Another day of mixed results for the Jays' farm clubs was overshadowed by a promising start to Jesse Harper's 2004 campaign.

In today's afternoon game RHP Bronson Arroyo (1-1, 4.55 ERA in 2004) takes on RHP Pat Hentgen (2-2, 5.59 ERA in 2004).

A 3-3 tie in the 8th quickly turned to a blowout as Ligtenberg failed to retire any of the 5 batters he faced. The result was a 9-3 loss to the Red Sox that snapped the Jays home winning streak at 6 wins.

I had a spectacular minor-league report ready for you, folks. Terrific stuff, took me an hour to write. And because I have a lousy computer and because my computer has a stupid owner, it's gone and I can't get it back. And it's now past 5:00 pm on Saturday. So here's the quickest damn minor-league report you ever saw:

Rob Bradford is the author of Chasing Steinbrenner, which is an in-depth look at the 2003 season of both the Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox. In Rob's words, "it is about the journey two teams (and the people who run them) take through the 2003 season in baseball’s most warped division. From the inside, it looks at the highs, the lows and everything in between that these particular professionals are forced to deal with on a daily basis." Rob was quite taken by the epic nature of the baseball season: "former Red Sox manager Grady Little said it best when he compared the campaign to not 162 games, but 162 seasons. Spending the time I did with the people involved on both sides makes you realize there couldn’t be a more true statement."

Chasing Steinbrenner is due to be released on May 21 and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com. I initially spoke to Rob during the winter; the frenetic activities of the Red Sox and Yankees this past winter resulted in Rob telling a little more story than he had originally planned and a new publication date. So we caught up again recently and invited Rob to "step into Da Box" for a Q&A about the Sox, the Jays, and Chasing Steinbrenner.

I'm not around for the next three games of the homestand, so here's a thread for planning and meeting up.

And hey, let's throw the great party
Today for the rest of our lives
The band is just about to get started
So throw the switch
It's rock-n-roll time

The 13th of May was unlucky for Dustin McGowan and Blue Jay fans. In case you have not heard McGowan is out for the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. The Union Leader has the sorry details.

On the field Syracuse and New Hampshire extended their winning streaks while Dunedin and Charleston are still struggling.

With the 2004 Major League Baseball Entry Draft (June 7-8) fast approaching, it's time we brought an emerging issue to the fore:

I still think that's a great nickname for Justin Miller, tonight's starter, if for no other reason then that it pays fitting homage to the wonderful Ray Bradbury. But I understand "Tatu" is getting a lot of support from Fantasy Island fans hereabouts. I'll continue to plug my nickname, but it might be worth taking a closer look behind the body art and examine whether Miller's hot start to 2004 can be expected to continue.

With 6 weeks of minor league ball in the books, it seems like a good time to look at some component stats for the Jays farmhands. Only batters with 80 or more plate appearances at a given level were included. The final row in each table is the league average in 2003 for the category in question.

Carlos Delgado’s contract expires at the end of this season, and opinion is divided on whether the Blue Jays will be able to re-sign him at that time. Whether he stays or goes, however, no one but Carlos, his agent and their immediate families will be saddened by the expiration of that deal, signed as baseball’s turn-of-the-century spending frenzy approached its end. In case you’ve forgotten, the contract paid him $14.8M in 2001, $17.2M in 2002, $17.5M in 2003 and $18.5M in 2004.

Many Toronto fans have since bemoaned this contract, at length. But if you don’t think the Jays got off easy, you haven’t been keeping an eye on the rest of baseball.

As avid Boxers are no doubt aware after reading Scott Lucas' roundup today, the Jays have acquired .091-hitting Frank Menechino to temporarily address their "short"comings.

Frankly (heh), that just cries out for another edition of Baseball's Hall of Names. Menechino probably won't make the cut, but here's one stab at what may be a first: Baseball's All-Frank Team.

Watch it separate in two
Whatever the day wants it to
Finding out that the worst is true
Finding out that it can escape you

We've recently had a rash of postings at Batter's Box that have been made under the names of real people. "Donald Trump" was the most recent last night, but we've also had posts written under the names of local baseball-related people, everyone from JP Ricciardi to Richard Griffin -- posts most definitely not written by these folks. This is a statement explaining why these kinds of posts are outlawed at Batter's Box and the publication of an official Box policy on the subject.