Three weeks into the minor league season and I was already resigned to writing about four losses and exactly no intriguing performances.  But the first Sunday in May threw that theory for a complete loop with three wins and the unexpected return of a legend.

April was not a kind month to the Jays affiliates.  The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are the only affiliate with a winning record and several of the Jays top prospects are off to slow starts.  Because the minor leagues start their season later than the major leagues most affiliates have played around twenty games, some of those in very cold weather, so it is not time to panic, yet.  But May is an important month to set the tone for those June promotions.  Marc Hulet and I look at April in the minor leagues.  All numbers are from April.

It hasn't been a great start to the season for the minor league affiliates but Saturday was a day to take some comfort and hope. The lower three affiliates each scored in the double figures and there were some good pitching performances.  Hopefully the bats will wake up and get the pitching to support them.

The Dunedin pitching staff threw a one-hitter but the one hit was a home run.

Things were not overly fun on Friday night with the affiliates compiling a 1-4 record. Pitching continues to be an area of disappointment - but some of the bigger-named hitting prospects need to step things up a notch too.

If any members of the Las Vegas pitching staff followed the afternoon game in Kansas City they were likely well aware that at least one spot would be opening up on the big league roster after a second poor start in a row by Brian Burres. If they checked the MLB website within a couple of hours they would have seen not only confirmation, but also that Brian Bullington was demoted and a second spot had opened up. The question was whether Fabio Castro would be able to rise to the occasion. Even without the intrigue of who will get the promotion it was an exciting night on the farm anyway, as all three games were decided by one run and two went into extra innings.

There was a shutout in Double-A, but that wasn’t the best pitching performance of the night. There were only three contests last night, as Las Vegas had the night off, and the affiliates won two of them. Dunedin lost a one-run game as the heart of their lineup struggled at the plate. And Brian Dopirak, among others, continues to hit.

Las Vegas and New Hampshire couldn't buy a key hit but Dunedin and Lansing had no such problems in a .500 night on the farm.

Seems like the only way you can get a win out of the Jays' affiliates these days is to have a major leaguer making a rehab start...

It hasn't been much fun recapping the affiliates on Sundays so far.  On this particular day, the four teams managed to go 0-5.  Read on, if you dare.

New Hampshire, the only minor league affiliate with a winning record, were the only winners on Saturday.  Fabio Castro and David Cooper led the team to victory.  Dunedin were shutout and Las Vegas lost a 9-8 game.  Lansing was rained out.

Taking a cue from the big-league club, the affiliates had a solid night with two wins and two losses (although New Hampshire battled until the 13th before taking the loss). Las Vegas led the way with a 12-run attack - and the pitchers finally showed some signs of life by allowing just three runs.

Some of the minor leaguers decided to emulate their favourite big leaguers yesterday and there were impressions of Roy Halladay and BJ Ryan on the farm. Predictably, that means the couple of Doc-like pitching performances led to a victory and a BJ Ryan scenario ended with a final inning loss. Dunedin had an off day and Lansing played a double-header as the affiliates won one and lost three.

New Hampshire mimicked the Red Sox by sweeping a doubleheader, but they didn’t even have the benefit of playing at their home ballpark. Las Vegas won, while Dunedin avoided the sweep behind some fine relief pitching from the usual suspects and some offence and defence from one of the hottest bats in the entire system. Only Lansing prevented a day of wins, from the parent club on down, as the Lugnuts lost convincingly to South Bend.

At least Mother Nature came through for the other two affiliates.  I think Porky Pig said it best.

It must have been an exciting day in Las Vegas, with several lead changes, extra-inning scoring by both teams, and a walk-off victory for the 51s. Rain plagued two of the other affiliates, and Dunedin played the only 9 inning game on the night.