Last night, José Bautista became the first player in the major leagues to hit 40 home runs this season. Here's a card to commemorate your achievement, José!

With the Yankees in town and just under six weeks remaining in the schedule it felt like a good time to catch up with the major league club. Sure, the Blue Jays are out of it, but with 38 games to go here are a few interesting tid bits about the Jays season.

I caught up with Sal Fasano ten days ago in Lansing.  I previously talked with Sal in May.  The Lugnuts are battling for a play-off spot and the team has turned over some players since May.  I talked with Sal mostly about the new guys.

Boy, am I ever running out of Kyle Drabek puns. What does that one even mean? It means Kyle Drabek was great, is what it means. Drabek led the farm to a 2-2 night including a couple of rainouts.

Drew Hutchison has had a very successful 2010 campaign.  Hutchison was selected by the Jays in the 15th round of the 2009 draft out of a Lakeland, Florida high school.  Hutchison did have a college scholarship offer and late in the summer the Jays paid him what he wanted to turn pro, $400,000 according to Baseball America.  Hutchison did not pitch for the Jays in 2009 and started 2010 with Auburn.  Hutchison put up good numbers in Auburn and was named to the NYPL all-star team, but before the all-star game the Jays promoted him to Lansing.

Drew turned 20 years old on Sunday so happy birthday from Batters Box.

Jake Marisnick was a third round selection of the Blue Jays in 2009.  Marisnick didn't play in 2009 but started 2010 in extended spring training and then continued in the GCL.  In early August Marisnick was promoted to Lansing in the Midwest League.  Marisnick is a California kid and is 19 years old.  I spoke with Marisnick recently in Lansing.

Not much of the in-between on Sunday.  The affiliates did a bit of knocking around and got themselves knocked around a bit more on a 2-4 day.

Tough night on the Farm.  The Rookie Blue Jays were the only ones who managed a win.  Anemic bats and innings that blew up on us were to blame.

Randy Boone retired the last 25 New Britain hitters in order and David Cooper and Eric Thames homered to lead the Fisher Cats to victory.  The Doubledays put on a hitting display behind Misual Diaz and won handily.  Newly drafted Shane Opitz paced the baby Jays to the win.  The other three teams lost on a .500 night on the farm.

Not much to say after that one.

A bad night on the farm as the affiliates could only muster 2 wins. Joel Carreno made it all worthwhile with one of the best pitching performances of the season though. Also there were a lot of baserunner kills.

While I was in Auburn I took video of some of the hitters.  It is easy to get good video of a pitcher, you know when they are going to throw a pitch.  But you don't know if, or when, a hitter will hit.  You could tape the whole game but that means you will not be really watching the game.  So I tried the get video of some hitters, sometimes they hit the ball well, as Marcus Knecht did, and sometimes they hit into a double play, like Carlos Perez did.

Although New Hampshire and Dunedin suffered losses, the rest of the affiliates picked up victories on what was a fairly good night on the farm. Two of the better pitching prospects suffered losses as Zach Stewart and Chad Jenkins didn’t have strong outings. However, several players continued to swing relatively hot bats, including a couple of outfielders in the low minors.

The parent club could have used the rehabbing catcher's bat in Oakland Tuesday night.  Instead, New Hampshire got to enjoy the benefits as the Fisher Cats highlighted a 4-1 night on the farm.

I was in Auburn for two games last week and here are my impressions of the players I noticed.  Two days is a short time to follow a team, pro scouts follow a team for four or five days, so I could have seen players at their best or their worst.  You have been warned!