The Red Sox are in town, but Nori Aoki isn’t anymore. Meanwhile, Brett Anderson is roaming the outfield. Another lefty who is trying to work his way back to being the pitcher he was prior to his injury, TJ House, was jettisoned as soon as he appeared. The hint of expanded rosters is just around the corner. It’s the end of the dog days of August.

Lansing had lost four games in a row and seven in a row at home. They turned to emergency starter Juliandry Higuera who pitched well to get the win and halt the slide. Jon Harris also pitched well on Sunday, his season has been one of good start, bad start. Harris and New Hampshire were the other winners on Sunday. Buffalo, Bluefield and Vancouver all lost while Dunedin were rained out. Kacy Clemens had three hits out of a total of five Vancouver hits. He had two doubles and a home run.

The Jays try and find some good in the late stages of the season. The results, the play and the entertainment value have been poor recently. Can the Jays find something to make the run in interesting? Bartolo Colon comfortably handled the Jays Friday night. I was at the game and there was not much to get excited about other than Justin Smoak. Baseball fans could enjoy watching Byron Buxton but he plays for the wrong guys.

Its your last minute, call to the bullpen, minor league update. Dunedin played a wild one last night. They started the ninth up 6-1. Florida scored six runs to take a 7-6 lead. Dunedin said we can top that, four straight singles in the bottom of the ninth gave them a walk off win. Buffalo had a nice start from Brett Anderson and a couple of long balls to win. New Hampshire also had a walk off win. Lansing continued to lose. What a contrast in Lansing. The first half had Bo and Vladdy and Brad Jones and Edward Olivares and decent pitching. Now the hitters are all in Dunedin and the pitchers were injured. From the penthouse to the outhouse in Lansing. Vancouver dominated thanks to two pitchers, Bluefield battered the opposition while the GCL Jays lost.

The minor league season is coming to an end. Several players who have had non-descript seasons have suddenly perked up their performances. DJ Davis, Reece McGuire and Josh Palacios have all been playing well recently. I thought I would take a deeper look at these players as well as some others who I noted in my trawl through the stats. But first a teaser....can you tell me when Rowdy Tellez hit his last home run?

On the field the pitchers had better performances than the hitters. Bo Bichette was back and picked up two hits. Riley Adams had three. Among the pitchers Thomas Pannone, Josh De Graaf, Francisco Rios, Turner Larkins and Felipe Castaneda all threw well.

Jose Bautista, who is only the greatest RH slugger in franchise history, is hitting .181/.287/.324 against left-handed pitchers this season.

The Jays venture into one of their least favourite parks for three games. Can they end the slide? Can they play a good game of baseball? Will Joey Bats homer again? All this and more coming up.

Tonight it is the battle of the Chris's. This is a rematch of the August 12th game, won by the Jays 5-3. Neither of the Chris's won or lost. Justin Smoak homered off Tommy Hunter to win the game. Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista will patrol the left side of the infield for game one. They should get more work with Rowley and his sinker as opposed to Marco Estrada. It could be an adventure.

Here is a round-up a few stories from around the system.

There were many very good hitting performances over the weekend. Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Reece McGuire led the way. Among the lesser heralded hitters DJ Davis had a four hit game on Sunday. Connor Panas, Chavez Young and Freddy Rodriguez each had a three hit game. Freddy drove in four runs.

The Jays pay a rare visit to Wrigley. Apparently there are a lot of Blue Jay fans in Chicago. The Toronto FC MLS team also play in Chicago this weekend so some fans are doing a joint baseball/soccer trip.

The top three affiliates each had a walk off win. The walk-offs came in rapid succession on Wednesday, all three happened in about 20 minutes. Teoscar Hernandez and Rowdy Tellez won it for Buffalo, a walk-off strikeout let Andrew Guillotte race home for New Hampshire and DJ Davis doubled in Edward Olivares for Dunedin. Vancouver were on the road, and so unable to walk off, but won anyway. Lansing and the GCL Jays lost. Reggie Pruitt, Teoscar Hernandez and Conor Fisk are your three stars.

The affiliates won three of eight on Tuesday. All three wins came from the short-season clubs.

You wouldn't know it from us but the Blue Jays apparently won the opener of this series. Three more games to go.

The good news: Teoscar Hernandez broke out yesterday with a grand slam and Nate Pearson was lights out in his limited innings in Vancouver. The bad news: Bo Bichette looks set for a spell in the bleachers and Conner Greene turned in another rough start.

A perfect night for the parent club and the affiliates as they went 6-0 Monday night.