Scott Richmond just didn't have it last night, he gave up seven hits and five runs in the first two innings.  The 51's were put into a hole they couldn't climb out of.  In AA the Richmond Flying Squirrels had two hits off Joel Carreno.  One of them was a solo home run and it put the sad sack Fisher Cats in a hole they couldn't climb out of.  Dunedin rescued the day by winning easily behind Sean Nolin and Gabe Jacobo.  Lansing were off.  Unusually, neither the Las Vegas or the New Hampshire hitters could register an extra base hit.

Just wanted to draw your attention to the fact there was some minor league baseball Monday night!  Lansing and Dunedin celebrated "Draft Night" with victories to earn a split for the affiliates.

The 2012 first year player draft is tomorrow and Toronto picks 17th and 22nd overall. The Jays have five picks in the first 60.

With two games in extras and a doubleheader in High-A, only Lansing played a standard game on Saturday. The affiliates went 2-3 and a top prospect got rocked.

The Blue Jays system is about to get an infusion of talent with the kickoff of the June amateur draft on Monday at 7 p.m. The draft will take place Monday-Wednesday, concluding with the 40th round. The Blue Jays have two first round selections and three picks in the supplemental round. And now on to the current minor leaguers... with the affiliates going 4-1.

Raining hits for Las Vegas, Rain delays in New Hampshire, Rain out in Dunedin, Rain make up for Lansing.

Vlad Guerrero played his fourth game on Thursday for the Dunedin Blue Jays. The man among the boys also hit his 4th homer. His OPS is a mere 1.550 in those games. One might surmise he is very close to being a Toronto Blue Jay instead. Robert Coello probably shouldn't get real comfortable. Otherwise, how was it for the farm on Thursday? They went 2-1 with one game suspended.

Read on for details.

The affiliates split their games last night behind a trio of solid starting pitching performances and an abbreviated outing from Chad Jenkins, who was returning from injury and on a pitch count.

Three teams played last night and they scored 28 runs, had 42 hits and there was a total of 51 runs scored in the three games.  Las Vegas had 19 hits and lost.   New Hampshire were rained out.  Travis 'd'Arnaud continued his hot streak as did Jon Talley.  Adam Lind and Yan Gomes had some hits and so did Vladimir Guerrero.   KC Hobson keyed a big comeback for Lansing.

I reached out to the Jays concerning Mitchell Taylor and I have been told he retired last spring. Obviously Taylor had some issues both during last season and in the off-season. The Jays wouldn't comment on specifics but they say Taylor is not on any roster at this time and has been placed on the voluntarily retired list.

Two touchdowns and five stolen bases by one of the affiliates highlighted Monday's action on the farm. Another affiliate scored eight runs less but still managed to get by while a perfect game and no-hit bid went up in flames. 

The two A-ball affiliates in Dunedin and Lansing combined for 22 runs and many hitters had outstanding nights at the plate.

The affiliates took three of four on Saturday with strong performances by top prospects sprinkled throughout.

When you outhit your opponents 57 to 31 and you outscore them 36 to 18 you have a good chance of a good night.  That’s just what happened Friday night on the farm, with our boys going 4 and 0.

None of the starting pitchers you are familiar with at the top of the prospect chart pitched tonight. In each case these are the "Other Guys" - the ones who might have some talent but do their work in the shadow of more attention grabbing individuals.Still, in 3 of 4 outings, the Jays farm hands prevailed.

Late inning heroics for the Lugnuts almost make up for four losses in the other games.