It's a throw down, a show down, hell no I can't slow down, it's gonna go...DOWN!

In advance of the "Throwdown in Beantown", the Jays of Blue completed a four game sweep of the Sox of White with a 3-2 victory Monday afternoon at the Thunder Dome.

Batters Box recently had the opportunity to check in with Jon Lalonde before June's draft.  Lalonde and the entire amateur scouting team are at their busiest right now preparing for the draft.  Obviously Lalonde was unable to comment on specific players and in truth the Jays draft board has probably not been settled yet.  Many college teams are still playing and trying to qualify for the college series.  Meanwhile cold weather high school players have recently started playing their seasons.

I don't think there are many surprises in his answers but he does leave the door open on high school pitching and also suggests, but does not absolutely say, that his budget has not been cut back.

Disclaimer - the following is an article I wrote for Baseball Prospectus Idol, a contest whose purpose is to find a new writer for BP. The ten finalists have been announced, and, well, I am not among them. But I wanted this piece to see the light of day, so enjoy!

Disclaimer 2 - this piece was written before, um, certain events took place. Fortunately, these events only strengthen the article's main point!

The Jays are 2-for-2 on bobblehead days this season with the featured players contributing to victories.  Alex Rios jump started the offence as the Jays quadrupled the White Sox 8-2 Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Strong pitching and weak hitting was a theme in the minors on Sunday, as the four affiliates allowed just 10 runs in five games yet still only won two of 'em.

Only one win for the affiliates, a big come from behind, ninth inning, win by Dunedin.  Justin Jackson was 2-3 with three RBI's.  It's a very small sample but in the three games since coming off the DL Jackson is 7-9 with no strikeouts.  

Sorry for the lateness of the report, but some of us had to work early, early on the first official day of the long weekend. Las Vegas and New Hampshire won, while Dunedin took two losses in a double-header. Lansing was rained out.

The Jays go into the weekend with their lead in the division back up to two games.

First place, Kind of fun.

A thread from the excellent website www.sportslogos.net pointed out that www.bluejays.com is now selling the Canada Day jerseys and caps the team will wear when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays at the Rogers Centre Wednesday, July 1st.

Las Vegas finally get good pitching from the starter and the relievers in the same game and win a game in the land of the delta blues.  New Hampshire lost despite two more hits by Brad Emaus.  Lansing split a doubleheader with the win coming on another good start by Henderson Alvarez.

Winning in Memphis
Winning with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Winning in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

Dear Batter's Box faithful,

I don't understand. There was a baseball game yesterday involving the Blue Jays, and there hasn't been a game thread posted. There's always a game thread posted -- why just yesterday, there was one extolling all the "positive firsts" of the series opener in Da Bronx.

Today, nothing. Did something ... different ... happen yesterday?

Best regards,
Mick Doherty
Batter's Box resident Yankee fan

Only two games on Wednesday night thanks to the rain.  But the two teams that did play both featured starts by pitchers who began the year in the Blue Jays rotation.  One was great while the other struggled with command. 

That's the good news.  Las Vegas, New Hampshire and Lansing could not muster a hit with a runner in scoring position but one of them still managed to get a win on a 1-3 night for the affiliates.  Let's go down to Junior's Farm, shall we?

A lot of positive firsts in the Jays 5-1 victory over the Evil Empire Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre.  It was the Jays first win over the Yankees in their first meeting of 2009 and it was the first complete game for Roy Halladay as he became the majors first seven-game winner.  Just as importantly, it was the first loss of the season for you know who on the Yankees mound and it was the first game the Yankees regular shortstop was not in the lineup.  It might also have been the first time a pro-Jays crowd showed up for a Yankees game since the glory years as 43,737 showed up to take this one in at the building formerly known as Yankee Stadium North.  

Thirty is the mark when a conscutive-games hitting streak really first bears noticing. Oh, 28 is a nice number -- "halfway to DiMaggio" and all that. But Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals is at the big three-oh now.

Zimmerman matched the great George Brett's 30-game streak in 1980 for the longest by a third baseman in the last three decades. In these the aughts, the only other 30-game streaks have been posted by stalwart Moises Alou in 2007, the unlikely Willy Taveras in 2006 and the finest hitter of his generation, Albert Pujols, in 2003. None of them reached 31, though three others did that and more -- Luis Castillo had a 35-game hit streak in 2002; Chase Utley also had a 35-game hit streak, but in 2006; and Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game hit streak spread over two seasons in 2005-06.

Will Zim? And how far does the kid go? Place your bets, make your predictions, presuppose your wild suppositions ... and -- bear with me, Ex-pos fans -- pay attention to those Nats!