Louisville 7 Syracuse 5

The Chiefs have found several ways to lose this season, yesterday it was the bullpen's turn. The Chiefs relievers have lost 14 games this year, by contrast the Jays relievers have lost six. Spike Lundberg and Adrian Burnside combined to allow two runs in the ninth and the Chiefs were done. It was Lundberg's third inning of work, maybe a stretch for Spike? Chris Baker started and struggled through six innings with five runs conceded on ten hits. The Chiefs were down 5-4 when Baker left the game but tied it in the seventh on two hits and an error. The Chiefs had scored three in the second on an inning that started walk, hit batter and error. Louisville outhit the Chiefs 14-7. Gabe Gross had two hits, one a double, to raise his average to .272. Andy Dominique and Anton French also had two hits. John Hattig was 1-3 with a double to keep his average at .346.

Norwich 4 New Hampshire 2

Another "offensively challenged" game with each team having six hits. Vince Perkins started, the lead off hitter doubled and scored on a sac fly but Perkins was strong through five with a total of two hits and two walks allowed. Perkins might have tired in the sixth as Norwich scored two on three hits and a walk. Overall it was a good start for Perkins, three runs over 5.2 innings on five hits and three walks, but only one strikeout. Jamie Vermilyea came on in relief and pitched 2.1 innings and gave up just one hit, but it was a home run. The Fisher Cats scored their two runs before an out was recorded, Ron Acuna led off with a double and Ryan Roberts followed with a two run home run. Acuna was the only Cat with two hits.

Dunedin at Fort Myers - Postponed, rain

They played the top of the first with Tingler walking, and Arnold getting a hit but then the rains came and the game was called. David Purcey would have warmed up so he might not start Monday.

Lansing 14 Peoria 12

Three days after a 14-13 game, Lansing almost repeated that game when they and Peoria combined for 26 runs, 30 hits, 9 walks, 5 erros, 17 left on base, and all of that in three hours and sixteen minutes. Danny Core started, coming off a few bad starts, and made it through six innings with a 12-4 lead, but Peoria exploded for six runs off Core and Po-Hsuan Keng in the seventh to narrow the Lansing lead to 2. Lansing added a run in the eighth and another in the ninth to give enough margin to Mark Sopko who gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth, benefited from a great catch by Aaron Mathews, and finished with runners on second and third.

Corey Patton got the Lugnuts going in the second with a two run home run, Patton went 3-5 with a double, a home run, three runs and three RBI's. Patton's batting average is still only .193. Luke Hetherington had three hits, a double, a triple, four runs and two RBI's. Christian Snavely also had three hits.

Your Three Star Selection

Third star - Ryan Roberts, two run home run

Second Star - Luke Hetherington, 3-5

First Star - Corey Patton, big day with the stick

Standings Update

Syracuse record is 24-32. The Chiefs are fifth, eleven games back of Buffalo.

The Fisher Cats are 31-24, and are back in second place, a half game back of Portland.

Dunedin's record is 35-21 which puts them in second place, two and a half games behind Lakeland.

The Lugnuts are 30-26, in third place, three and a half games behind South Bend

Bonus Coverage - a chat with Dick Scott

Blue Jay farm director Dick Scott was in Syracuse at the weekend and I chatted with him briefly, some of the answers are short as Scott had only a few minutes to talk.....

On Brandon League: "I saw him pitch thursday and he threw the ball well, the first three, four innings he was 96-98 with good sink; he tired a bit in the fifth and sixth but it was a good start. When you have a good sinker its hard to throw it to spots, he needs to keep it down in the zone and let the ball work and he did a good job of that last night."

On Francisco Rosario struggling recently: "Guys have to learn how to compete when they don't have their best stuff."

On Shaun Marcum: "He has great control, probably the best in the system, and he had 9 strikeouts here in his first AAA start with his fastball at 88-90, a pretty impressive debut." On Marcum versus Banks: "Marcum was a little ahead of Josh, Marcum has better fastball command and that's why he's here but I expect to see some of those other guys here before the end of the year."

On Josh Banks trouble with the home run: "That's the way it is with all pitchers, you have to command your fastball. Look at a big league game guys, if you can't command your fastball you won't be there long. It's a work in process for everybody, and Josh has really improved, you just have some games like that."

On Jason Arnold in the bullpen: "He has found his niche, he was a reliever in college, his velocity is improving, his fastball was 93-94 last time out, he has done a nice job."

On the new stadium in New Hampshire, is it a pitchers park? "No, its a hitters park, we have a young team there, and there are a lot of guys there we brought up from the FSL and its the first year in AA and you weed out the prospects from the suspects. We are starting first year guys in a lot of spots and they are having trouble adjusting but we are giving them a chance to play to find out what they can do."

On Ryan Roberts promotion: "He deserved to move up, he had nine home runs, he spent time in Dunedin last year, it was time for him to move. His defence is getting better, he has a strong arm and he is turning the double play better and his focus is a lot better."

On Adam Lind: "He has been playing every day, we need to give him some rest, he hit .360 the first month, I didn't expect that to continue but I was getting the game reports every night and he was still hitting the ball hard, there weren't too many game reports that said struggled tonight. He has a lot of confidence and composure for a young guy and everybody goes through those stretches but he seems to right himself fairly quickly."

On Dustin McGowan: "He struggled a bit but he will be fine."

On David Purcey: "He has made a little adjustment in his delivery but he also needs to command his fastball, but he will be up before too long. It just comes down to fastball command, that's what's going to make him move."

On Casey Janssen's velocity: "Like a lot of guys he threw a ton of innings in college and last year he was getting acclimated to the system, just like Jackson and Purcey they are all overworked in college. Janssen was another one he just needed a winter off to rest his arm."

On Juan Peralta at second base: "He is playing there because we have Ryan Klosterman, but he can play shortstop, and he is playing well and they make a nice double play combination."

On Guillermo Quiroz: "He needs another three weeks of doing nothing to let his lung heal."

On Joey Metropoulos: "He is playing in extended spring training but not running at 100%, he's probably 80%-85% right now."

On Lee Soto: "We will compare him to who we draft to see where he goes. He has not played a lot of competitive baseball, he just came in at the start of extended spring. We are just trying to get him as many at-bats and reps at third base as we can. He is a big strong guy, he has some pop and a strong arm."