The Vancouver Canadians kick off their season on Friday with Adam Kloffenstein on the mound. Saturday's game is being televised on Sportsnet Pacific, my PVR is set. On Thursday, the Buffalo hitters copied the parent club by scoring 11 runs. New Hampshire and Lansing lost. Dunedin were rained out.

Socrates Brito knows how to drive in a run. On this day he did it five times, not just five RBI, but five different times he drove in a run. Anthony Alford also had a good game as the Bisons recovered from a poor start by Sean Reid-Foley to get a win. New Hampshire lost in extras. Dunedin won again with a shutout. Lansing split a doubleheader.

Three shutout wins helped boost a 4-2 Tuesday night for the #BlueJays affiliates with Dunedin clinching a playoff berth. #LetsGoBlueJays

The #BlueJays affiliates lost both of their games Monday. Buffalo and New Hampshire had the night off. Dunedin was rained out. #BlueJays #LetsGoBlueJays

Chavez Young finally had a big game leading Dunedin to a win. Anthony Alford also did well, three hits, and Graham Spraker pitched well for Buffalo in a spot start. The Bisons also won. Lansing made it three wins with 14 hits including a home run by Gabriel Moreno and three triples. New Hampshire lost.

Every affiliate lost, and Buffalo did it twice. Griffin Conine was one of the bright spots, he picked up another home run. Yennsy Diaz pitched seven very good innings. But there was not much hitting on the farm. The Bisons had four hits over two games.

One thing to note was David Phelps who pitched an inning in Dunedin. I look and Conine and some Lansing hitters below.

The Jays were oh-so-close to an organizational sweep Tuesday, winning four of five, including three shutout victories. #LetsGoBlueJays

A doubleheader saw-off and a win in the Dominican produced a split of four games for the Blue Jays affiliates Monday. New Hampshire and Lansing had the night off. #LetsGoBlueJays

Nate Pearson surrendered five runs today and couldn't complete five innings. In consecutive "scheduled for five inning" starts, he has given up seven hits. This is not the Pearson we signed up for! We don't know what Pearson is working on, whether he is trialing some new grips, or approaches, and therefore it's hard to pass judgement on what is going on. I am confident he will return to normal results in short order. Pearson is not he only player to panic over. Kevin Smith is hitting .170, that is made up of .200 in April and .140 in May. He struck out 25 times in April and 31 times in May. Whatever he is trying doesn't seem to be working. At some point the Jays might have to look at a drop down to Dunedin to get his confidence back.

On the field, the top two teams lost easily although Forrest Wall and Riley Adams just keep hitting. Dunedin and Lansing won easily, Griffin Conine had a big day including two home runs. Another high pick, Logan Warmoth also hit well.

The affiliates rebounded with three wins on Wednesday. Anthony Alford and Socrates Brito led Buffalo to a win. Tampa helped the Dunedin Jays win but Nick Allgeyer was very good again. Josh Winkowski pitched well for Lansing. New Hampshire couldn't make it a sweep with a close loss.

I also decided to take a look at some stats, specifically the leaders in OPS for hitters and WHIP for pitchers. I was surprised by one thing, namely the amount of promotions that have already happened this season. Normally we wait until this time of the season, after the draft and when the short season teams start, to see who is promoted. But when you look at the top performers in the minors, many of them have already been promoted. It's also time for a pop quiz question. Among Blue Jays hitters with at least 100 at-bats, who has the fewest strikeouts?

The Blue Jays affiliates lost three of four Tuesday. #LetsGoBlueJays

A shutout loss, a blowout victory and a one-run win happened on Memorial Day Monday for the Blue Jays affiliates. Dunedin had the day off. #LetsGoBlueJays

Andy Burns drove in the winning runs in the ninth inning of the Bisons game. It was one of the five times he reached base. That made a winner of Sean Reid-Foley who pitched eight innings. Another winning pitcher was Patrick Murphy who dominated Altoona. Forrest Wall also reach base five times. Chavez Young hit a go ahead three run home run in the eighth to lead Dunedin to victory. Tanner Kirwer hit his three run home run in the first inning and Lansing never looked back. It was an org sweep night!

Hector Perez had pitched only 16 innings in AA before he was traded to the Jays last summer. So it is understandable if he has taken a while to find his feet at that level, he is still just 22 years old. He pitched well on Wednesday leading New Hampshire to the win. Dunedin racked up eleven runs, Chavez Young broke out with three hits, including a home run. Buffalo and Lansing lost.

The Blue Jays affiliates split their four games Tuesday night. They were on the right side twice in three shutout affairs. #LetsGoBlueJays