The farm affiliates were swept, courtesy of some lackluster offensive performances and a couple of bullpen collapses. The silver lining for minor league watchers is the upcoming playoffs.

Kyle Ginley had another dominant performance out of the pen last night. The Jays 17th round pick this year out of St Petersburg JC has had a strong year in Pulaski.

New Hampshire was the only affiliate to win on a 1-4 night in the minors.

3 wins in 5 tries for the Toronto farm.

Two weeks left in the minor league season, other than in Auburn.  Dunedin and Lansing are in the playoffs based on their first halves; Auburn and Pulaski are trying to join them but both need to finish strongly to make it.  Yesterday Syracuse split a doubleheader as the new kids, Adam Lind and Curtis Thigpen, led them to victory in game 1.  Elsewhere New Hampshire and Lansing were winners. 

A shutout in Lansing, lost Appy opportunities, familiar disappointments for Syracuse and New Hampshire and rain led to a 1-3 Saturday night.

Syracuse and Pulaski won right at the end, Lansing tried their best, Auburn piled on, New Hampshire didn't look back and Dunedin went to extras. All this and more, come rain, rain or shine.

Chi dominates, as the farm affiliates go 4-1 with the pitchers showing the way.

The farm affiliates received some solid pitching performances, but on this night it was not enough.  A lack of offensive support and untimely errors followed by poor "clutch" pitching led to a 1-3 record.

A quiet night with the bats as the affiliates went just 2-4 on the night.  There were, however, several fine pitching performances.  And as always, your daily Travis Snider update.

Box Challenge - I'm in too much of a hurry and not clever enough to come up with a headline from last night.  Let's hear your suggestions!

No matter where he’s pitching, Gustavo Chacin always seems to get run support. Whether it’s the majors or A-ball, the organization seems to love to hit when he’s pitching. Good thing, too, as they’d have to make up for New Hampshire, who had the unpleasant task of facing one of baseball’s top pitching prospects.

In the seventh inning, with runners on second and third, Ottawa intentionally walked Adam Lind.  In the ninth, with the bases empty, they pitched to him and Lind hit a walk-off home run.  Josh Towers was one out away from a complete game win, having allowed one run, but bad luck intervened.  Ben Zeskind also hit a game winning home run, for Auburn, but his was in the top of the tenth.

No, not a dyslexic Chicago tune. It's your score for the night in the minor leagues, as the farm affiliates win 5 of 6.

Tough night for the farm, as it looks like a career minor leaguer might end up with the first star. Only one win on the night; a good effort from the starter in Lansing prevents a SkyChief Star Sweep. And can you guess what Travis Snider did last night? Without looking, I'm going with two hits, one of which was for extra bases.

Despite a relatively successful start, Ricky Romero fell to 0-5 on the season at Double-A New Hampshire. Meanwhile, fellow 2005 first-rounder Matt Garza will make his big league debut today against the Blue Jays. It’s way too early to even speculate as to which of the two pitchers will have the more successful major league career. At this point, the odds have to favour Garza, but so much could happen in the next year, let alone five or ten, that I doubt they’re significantly in his favour to any degree.

Don't need to discuss much.  Gustavo Chacin makes his way back to Toronto with a fine outing on a day when the affiliates went 4-1.