The farm affilliates took a good beating yesterday, with only Dunedin putting up much of a fight.

The Charleston Alley-Cats were rained out early, so only three of the Jays’ farm teams took the field last night. Dunedin scored a huge victory, but New Hampshire and Syracuse lost close games.

As the major league Alex Rios watch began last night the depleted Syracuse Skychiefs won without him as the minor league teams were 2-1 on the night.

It just doesn't get much better than this.

You take wins any way you can get ‘em. One way or another, each of the Jays four minor league teams in action scraped up wins in a perfect sweep for the organization. Charleston and Dunedin both cruised to victory behind strong pitching and timely hitting, Syracuse pulled out a 9th inning comeback and (although it’s still unknown which charity will receive the proceeds) a Walk-a-thon broke out in New Hampshire.

Just 1 win out of 4 games in the Minors? On the night of an inspiring win for the Major League team, I'll take it!

An almost perfect day in the minor leagues. The starting pitching was excellent, the hitting even better. After three innings the Jays four teams had outscored their opponents 25-4.

Only a bullpen hiccup in New Hampshire prevented an organizational sweep on Saturday.

Syracuse 5, Louisville 3

The Sky Chiefs came back from an early 3-0 deficit to defeat the Bats 5-3. Sean Douglass pitched six solid innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 7 hits and 2 walks with 8 strikeouts. Talley Haines and Bob File, with 2 innings of solid relief for the save, closed out the game. Glenn Williams homered and doubled to spark the Sky Chief offence, and Howie Clark and Jeff Guiel made key defensive plays to help Douglass. Russ Adams and Alex Rios went 1-4. Gabe Gross was 1-3 with a walk.

Boxscore
game story

Two wins last night that could easily have been 4, if not for some terrible defence by the Fisher Cats and a set of silent bats in Dunedin.

Three wins in four games is excellent compared to how things have gone over the past few weeks. And the wins were good wins with lots of hitting and strong pitching.

Slugfests and pitching duels in the minor leagues last night, leading to a split for the organization's four farm teams.

Break out the champagne! Alexis Rios had four hits; Josh Banks had eleven strikeouts and the organization had a winning night.

It was another bottom-up night for the Blue Jay farm system. Class A Charleston won, High-A Dunedin split a double-header, AA New Hampshire lost a close one, and AAA Syracuse lost by three.

Another tough day in the minor leagues. Syracuse and Charleston lost on Sunday to complete losing weeks. New Hampshire lost on Sunday and lost their weekend series with Binghamton. Stubby Clapp only needed six pitches to retire the side.

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