The New Hampshire Fisher Cats were one pitch away from being no-hit for the first time in franchise history, Dunedin continues to own Tampa during a certain reporter's minor league updates, and Lansing was a big winner on the road as the affiliates went 2-and-3.

An oh for four day on the farm and most games were not close.  The first star goes to Robinzon Diaz for his 2-2 at the Futures Game.  I saw Diaz play last week and my observations are included.

The results of our pitching prospect poll were quite interesting:

1.    Ricky Romero (184)
2.    Brett Cecil (177)
3.    David Purcey (154)
4.    Kyle Ginley (74)
5.    Josh Banks (70)
6T. Chi-Hung Cheng (57)
6T  Ty Taubenheim (57)
8.    A.J. Wideman (53)
9.    Kyle Yates(43)
10.  Brandon Magee(42)

Seth Overbey, Lee Gronkiewicz, Billy Carnline, Nathan Starner, Adrian Martin, Wilfreddy Aguirre and Tracy Thorpe were each mentioned on at least three ballots.

Travis Snider went 5-5 including hitting for the cycle.  Lyle Overbay hit a grand slam and a double and looks to be ready for the big leagues.  Brett Cecil is human, he gave up a couple of runs.  Yohermyn Chavez hit a big home run, Shawn Scobee also hit a grand slam.

Five of the six games on the farm were decided by one run last night. The other was decided by two. That’s your teaser. If that isn’t enough to convince you to read the update, I don’t know what is. Here are the minor headlines: Blue Jays farmhand goes 4-4; no Jays hurt; triple-A contest goes to extra innings and several strong pitching performances in the low minors.

We put the mid-season hitting prospect poll results to use in our weekly summary, but first, we have nothing but good news from the farm affiliates last night. Swee-ee-eep. 6-0 as some of the pitching prospects whose names are being mentioned in our mid-season prospect poll turned in excellent performances, and John-ford Griffin, Kevin Barker, and Ryan Patterson hit dramatic homers.

Relax, it's just the New York-Penn League. The farm affiliates split 6 games.

Same rules as with the hitters. Players currently with the club, or who were drafted but have not yet pitched are ineligible. Davis Romero is ineligible because he last pitched with the big club. Here are my choices:

1. Brett Cecil
2. Ricky Romero
3. David Purcey
4. Chi-hung Cheng
5. Josh Banks
6. Kyle Yates
7. Eric Fowler
8. Paul Phillips
9. Ty Taubenheim
10. Tracy Thorpe

What do you think? The results will be posted on Monday.

Several players had their first pro home runs in the GCL yesterday as the affiliates went 4-2 on the day.

Thanks to regular minor league-watchers for your contributions. We had 19 ballots, with votes tabulated on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The #1 hitting prospect was unanimous, Travis Snider, but after that, the votes were spread widely. There was an interesting cleavage between the #7 and #8 prospects.

You want line drives, we got line drives. The farm affiliates' bats finally woke up and the result was a 4-2 record on the evening.

John-Ford Griffin hit two home runs and Sal Fasano one to propel the Chiefs to victory.   Ryan Patterson and David Smith homered as the Fisher Cats won.   Manuel Rodriguez hit a three run home run in the first inning as Auburn won.  Dunedin won without a home run and with little help from Reed Johnson or newest Jay Scott Sauerbeck.  Lansing were the lone losers.  On Canada Day the eight Canadians in the Jays system went 1-8 six of them not playing on their day.

In seven games the Jays affiliates scored fifteen runs, or just over two per game.  Despite that the affiliates went 4-3 in those games thanks to some strong pitching performances.  Does that sound like a major league club you know?  Michael MacDonald, Ricky Romero, Brandon Magee, AJ Wideman, Nate Starner, Wilfreddy Aguirre and Brad Cuthbertson all pitched well.   Justin Jackson had three RBI's.

The affiliates went 4-1 yesterday evening with only Auburn’s one-run loss to Williamsport spoiling the night. There was impressive pitching by Blue Jays farmhands in both Triple-A and the Gulf Coast League, while Lansing had one of its best offensive nights of the year, despite a lack of production from its most feared hitter.

It is time for the pitchers this week. The farm affiliates went 3-4 on the evening.