Circle Thursday, April 5 on the calendar.  That's the day the Blue Jays break out their new uniforms as they begin their 2012 season on the road against the Cleveland Indians.  The home opener is Monday, April 9 against the Boston Red Sox.

The Jays hope to enjoy more walk-off wins in 2012 like this one against the Baltimore Orioles September 10.

I've officially determined that Brett Lawrie is the most exciting Blue Jays rookie I have ever seen (and I've pretty much seen them all).

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats lost a heart-breaker to the Richmond Flying Squirrels in Game 1 of the Eastern League Finals.

Like I would know. I just thought I'd mess around and have some fun.

Okay, so it's not really "breaking news" of massive import, but it's fun to keep track ...

Yesterday, stalwart St. Louis Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols passed noted all-or-nothing journeyman slugger Dave Kingman into 37th place on the all-time home run list by hitting his 443rd.

So, does Albert have another 320 or so bullets left in that gun-like bat of his? Where does he end up on the all-time list?

Just one game on the docket Monday night, but oh what a game.

It was a great day for the affiliates. One team won it all, another advanced to the championship series, and another took a 1-0 lead in the divisional series. There were no losers in Jaysville on Sunday.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

It was a night of dominant pitching, timely groundballs and a controversial finish that saw one affiliate wrap up their series, another take the series lead and one affiliate set up a deciding game this afternoon. I won’t give up which affiliate was involved in which game, until after the jump, but my only clue is that Drew Hutchison took the mound last night.

The Toronto Farm continues its impressive ways, still holding opportunities for championships in the Northwest League, the Midwest League and the Eastern League.  Without speaking too soon, I have heard some say “nearly a coast to coast domination of Minor League baseball!”

This series is almost a mirror of a week and a half ago, with Guthrie versus Cecil leading things off, after which each team had made one change. Rick VandenHurk replaces Jo-Jo Reyes in the O's rotation and gets Henderson Alvarez. Meanwhile Tommy Hunter will face Dustin McGowan, who replaces Luis Perez, who if I understand things correctly will pick up McGowan after he goes his 5 innings/85 or so pitches. Reyes is being skipped by the O's not for innefficiency, shockingly, but because he just gave birth to his second child. Or I guess his wife did, and he went to be with her. McGowan is in because the team wants him to start so that he has less chance of aggravating his various ligaments and the like, or at least that is the official explanation.

Anyway, let's Advance Scout.

Three affiliates in playoff action. One took the lead, one fell behind, and one will pack up the lockers.

Two games were rained out, while one affiliate won their rubber match in a nailbiter and another was forced into a decisive game 3.

The Dunedin Blue Jays and the Vancouver Canadians had a much better night than the parent club as they picked up their first playoff victories Tuesday.

Darold Knowles is the pitchng coach for the Dunedin Blue Jays.  Last Friday Knowles spoke to me from Dunedin just before the Jays swept a doubleheader from Clearwater to make it to the playoffs.  Knowles last spoke to Da Box in June.