Charleston clinched the 1st half title, and New Hampshire kept on winning on Saturday. It was also my daughter's Bat Mitzvah, so even a 2-3 record for the farm affiliates tastes sweet.

The last two games were winnable for both teams, so a split is nothing to be ashamed of. I expect another low scoring contest with Batista and Lawrence hooking up. No TV in Canada for this one.

In the 11 inter-league games so far, the Jays have a 4 and 7 record, and their runs cored per 9 innings rates have been: 5.45 (innings 1 to 3), 3.82 (innings 4 to 6) and 3.30 (innings 7 to 9). The last category includes 0 runs in the ninth inning (out of the 8 they've batted in).

One of the silver linings amid the dark clouds of the 2004 season for the Blue Jays has been the emergence of Jason Frasor as an outstanding big-league reliever. The hard-throwing righty had never pitched above Double-A when Toronto traded for him in March. Despite the reluctance of his manager to apply any labels, the 26-year-old rookie has already become the team’s closer and a fan favourite.

Admittedly, it’s a small sample size, but no matter how you slice his splits, Frasor has been terrific. Righties are hitting .185 off him with a .485 OPS, while lefties haven’t fared much better, batting .218 with a .586 OPS. On the road, his ERA is 1.98; at home it’s 2.16 — overall, he’s given up runs only four times in 26 appearances.

Batter’s Box sat down with Jason last week in those plush “action seats” behind home plate, several hours before an interleague game against the Dodgers. Thanks to Robert Dudek, making his AL media debut, for contributing some of the questions and taking the photos.

One win, a bunch of losses, one truly ugliriffic pitching line, the welcome return of some familiar names, and the 2004 debut of your Auburn Doubledays: all this and more in your minor-league update.

A solid performance by Ted Lilly, the bullpen and Frank Menechino led to a much-needed win over David Wells and the Padres. Tonight, the Jays face one of San Diego's stable of young hurlers - Dennis Tankersley. PETCO park (which certainly looks beautiful on TV) has very generous power alleys, which should in theory help a control pitcher like Josh Towers.

If you're like me you don't know the result of last night's game until now. Good news! The Jays won 3-2 as Ted Lilly outdueled David Wells in San Diego last night.

Continuing our series of pieces on the Blue Jays' new draftees, Ryan Levy of tamu-and-baseball.com tells us about the team's two draftees from Texas A&M University. First up, 6th round draftpick Cory Patton. Enjoy everyone!

I'm now convinced that whatever is afflicting the Blue Jays is not just bad luck. It wasn't the spate of injuries that sold me, though they provide the supporting evidence. It wasn't the end of Iron Man Tom Cheek's legendary broadcasting streak.

What convinced me?

And found nothing there
To ease the pressure off
My ever worried mind

The main reason the Jays are under .500 is the offence. They've hit the second-fewest homeruns in the AL (50), and have the second lowest slugging percentage (.396); they're 12th in the league in runs scored per game.

Last night Dunedin and Charleston reduced their magic numbers to one and two respectively. Dunedin beat Ramiro Mendoza for good measure. Could the big league Jays do that? Today is opening day for the Auburn Doubledays.

The depleted Jays travel down the Pacific Coast Highway (metaphorically, at least) to sunny San Diego for a three-game set. It'll be the first-ever meeting between these two franchises in meaningful games; does anyone know if they've ever even met in the spring?

The Padres also enter the game on a lengthy skid, going just 2-7 against the AL East thus far, including an embarrassing home sweep at the hands of the Devil Rays. Sadly, we know how that feels. Although San Diego began interleague play within percentage points of the division lead, they now sit third in the wide-open NL West. The Jays could continue to do the Giants favours by taking a couple at brand-new Petco Park.

This edition of the Scout includes a very familiar face gearing up to face his old club tonight, a slugger trying to slug again, and the #1 overall picks from both the 1992 and 2004 entry drafts. And check out the eerie final bullet!

On to the Advance Scout!

As Aaron Gleeman recounts over on his blog, Phil Cuzzi, by now so familiar to Blue Jays fans, was at it again last night in Montreal. In the top of the ninth inning, home plate Cuzzi stopped calling strikes for Montreal's rookie closer Chad Cordero, and eventually cost them the game when his crew inexplicably turned an extra-inning foul ball by Luis Rivas into a home run, as the Expos surrendered a 4-2 lead to lose 5-4 in 11 innings.

For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins.

It's an early one today, and no Barry Bonds. Game on!