The Blue Jays beat up on the terrible Orioles but the Phillies are 30 games better than the O's. The Phighting Phils are trying to catch the Atlanta Braves and they want to beat up on the Jays to do so. Gabe Kapler was getting a lot of flack at the start of the season but the results have quieted things down. Their offense is led by Rhys Hoskins who has 25 home runs and is avoiding the sophomore slump. You might notice Odubel Herrera who is one of the slowest hitters in MLB in terms of time per pitch. He seems proud of it too.

Lourdes Gurriel is back, Richard Urena is Buffalo bound. Gurriel will try to continue his games with multiple hits streak, it's tough to do off the DL but he was hitting in Buffalo. Aaron Sanchez will return to start tomorrow, someone will have to join Urena.

#BlueJays affiliates picked up just one win Monday. Buffalo and Dunedin had the night off.

Two under performing teams meet for three games.

With super-prospect Vladimir Guerrero charging through the system and kids like Danny Jansen getting here and doing well we should review some of the Jays past top prospects.

The Yankees are not as hot as they used to be and have been hurt by injuries and some inconsistent starting pitching. Can the Jays take advantage? It is the first trip to Yankee stadium for some of the kids and two of them get to be starting pitchers. In addition Billy McKinney was recalled today to cover for Luke Maile's paternity leave. Will SRF be calm enough to pitch effectively? On Sunday the Jays face their old team mate JA Happ.

In news from New York, Russ Atkins has gone on the record that Gibby will be the manager until the end of the season. Then, as always, his status will be reevaluated.

There are two teams in a race for the worst record in baseball and the number one draft position in 2019. Seven of the Jays next ten games are against these two teams. In case you didn't know, the teams are the KC Royals and the Baltimore Orioles. In between the Jays go to Yankee Stadium for three games.

With the Jays starting their Buffalo battery in tonight's game, an early start to the series thread seems to be in order. If you are giving a major league debut to a pitcher, having him start against the Royals is not a bad way to do it. The lineup he faces will be better than those he has seen in Buffalo, but not by that much. SRF then gets to face the Yankees in Yankee Stadium on Saturday, before facing the Phillies back home, assuming all goes to plan.

It is the middle of August and this qualifies as a "playing out the string" game. Both the Rays and Jays were active in trading away some of their prized assets in July so the remainders will take the field tonight.

From the pre-game chatter, Marcus Stroman will test his finger today to see if he can pitch on Sunday. Giiby has gone on the record, again, as saying if there is going to be a full rebuild he needs to get out of here so he is making it easy for the front office to get rid of him, if they want to. Gibby might have been saving his major league manager money over the last few years and will be happy to go home and sit on the porch.

The Jays are in a Seattle for a road and home series. All the talk in the media will be about the Canadians invading from the north.

The Jays have a new player, one Mike Hauschild who was in the Astros system until recently. Per Gibby Hauschild is a starter but the Jays didn't want to put him right in there so Clippard will start and then Hauschild will come in.

Happ is now a Yankee and Oh is a Rockie.  4 more prospects in the system now.

The rested Orioles arrive into town to visit the rested Blue Jays. The Jays ended the first half* with too many relievers and too few position players. This happened because Kevin Pillar and Lourdes Gurriel went on the DL just before the break. Ryan Tepera came back from the DL and today Richard Urena has been recalled to fill Gurriel's spot. The Jays will likely see several other moves over the next seven days. Marco Estrada and Ryan Borucki will be back. Danny Barnes and Aaron Sanchez might be not too much behind them. And hopefully Gurriel will be back soon.

Trading season has begun.  Shoe #1 fell, Steve Pearce goes to to the team that drafted him in 2004 but couldn't sign him, Boston, along with cash ($1.66 mil) to get Santiago Espinal, an infielder in A+.

With this year not going well it is hard not to look to 2019.  Baring trades, who is lined up for each position?  Just offense here.  We can guess at most of their defense.

The #BlueJays take on the O's in a "clash of the titans" of the AL East.

The Jays play two days games in a three game series in Boston. Today is a 1pm game for Memorial Day and Wednesday is a 1pm getaway day game. The Jays are not in a hurry as Thursday is an off day and Friday they are in Detroit but Boston play in Houston on Thursday.