While J.P's first two first-rounders were in the lineup at Wrigley Field yesterday afternoon, his first two second-rounders were in Syracuse and Akron. And one of them did well, while the other...did not. Those were the only two games last night in a 1-1 evening for the affiliates.

He let his pitching do all the talking, but Zach Jackson let it be known that there's more than one lefty first rounder to keep your eye on.

The farm splits four with Dunedin splitting a pair, and it’s time for another Three-Star update.

Some Dick Scott bonus coverage at the end of the report. Syracuse have another tough loss; New Hampshire have no offense; the Lansing Lumber Kings have it all.

Great starts from newly promoted starters and a few key hits lead to a 3-1 evening for the farm affiliates.

I can't buy a win in the big-league game reports, it seems, but this is my second minor-league organizational sweep in a matter of weeks. I'm not sure what to say on this momentous occasion. What I really need here is a Repoz inspiration.

"I haven't been this excited ... since the CD release party for The Spaghetti Incident?!"

Okay, I have a ways to go yet....

April ended with the team's record at 10-11 and we all assumed that May would see an improvement, an incorrect assumption as it turns out. Syracuse's May record is 12-18, a huge disappointment for a team put together to be competitive. Their season record of 22-29 puts them eleven games behind the divison leader.

...in Lansing. Cannon-ating drives and enormous saves were the order of the day as the farm affiliates went 2-2.

On May 30, the defending Eastern League champion Fisher Cats stood at first place in the EL's Northern Division with a 28-20 record, after winning 6 of their previous 7 games. Today, a few days later, that record is 29-23, with the Cats tied for first place with Portland, to whom they lost last night. But I froze the stats on May 30 to write this report, so that's the snapshot we're using for the May 2005 Fisher Cat review.

Dunedin had an excellent month in May, and now stand at 32-20, the second best record in the Florida State League. Unfortunately, they play in the same division as the Lakeland Tigers, who possess the best record in the league at 34-17. Still, the gap was closed this month, and with a good run in June, the D-Jays stand a chance at the first-half title.

A pair of pitching performances by two pitching people we all have a pair of peepers on. Make that "on which we have peepers," if you don't like ending a sentence with a preposition.

The minor league season is approximately one third complete. The half way point will come soon after the draft, a busy time for minor league followers, so this is a good time to have a quick look at how the Jays top prospects are doing. The starting point was Baseball America's top 30 list, Russ Adams and Gustavo Chacin have been excluded, leaving 28 prospects to review. Da Box's Jordan, Mike Green, Rob and yours truly have combined to deliver our report cards on the Jays top prospects.

There is one question to ask. Has the player improved, stayed at the same level, or regressed, in their prospect status? There are three possible answers, Improve, Flat, or Regress. On with the show...

Only one win on the farm. An offensive burst from the Skychiefs, a pitchers duel in Manchester, and a rough night for Danny Core.

A disappointing 0 – 4 night for Toronto’s affiliates featuring 3 pitching debuts and too many unearned runs.

I don't know if Casey Janssen is related to David Janssen who played Dr. Richard Kimble on the old "The Fugitive" TV show, but there was no search for a one-armed man yesterday as the two arms of Janssen and Eric Arnold led Dunedin to victory. Syracuse had no offense, New Hampshire pulled one out in the ninth behind a spot start by Jamie Vermilyea, Lansing had the offense but poor pitching. A 2-2 Sunday on the farm.