The boys representing the Canadian club ruined Independence Day in four American cities, as the full season clubs registered wins. And, this being the first Tuesday of the month, it’s time for a Three-Star update.

Your intrepid Syracuse correspondent is on vacation so I am preparing the month end review four days in advance, as Mike Myers would say: "Talk amongst yourselves. June was a good month for the Chiefs, discuss."

Though it's a Monday off for those of us south of the border (or north, if you live in Windsor or certain places in the Yukon), there is no rest for this Canadian, as we had our day of holi on Friday.

A 3-3 record for the affiliates last night and yesterday afternoon. Why isn't it "last afternoon"?

The farm affiliates received shutout starts from Chris Baker, Jamie Vermilyea and Jesse Litsch as they went 4-2 on the evening. All three made it look easy.

Very short on time today -- holidays, and all -- so you'll have to be contact with the following minor-league report, written entirely in senyru/haiku. Happy Canada Weekend.

Say it loud. Say it proud. Leance has pop in his bat. Two homers (and two strikeouts) led Pulaski to victory, as the farm affiliates went 4-2.

The pun was so nice, he used it twice.

Dustin returned to Double-A last night, the D-Jays At The Bat didn't help out Casey one bit, the Devil Rays' affiliates paid back Syracuse and Lansing for the 12-3 thrashing of the parent club and there was a little dispute involving the French. All told, a 2-4 night on the farm.

With the way the bullpens on the full-season teams were pitching, Dunedin was lucky they were rained out. Only the short-season teams picked up wins last night.

So you understand less
as the pages turn

The Toronto Sun sports section? Maybe. But the lyric applies to these minor league updates in a way too: We can hazard an educated guess as to how a SkyChief might perform were he promoted to The Show next week, but by the time we get down to Pulaski virtually anyone on the roster could be the next Mike Piazza or the next Jeromie Spillman. The results last night: 3 wins and 2 losses, plenty offence but not a lot of pitching.

The top three teams win, the next two suffer bullpen losses, and Pulaski are blown out, but Wesley Stone, the Jays top high school pick this year, has a nice first start, including his first pro tater.

So, Dick Scott sent out an e-mail to the farm affiliates on Saturday morning. It was simple. Starting pitchers are expected to throw shutouts, while the hitters are expected to hit a few homers. Lo and behold, the clubs by and large listened and the plan worked, as the farm affiliates went 5-1.

Bauxites have spoken, and they are not wildly impressed with the position prospects, but put them in this order:

1.  Lind
2.  Cannon
3.  Roberts
4.  Quiroz
5.  Hattig-tie
5.  Thigpen-tie
7.  Pettway-tie
7.  Patterson-tie
9.  Griffin
10. Negron

I am quite sure that Bauxites collectively have done a better job of appraising prospects than I did. Well done, everyone. It's cool that Pettway and Patterson ended up tied.

Only the Blue Jays' full-season A-Ball teams came away with victories last night, including a doubleheader sweep in Dunedin and a big win for Lansing. Altogether amazing achievements for the A-level athletes -- alliteratively, anyway.

We've spoken about the minor league pitching prospects. How about the top 10 hitting prospects?

Here are my choices:


1.  Quiroz
2.  Roberts
3.  Hattig
4.  Lind
5.  Thigpen
6.  Cannon
7.  Griffin
8.  Negron
9.  Pettway
10. Patterson

What do you think?

Bauxites have spoken. I tallied the votes using a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale and here are the results:

1. Dustin McGowan
2. David Purcey
3. Brandon League- tie
3. Francisco Rosario-tie
5. Zach Jackson
6. Ricky Romero
7. Shaun Marcum
8. Josh Banks
9. Casey Janssen
10. Chi-Hung Cheng

The hitters poll will be coming later this morning.