Rain washed out three games, and an off day took care of another.  That left only two games for the affiliates and they took care of business in both as a former first-round pick kinda, sorta flirted with a no-hitter.

The other day, for no particular reason, I noticed that two-thirds of the Texas Rangers starting outfield consisted of All-Star starter (admittedly at DH) Milton Bradley and fine utilityman Marlon Byrd, That got me to thinking, Hall-of-Names style, about the "megabytes" (yes, that's abbreviated "MB") of talent in big league history. Current hurler Mark Buehrle, of course, and recent All-Star shortstops Mark Belanger and Mike Bordick came to mind, and then, uh ...

Um ...

The affiliates went 4-2 on the night.

I shouldn't have been surprised at the news today that former Yankee OF (and current announcer) Bobby Murcer, 62, had passed away. The cause was no surprise, complications from his well-publicized brain cancer.

Who was Bobby Murcer to Yankee fans? Well ...

We are one
So much time wasted, playing games with love
So many tears I've cried
So much pain inside

Is he awesome or what?

The GCL Jays had a twelve run inning which pretty much guarantees the win.  Lansing and Auburn won with great starts from Marc Rzepczynski and Joel Carreno.  Dunedin and Syracuse each won in extra innings.  New Hampshire were on the wrong side of 18 runs.

Fine. I admit it. I'm a bit excited about this series. Maybe it's tonight's pitching matchup, or maybe it's tomorrow's, which is pretty intriguing itself. Maybe it's the presence of Brett Gardner and Jose Molina in the Yanks' regular lineup, or maybe it's just Adam Lind walkoff fever. Whatever it is, there should be a decent atmosphere in the Dome this weekend.

The Jays win a thriller to get within two games of .500, but lose Vernon Wells in the process. D'oh.

Adam Calderone hit three triples as Dunedin won.  Brad Mills, Brett Cecil and Luis Perez turned in excellent starts.  The GCL Jays saw their eight game win streak end and Auburn were bombed in Ripken-land for the second night in a row.  Syracuse also lost as Davis Romero struggled to make it a 3-3 night on the farm.

Lansing won in ten innings as Tim Collins blew his first save of the year.  The blown save opened the door for David Cooper, playing in his first game in the Midwest League, to single in the winning run.  The GCL Jays won both ends of a twin bill.  Otherwise Syracuse gave up nine runs, New Hampshire gave up eleven runs, and Auburn gave up nine runs, all in losing efforts.  Dunedin "only" gave up six runs.

3 shortstops + 2 catchers = 9 runs.  Who knew?

We now have Marcum and McGowan on the DL with AJ likely to be moving soon. So, who fills in those 3 open slots?

Asdrubal Cabrera was the big reason Syracuse had to settle for a doubleheader split at Alliance Bank Stadium, spoiling a good effort from a tall Canadian righthander.  Meantime, New Hampshire came up with a rare (and I do mean rare!) come from behind victory on the road while Dunedin had a promising start but a not-so-promising finish while having a rough night on the basepaths.

Per Jason Stark on SportsCenter. Presumably one less team to trade for Burnett.

The A's get Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson.