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.

I had a spectacular minor-league report ready for you, folks. Terrific stuff, took me an hour to write. And because I have a lousy computer and because my computer has a stupid owner, it's gone and I can't get it back. And it's now past 5:00 pm on Saturday. So here's the quickest damn minor-league report you ever saw:

The 13th of May was unlucky for Dustin McGowan and Blue Jay fans. In case you have not heard McGowan is out for the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. The Union Leader has the sorry details.

On the field Syracuse and New Hampshire extended their winning streaks while Dunedin and Charleston are still struggling.

It was a travel day in the International League, so the Syracuse Skychiefs will have to wait another game to extend their winning streak to two. Elsewhere in the minors, it was a successful day for all of the Jays’ farm teams except, perhaps predictably, the powerful squad in Charleston.

Yesterday was a day for firsts: The Chiefs won for the first time in 10 days; Bob File recorded his first professional win since April 14, 2001; And the AA Fisher Cats moved into first place after sweeping a doubleheader.

Syracuse dropped their eighth straight last night, but Dunedin broke a five-game skid with a late-inning comeback. Charleston also won and is sitting on a 24-8 record.

Syracuse and Dunedin are going through a tough time, both have multiple game losing streaks. Charleston are back on track. New Hampshire are the hottest team, the offense has been on fire since the arrival of Stubby Clapp. And Francisco Rosario is back.