With 3 of the affiliates off on Wednesday, the remaining teams managed to go 3-2.  Scott Copleand pitched well for New Hampshire, and Roberto Osuna got hit hard with Dunedin.  Starlyn Suriel was solid for Lansing, and the GCL Jays pitched well. Finally, the DSL Jays pitchers couldn’t find the plate racking up numerous wild pitches and hit by pitches.

It was a winning night on the farm at least as the affiliates won four out of seven Tuesday. The Vancouver Canadians had seven representatives at the Northwest League All-Star Game. Let's just say the pitchers really had their say in this one.

Some guy named Brett Lawrie is back in town for this three-game series. That'll help, right?


Brett Lawrie - celebrating a home run with Anthony Gose against the New York Yankees September 30, 2012 - returns to the lineup after breaking his right index finger June 22.

Four of the six affiliates sang the bullpen blues Monday night. Buffalo almost did and Bluefield hummed a few bars but did not have to break out into full song. New Hampshire and Vancouver had the night off.

There are two major league ballparks in the city of Chicago...


...but only one that carries a significant place in Baseball history...

The Jays affiliates were 3-3 today, with the wins coming from Buffalo, New Hampshire and Dunedin.  The losses came from the lower affiliates in Lansing, Vancouver, and Bluefield.  Daniel Norris had a fantastic outing for New Hampshire, Jon Berti had a bunch of hits while adding to his stolen base total, and Sean Nolin was solid for Buffalo.

Two homers for Franklin Barreto on a night of pitching debuts. Kendall Graveman and Ryan Borucki fare well, Taylor Cole faces the reality of the AA jump. Richard Urena and Rowdy Tellez each had a four hit night for Bluefield. Other standouts on Saturday include Andy Burns, Dalton Pompey, Justin Atkinson, Mitch Nay, Dickie Thon, Max Pentecost and Lane Thomas.

Four wins at the top of the system, five losses at the bottom. Brett Lawrie had one hit for Dunedin, Emilio Guerrero, Jorge Saez and Shane Opitz each had three in the same game. Roberto Osuna pitched for Dunedin too and all that firepower led to a win. New Hampshire swept a doubleheader behind good pitching from Scott Copeland and Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Brad Mills pitched well for Buffalo but Ryan Tepera got the win as the Bisons rallied late.

Lansing lost even though Mitch Nay homered. Vancouver scored a lot but their pitching let Boise score even more. It was a terrible loss for Vancouver. The Boise left fielder pitched three shutout innings and stayed pitching after Boise tied the game. The winning/losing run scored on a wild pitch. Jesus Tinoco had a bad night as Bluefield lost but Richard Urena had two more hits. The GCL Jays lost both ends of a doubleheader.

For the first time in the long, distinguished history (all of four months!) of the Batter's Box Minor League awards, we have monthly co-winners! Andy Burns and Kevin Pillar share the Player of the Month honours for July while Kendall Graveman captured the Pitcher of the Month award.


Andy Burns and Kevin Pillar earned 13 points as the top position players while Kendall Graveman racked up 14 points in July from the 3 Star selections from the Batter's Box Minor League correspondents. The scoring is based on a 5-3-1 points system.

Three affiliates were on the wrong side of blowouts, while three more were narrowly edged. Only Vancouver and Dunedin went home with something as the affiliates, overall, had a night to forget.

The affiliates played .500 ball on Wednesday, featuring a come-from-behind victory and a come-from-ahead loss. One of the clubs put up a 10-run inning but it was almost not enough.

On Wednesday the affiliates were 3-5 with a bunch of close losses, and several strong offensive performances. Matt Smoral was strong again for Bluefield, while the offense had 16 hits which amounted to 13 runs.

This will be a different kind of challenge.

The boys on the farm came away with a split of their six games Tuesday but two of the losses were of the come-from-ahead variety. The Florida folks were rained out.

The affiliates were able to win five out of eight games Monday. Two of the losses were of the one-run variety.