It wasn’t a good day in the minors, as Toronto’s affiliates went 0-for-4 with a rainout. Buffalo was swept in a doubleheader after a comeback with two outs in the bottom of the last inning in the first game. Meanwhile, neither the Fisher Cats nor the Lugnuts could muster much at the plate.

Marcus Stroman had his best performance of the season in chilly Buffalo where the temperature was 2 degrees Celsius.  Dunedin won again bringing their record to 11-2, and Lansing played a double header through some chilly weather as well.

Only one game on the farm on Tuesday as Mother Nature and Old Man Winter did their worst, except in Dunedin, where the Jays bats did the damage.

Two wins and two postponements were the story on Monday. Great pitching and timely offence were the keys to victory.

The Jays are visiting Minnesota for 3 games. Sadly, since it is weekdays I cannot get down there (5-6 hour drive). Sigh.

The affiliates were 1-3 today, with the only win coming from Dunedin(8-2) as they continue to play well early in the season.  Aaron Sanchez, and Sean Nolin had disappointing starts in AA, and AAA respectively.

All four starters had excellent starts but only three of them got a win. Liam Hendricks and Daniel Norris pitched shutout ball for 5.2 and 6 innings respectively. Casey Lawrence and Kendall Graveman each allowed just one run. Lawrence was helped by Kevin Nolan who was 4-4 with a home run. Graveman was let down by the Lansing bullpen who coughed up his lead.

Anthony Gose and Juan Francisco each had a hit in the first and second innings to jump start the Bisons to a lead they never gave up. Kyle Drabek got the win although his numbers were only average. New Hampshire were soundly beaten as were Dunedin although Emilio Guerrero hit his first home run of the year. Dwight Smith was shut out. Lansing had a lead headed to the ninth but blew up good. Carlos Ramirez had three hits.

The Jays have played ten games under the roof to start the season, that ends tonight with a trip into Baltimore. The Jays face Chris Tillman, Bud Norris and Ubaldo Jimenez. That is one tough match-up and two more favourable ones. Tillman was the O's opening day starter and pitched well last time out. Noriis and Jimenez have not pitched as well and Ubaldo has not lived up to his contract, yet.

The Jays counter with Dustin McGowan, Drew Hutchison and Mark Buehrle. Both McGowan and Hutchison are coming off poor starts and looking to right the ship before Happy Happ shows up.

Dunedin saved the day by banging out eighteen hits. DJ Davis made an error that led to three unearned runs as Lansing lost. New Hampshire and Buffalo lost by a lot. JA Happ made a rehab start and pitched OK but did not dominate.

The affiliates were 4-2 tonight, with double headers for Buffalo, and Dunedin making up postponed games.  Dwight Smith continued to be the best hitter for Dunedin with two more strong performances.  As well, former First Rounder’s Ricky Romero and Deck McGuire each struggled in their starts tonight.

The affiliates took two of out three Tuesday night. The highlight was a walk-off win, the lowlight was a walk-off loss. One of the games was a rainout. Enjoy the ride on the Tuesday MLU train!

There were two games scheduled in the state of Pennsylvania and both of them were washed out.



The Buffalo Bisons were rained out in Lehigh Valley for the Iron Pigs home opener while the New Hampshire Fisher Cats saw their game scrubbed in Reading. The Herd will play a doubleheader in Lehigh Valley on Wednesday while the Fisher Cats game will be made up on May 19. 

Hey, these guys lost 111 games last year! This will be a piece of cake! Right?

Last Friday, just in time for the home opener, Ken Rosenthal broke the story that several Jays players were willing to defer salary so that the jays could sign Ubaldo Jimenez. AA and paul Beeston basically confirmed that in interviews. I wondered what impact that freeze had on the off-season. What transactions that we thought the Jays were in on, were they in fact no-where near? I assume AA became aware of his budget shortly after the season ended. As the season was coming to a close he was talking about adding starting pitching. By the winter meetings he was focused internally. But he never made that public, and all winter the fans thought that the Jays were all-in, and could add to the payroll for a playoff push. All off-season the Jays were thought to be waiting on Jimenez and Santana. Were they?

Remember that Rogers appointed a new CEO last year, one who has the reputation of a cost cutter. His arrival could easily have come with a directive, all budgets are frozen until I get to review the operations. I don't remember the exact date but the CEO did not meet with the Jays until early this year.