitcher, particularly in his years with Oakland, and his pickoff rate of one runner every 24 innings is the highest in major league history. In the 1973 World Series, Knowles appeared in all seven games against the New York Mets. He was the first pitcher to appear in all seven games of a World Series."

Today Knowles is the pitching coach for the Dunedin Blue Jays.  I caught up with him last week to talk about his starting pitchers.

It was a rough day on the farm with just one win in five games.

The arrival of Brett Lawrie....

The evening saw a postponement in Triple-A, an extra-inning loss in Double-A and Toronto’s A-ball affiliates split their games. Drew Hutchison continues to work his way up Toronto’s prospect lists, while Asher Wojciechowski continues to experience some struggles during his first professional season.

We haven't done a new Hall of Names team in quite some time; today, for no particular reason -- I think maybe I hearrd a passing mention of Yankee hurler Ivan Nova -- I wondered, could we actuallly build a Hall of Names team built entirely of playes named, with a nod to the old communist USSR, "Ivan"?

Let's find out ...

The affiliates put up 3 6’s and a 5 runs scored in the four games, giving them four-fifths of a good Yahtzee turn. Unfortunately, they came up on the short end of three of those contests, as Dunedin won a squeeker for the only victory. Nobody, including Zach Stewart or Chad Jenkins, was particularly impressive on the mound, leaving it up to a promising low-level outfielder and a high-priced shortstop to lead the offence.

Disclaimer: a review copy of this book was provided to me.

Player Development Directors hold that from year to year, one-third of an organization’s Minor League players will improve, one-third will maintain their development and production, and one-third will waver.  So far, the 2011 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League system appears to be an exception.  Blue Jays Minor League players are playing exceptionally well and all the full-season teams are playing above .500-ball. 

This is a two part story, yesterday we looked at the Dunedin and Lansing squads.  Part two today covers Las Vegas and New Hampshire.  Bauxite sam volunteered to write up this half of the story so these ratings are his opinion.  I am sure he will be by to answer your questions and comments.

Thanks sam.

Brett Cecil and Adam Lind had big nights on the farm. Sounds weird, but true.

We are past the one third mark in the minor league season so before we get buried in the draft and the new short season teams I thought we should take a look at the season so far in the minor leagues.  This look is based on the one third, one third, one third rule.  For those of you who are not familiar with the rule, the expectation of a teams prospects is that one third will improve over a season, one third will disappoint, and one third will be unchanged.  Two years ago the Jays had the season from hell where almost 50% of the prospects disappointed.  This year I think we will do better.

This is a two part story, in part one today I will look at the Dunedin and Lansing squads.  Part two will feature prospects in Las Vegas and New Hampshire.

Was there a game last night?  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, I had to go to a funeral last night and I don't mean at the RC.  By the time I came home the Jays had conceded twelve runs.  I got to see the Jays mount their comeback of a sort.

Kyle Drabek had been dodging bullets all season with his loose command but last night it came back to bite him in a big way.  I have to say the Indians impressed me with their willingness to go the other way with a lot of pitches in this series.  The question du jour, as per the poll on the left, is what to do with Drabek?  Was this just a bad game, or was it a reflection of his season and a sign that something has to get fixed?  It can be hard to fix things in-season but I am sure the big brains in the front office are trying to figure out what to do with Drabek today.

Today's thread is a Giant Data Table.

Words to that effect may have come out of the mouth of Brett Lawrie.  They may also have been muttered by the Blue Jays organization and the fan base Tuesday night.  Sportsnet's Shi Davidi says the Langley, B.C. native was hit in the hand by a pitch during his first at-bat by Tucson Padres hurler Anthony Bass at Cashman Field.  It appeared the Jays had planned to call Lawrie up in time for Friday's game in Baltimore but that plan now appears to be out the window.

In case anyone cares how the affiliates did Tuesday night, it was not a banner evening as four of the five affiliates joined the parent club in the loss column.  At least they were not totally screwed.

After 54 games, 1/3 of the season, the Jays sit at 28-26. They've won four in a row, their second longest streak of the season (they also swept a 2-gamer with Boston, had Bautista unleash his 5 HR weekend against the Twins and took the first from Detroit.) After the next two with Cleveland (Mitch Talbot, 3.77 FIP, Josh Tomlin, 4.42 FIP) they travel to Baltimore and Kansas City for 3 game sets before a difficult stretch to reach the All-Star Break - 3 each against Baltimore and Boston, before a 10 game road trip in the NL, where they get one of if not the most difficult schedule - Cincinnati, St. Louis, Atlanta (plus a rain out against Detroit). They then get six at home against Pittsburgh and Philly, before closing out the first half with 3 at Boston and 4 at Cleveland. So, if you're scoring at home, after this upcoming road trip they play 6 games in 5 weeks agaisnt sub-500 teams, and those teams are a combined 8 games under. Suffice it to say, this is a make or break point in the season.

So, how's the team doing at the third mark then?

We are down to less than a week before the draft, it starts next Monday evening to be precise.  Mock drafts are breaking out all over and prognostications (guesses) are a dime a dozen.