The farm affiliates went 3-3 on the evening with a 9th inning Doubleday uprising being the highlight.

Bad night for the pitchers, as both starters and relievers conspired to give up the go-ahead runs in 4 out of 5 games played. Only Auburn escaped with a victory last night. There were some sterling starting performances ruined when a starter went back to the mound once too often or the relievers couldn't get the job done. Some nights, both sides of the coin come up tails.

5 wins, 1 loss. Chad Mottola, Ryan Roberts, Adam Lind, Eugenio Velez, Nick Thomas, Leance Soto and Paul Franko all homered.

The Rookie level Pulaski Blue Jays kicked off their 2005 campaign with a loss to the Danville Braves on June 20. It’s been a tough season for a club that is accustomed to finding itself at or near the top of the standings. An 18-21 record through July 31 had Pulaski sitting in 3rd place, with the Princeton Devil Rays between themselves and the division leading Braves.

The Blue Jay farm takes 3 and drops 3, with more pitching than hitting.

Two wins and four losses, but two teams have moved into first place in their divisions. Zach Jackson had his best AAA start, as did Ricky Romero in high A, but Eric Fowler was better. Rob Cosby had a home run among his three hits.

Well, since Mike D's interview with these players gives more information about their character, potential and projectability than 178 plate appearances in a short-season league five steps below Toronto, there's not much I can say about this team that could improve on Mike's excellent work out on Coney Island. You're invited to read along, anyway.

As I write this, Auburn is off the pace of their previous Atlanta Braves-style seasons, as they are only 20-21. However, that is enough to top the Pinckney Division, even though the last place team is only 2.5 games worse. It will be an interesting stretch drive for Auburn -- their season ends September 8th, or about five weeks from now. But for now, let's take a look at how the Doubledays did in June and July. (This review includes the first three Blue Jay picks of the 2005 draft, if you're wondering.)

It has been an unusual year for Dunedin. Prospects have come and gone faster than a Grade 7 romance. Zach Jackson, Dustin McGowan, David Purcey, Casey Janssen, Ryan Roberts, Clint Johnston, Chip Cannon. Thanks for the memories. It was real. Still, the Baby Jays find themselves in early August in a race for the second-half division title, 1/2 game behind first-half champ Lakeland and a game ahead of the hard-charging Fort Myers Miracle.

Shaun Marcum got back on the rails last night, while Casey Janssen keeps on trucking. Hmm, maybe I need a travelling holiday. The farm boys, as my spouse calls them, went 2-4 on the evening.

That's the sound of offensive explosions reverberating all the way through the Blue Jays' system, including an incredible 9th inning for New Hampshire, an amazing 10th inning for Auburn, and yet another stupendous performance by Adam Lind. All this, and Josh Banks pitches his best game of the year. Could anything ruin this night? Only some spoilsports in Pulaski.

Five wins for the affiliates, with the only loss coming on a balk. There was a cornucopia of excellent performances last night. New Hampshire scored four runs in the first inning which might be a bigger surprise than Auburn scoring 14 or Lansing scoring 16. Two minor leaguers, Justin Singleton and Ryan Klosterman, each went 4-4. Guillermo Quiroz hit two home runs. Francisco Rosario pitched 2.1 hitless innings for his first save of the year. The best pitchers on the three lowest teams, Chi-Hung Cheng, Robert Ray and Jesse Litsch all won as they had a combined 38 runs scored for them. Both Lansing and Pulaski defeated Burlington.

Iowa and North Carolina, at least. The only noteworthy event in Burlington, Ontario yesterday was the announcement of Gordon Currie's intention to join Gennum.

Anyway, instead of going over every game as per usual, I'll just update you all on the noteworthy events and prospect happenings of the five games played last night.

Hello, I must be going: a busy month in New Hampshire saw about a dozen players move on and off the roster, including top pitching prospects like Dustin McGowan, David Purcey, Zach Jackson and Shaun Marcum. The Fisher Cats didn’t really benefit from all this player movement, losing ten straight games at one point and falling to third place, 6 ½ games out of the division lead. A little more personnel consistency and some revived hitting (the F-Cats are dead-last in EL batting with a .245/.303/.372 mark) might help spark a turnaround for the defending champions.

Tough night on the farm as only Auburn could scrape up a win while Ricky Romero was roughed up in his home debut in Dunedin.

Ho-Hum, Ho-hum, an average month for the Chiefs. To recap, April and May were disappointing and frustrating for the Chiefs, June was a big improvement and the team moved over .500, but July was just under average, two games under .500 as the Chiefs record was 54-55 at the end of July. The hitters took the brunt of the blame for the slow start to the year but it's the pitchers that pulled the Chiefs under .500 in July. Unless they can pull off a 13-2 run in August, Syracuse have to give up hopes of making the playoffs, they are seven games behind Buffalo, the division leader, but they are also seven games out of the wild card.