The Lugnuts were eliminated tonight, while the Doubledays warmed up for the playoffs with a couple of longballs. 

We close out our Friday summaries with the hitters this week.  It has been a disappointing year for the hitters, with only Travis Snider shining and Yohermyn Chavez holding his own.

This is the last week of the minor leagues regular season and it is a good time to look back at 2007 and the performances of the top 30 Blue Jay prospects from a year ago. The Batters Box minor league team will produce this years top 30 list soon but many of these players will drop off the prospect lists. This is also a good time to evaluate how successful was the 2007 minor league season. In summary this has been a disappointing season for the minor league system, many more prospects have regressed than progressed. The one positive aspect is many of the prospects moving ahead are in, or close to, the major leagues.

Travis Snider provided the only remotely positive news on the minor league front, as the affiliates went 0-2.

New Hampshire lost a 7-4 decision to Portland to lose out on a shot at the playoffs.

Leave it to the Chiefs to win the one game I didn't want them to!  Before anyone dares to complain that my Jays fan club card should be revoked for that statement, it was a nothing game for Syracuse and I would've liked to have seen the Lynx finish things off on a winning note.  On a personal note, it's a sad day for me that the Lynx are leaving because I've been a fan of theirs since Day 1.  Anyways, the affiliates went 3-1 on the night but the one loss was a tough one as a prominent rehabbing Jays reliever was tagged with the "L".   As a result, New Hampshire will have to play one more game to see if they can sneak into the post season. 

Three wins for the affiliates and all of them in extra innings.  Auburn won in 10 innings even though they had only four hits, Syracuse won in 12 innings and Lansing were outhit 20-16 but won in 13 innings.

Dunedin's season finished yesterday, for good.  Syracuse, Dunedin and the GCL Jays are out of the playoffs.  Lansing and Auburn are in the playoffs.  New Hampshire are tied with Portland for the last playoff spot in the Eastern league.  Both teams are at 70-71, uninspiring records, and both are on losing streaks, Portland's is at four games, New Hampshire's at two games.  On Monday, in the final game of the regular season Ricky Romero will face Tyler Clippard of Trenton to see if he can pitch New Hampshire into the playoffs.

The Auburn Doubledays clinched the division title and a playoff spot Saturday.  Josh Banks made a strong claim for a promotion.  With Lansing and Auburn in the playoffs the other teams in contention continued to slip.  Dunedin lost their fourth in a row and are now out of the playoffs.  New Hampshire are a half game back with two games left, three games left for Portland, their rivals in the chase.  The Dunedin and New Hampshire offenses have struggled with the playoffs in sight.

During New Hampshire’s exciting extra-inning victory Sean Stidfole managed to work his way out of tight spots in a tie game in consecutive frames. Alhough New Hampshire won, Syracuse wasn’t so fortunate and lost their game in the tenth inning. Dunedin’s pitchers didn’t have a good night, while Auburn needed only one inning to secure their victory. Finally, Jonathan Diaz did everything he could to lead Lansing to a victory, getting on base every time he went to bat and contributing two extra-base hits, but he, perhaps unfairly, doesn’t get a star due to three strong performances during the two extra-inning games.

So, Dayton is not Memphis, but what are you going to do? Sue me? The farm affiliates went 2-3.

The farm affiliates went 3-2 on the night.

The Jays have one premium prospect and he continues to hit like one.  He should pick up his 2nd league MVP in as many years.

Syracuse pisses one away, New Hampshire does the same and Auburn loses in OT. However, Dunedin and Lansing got the pitching and the W's while the boys from the Gulf Coast ended their year on a winning note, thanks in small part to a rehabbing Brandon League. Total it all up and that gives the affiliates a saw-off at 3-3.

Lansing were outhit 17-8 but still won.  Syracuse too were outhit, and made nine errors in regulation, but managed to force extra innings.  They finished with ten errors and the loss.  New Hampshire and Auburn won big games to keep them in playoff contention, Dunedin lost two but still lead their division.

The minor league season has eight games to go, a little more for Auburn, just one game for the GCL Jays.  If the season ended today four Jays affiliates would be in the playoffs.  The Midwest league has the most generous allocation of playoff spots, eight in total, and Lansing are in the playoffs.  Dunedin and Auburn lead their divisions by 2 and 5 games respectively.  New Hampshire are one game up in the hunt for a playoff berth.

Five wins as the Dunedin Jays game was suspended.  New Hampshire had a big win to keep them in the playoff hunt as Kyle Yates delivered a huge start.  New Hampshire are playing their playoff rival Portland and Ricky Romero couldn't help the team on Friday making Saturdays game even more important.  Yates shut down Portland as the Fisher Cats built a big lead and cruised to the win.  Auburn also won to strengthen their playoff hopes.  Syracuse won in the bottom of the ninth, John Tolisano propelled the GCL Jays to a win and Lansing wins in a team effort.  

Toronto’s affiliates played not one, but two, double-headers last night to give fans an eight-game menu to appease their palate. The teams split both twin billings and Toronto’s other four affiliates went 3-1 on the evening. The multitude of games means there were many outstanding performers yesterday, from Triple-A players hoping to make it back to the big leagues to high-round GCL prospects.