If you ask me, the Jays are giving us a lot to be happy about.

Former Edmonton Cracker-Cats hurler Scott Richmond picks up his first win as a member of the Blue Jays organization to highlight a perfect 4-0 night for the affiliates.

Today is Tax Day in the United States, that annual 'holiday" which "permits" U.S. citizens (like me) to send some inordinantly huge percentage of our income to the U.S. government's Internal Revenue Service.

It'd be easy to throw together an all-financial Hall of Names team -- hey, actually, we already did that, back in April of 2004, and names like Cash, Money, Bonds, Penny and Banks filled that roster.

But today is all about taxes, the anti-Money (sorry, Don) ... so can we build a Hall of Names roster on this premise? Well, we certainly have a team captain in ...

I hate hitting into double plays, not beating up on young pitchers and Kevin Millar.

Other than that last night was great!

Dunedin had the best showing last night, and they didn't even play.  The affiliates went 0-3 on the night.

The Blue Jays come into this one having swept the Rangers in Texas, something they haven't done in 23 years. They'll try to keep the momentum alive tonight against the struggling Orioles, who host the Jays having lost 4 of 5 after opening the season on a 6 and 1 tear.

Another 3-1 day on the farm.  And another strong performance from a former first rounder.

OK, they're actually tied for first.

And we're not even halfway through April.

This was going to be the Rangers advance scout.

The writers and posters at Batter's Box are among the biggest Blue Jays fans around. But just how well have you all been paying attention over the years, hmm?

There were three strong starts turned in on the farm last night. One was turned by a former first round pick, another by a man with big league experience and a third by a pitcher whose stock is rising after placing 27th on Top 30 list at the end of last season. Unfortunately, a former starter trying to work his way back to the majors did not fare nearly so well in High-A. In the end it was an exciting night in the minors, with a pair of two-run victories, a one-run victory and a one-run defeat. New Hampshire continues to have problems with the Connecticut Defenders and fine performances by Scott Campbell and Ricky Romero weren’t enough to give them a victory. Campbell and Romero both missed out one of the three stars, as there were several outstanding outings in the organization last night.

Roy Halladay starts in Arlington and doesn't leave the game with a gruesome injury. To add insult to injury, or lack thereof, he goes the route and the Jays win 4-1.

In 2028, when Josh Hamilton is reminiscing about his four AL MVPs during his Hall of Fame induction speech (okay, work with me here ...) someone will pronounce that he is the greatest ballplayer who ever lived named "Josh" -- and if you're only looking at Major League Baseball, that may well be correct.

With apologies to Hamilton and to fellow class of '28 HOF inductee Josh Beckett (like I said, work with me here) -- unless one of the two dozen or so men named Josh currently in the minor leagues really explodes onto the scene, the greatest ballplayer named "Josh" who ever lived never played in the major leagues. That, of course ...

A 1-3 night on the farm.

Hey, that's Vernon Wells' picture on the ESPN leader board! Tied for the AL lead in RBIs! He's on pace to drive in 192! A new record!

Well, that's kind of unlikely.