Man, that trip to Madison and Milwaukee last week really took it out of me. Did you know that Milwaukee is pronounced "Meel-wah-kay" which is Algonquin for "the good land?" Oh, we went over that already? Okay, that was just a diversion for yet another late update. I'm not worthy! I'm scum!
However, the affiliates were more than worthy by winning three of out five. Las Vegas had the night off to go enjoy the slots.
Las Vegas split a double-header with Salt Lake, and the 3-4-5 hitters (Randy Ruiz, Travis Snider, Brian Dopirak) continued to mash.
Sorry for the delay. I'm actually on vacation in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Of all the things I've hoped to do in this small artists town about a three hour drive north of Mexico City, sounding off on another disappointing day for the affiliates isn't one of them. I haven't looked at the boxscores yet so this had better be worth it.
EDIT: It was
Brian Dopirak had a big day at the plate for Las Vegas and Aaron Mathews had a couple of key hits as Las Vegas squeaked by Salt Lake. New Britain dropped both games of a doubleheader. There were also victories by Dunedin, Lansing and the GCL Blue Jays, as Auburn lost again.
Sure the big-league club stunk it up last night and the club lost a
Gold Glove third baseman at the trade deadline, but Halladay is still
here and the triple-A affiliate had a big night with the bats... So,
baseball life goes on.
The Jays affiliates split their six games last night, winning at Triple-A and their two games in the low minors. David Purcey pitched a strong game and Travis Snider had a strong night at the plate. New Hampshire had a poor game at the plate and a costly error hurt in a one-run loss. Auburn and the GCL Jays escaped with victories despite adventures on the field in both games.
As a Batter's Box Official Minor League Guy or something, that is an extremely un-PC thing to say. But Vegas, New Hampshire and Dunedin all won, while the rest of the affiliates lost. I'm allowed to be a fair-weather minor league updater, right? No? Okay, fine, here are all 6 recaps.
I apologize for the lateness of today's report. I was in Wisconsin over the weekend for a Coldplay concert and speaking of cold play (see what I did there?), I managed to catch a Brewers game on the way back where Jeff Suppan got whacked by the Nationals, or more specifically Josh Willingham, 14-6. With family in the Cheesehead State, I've been a fairly regular visitor to Milwaukee but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting there in the late 16th century. In fact, Milwaukee is an Indian name. It's pronounced "Meel-wah-kay" which is Algonquin for "the good land".
Anyways, it was a busy day for the affiliates as they posted a 5-and-3 mark. The teams that don't rhyme with Jays had a very good night while the ones that do didn't, save for one game. Make sense? Good! Read on and rock on, my peeps!
Fabio Castro had a fantastic outing, and there were great individual offensive performances on each team (edit: except Dunedin. Yuck.), despite some lousy team performances.
Another ugly day on the farm included just one win, all the way down in Low-A ball while two pitchers, including a rehabbing righty, left their starts early. Happy Monday!
Portland played New Hampshire a few weeks ago so they thought they knew how to run on Darin Mastroianni's arm. After Mastroianni threw a runner out at the plate the third base coach/manager might have reconsidered. After the second out at the plate they might have stopped running. The third assist for Mastroianni was at third base so that one could be blamed on the runner. But the fourth Mastroianni assist, at home, should have caused the Portland manager to reconsider his opinion.
The GCL Jays beat up the two Indian reality show winners. Scott Richmond pitched well in his final rehab start. Overall the affiliates went 4-2 with the top two teams losing.
It was a three-win night for the affiliates, which is an excellent result given their past performances this season on the same night of the week. The wins came as the result of some nice pitching performances. Dunedin also received some offense with four players going yard for five homers in total.
The six minor league contests yesterday included four shutouts, a bullpen and fielding meltdown and an outburst at the plate for a struggling affiliate. Two Toronto affiliates threw shutouts while two others were held off the scoresheet, as the Fisher Cats were on the wrong end of a one hitter. Dunedin held Sarasota off the scoreboard through 7 innings but ended up losing 5-3 in part due to three errors. Meanwhile, Auburn had their biggest scoring day of the year with 13 runs in a blowout win over Williamsport. Three strong pitching performances meant all the stars of the evening went to starting pitchers and none were awarded to hitters.
Randy Ruiz hit a three run walk-off home run to lead Vegas to victory. Auburn won a doubleheader 6-5, that was the score in both games. Henderson Alvarez retired the first 13 hitters he faced as Lansing won. Carlos Perez led the GCL Jays to a win. Dunedin scored eight on their way to a win, only New Hampshire spoiled the organizational sweep.
The highlights - a rain-out and a scheduled day off.
