In other news, the Tennessee Smokies finished last in their division and had the second worst record in the Southern League. I wonder if they're second guessing their decision to dump the Jays as their parent club.

Oh... wait a minute. I didn't realize the Southern league was a split season. The Smokies were last place in the second half but won the first half title and have advanced to the Southern League Championship finals. So uh... I guess the answer would be no, they're probably quite happy with the Cards.

Fisher Cats' Manager Mike Basso is on the FAN right now.

http://www.jr-digital.com/cjcl.asx
(COMN for Windows Media link to FAN broadcast.)

The Cardinals are pulling out of Knoxville for the Texas League next year I read.

The Cardinals bought the El Paso Texas League franchise, and are moving it to Springfield, MO. They will swith their affiliation to this team from Tennessee.

So I guess the Jays were 1 for 4 in the first round of the playoffs. Which makes sense as the New Hampshire is easily the deepest and most talented of the playoff teams though their offence may be a bit of a concern.

Looking at the Altoona Curve, I'd say it's pretty evenly matched but I still give the Cats the edge in terms of pitching depth.

Anthony - correct!

Guys, Gustavo Chacin was 2-0 vs. Altoona this year and threw 15 innings in his 2 starts against them allowing no earned runs and had 9 Ks. Important note - due to the 509 mile distance between Altoona and Manchester New Hampshire (and the 9 hour bus ride) the Eastern League has granted a travel day this Thursday in between games 2 and 3. What does this mean? It means Gus can pitch games 1 and 5 of the series on full rest.

Also, Jason Arnold left the the Fisher Cats to attend to a personal issue, but was supposed to rejoin them tomorrow in Altoona. Has anyone heard any more on this?

BTW, Arnold wasn't with the team in Binghamton - so its not like he just left yesterday or today.

Nine hour bus ride? You think they could wrangle up a plane from Boston to Harrisburg on JetBlue or Southwest.

Ahh, the life of the AA player.

I think the transportation and its cost are incurred by the Minor League team itself, without any contributions from the Major League affiliate. The last thing Mr. Penny Pincher Drew Webber (the owner) would do is pay for that. It would be nice if Toronto stepped up and footed that bill in an effort to get 1 Championship this year.

I have just seen that Toronto is talking with the Lansing Lugnuts (A) about a two year deal. Lansing was a Cubs affiliate, but the Cubs signed with Peoria after the Cardinals switched to the Swing of the Quad Cities. (ballparkwatch.com)

Lansing and Charleston are both owned by the same group. Take Me Out to the Ballgame LLC. I would think that Lansing/Toronto make a much better fit than Charleston/Toronto for both organizations.

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=43950
COMN for today's Union-Leader series preview.

Charleston has a brand new facility opening next year, don't they?

Was at the FisherCats game in Binghamton, NY
Dom Rich had two (2) RBI's, I know you don't think much of him, he had a great year, 143 hits is best in the Blue Jays Org. I would not count him out, he'll get his speed back soon!

I suppose this is the place for tonight's BBRadio...it's the most recent minor league thread, after all.

I probably won't be able to do anything until later, maybe 9:00. Anyone up for the first part of the game?

7:05 first pitch, vs.

Ballparkdigest.com is now reporting that Lansing and Toronto did sign a PDC through 2006. The Charleston Alley Cats will sign with the Brewers.

I'm ready to do it, but I'd have figured that there'd be a new thread for it.

Game 1 vs the Altoona Curve is about to begin soon, they're in a rain delay right now. It's was raining, it's cleared up now, but there's some rain on the way.

Commentators start out mentioning that the Fisher Cats got past the Mets because of the total lack of hitting that the Mets displayed, then worried about high strike out counts by the Fisher Cats and preached patience at the plate.

They then mention that the pitching was "lights out" : 1.49 team ERA. League is back in the bullpen, as a late-inning bridge.

They then mention that the Game 2 starter for the Curve, Bryan Bullington haven't started in 16 days, and Ian Snell, an overpowering Curve pitcher (had 11 K's in 5 innings vs the Fisher Cats) has back troubles (or "side pulls"), might show up in game three. He might start Game 3, or move up their game 4 starter.

They then mention how the Fisher Cats might not be here had the Mets not traded Kazmir to the Devil Rays.

More to come, when / if the rain stops and the game starts.

Oddly enough, in the rain delay, the Fisher Cat network is broadcasting the Red Sox game against Tampa, and Kazmir is pitching for the Rays.

Yeah, I almost mentioned that. I guess they wanted some content, and New Hampshire is close enough to Boston, I guess.

I'm not sure what the rainout status is. They seemed optimistic in the pregame show, but I guess it's rained out, and going tommorow.

Hi all. They've just given us a 10:05pm first pitch here in Altoona for tonight's Eastern League Game 1. It hasn't rained since 7pm, we've just been sitting here.

By the way, the station we are on in the post-season is regularly the Red Sox affiliate, that's why we switched back to that.

Bob

Anybody know the last Toronto farm team to win a Championship?

Thanks for the update.

About the championship, I have no idea. I did some googling, but all I could find was that the Skychiefs have never won a championship for as long as they have been affiliated with the Blue Jays.

Starting: Zack Duke, 20th round selection in 2001 draft, and he's the 15th best prospect of the Pirates, but he's moving up. He's the Carolina League pitcher of the year.

Godwin gets out before I start listening.

Rich hits a sharp one-hopper to the third baseman, and he's out.

Hill falls behind 0-2, takes two balls, gets jammed and pops one foul and out of play, foul tips the next one, then hits one to down the line to left, and Hill is on with a single.

John-Ford Griffin hits a grounder up the middle, and it gets through, and Hill's on second.

John Hattig comes up, he's hitting .125 with a homer for the playoffs. "Sunglasses at Night" is playing as he comes up to hit. He foul-tips a breaking ball, and it's caught for the out that (finally) ends the top of the 1st.

I think I'm good for . . . maybe 1/2 an inning more. Early lecture tommorow, so there's no way that I can be up until 1 or whenever this game'll end.

Starting: Zack Duke, 20th round selection in 2001 draft, and he's the 15th best prospect of the Pirates, but he's moving up. He's the Carolina League pitcher of the year.

Godwin gets out before I start listening.

Rich hits a sharp one-hopper to the third baseman, and he's out.

Hill falls behind 0-2, takes two balls, gets jammed and pops one foul and out of play, foul tips the next one, then hits one to down the line to left, and Hill is on with a single.

John-Ford Griffin hits a grounder up the middle, and it gets through, and Hill's on second.

John Hattig comes up, he's hitting .125 with a homer for the playoffs. "Sunglasses at Night" is playing as he comes up to hit. He foul-tips a breaking ball, and it's caught for the out that (finally) ends the top of the 1st.

I think I'm good for . . . maybe 1/2 an inning more. Early lecture tommorow, so there's no way that I can be up until 1 or whenever this game'll end.

Sorry, I couldn't do any BBRadio earlier. Unexpected virus problems occured, and I had to do a little tinkering. I'll try and catch some BBRadio later in the series.

Rob -- The game just started, it's in the bottom of the 1st, and not starting well.

And I somehow double post. Nice.

One of the commentators: "There's been a 3 hour rain delay . . . without the rain!" Zing.

Chris Duffy leads off for the Curve (.571 in the playoffs, 4 RBIs, and .309 / .378 / .439) in the regular season)

Chacin gets two quick strikes, and a 1-2 grounder goes to Hattig, but it pops up just as it gets to him, and he can't handle it.

Duffy stole 32 bases in 40 attempts.

Mike Moriarty (.303 on the season) comes up. Chacin falls behind 2-0, he pops one out foul, he laces one deep to left-center, Singleton can't get to it, Duffy scores, and Moriarty is on second, 1-0 Curve.

McLouth comes up, bunts, and he pops up, Chacin throws to second to try and pick off Moriarty, and the ball gets away from Hill for an error, and Moriarty's on third with one out.

Brad Eldred is up. Chacin's first pitch goes into the dirt, Moriarty starts home, but thinks better of it. Eldred misses badly on a fastball, the 2-2 pitch misses, he fouls off two 3-2 pitches, and then he strikes out.

Tom Evans (a former Blue Jay from '97 - '98) is up for the Curve after playing for "Tabasco" of the Mexican league. He's hitting .308 / .404 / .500 in 33 games. He hits a blooper that falls in front of Godwin. It's now 2-0 as Moriarty scores.

Chacin's first 2 run inning since July 15th at Harrisburg. I think that was his last loss, too. Jorge Cortes hits a grounder in front of the plate, the catcher grabs it and throws him out, ending the inning.

Curve 2, Cats 0 after 1, and I think I'm done for the night.

One last one:

Chacin has 2 K's in the inning, but the third batter gets a stand-up triple when Jova was playing shallow and the ball goes over his head.

Duffy hits one past Hill to score Skrehot, and it's 3-0 Curve.

Duffy steals second. The PA guy plays "I Ran" by A Flock Of Seagulls, and my love of minor league baseball is once again justified.

A slow grounder by Moriarty ends the inning, but it's 3-0 after 2.

I turn on NH game and Singleton tries a sac bunt and runner is safe as catcher tries to go to 3rd. Bases loaded no one out. Chiaffredo K's. Snyder pops out. Godwin up and singles to right, one runner scores and Jova is thrown out at the plate. 4-3 Altoona after 6.5 or was that 5.5. Chacin was still pitching. Anyways I'm done.

OK. Not quite done. League comes on for Chacin. It was 5.5. So bottom of 6th. Allows leadoff blooper but then retires the side. 4-3 after 6. Top 7th, Hill doubles with 1 out and JFG singles him home. 4-4. Former ML'er Blake Stein pitching this inning. JFG stranded. Bottom of 7th League retires Altoona 1-2-3 quickly including nice play by Hill. 4-4 after 7. Now I'm really going.

F-Cats win 5-4.

It was quite a comeback by the F-Cats. I'll leave the details to Ryan in his update.

Kazmir wowed the Red Sox announcing crew by, among other things, blowing fastballs by Manny Ramirez. His slider is very hard with a sharp late break. Nasty. If he can stay healthy...

Hey guys,

I am a season ticket holder for the Lansing Lugnuts and it seems like you guys might be able to shed some light on the system. How does the system look? I am a big cubbie fan and am kind of sad to see the affiliation go, but it is good to be with a team that seems to want to be here. I look forward to talking with you guys.

Lugnut fan:

The Blue Jay system is very strong, four of the six teams made the playoffs this year. Next year in Lansing you should see many players from this years Auburn team. Look for an Auburn summary on Monday.

Thanks Gerry,

I figured we would see mostly Auburn Doubledays and some of the remnants of Charleston. Lansing is a big improvement from Charleston. The team averages roughly 5600 fans per game a stark improvement fromt he 1800 or so that they averaged down there. Looking forward to chatting with you guys. Welcome to the Midwest League.