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Lansing won near the end and a Batter's Box favourite had the right stuff in Syracuse but, unfortunately, the offense didn't. Six games on the farm last night out of a scheduled seven. Can you guess who had the rain delay?


Buffalo 3 @ Syracuse 1

Jamie Vermilyea
held a tough offensive team at bay in his seven innings of work, allowing just five hits (with no walks) and only one run. So where did the other two come from? Well, Vinnie Chulk came in for the eighth, allowed a single, then a stolen base...then a wild pitch and another single by former Chief Jason Alfaro. Brandon League gave up another in the ninth, and that was the final.

It was a night for former Blue Jay farmhands, as Tom "Nasty" Mastny, a one-time member of the lights-out Charleston Alley Cats rotation from a few years back, picked up the win in relief of Jeremy Guthrie with a scoreless seventh inning. Another member of that Alley Cats' team made an appearance as Davis Romero pitched to the last Buffalo batter in the ninth. (Who else was in that rotation? Shaun Marcum, who you know quite well, and Justin James, who you're about to hear from.)

Ryan Roberts
scored the only run of the game for Syracuse when he singled, stole second, then came home on a double. Those two hits were all the Chiefs had last night.

Trenton 7 @ New Hampshire 5

Five runs early against Kurt Isenberg was pretty much all she wrote last night. Great work by Justin James, though, who not only stranded the bases loaded with two outs in the third -- which saved Isenberg's ERA from jumping over 5 and a half -- but threw three more perfect innings. 10 up, 10 down.

The F-Cats got four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Adam Lind's and Chip Cannon's 19th and 13th doubles of the year.

Dunedin 8 @ Sarasota 3

Four homeruns for Dunedin was all they needed yesterday afternoon. David Corrente had two of them -- one in the second and one in the third -- to tally five RBI for the game. By the middle of the third inning, Dunedin was up 7-0. Billy Carnline picked up his second win in as many starts with the D-Jays; he's now thrown 14 innings with only 9 hits and two walks allowed in the FSL.

Lansing 6 @ Fort Wayne 5

A blown save for Joey McLaughlin. However, he got the win and ends up not surrendering a run at all after he got the first batter he faced with runners on second and third to hit an RBI groundout.

Anthony Hatch
scored the winning run after walking, stealing second, and racing around third on a single. He scored another run, in fact, and also drove in a pair -- you think he wants to move up to High A or what? Entering last night's game, he was at .355/.430/.638 in 138 AB. Sean Shoffit went deep in the seventh to put the 'Nuts on top 5-4.

The last out of the game was Matt Bush. I only mention this because in yesterday's Baseball America Prospect Report, there was the following line regarding Bush's Tuesday performance:
SD  LoA Bush, Matt SS  ..............   4  2  3   2  .333 - 2B; seriously
I'm not entirely sure what it means, but there it is nonetheless.

Auburn 2 @ Williamsport 3 (Game 1)

In the first of two seven-inning games, the Doubledays fell behind early and never had the lead. Two hits from Brian Hall and Zach Kalter led the offense in that category, but the only RBI came on Luke Hopkins' second homer of the year.

Auburn @ Williamsport (delayed due to rain, MID 2)

Rain delay. Shane Benson had two strikeouts in the first as of "press time", for what it's worth.

Burlington 6 @ Pulaski 5

This boxscore features a 2005esque line from Leance Soto, who struck out three times and singled once; Travis Snider's first professional hit in the sixth (trivia buffs: it was a liner to CF off Kyle Collins); and three wild pitches in a row scoring Snider from first (he reached on fielder's choice) in the eighth. Six pitchers were used in the game for the P-Jays, who unfortunately still use this logo.

The tying run was on first in the bottom of the ninth, but two outs ended that threat and gave Burlington the win. Luis Fernandez had a pair of hits on the night and scored the fifth run for Pulaski in the ninth, but that was as close as they got.

Three Star Selection:

3. Justin James
2. Anthony Hatch
1. Jamie Vermilyea
Don't Tell Gus Grissom, But The Hatch Blew | 20 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
danjulien - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 08:56 AM EDT (#149964) #
Anyone in the Ottawa region or that wants to make it down should know that Friday-Saturday, the Lynx will host the Skychiefs.  Along with seeing the Jays positional prospects, the pitchers for the two games will be Josh Towers and Dustin McGowan!  I'll probably make it out to the Friday night Towers game, however I will probably not make it out to the Canada Day game as I will be partaking in my own athletic competition. 
Gerry - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 09:05 AM EDT (#149965) #
Matt Bush was the first overall pick in the draft a few years ago and so far has been a major bust.  The comment "seriously" refers to the fact that he now is batting .333 and showing signs of being a prospect again.
Mike Green - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 10:32 AM EDT (#149973) #
Corrente's line in 75 at-bats is .347/.372/.613.  He's 22, and a catcher, so even though he's never hit this well over half a season even and it's only 75 at-bats, youneverknow.

Vermilyea has had trouble missing bats this season, so last night's start was very encouraging.

mendocino - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 11:54 AM EDT (#149976) #
Talking about catchers the Jays have signed one
Mike Green - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 01:00 PM EDT (#149978) #
Kevin Barker was named to the IL All-Star team.
Mike Green - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 02:50 PM EDT (#149980) #
Litsch's addition to the New Hampshire roster is now confirmed.  As a 24th round pick in the 2004 draft out of junior college, he's come a long way fast from Pulaski at this time last year to double A now.  He is only 21, and is a perfect example of why it is essentially impossible to evaluate a draft 2 years after it occurs.  Among Purcey, Jackson, Lind, Thigpen, Klosterman, Cannon, Yates, and Litsch, three valuable major leaguers might emerge, or it might be none. 
ds - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 02:55 PM EDT (#149982) #

What, no love for Casey Janssen?  I'm sure it was just an oversight.

But looking at the results from that 2004 draft, I would think there would be very few teams that could match up with the same return as Toronto has gotten so far.

Mike Green - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 03:19 PM EDT (#149983) #
Of course, Janssen too.  Will Janssen end up as a better pitcher than Litsch in 5 years? Your guess is as good as mine. 
Maldoff - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 03:31 PM EDT (#149984) #
It appears as if Paul Phillips has been demoted to Dunedin to replace Litsch.  I'm a little surprised by this, I would have thought they would move a minor league filler rather than a prospect.
Mike Green - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 04:05 PM EDT (#149985) #
Phillips is on a very solid course.  He pitched in Auburn last year, this spring in Lansing and (after a short  stay in New Hampshire) will pitch this summer in Dunedin. I suspect that the organization decided to "jump-promote" him earlier this month not because he was absolutely blowing away the opposition in the Midwest League, but due a temporarily crowded pitching situation in Dunedin.  I'd see it as an ordinary step-by-step promotion interrupted briefly by a roster jam.
Pistol - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 04:58 PM EDT (#149986) #

I was surprised to see Phillips sent to NH.  The Jays don't typically have players skip levels so as Mike pointed out there was a short term situation that caused Phillips to go an extra level.  I suspect he knew it was temporary as well.

The only player I can think of that's skipped a level has been Thigpen, and I think that was more because they didn't want to move Diaz to NH to accomodate Thigpen in Dunedin.

Marc Hulet - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 05:24 PM EDT (#149988) #
I talked to a pitcher in Dunedin who said they absolutely HATE throwing to Diaz because he calls such a bad game and his defence is lackluster. I also think the Jays are trying to keep Diaz low-key somewhat this year because there really won't be much room on the 40 man roster for him (same with Yesson Berroa in Lansing). Also, they want both Diaz and Thigpen catching full-time.

My sleeper pick for catcher is still Jonathan Jaspe in Pulaski.
Pistol - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 08:44 PM EDT (#149997) #
The Eastern League announced its All Stars today.  Lind, Thigpen, Ramirez and MacDonald made it for the Fisher Cats.
SparrowOD - Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 09:10 PM EDT (#149999) #
Fisher Cats and Kyle Yates led 2-0 through six. Yates struggled with his control early, and gave up a couple of long doubles in the first and second innings, but he managed to escape unharmed and was cruising when I left. Thigpen singled and scored in the first. Tonight was also $1000 cash drop in Manchester, but I decided not to risk public embarassement for five one dollar bills.
mendocino - Friday, June 30 2006 @ 12:19 AM EDT (#150001) #

Doubleday's radio team said Casey McKenzie and Eddy Rodriguez called up to Lansing.

Also mentioned concern about Brian Hall's arm strength, only at 75-80% now.

Mike Green - Friday, June 30 2006 @ 09:54 AM EDT (#150008) #
Thanks, as always, Mendocino.  If the loss of arm strength results from Hall's illness, that would normally be recoverable over time, one would think.  Whatever it is, I'm pulling for him. 



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