In the Pacific Coast League, some of the most intruging names had good nights, as Travis Snider, Brett Lawrie, Eric Thames and Brad Mills all may have caught the attention of the parent club. The Fisher Cats won a slugfest, while in A-ball a pitching prospect had a good night after some performances recently. Bradley Glenn continues to be one of the few players in Dunedin swinging a hot bat, while Lansing had a thrilling ninth as the Lugnuts attempted to overcome some errors in the field for a late-inning victory.

Carlson Does Some Bullpen Work in Dunedin

Rehabbing Jayson Nix saw action in the opener of Dunedin’s doubleheader in the FSL, going 0 for 4 against Ft. Myers.  Lansing's contest vs. Great Lakes was suspended due to rain in the third inning. Dunedin swept and New Hampshire split in their respective twin bills against Ft. Myers and Reading , while late night Las Vegas lost at the hands of Albuquerque due to a brutal five-run 2nd inning rout of Scott Richmond.

Mel Queen died today at the age of 69. Queen served four years as the Jays pitching coach, from 1996-1999 (and as interim manager for five games), and during that span Toronto pitchers won three consecutive Cy Young Awards. Prior to that he served as the Jays Director of Player Development for 6 seasons. Perhaps most famously, Queen is known as the man who reinvented Roy Halladay’s delivery and helping to turn Halladay into the pitcher he is today.He served last year as senior advisor in the player development system. Queen pitched in the majors for the Reds and Angels between 1964 and 1972.

With offense way down for the second year in a row, I figured it'd be worthwhile to take a quick and dirty look at the Jays' stats so far, and compare them to the league totals from this year and last.

Only three games last night with two wins and a horror show.

A bunch of good and almost great pitching performances, and a shot at a clean sweep.

My good pal, Eddie Michels, who reports for a number of media outlets from Dunedin and environs, says that Jayson Nix has been working out at the Englebert Complex in Dunedin at Extended Spring Training this week.  He passed on some shots of Nix.   GregorMLB tweeted this evening that Nix played five innings at extended spring training today and is expected to join Dunedin tomorrow in Ft. Myers.  He says Nix is expected to join Toronto as early as this weekend.

One affiliate won by a converted touchdown, one lost by a field goal, another had two field goals to overcome a safety and the other put up a converted TD and field goal to best a rouge (a single point in the CFL for those who don't know!).  Total it all up and it's a golden 3-1 night for the good guys.

Vince Horsman is the pitching coach for the Lansing Lugnuts.  In 2010 Horsman was the pitching coach for the Auburn Doubledays and many Doubledays are now Lugnuts.  Horsman is one of few professional baseball players who hail from Nova Scotia.  Horsman was originally signed by the Jays in 1984 and played in the Jays system before being called up to the major leagues in 1991.  Horsman went on to pitch for Oakland and Minnesota in the major leagues as well.  I spoke with Horsman last week while I was in Lansing.

Let's just not talk about that last series, how's about that?

When I was in Lansing last week I managed to take a video of both Michael Crouse and Jake Marisnick stealing second base.  The video is at the link at the bottom of the page, get your stopwatches out.  I haven't timed them, low four seconds is good.

The farm went 2-2, and the highlights included Eric Thames continuing his hot streak, Nestor Molina continuing to be the best pitcher in Dunedin, and a certain Torontonian having a big day.

While watching tonight's game, I couldn't help but feel that the Jays are trying to win games with one hand tied behind their collective backs. They just aren't very good and there are a number of players who are in roles they can't handle. I welcome readers to give their own opinions/gripes, here are mine ...

I was in Lansing from May 1st to 3rd watching the Lugnuts play against the Lake County Captains.  Lugnut Fan was there too for two of the games.  I have descibed what I saw below.  In summary Drew Hutchison looked very good, Sean Nolin also looked good.  Jake Marisnick looked like a five toool prospect, he had six hits in three games and ran and fielded well. Carlos Perez was his usual line drive self.  Most of the other hitters didn't stand out.