I've got a lot to do today so only can come up with the first four stanzas ... who's next?

Casey on the Mound (Partial)
With sincere apologies and regrets to Ernest L. Thayer

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Fort Wayne nine that day,
The Lugnut team was tough -- those Lansing boys could play!

With a Cannon and a Wolfe hitting in this game,
The Lugnut squad was great, the Fort Wayne team was lame.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair.
The rest clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast.
They thought, "if only Casey could weaken on the mound.
We'd put up even money now, that Fort Wayne'd bat around."

But McLaughlin relieved Casey, as did also Danny Hill;
It was clear to all a-watching; Lansing moved in for the kill.

I've got enough difficulty with prose, so I'll let someone else finish off Mick's gem. Poetry in a minor league update is a first, and entirely appropriate for opening day.

Today's action features:
-Syracuse (Chad Gaudin) hosting Rochester (Boof Bonser) at 2
-NH is home to New Britain at 6:35
-Lansing hosting Fort Wayne at 7:05

All of these games are on internet radio.

Dunedin (Zach Jackson) again hosts Clearwater at 7:05.

With the big club at the Rogers Centre for opening day, all the boys are at home.

Given his age (23.5) and experience (drafted as a college senior) shouldn't Janssen be pitching in Dunedin?

If the Jays didn't have so much depth, he probably would be at Dunedin.

He should easily carve up single-A hitters with his four-pitch repertoire, solid control and advanced feel for pitching, but he will likely really struggle at higher levels because his fastball is 87-89 mph, which is very similar to Josh Towers. Janssen will likely end up in the pen at some point or his ceiling will likely not advance above a No. 5 starter, unless he adds a couple mph on that fastball.

"If the Jays didn't have so much depth, he probably would be at Dunedin."

I would have thought that Janssen would be ahead of Mike MacDonald who is starting in Dunedin according to Gerry's depth chart (http://www.gerrymcdonald.ca/depthchart.htm - which is awesome). They were both drafted last year, and Janssen was picked much higher.

But Macdonald, who has similar (not great) stuff to Janssen, had a better, more dominating season last year. He must have been more impressive in the spring too.

The Jays (under JP) have said all along that their minor league philosophy is to promote, train and treat players based on their performances... instead of how they were drafted. Other teams pay special attention to their top picks and more or less throw the other players to the wolves.

Great work Mike.
I find these reports one of the most valuable features at the box; before I discovered the box I really had no idea about the Jays farm system.

Question: Why is Gaudin starting? I thought he was a reliever?

Gaudin has always been a starter in the minors but he projects to be a better reliever in the majors because he is mainly a two-pitch pitcher. He still has time to develop a reliable third pitch, which could make him a solid No. 3 starter.

The depth chart is also available under Jays References at the top of the page.

Gaudin has been a starter although he might end up in the bullpen. Teams often put players in the starting rotation so they can get a predictable amount of innings in, and so they can face the same hitter more than once, to learn how to setup and vary their approach to hitters. Gaudin could be in this scenario.

Scott Downs was in the major league camp most of the spring and pitched in relief. I wonder how many extended outings he had to build up his arm, it looks like he hit a wall.

I heard Paul Godfrey on The Fan last night talking about the minors and he mentioned Purcey except he pronounced it Purce, as in the french pronounciation. I assumed it was Purcee, anyone know for sure?

The folks at BP discuss the Jays and in specific -- in keeping with this thread -- soon to be minor leaguer Gabe Gross.

Thanks, Paul.

Chad Gaudin was a starter in the minors. He pitched brilliantly in the California League in 2003, and after 3 fine starts at double A, the D-Rays decided to skip the rest of his pitching education and put him in the major league pen. The Jays have, rightly, decided to let him complete his pitching education as a starter. He needs 10-15 more good triple A starts, before he's ready for another shot at the bigs, and this time, it should probably be in the rotation. We'll see how it goes.

Chuck, I don't think it's a sure thing that Gross will be sent down. It's probable, yes, but there are other possibilities when Lilly comes off the DL.

I would have suggested that McDonald might the man on the bubble, but Gibbons appears to see him as a platoon partner for Adams.

I'd prefer to see Lilly bump a pitcher, myself.

Anyone know where I can get minor league boxscores? I used sportsnetwork.com last year, but they dont seme to be on the ball (pardon the pun) this year. And I couldn't go back to yesterday's scores on minorleaguebaseball.com

This Casey on the Mound poem won't end very well, since Casey is involved in the original one right to the end, and we've already relieved him in the fourth stanza above. So, for the sake of poetry, Janssen comes back into the game to pitch. To hell with baseball's rules, we have prose to get through.

Anyway...the rest of

Casey on the Mound:

So upon that stricken multitude, grim melancholy sat;
for there seemed but little chance of any Komets getting to the bat.

But Vincent let drive a single, to the wonderment of all.
And Morton, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball.

And when the dust had lifted,
and men saw what had occurred,
there was Tommy V safe at second and Kazmar a-batting third.

Then from seven thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
it rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;

it pounded through on the mountain and recoiled upon the ground;
for Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the mound.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place,
there was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face.

And when, responding to the cheers, he waved and looked around,
no stranger in the crowd could doubt t'was Casey on the mound.

Fourteen thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt.
Seven thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.

Then, while the writhing batter ground his spikes into his chalk,
defiance flashed in Casey's eye, he would not give up a walk.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
and Casey went through his motion in haughty grandeur there.

Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped --
"That there's my style," said Casey.
"Ball one!" the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
like the beating of the storm waves on a stern and distant shore.

"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand,
and it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity, great Casey's visage shone,
he stilled the rising tumult, he bade the game go on.

Thigpen signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew,
but Bush once more ignored it, and the umpire said, "Ball two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.

They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
and they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball be a ball again.

The sneer has fled from Casey's lip, the teeth are clenched all around.
He pounds, with cruel violence, his rosin bag upon the mound.

And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
and now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's throw.

Oh, somewhere in this capital city the sun is shining bright.
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And, somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout,

but there is no joy in Fort Wayne --
mighty Casey has struck out...another.


Wow, that ending is terrible. I'm sorry.

In more serious news...

It looks like there will be box scores and game logs for today's games here, here, and so forth. The URLs are easy to understand, which is nice if you have broken links and you need to get to a certain page.

Syracuse has started their game. Chad Gaudin vs. Boof Bonser, but the box score has the teams switched. In fact, I'm looking at the live boxscore right now. You can sort by AB, H, R, RBI, etc. Looks pretty cool, even if they need to work out some glitches.

Gaudin sat down Tyner, Rodriguez and Tiffee 1-2-3 with a strikeout in the top of the first. I think I'll listen to this game, if the feed works.

Well, milb.com has fixed one of the problems from yesterday. At least, Rochester's players are listed under Rochester. They still do not have IP totals for the pitchers. We'll see how the logs go; yesterday they were not broken down by inning, and so were quite difficult to work with.

In the bottom of the first, the Sky Chiefs scored a run as Anton French singled and stole second, Aaron Hill walked and Bryant Nelson singled in French. Bonser settled down and struck out the side.

Looks like Gaudin is cruising along with three no-hit innings and no walks allowed.

Why'd you gotta say that? Now Gaudin gave up 2 hits, and has runners on 2 & 3 with none out!

Red Wings ended up scoring 2, aided & abetted by Aaron Hill bobbling "a sure double play ball" and getting no outs.

The notorious JFG just went yard to tie it up at 2.

but there is no joy in Fort Wayne --
mighty Casey has struck out...another.

But there is no joy in Hoosier's State Thanks to Casey's increased "K" rate.

Yeah, that blows too.

All right. This is two days in a row, where the "mentioning a no-hitter" superstition has got us in a world of trouble. So, here's a way around it. "Gaudin is pitching an *excellent* game through 5 innings" can be the official BB sign. Hey, I'm a bridge player...

but the Wizards have no joy
for Casey has struck out another boy

See why I stick to prose?

How about....

but there is no joy in Fort Wayne
mighty Casey has three outs.

I had a quick chat with Dick Scott, the Blue Jay farm director. Here are some updates:

Christian Snavely is being converted to third base. The Jays felt there some better outfielders ahead of him in the system and he would have a better chance to make it as a third baseman. He did play some infield in college.

Adam Lind remains in the outfield. Scott felt the jump from NY Penn to the FSL is a big one without changing position also. In addition Lind is still young and might develop into a better outfielder.

Dustin McGowan is almost ready to try and throw breaking balls again. He has made a good recovery so far and Dane Johnston has tweaked his mechanics a little bit to take some of the strain off his arm. Scott would not put a timeframe on McGowans return to Dunedin.

DJ Hanson missed all of last year with knee problems and now he has torn his labrum. Hanson had surgery around ten days ago and is gone for the season.

Brian Hall also had labrum surgery and is done for the year.

Matt Dalton, who was released this spring, was the victim of the numbers game, with all the pitchers the Jays have drafted recently. Dalton, who was undrafted, was a submariner who did not have the potential of guys who throw in the nineties.

Just a quick comment on listening to the Skychiefs game.....it sounds like they cannot play the field for their lives!!! I think I just heard the 3rd error since the 4th, and there have been many other missteps.

There is no joy in Fort-Wayne, in fact its quite a pout
For Casey on the Mound has struck his third one out

I think you've got it there, ds. Among the four or so of us, we make up one really bad poet!

A question for those more in the know than myself. Is Marcum a decent "comp" to what Janssen can achieve? Both seem to be not overpowering but have good control of four pitches and can throw them in any situation. I realize that Janssen is old for low A and should be pitching well, but Marcum spent a half season in low A last year and another half season in Dunedin. I also recognize that Marcums control both BB/IP, and K/BB are ungodly and he is younger and already in New Hampshire. Is it reasonable to expect Janssen to have success and follow the "Marcum development plan of 2004"?

Not exactly. Marcum has a filthy slider, to go along with three other pretty good pitches. His major issue is endurance. He was a closer in college and in the New York-Penn League, and was converted to starting last year. The conversion proceeded well, but these things are never sure (David Bush's conversion worked; Justin Maureau's did not).

Janssen does have very good control within the strike zone, but he doesn't have "the pitch". His K rates have been, and are likely to remain, much lower than Marcum's. However, his ability to continue in the starting role is less of an issue.

Through 10 in Syracuse, the score is tied at 4. Sounds like it will be a good one, and I can finally listen to the game.

Official Friend of Batter's Box Spike Lundberg is coming in for the 11th in what I believe is his Syracuse debut. He just took a liner off his glove and the manager/pitching coach are checking him out. From what I can hear, he's fine.

Pitchers so far: Gaudin went 5.1 innings, then Carlson (6), Miller (7), Arnold (8), Whiteside (9), Lundberg (11). Nannini (3 innings yesterday) and Burnside are the only two left in the bullpen, and Burnside should be available if this one goes more than 12.

Bottom 11th: Aaron Hill smokes one 370 feet, but it's caught at the wall by Dunwoody. Inning over, onto the 12th.

Spike has been a starter on and off throughout his career, he could take it into the 16th or 17th if absolutely necessary.

Through 12, nothing doing. Spike coming back for the 13th, his third inning.

Spike keeps it scoreless, and we go to the bottom of the 13th.

Jason Alfaro is set to lead off this inning, and he is 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. Ouch. What kind of sombrero is that?

Two men on for Syracuse in the bottom of the 13th.

0-2 pitch, Anton French with a fly ball hooking...hooking...inside the foul pole. It's gone! Three run homer, 7-4 win for Syracuse!

Spike is your winner, pitching three scoreless innings.

New Britain defeated the Fisher Cats 5-4 with 3 runs in the eighth off Jordan DeJong. Josh Banks pitched well, and Carlo Cota probably wished that he had taken the day off with 5 Ks in 5 trips.

But, Dunedin is laying a good beating on Clearwater behind Zach Jackson, and Lansing behind great pitching from Aaron Wideman leads against Fort Wayne late.

I was at the Dunedin game tonight and Zach Jackson pitched into the 7th inning and for the first 6 innings he was absolutely excellent. They scored their only run off him in the 7th as he seemed to tire.

Justin James relieved him and pitched very well also.

Final score: 9-2.

I went to the second game of the year last night for the Lugnuts and here are my game two clips / observations.

Lansing improved to 2-0 on the season with a 5-2 win over the Wizards.

AJ Wideman started for the Lugnuts. He is a skinny left handed kid with (from what I could see), three pitches. They were a fast ball, curveball and change up. No one pitch was overly impressive. The fastball topped out at 82 last night (I'm ommitting the guy that was putting 199 mph on the board last night after almost every other pitch), but was around 80 most of the night. Change up at 70 and the curve......Well, the curve needs a little bit of work as it is flat and it hangs. However, it was good enough last night. The first two hitters led off the game with hits. The lead off guy hit a single and Padres first round draft pick Matt Bush moved him to third on a double that got stuck in the left field corner. He did work out of it without giving up a run. He was relieved in the sixth by Po-Hsuan Keng (who got the win) and Matt Sopko finished it off.

The scoreless streak lasted into the seventh tonight as the Fort Wayne Wizards scored there first run on a base hit up the middle that was bobbled by Yuber Rodriquez for the Wizards first run, and Lansing's first error of the year. Yuber made up for it with two very nice catches in center. He appears to have very good range.

A couple of other first's came tonight with Juan Peralta picking up his first RBI of the year and Curtis Thigpen hit his first home run (and the Lugnuts first home run as a Blue Jays affiliate) very high onto the left field berm scoring him and Peralta.

The guys on the infield continued to look sharp. I read on here that Snavely was an outfielder last year, but he looks very solid at third. He must have played there at some point in his high school or college life. The outfield play was a little sloppy and there were two errors (and one that maybe should have been an error last night). The first one is mentioned above and occured by Yuber, the second was by Cory Patton in left field who threw to second in the ninth on a base hit and no one was covering the bag. Fort Wayne scored their second run of the year.

My unoffical player of the game is Curtis Thigpen. He went 2-4 at the plate tonight with a two run jack. Congratulations to Curtis. For being my unofficial player of the game he wins.......Well he wins nothing, but he does get my pat on the back (which again probably means nothing).

The Lugnuts now finish this opening series against Fort Wayne in Fort Wayne before an off day on Monday and return to Lansing on Tuesday for a three game homestand against the South Bend Silverhawks (Diamondbacks affiliate).

Oh, one more thing. In case you are interested, Lansing audio archives every game (so you can listen to them whenever you want). I have never listened to the webcast so I don't know how the quality is, but you do have that option if it so interests you.

That will be my last game report until God only knows when. I have tickets to all the games on weekends, but I don't get a chance to make it to Old's Park much during the week (due to my duties at work and around my house). I may however go to Comerica tomorrow to see the Tigers / Indians game. The next weekend series is one that I would like to go to as West Michigan will be in during that time (Detroit affiliate and always a huge rival of Lansing, as well as it would be the 2003 MWL champs playing the 2004 MWL champs). However, my wife and I are coming to see the mother club that weekend. We will be in town from the night of Wednesday the 20th until Sunday the 24th. We have tickets for Friday's and Saturday's game at the Roger Centre against the Orioles.

One other thing that I thought may or may not interest you guys is a top ten list of things relevant to Lugnuts baseball (in celebration of the Lugnuts 10th anniversary season). I will try to do one once a week in a comment (unless you tell me to be quiet), mixing in some of the top 10 lists from Lugnuts magazine to trying to come up with my own. Today's top 10 list are the top 10 players to have played for Lansing as written in the Lansing Lugnuts souvenior program that I got last night.

The list is as follows (and I'm not saying I agree with the order).

10: Jason Dubois - Jason is someone people in the Toronto organization should be familiar with as Toronto picked him up in the Rule 5 draft in 2003. He will be platooning with Todd Hollandsworth in left field for the Chicago Cubs this season.

9: Carlos Febles - Carlos started off his MLB career with a bang, but has since vanished from the face of the earth. The last I had heard, he was playing in Omaha, but I'm not sure what he is up to now.

8: Hee Seop Choi - Hee Seop made his professional debut in 1999 with the Lugnuts and showed a lot of talent as well as power. He has been moving around the majors the last couple of years, playing for the Cubs, Marlins and Dodgers. Hee Seop has yet to show the promise at the major league level that he did at the minor league level however.

7: Carlos Zambrano - He needs no introduction. He is another member of the 1999 club and was only 17 when he played in Lansing. He was the Cubs opening day starter this year and is a very valuable clog within the Cubs starting rotation.

6: Lance Carter - Lance is now pitching for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays team. He also has the honor of being the first Lugnut to be named to an MLB all star team.

5: Todd Wellemeyer - Todd is pitching out of the pen for the Cubs this season as he did last year. He was a starter in Lansing. He has proven to be a solid alternative out of the pen (especiall when Kyle Farnsworth was pitching for the Cubs and no one knew where the ball was going to go when he threw it).

4: Juan Cruz - Juan made some brief appearances for the Cubs a few years ago before being traded to Atlanta before the start of the 2004 season. He was another slightly built hard throwing right hander in the Cubs organization. He is currently pitching for the Oakland Athletics.

3: Corey Patterson - Corey is yet another member of the 1999 Lugnut team. He is in my opinion the second best center fielder that has appeared for the Lugnuts (my vote for the best is Felix Pie). Corey showed alot of talent and was the third overall pick in the draft out of high school when he was here. He held the Lugnuts home run record until it was shattered last year. When Pie is MLB ready, look for Corey to move to a corner infield position and move down in the batting order as Pie will be a better option in the leadoff postion.

2: Carlos Beltran - Okay, this is when we get to the part of the list that I start disagreeing with. Carlos needs no introduction as he is now playing for the New York Mets and was probably the most sought after free agent during this past offseason. He is for sure the most successful player to have ever put on the Lugnut uniform. He should have been number 1 in my opinion (even more so by who is #1 as he is an unproven commodity), but this list was voted on by the fans, so what do you do?

1: Brian Dopirak - Brian is someone that you may or may not have heard of. He played at the end of the 2003 Lugnut season, and was here all of last season. In his stint with the Lugnuts, he put up some impressive numbers and obtained some very impressive rewards. He won a MWL title with the Lugnuts in 2003. He was also named the MWL MVP for the 2004 season and was named the Cubs minor league player of the year as well as being named to the Topps minor league post season all star team. His numbers last year were quite impressive. He hit over .300 (.307 I believe), shattered Corey Patterson's home run record of 30 by hitting 39 and shattered the RBI record by driving in 120. Brian will be playing in the FSL this season for the Daytona Cubs.

Feedback and your opinions are always welcome.

Is there a thread somewhere talking about the Jays farmhands busted for Steroids?

I don't have an online subscription to the Star, but the details are there and in the print version.

Bottom line is that Julius Matos, Raul Tablado and Brian Reed are all serving suspensions. JP is quoted as saying he wouldn't be surprised if the testing this year catches a few more guys.

Paul, none of the three were "busted for steroids". The minor league policy covers a range of things, including over-the-counter supplements. An article in the New Hampshire Union Leader indicated this was Tablado's offence (suspension is carrying over from last year). We do not know the nature of Reed's or Matos' offences.