Fairly tame night on the farm. Our AAA affiliate did not play and our AA affiliate got rained out. The other affiliates went 2-4.

The Vancouver Canadians finished up their three-game series with the Tri-City Dust Devils at Nat Bailey Stadium and got a couple of victories over the Padres affiliate.

Tuesday



Sean Hurley takes a pitch high and inside in the first inning. He would later bring home the game's first run on a bases-loaded walk.

Every Blue Jay affiliate who played lost on Wednesday except for the DSL Jays. Bluefield had the day off. Norberto Obeso went 5-5 for the DSL team and easily claimed the top performance of the night. Otherwise the affiliates lost big, no games were really close and there were few stand-out performances. Jon Harris, Angel Perdomo, Sean Reid-Foley and Jose Espada all gave up multiple runs. Reid-Foley was the best of the bunch for five innings, it was the sixth that cost him. And Perdomo did rack up seven K's. Dalton Pompey had a couple of hits, Anthony Alford hit a home run, but that's about it for good news.

The affiliates had a rough cut Tuesday, losing seven out of nine. The only highlights were a split of a doubleheader in Florida and a win north of the border.

The Jays are in Philadelphia for a two-game interleague series match-up as Troy Tulowitzki meets up with the first team he played against in Toronto blue. It also marks the return of Ben Revere to the City of Brotherly Love.

The Vancouver Canadians are within a game of .500 after winning the opener of their three-game series against Tri-City Monday night at The Nat.



1996 Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen and Canadians closer Andrew Case walk off the field after the ceremonial first pitch.

The affiliates won four and lost four on Monday.  A pair of one-run losses were the lowlights. A doubleheader sweep and slugfest were the highlights. Lansing had the night off.

Here I come to save the day! Or at least, your scrolling fingers...

I talked with Doug Davis this morning about several minor league players. Unfortunately my voice recorder ran out of battery almost at the start of the discussion so I have reproduced my notes of our discussion. I think I got it all. In this you will hear that Max Pentecost is out for the year, that Roemen Fields is working hard on his defense, that Conner Greene can be compared to Drew Hutchison, at least by me, and that Shane Dawson has been compared to mark Buehrle by more than me.

The Vancouver Canadians and Everett AquaSox wrapped up a three-game series last Tuesday with the C's trying to avoid a sweep.



With Jon Wandling summoned up to Lansing, lefty Michael Kraft got his first professional start. He pitched 1-1/3 innings and coughed up four runs on four hits, walking two and striking out two.

Here's a look at the Vancouver Canadians in a relaxed atmosphere before their series finale against Everett at Nat Bailey Stadium Tuesday.





Pitching coach Jim Czajowksi (#48) holds court with the hurlers, including Turner Lee (#28), Tayler Saucedo (#38) and Michael Kraft. Catcher Kevin Garcia (#30) also listens in.

Good pitching and some big innings generated four wins. Buffalo got good pitching from Todd Redmond and Ryan Tepera in a low scoring win. New Hampshire got lots of runs for Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Dunedin also scored lots of runs for Shane Dawson, Anthony Alford had three hits. Lansing lost a close, high scoring, game, Clinton Hollon had one to forget. Vancouver won a close one with a ninth inning run. Bluefield had a bad loss.

The affiliates won just two out of seven on Saturday thanks in part to two walk-off losses. The good news was a walk-off win and a shutout victory. Dunedin's game in Brevard County was rained out.

A splitsville Friday for the affiliates in their eight games. One game involved a steal of home for the winning run and Vancouver got a solid start and an even better finish from its pitchers.

Recent readers of the Box may be aware of my crusade against the 8-man bullpen. I have nothing against it in principle, except that until September, the active roster for major league teams is limited to 25 players. When rosters expand, if you want a 14-man bullpen, I will raise a figurative glass of ale and say, why the heck not!

I'll add another caveat. On teams with weak starting pitchers wherein several starting pitchers have difficulty reaching the 6th and 7th innings, a three-man bench is defensible as long as at least two players and/or one regular are reasonably versatile. I don't believe the current Jays are in that category.