It was a second consecutive good day on the farm with the affiliates posting a 4-2 record and the only defeats occurring in the Gulf Coast League and Double-A. Las Vegas won behind some strong relief pitching after David Purcey did not last long in his start. New Hampshire lost, but Dunedin won with a big inning and Lansing pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the eighth. Strong pitching lead the Doubledays to victory while the Gulf Coast League Jays lost after a disastrous first four batters to the game.

Everyone won (seriously, the affiliates actually had a collectively-solid night) except the young kids in the Gulf Coast League... and they lost in extra innings.

Blowouts were the rule rather than the exception but the exception featured arguably the best pitching performance turned in by a Jays farmhand this season.  It was a 3-2 night for the affiliates with Lansing enjoying the day off, save for one Lugnut who was at the Midwest League All-Star Game.

Adam Loewen hit his first home run of the season among his three hits.  Another Canadian, Randy Schwartz, also homered for Auburn.  Those home runs helped the only two affiliates in action to wins.  Dunedin used their strong bullpen to pitch five shutout innings waiting for the offense to break out.  After being one hit on Sunday, Auburn two hit Jamestown on Monday.

Believe it or not it is mid-season in the minor leagues.  Lansing finished their first half season on Sunday.  Dunedin, strangely, have three first half games left after their all-star break.  Las Vegas and New Hampshire realize it could be a long second half unless they start to play a lot better.  Seeing how it is mid-season Marc Hulet and I reviewed the first half for most of the Jays top prospects.  You will see that there has not been a lot of movement among the prospects.  The jury is still out on the high schoolers drafted in 2007 and 2008, those players have to just play and you expect them to really show what kind of prospect they are in the year they turn 21 or 22.  Some of the Jays top ten prospects, such as JP Arencibia, David Cooper and Brad Emaus have had first halves to forget.  Several other lower ranked prospects such as Moises Sierra, Danny Farquhar, Trystan Magnuson and Tim Collins have down well in the first half.  Some of the Jays top prospects should lose their prospect status this season, Travis Snider, Brett Cecil and Ricky Romero will come out of the top ten with enough major league time.  With the struggles of some of the other top ten names and the good play of some of the lesser ranked prospects, ranking the Jays top ten prospects at seasons end might be a tough job.

Three affiliates, in fact, were doomed by big innings, as Las Vegas was the only club to land in the win column.

Today is opening day for the Auburn Doubledays with the GCL Jays starting next week.  The Jays have not signed their top six picks so the Auburn roster will likely change a lot over the next week or two as those players sign.  Usually the Jays are prompt in signing their number one pick, this year they appear to be slower.

Down on the farm the full-season teams went 2-2 with the top two teams victorious.  Marc Rzepczynski had a good start in what could be his final AA start.  He is rumoured to be headed to AAA to replace Cecil or Mills.

Kyle Ginley, Alan Farina and Marty McLeary were each activated and Ginley and Farina pitched.

Both Lansing and Dunedin put on impressive offensive displays, while Las Vegas received a great pitching performance from Brian Burres (no, really).

Four losses, four uninspiring pitching performances.  Fabio Castro and Luis Perez did not pitch badly but didn't pitch well enough to win.  Henderson Alvarez continued his slide backwards.  The four affiliates scored ten runs between them, two two's and two three's.  Not much to write about on this night.

Actually, Lansing was in Dayton, so that headline doesn't make any sense apart from the terrible pun. Lansing did beat up on the Aces though, to highlight a 2-1 night on the farm.

2-2 on Sunday for the affiliates.  Horrible nights for the Fisher Cats and Lugnuts were offset by a great start from David Purcey and some big bats for the D-Jays.

Game two of the Las Vegas doubleheader, top of the seventh, game tied at 0-0, Dave Delucci leads off with a single, steals second and scores the eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly.  The only other win was Dunedin who won 11-0 behind an Eric Thames home run and great pitching from Kenny Rodriguezz and Trystan Magnuson.

Two wins and two losses... Not bad for the affiliates given the poor seasons they all seem to be having.

Las Vegas won big in Colorado behind a great night at the plate by Jason Lane. New Hampshire was postponed while Andrew Liebel suffered another loss in Dunedin. Meanwhile, a former Blue Jay farmhand came back to haunt the Jays as scored the winning run in Lansing’s extra-inning loss.

What did we learn on this night? Some of the prospects can really hit. Everyone brought their bats but the Fisher Cats. And the 51s, but they were off. Sadly, they almost out-performed the Fisher Cats' hitters.