The farm went 2-3 on Monday night and Las Vegas got an inning of relief from an unexpected source.

The Seattle Mariners have fired manager Don Wakamatsu, pitching coach Rick Adair, and bench coach Ty Van Burkleo.

Carlos Perez showed that JP Arencibia is not the only catcher with some power, Perez doubled and tripled and drove in four runs to pace the only win on the farm.  All the teams above Auburn lost, some badly.  There were some scattered good performances but it has been a sad week on the farm with most teams seeming to hit the skids at the same time.  It's either the dog days or opposite time where the affiliates play badly when the Jays play well.

 

The game looks different in three dimensions. There are things you see in person that you just can't see on the television.

In case you are living under a rock, Brandon Morrow just finished a 1 hit, 2 walk, 1 error 17 strikeout complete game shut out. The single was a weak one that Aaron Hill had and lost, and came with 2 outs in the 9th. After a visit from Cito Morrow managed to strike out Dan Johnson to end the game, and then was assailed unmercifully with shaving cream pies.

It was also, according to Bill James Game Scores, the best start in Blue Jays history, narrowly edging out Roger Clemens. It also narrowly edged Roy Halladay's perfect game for game of the year using the same measure.

That is all.

Who doesn't live for the big hit? The Jays had plenty of them Saturday afternoon as they belted eight homers among their 20 hits in a 17-11 victory at the Rogers Centre.  Jonathan Paul Arencibia was living the dream in his major league debut by hitting two home runs, a double and a single in a 4-for-5 day at the plate.  Aaron Hill also went yard twice while Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista (shocker!!) also put one over the fence.  However, I'll remember this game for another reason after encountering this "learned Jays fan" (not to be confused with this fellow down below because that would be an insult to crash test dummies and all dummies in general!).

Las Vegas and New Hampshire made us on proud on Saturday.  On the rest, we only hope for a better Sunday.  Frustratingly,  only one of the farm clubs has an over .500 winning percentage – New Hampshire at .588 (67-47, tied for the Eastern League East division lead).  The others’ winning percentages are as follows:  Lansing .488, Las Vegas .482, GCL Blue Jays .463, Dunedin .429 and Auburn .367.  Dunedin has clinched the first half playoff spot in the Florida League.

One of the greatest baseball players in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays franchise, having already taken a spin through the New York (NL) circuit, has opted to sign a minor league deal with the most successful MLB franchise of this decade (that's still weird to write), the Boston Red Sox. Delgado is set to report to Triple-A Pawtucket Sunday.

One word: ick.

The six North American based teams gave up fifty six runs in seven games.  The only team to win was Las Vegas who could out muscle their opponent.  Bright spots were a 17 year old pitcher in the DSL who pitched five hitless innings; Jesse Carlson pitched well; Brian Jeroloman hit a home run; Ryan Goins got some hits; Carlos Perez hit a home run; Jake Marisnick got another couple of hits.

Title says it all. Brad Mills has been recalled.

The closest game the full season affiliates played saw them lose by 6. Auburn managed the only win and 3 teams were in varying states of action but failed to complete their games.

You might have heard ... a really good, somewhat stultifyingly annoying ballplayer, who will probably be a controversial Hall of Fame inductee in 10 or 12 years, hit his 600th career home run yesterday. He was once in the conversation for Greatest Shortstop of All Time and is arguably still the Greatest Third Baseman in the storied history of the Yankees. But Alex Rodriguez reaching this milestone? Apparently, not very many people actually, you know, care.

Various reports say this is because of the 'roid era, while others claim it has become more de riguer in baseball circles to reach what once was hallowed ground. I admit it, I don't remember a thing about Sosa's or Bonds' 600th dinger, or even Griffey's, which in baseball terms, just happened about 12 minutes ago. (Willie, Henry and the Babe were all before my time.)

So today's Questions of the Day: Do you care at all about A-Rod hitting this homer? Should we? If not, why not? And, just for the heckuvit, will any oher active players get there? (And if the answer to that last one is "no," does that change your thinking to the other questions?)

The biggest news from the minors didn’t come on the field yesterday, but came off of it when it was announced that the Jays decided to promote JP Arencibia to fill in for John Buck, who was forced to the 15-day DL after taking a foul ball off his thumb. While Las Vegas, perhaps missing one of their star bats, lost big to Memphis, New Hampshire shut out their opposition, while Dunedin won a slugfest. The Lugnuts were shut out, but Auburn doubled Vermont and the GCL Blue Jays won a tight affair against the GCL Pirates.

Jonathan Paul Arencibia has been called up to Baseball North to fill in for the injured John Buck according to the National Post.  A foul tip off the bat of "Mr. 600 Homers*" cut the thumb on Buck's throwing hand and he has been placed on the 15-day disabled list.

I was in Boston for the Ontario long weekend and I attended two games at Fenway Park, both Red Sox walk-off wins.  Both wins came at the expense of the Detroit Tigers whose bullpen was exposed in these games after Jose Valverde had to throw over fifty pitches on Friday to nail down a win for the Tigers.

Obviously Fenway Park is a busy place, they have had over 600 sell-outs in a row.  The aisles are narrow and the seats are small as you would expect with an old park.  There are obstructed seats back in the grandstand so you have to be careful in ordering tickets.  I went with tickets from stubhub and they are not cheap, you have to pay around $120-$150 for a decent seat.